Well.....It Works, In Theory.....

Continuing on with adventures in old periodicals. I went back and found the very first thing I made in miniature from the Peterson's Magazines(1863). It is called a Dormeuse. It's another one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time....At least by the inventor/designer.

You can poke the photo and read for yourself, but the idea is you put this sausage like pillow under your chin and wrap the cord around your arms whilst sitting in an easy chair....If you fall asleep, it keeps your chin from falling down onto your chest.

I couldn't resist making it in mini. Something different. If you want to make one, the instructions are in the text. Just change the measurements to 1 1/2" square and three inches for the cord. I allow extra on the cord length and adjust according to the person that is going to use it.

Of course, as soon as Tessie saw it, she had to have it....Then proceeded to complain loudly that....."It's very uncomfortable, impractical and how am I supposed to get any sleep in this position?"

I didn't even bother to answer her. I shoved the instructions under her nose and left.

As far as I know, she is still sitting there either trying to get out of the contraption or taking a nap....

Meanwhile, I converted another pattern for a netted mat to a rug pattern in mini. I left it two colors, but you could change the colors by doing the petals on the motifs two different colors for the two different motifs. The dots around the motifs could be a different color. Just be sure to keep consistency in the pattern. If you do a different color in one part do it in all and you will have a pretty rug. I purposely didn't put in a background color. You can use any color you want, so it will match the room that you put it in.

Poke the photo and it will come up larger if you want to print it out.

BTW, the center pattern is off by one stitch to the side. It seems that the original designer didn't allow for the odd number of stitches in the outer band and the even number in the patterned interior. I left it that way. I kind of liked the idea that it didn't seem to bother them that the stitch count was different.

I Left it simple. You can fancy it up as you stitch. I may just have to go see what happens with it for me.

See you tomorrow.

The Latest in 1943

I decided to play a little with a couple of the magazines from 1943. The top Better Homes and Gardens is my favorite. I love this living room on the front cover and I could probably move right in.....With a few changes.

This is the back that I was telling you about yesterday. Claudette Colbert, Veronica Lake and Paulette Goddard all endorsing Chesterfields!

Notice that they are dressed in uniforms and only holding the packages....No smoking allowed. I think that this was so that all of the armed forces would go for the cigarettes. Just a theory.

I didn't size the magazines because they would turn out different on each computer. You can grab them and put them in a program that will do that for you. I just use a greeting card program. Everyone has their favorite way of doing this. The magazines were 10" by 12 1/2".

This second one has the infamous Stuffed spam on the back. If I did this right, you can probably just cut it down to size and fold it in the middle with a few pages of copy paper in the middle.

Both of these magazines are full of wartime references and tips on how to not use metal that was needed for the troops. There is a lot about victory gardens. As you can see, the girl on the cover of this one has just picked every fresh vegetable that she could get her hands on. No Spam for her!

Here are inside spreads from each of the above magazines. I thought that it might be fun to have a magazine laying open on the table somewhere.

I realize that you can't read what is on the pages, but I have to tell you about the top one.....It is predictions of how things are going to be in the future.

For instance, did you know that by now we should be getting our milk in a package of cubes? Yup. And I quote. "The cubes, now being experimented with, are dry, wrapped, and can be kept for several weeks in the refrigerator. Drop a cube in a glass of water and there's your milk--fresh, whole milk again, without that condensed milk taste of milk from cans." It must not have worked as well as they thought it would.........

The bottom one is "We did it ourselves on So Little!" This part still hasn't changed. Decorating on a shoestring....

The last page that I wanted to show you was this one. Remember the pages that all B H and G magazines had in them for years? These could be cut out and put into their five ringed cookbook as supplementary pages.

I re sized it to 1 1//2" by 1" That gave me two pages that were 9" by 12" in mini.

I didn't cut them apart. I simply bent them in the middle. and cut several more sheets of paper the same size. I pierced the holes where the rings would go with a pin to get them started. Then I used silver metallic thread to make a 3 ringed binder. To lazy for five. You could do notebooks the same way with plain paper.

Next I glued the back pages to a piece of red card stock, leaving the rest loose.

I cut around it about 1/16" from the edge of the pages. There you have it. An open cookbook for Tessie. Poke the photo for a better view.

She happened to be sitting on the cover of the first magazine, when I noticed the red and white chair. Hey! They almost copied my black and white chairs. About the only difference is the shape of the back and the skirt is gathered instead of straight.

"No Tessie, don't look down! You will get all dizzy!" I wonder if that will keep her from noticing the chairs and wanting new ones.....

I think that she is to intrigued with the spam recipes to notice the chair. Now she is hassling me about going to the grocery store to find some spam so that she cane cook the yummy new recipes.....

See you tomorrow.

Inception.....The Dollhouse....

I realize that most people don't get excited about seeing a dollhouse in the middle of a movie like "Inception", but there was one! It was a really nice house until they opened it up to show the inside. Where the dining room would normally be, there was a small safe....The rest of the house was unfurnished. I won't tell you what they were keeping in the safe. It might ruin the plot for you. I will say that it wasn't dining room furniture in miniature.....

That is my excuse for being late with the entry today. We met up with April and she brought back some 1960s magazines that I had loaned her. They are great for getting ideas for the townhouse. I am going to shrink them down and when I do, I will put them on the blog so that you can have your very own copies.

I also have a few magazines from the 1940s that I plan to shrink also. The back covers are just as interesting as the front ones.

We have a recipe for "Stuffed Spam". Much better than turkey! The other ones have an ad for whiskey, a chiffon cake mix and last but not least, a Chesterfield Cigarette add with movie stars smoking.....All women! How times have changed!

Since I am on the subject and have no new minis to write about, I thought that I would go back another hundred years and show you my 1860s Peterson's Magazine for Women collection. These are probably the most interesting of all. I bought three years worth when I was in college and later a friend gave me a fourth one because she was allergic to the stuff that collects on old paper....They made her wheeze every time she tried to read them!

Each year was bound for safekeeping. Unfortunately, they were not safely kept and are somewhat dog eared. They do still have their hand colored prints, one a month, of the latest fashions. There are recipes for everything from cake to boot black and home remedies galore.

There are short stories, craft instruction and even dress patterns that had to be enlarged by hand. Every once in a while, I enjoy just sitting down and reading about what was happening back then. I might just have to print out a recipe or two and a household hint every now and again for you to see.

Tessie insists that she had a dress exactly like the green one in the plate opposite from her......After she announced the other day that she was one of the survivors of the Salem witch trials, I don't question her. If she says she had a green dress, I believe she had a green dress.

Since I am so late, I think that I will give up for today and come back tomorrow with no excuses and something that is actually pertinent to miniatures.

See you then.