Behind the Curtain

The Petting Green, and others

Image from Gatochy's Flickr

A long while ago I did a post on 1920s slang (which I unfortunately cannot located at the moment); in doing some research for a current project I found yet another list of "flapper slang." This list has a few new-to-me words, so I decided to make a little list of my favorites. Some I put on this list because I've heard them in old movies or read them in pulp books and had no idea what they meant at the time. Others just made me laugh. The ones with asterisks are bits of slang I especially like and am going to try to work into daily conversation for shits and giggles.

all wet: incorrect
And how!: I strongly agree!
apple sauce: flattery, nonsense, i.e.. "Aw, applesauce!"
*baby grand: heavily built man
bearcat: a hot-blooded or fiery girl
breezer (1925): a convertable car
busthead: homemade liquor
bushwa: a euphemism for "bullshit"
cake-eater: a lady's man
Chicago typewriter: Thompson submachine gun
*choice bit of calico: attractive female; student
chunk of lead: an unnattractive female; student
*coffin varnish: bootleg liquor, often poisonous
drugstore cowboy: a well-dressed man who loiters in public areas trying to pick up women
eel's hips: teriffic
*fire extinguisher: a chaperone
*get a wiggle on: get a move on, get going
get in a lather: get worked up, angry
glad rags: "going out on the town" clothes
handcuff: engagement ring
horse linament: bootleg liquor
insured: engaged
iron one’s shoelaces: to go to the restroom
ish kabibble (1925): a retort meaning "I should care," from the name of a musician in the Kay Kayser Orchestra
let George do it: a work evading phrase
*munitions: face powder
on a toot: a drinking binge
*petting pantry: movie theater
rain pitchforks: a downpour
stilts: legs
trip for biscuits: wild goose chase
water-proof: a face that doesn't require make-up

This tiny list was complied from the long list here.

Last Bits of Summer

Image from Death & Texas

I'm trying to savor the very last bits we have left of summer. The way I'm doing this is riding my bike as much as I can. This weekend we are going to take the bike path through the forest preserves over to Garfield Park Conservatory and having a picnic. This got me thinking about bike paraphernalia to which I headed over to Etsy and found this very awesome handlebar bag. Not only is it made from lovely striped fabric (my weakness) it also comes with an attachable strap so you can turn it into a purse once you get to your destination. Now how cool is that? The shop also makes a cool belt holster for ULocks.

Other shops on Etsy that offer bags for your bike include:
Hambone Designs
Boneshaker Bags
Bike Burrito (a great take on the bike tool roll)
Beatrice Holiday

Enjoy your weekend!

FDR Memorial & Fireside Chats

While in DC last week I stopped by one of my favorite monuments, the FDR Memorial. One of my friends was a little confused why I went out of my way to see a statue; well, it is not just a statue, but a large open air structure. The memorial consists of four "rooms," each one representing one of FDR's terms. There are a few statues (as seen above) installed within these "rooms," but the dominant theme in this memorial is water. The type of waterfalls or the use of still water in each "room" reflects key moments of his presidency. For example, WWII is represented with fast waterfalls that smash into each other at odd angles. I think the water features are what clinches this memorial as one of my favorites. My other favorite DC monument is the WWII memorial, which also uses water, so go figure. If you haven't seen any of these memorials, you should definitely make the time if you are in DC.

From the historical aspect, FDR is my favorite president. It helps that his presidency spans the eras that I am particularly interested in (30s/40s), but his presidential reach spans into mediums I love, such at the radio and poster art, with the WPA and his fireside chats, respectively. If you are interested in FDR's utilization of the new technology of the radio, listen to his first fireside chat on archive.org from 1933, regarding the banks. You can also read the transcripts of all 30 of FDR's fireside chats here.

I've been meaning to read some more books about FDR and the New Deal, but my reading list is quite long, as I'm sure everyone's is! There are two books in particular that I have on the reading list on this topic: Rethinking the Great Depression and The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940. Has anyone read these books or can perhaps recommend books on these topics?

Medieval Helpdesk

One of my professors showed me this and I nearly died laughing. How IT was when the book was first launched...


This has English subtitles, if too small to read here, view on You Tube.

Looking into the Past

Image © Jason Powell

Have you seen this awesome series by Jason Powell called Looking into the Past? Well, if you haven't, you really should take a look. And while you are at it, check out the Flickr group dedicated to this theme.

Tutorials, for your Pleasure

I've been in a little of a crafting slump, so here are some tutorials from some productive crafters to get you (and perhaps me) inspired.

Honeycomb smocking/pleating how-to, from Tumbling Blocks
Chronically Vintage does a line-up of vintage related You-Tube channels worth following
How to do rag curls from Vintage Vixen
Travel Doodle Bag from The Long Thread
Wine Cork Stamp (with link to how to make stamps), from Zakka Life
Stitched Cork Coasters, from Crafting a Green World
Bloomers from sheets, from Bitter Betty
Spring Ruffle Top Tutorial, from Sew Mama, Sew
Pom Pom Peds (Knitting) from Purl Bee
Reversible Headband from The Long Thread

WWII Posters for Today

I am loving these revamped WPA posters from The Victory Garden of Tomorrow. Original 1940s poster on left, VGT's revamp version on the right. See more posters and purchase at their Etsy shop.

Flickr Favorites

1. scotch egg, 2. Untitled, 3. 19 jardin public, 4. "Save What You Have" Book 1944, 5. Cutting the pies and cakes at the barbeque dinner, Pie Town, New Mexico Fair (LOC), 6. Beautiful door (Open Air Museum Detmold), 7. The result, 8. plage3, 9. School children singing, Pie Town, New Mexico (LOC), 10. 12 une rue, 11. Untitled, 12. 1950s Living Room - Heywood Wakefield

Randomness

Random links for your pleasure.

• I so want to make some of these Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites
• Girls Gone by Publishers: Offering reproductions of out-of-print vintage girls books
• If you like the above link, check out some scans from the vintage magazine, School Girl's Weekly.
• Elegant Musings has a new tutorial on making a 1920s chemise top.
• If I owned a home I would get a refurbished antique stove from this place.
• A freakin' delicious looking recipe for Cheesecake from Bakerella.
• How to build an "instant deck," from Door Sixteen
• Checkerboard Lace Scarf pattern from Purl Bee.
• Awesome pen work from Kosuke Ikeda
• Double knit belt pattern from Purl Bee
• Some really awesome vintage-inspired exhaust fans for the home

Three Generations

 

While I was visiting my grandparents last month, my grandmother got me working on a sewing project for her. She had these two needlepoint works that my great-grandmother made many moons ago that my grandmother wanted to turn into table runners. A few trips to the fabric store and a couple days later, we completed two fancy tasseled table runners.

We decided to go with velvet for the side and back fabric. My grandmother liked the idea of having a border between the needlepoint and velvet, so we got some border rope with a cheater edge for sewing from the interior/home fabrics department. (You can see the type of rope material I'm talking about in the right picture.) Both projects took my grandmother's hand sewing skills along with my geometry and machine sewing skills. It was a lot of fun and we are both happy with how the runners turned out. I wish I could give you a tutorial or tips on how and what we did, but the entire process was us figuring it out ourselves and learning from our mistakes. I haven't sewn in a while, so it was nice to get back to it. Now I just need to sop being so busy so I can start sewing for myself again!