My old lunch bag made of oilcloth (a kind of lightweight vinyl) served me well for about a year, but even good things must come to an end!  In this case, oil from my hands disintegrated the vinyl grips, while occasional heavy lunches took out the bottom corners.  So I came home from work one day, shook my head, and pulled it apart to make a new one! 

An upcoming murder-mystery dinner, set in the year 1919, offers me an opportunity to pursue several desirable ends, viz. to dress my friend, to use up some stash, and to practice draping! 

Dressing my friend is like dressing my sister... when I care about someone, I want to dress them!  I think of Proverbs 31: 21: "When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet."  "Scarlet" is not a reference to color in this verse, but to the fine woolen cloth called scarlet in the Middle Ages, which was often dyed scarlet in color, but not necessarily.  So the Proverbs 31 woman isn't just dressing her family in red, she's dressing her family warmly as a sign of her love and a product of her industry.  Wrapping people in nice clothes is such a potent signifier, isn't it? 

Of course, if I can also use up some of my stash and reclaim my room, all the better!  And I do need practice draping clothes on a dress form. 

One day I looked at my undergarments and said to myself, "Self," says I, "I need a new petticoat...!"  

I have several serviceable slips, one crinoline, and a vintage nylon petticoat, already.  The vintage one is a joy to wear, a soft apricot color with a delightful froth of ruffles around my knees, but it's also torn and mended in many places, and is too long for a lot of my skirts.  (Luckily, I know how to make it work.)  The crinoline does its job, but without the lovely ruffles and softness I like.  What's needed is something like the vintage one, but shorter, to wear with my shorter skirts.  And I do have a stash that needs busting! 

So I dig around in my whites and pull out some white sheer curtain fabric, white lace from a wedding gown skirt, and white nylon tricot from an old nightgown.