HISTORY: Preserved

I'm excited to have finished another historical sewing challenge! I finished this one in July in time for my best friend Mairi's birthday present. She had embroidered these lovely 18th century pockets for myself, my daughter, and done an adorable initials patch for my son's 18th century shirt as Christmas gifts, so I wanted to make something for her in return! She didn't have a housewif, so it was the perfect gift idea! A housewif is a foldable or rollable traveling sewing kit. It's small, so it's easy to stuff in your pocket, and from what I've learned, many women in those times also used them as coin/money purses.

I had a lot of fun selecting the fabrics for this. I only had two options in my stash that I felt would work, so gosh dang it, I had to go get some more! haha! The one from my stash that I used for the outside of the housewif was one I found at my favorite fabric shop - Needle & Thread in Gettysburg, PA. It's a print taken from the Wint…

Are you a breakfast person? I know some people aren't. I love breakfast and have a weird fascination with it. I hoard breakfast recipes, and yet what do we usually have for breakfast? Eggs or cereal. *sigh*

I was excited to come across this wonderful 1941 cookbook featuring the famous singer, Kate Smith. This entire cook book is an advertisement for Post brand foods, and Grape Nuts have a starring presence in many of the recipes. I plan on trying a few of them soon! In the book, Ms. Smith talks a lot about the benefits of eating enough fiber as in this example below:


I had some blueberries languishing in the back of my fridge (what is wrong with my family??) and knew I had to use them soon. So, when I saw this recipe for Blueberry Cake, I thought it was the perfect use for my sad blueberries!

It was a simple recipe with easy ingredients, and it went together much like a coffee cake - where you alternately add the flour and milk to the creamed sugar mixture until you have a rich, …