The Official Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES) website (which doesn't tell you much unless you're a logged-in participant, grr)
The GISHWHES Wiki (which explains a little more)


Lucky Seven: Things to remember that can help find your way to ghost hunting in Scotland!

1. Safety. There's a way to scavenge all of these items safely AND legally.
2. Commandments. Read the Commandments. Yes, again. And maybe one more time. Also, we may add or remove items and change the rules on you mid-hunt. So it is your responsibility to check the "Updates" page daily.
3. Submission Quality. Submit the best quality photos and videos. This year, our judges have been authorized to assign up to 50% more points for superior submissions. That means if you execute a 50-point item with exceptional care and thought, you could walk away with 75 points. So think about focus, lighting, background props, etc. If the picture is riveting, the judges will likely be riveted, and, well, you do the math.
4. Interpretation. Submit exactly what is asked for, not your reinterpretation of it. If we ask for a camel in the picture we don't want a drawing of a camel, or an inflatable camel. We want a real, hairy, spitting humped beast.
5. Creative Scavenging. Be creative on how you get props and materials for your items. Last year's participants proved you don't have to buy stuff. They used friends, neighbors, donations and communities. They were also surprised how complete strangers thoroughly enjoyed helping them complete items. Throw "Item Parties" and have people bring what you need. You can win cheaply simply by being clever, borrowing or begging.
6. Courage. Be courageous. You don't need money or talent to win this. All of these items can be completed simply by having the courage to ask someone. Between the 15 of you, someone somewhere has what you need or can help you get it.
7. Do it. Have fun, make friends, push your boundaries and mud wrestle with your creative side.

There are a number of items below that have the word "Hurricane" in front of them. Although they can be completed by anyone, they are designed to be completed by people who might be home-bound with no electricity for the next few days because of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast in the US. Please note, if the power outages are prolonged, we may extend the deadline for these items (and perhaps all others) past the end of the hunt. Remember, if you're on the East Coast and your authorities have told you to stay inside, FOLLOW THEIR DIRECTIONS! Do NOT go outside. Be safe and good luck!

ALL of the Items below should either be captured as "images" (which are photographs) or "videos". You should only use IMGUR, VIMEO and YOUTUBE. IMPORTANT - Unless otherwise specified, ALL VIDEOS must be 30 seconds or less!

1. We are going to attempt to shatter the Guinness World Record for the "Most Pledges to Commit a Random Act of Kindness." The current record is 74,379 pledges held by Guinness Breweries. Let's take the throne! Your team must collect "pledges" from individuals pledging to do a Random Act. Click here and follow instructions. (You get 1 point for every 2 pledges - up to 350 points maximum (700 pledges per Team). But we expect you to exceed this because this isn't all about points. Is it?) - 0 points
2. [IMAGE] A four-post, queen-sized bed with headboard and footboard. On the bed: a sleeping person. Over the person: A comforter. Under the person's head: A pillow. Bed, person, comforter and pillow must all be situated in a Wal-Mart parking lot. - 62 points
3. [IMAGE] A storm trooper in full costume including leggings (not just the mask!) cleaning a pool. We must see someone lounging in a swimsuit holding a cocktail nearby. - 78 points
4. [IMAGE] Help someone who has been injured or whose home has been damaged by hurricane Sandy. - 60 points
5. [IMAGE] Let's see what Twister would look like with 13 people. Each person must be wearing only one color of clothing, i.e. all yellow, or all red and no two people can be wearing the same color clothing. - 56 points
6. [IMAGE] Hurrican Item - If your child were a prodigy artist and had a marker and you were deep asleep and they were inspired to "beautify" your face, what would the result be? - 8 points
7. [IMAGE] 3 adults and a dog sitting on chairs around a table in a public library. The humans are reading Dr. Seuss books. The dog is wearing prescription eyeglasses and reading Kant. - 23 points
8. [IMAGE] Ever seen the movie "The Hangover"? Let's see the aftermath of the most debaucherous party ever. Photo must be taken at the home of a team member's parents. - 38 points
9. [IMAGE] Using a Zamboni and dyes, draw a giant frowny face on an ice-skating rink. - 72 points
10. [IMAGE] Find an object that was manufactured the day and year you were born in city or town of your birth. Prove it. (Note: the "object" in question cannot be you or your twin.) - 34 points
11. [IMAGE] Submit a "Freedom of Information Act" request for your personal files. - 5 points
12. [IMAGE] Creatively edit the Wikipedia entry for Jared Padelecki to seamlessly include your team name and some mention of his abiding admiration of Misha Collins. - 6 points
13. [IMAGE] An op-ed piece published in a local paper about how "petty, vindictive birds are stealing from the elderly!" - 23 points
14. [IMAGE] A person in a business suit with a leather briefcase jumping into leaf pile. - 18 points
15. [IMAGE] Five parking tickets made out to the same license plate on the same day in the same municipality. - 66 points
16. [IMAGE] Knit a scarf that is at least 12 feet long and is being worn by 3 people at one time. - 32 points
17. [IMAGE] Thread the stem of an actual, still-green, four-leafed clover through the hole of a nose piercing. - 12 points
18. [IMAGE] You and 8 of your friends standing outside the Copenhagen City Hall. One of you, smiling, is holding a large sign that says: "Denmark - ranked 2012 'World's Happiest Country!'" Everyone else in the photo must be either pissed off or crying. Mascara must be running. - 18 points
19. [IMAGE] A uniformed Burger King employee enjoying a McDonald's Happy Meal. - 33 points
20. [IMAGE] Get a tour of a sauerkraut factory. Photo must depict at least 50 gallons of uncanned sauerkraut and a team member wearing a single sequenced glove. - 63 points
21. [IMAGE] The inside of an ICBM missile silo decorated for Halloween. Remember, it must be a real ICBM silo to qualify. "Interpretation" will dock points from your team... unless it's really good! - 190 points
22. [IMAGE] We've all heard of a "flea circus". What do "flea strip clubs" look like? - 28 points
23. [IMAGE] A GISHWHES counter-rally at an Obama or Romney campaign stop. Must include at least 5 people with large picket signs. - 54 points
24. [IMAGE] The president, king, chancellor, premiere or prime minister of a nation modeling a brazier. - 141 points
25. [IMAGE] Calendar item: A photo of a scantily clad fireman (or firemen) whose skimpy attire is made entirely from kale. Model must be posing in front of a fire truck. Bonus points if, behind him, water is shooting up into the air from a hose or hydrant. - 71 points
26. [IMAGE] Proof that a team member's family tree leads to Genghis Khan. - 24 points
27. [IMAGE] A photo of someone using one of those ancient 1800s cameras -- you know the ones with the wooden tripod and the black cloth -- taking a photo of a commodore 64 computer that's resting on a wooden stool. - 49 points
28. [IMAGE] A live monkey or ape wearing a sock monkey hat while trying to extract burnt toast from a toaster. - 82 points
29. [IMAGE] Have a romantic dinner with a marionette puppet at a 2- or 3-star Michelin restaurant. A puppeteer clad in black must control the marionette. The puppeteer must not eat. - 86 points
30. [IMAGE] Show up at Second Beach in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada on November 4th at noon with 500 popsicle sticks, a spool of sewing thread and quick-drying glue. - 90 points
31. [IMAGE] Unionize GISHWHES. - 38 points
32. [IMAGE] Fifteen children in Halloween costumes each holding up a sign with a different letter that, combined, say "GISHWHES or Treat" - 19 points
33. [IMAGE] Get your team name and "GISHWHES" on a billboard. Must include commercial-looking graphics, and must be at least 100 square feet on an actual, commercial billboard. - 131 points
34. [IMAGE] Calendar item: Wear cheese and wear it well. You cannot be wearing anything but cheese. You may use any type of cheese you wish. Supermodel it posed next to or on a classic car (a classic car is any car that predates 1980.) - 98 points
35. [IMAGE] Draw or paint a portrait of Misha Collins and the Queen of England, both dressed in Steampunk, riding on a single stallion. - 28 points
36. [IMAGE] Hug a uniformed Veteran. - 42 points
37. [IMAGE] A screen cap of a chat thread on Misha Collins' IMDB page. The thread must be started by a user with your team's name and must pose an unusual question about Misha's personal life, such as, "Is it true that Misha Collins eats nothing but the hearts of human babies?" Or "Why doesn't Misha have any fingers?" - 14 points
38. [IMAGE] A Hell's Angels (or at least a tough & leathered biker) with an authentic Teletubby tattoo. - 69 points
39. [IMAGE] You and 3 of your friends/family dressed like Egyptians in a chariot on the steps of the Wellington Monument in Dublin. - 71 points
40. [IMAGE] Create a portrait of Jensen Ackles entirely out of skittles doing his pouty "Blue Steel" look. Must be AT LEAST 2 feet by 2 feet. - 38 points
41. [IMAGE] A real full-sized commercial Blimp or hot-air balloon, in the air, that's been completely covered in brightly colored autumn maple leaves. - 299 points
42. [IMAGE] There is a quote on a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of a bench overlooking the bay in Sausalito. Find it and follow directions. If the paper disappears the points will be deducted from the last team to submit a link. - 32 points
43. [IMAGE] Go to the Grimm Brother's statue with 10 of your friends and dress up and pose as a "Fairy Tale gone bad!" - 29 points
44. [IMAGE] What happens when you roast Barbie and Ken (in an embrace) with an assortment of root vegetables? You will be penalized if you eat the roasted vegetables. You also will probably die as they will be toxic from the roasted plastic. - 19 points
45. [IMAGE] Let's see your team displayed like the "Brady Bunch" opening credits except there are 3 rows of 5 pictures (versus the 3X3 we know from the "Brady Bunch" opening credits points). The submission must be 1 image with the 15 frames in it. Each of you must be wearing 70s attire and must look VERY emotionally unbalanced. - 15 points
46. [IMAGE] Your head in a sock monkey hat mounted like a hunting trophy on a wall next to a taxidermy moose head. - 113 points
47. [IMAGE] It's time to get organized! Create a filing system for chickens in a chicken coup. - 52 points
48. [IMAGE] What do you look like sleeping? What does a close-up of your child smiling in your kitchen look like? What would a cake look like if your child made it with no help from you? And what would your child's face look like if he or she could eat the cake while you're still sleeping? MUST SUBMIT AS ONE PICTURE with the four images edited together in progression side-by-side. - 31 points
49. [IMAGE] Build a teahouse under a bridge from recycled materials. Have a cup of tea in it. - 73 points
50. [IMAGE] Belgium is known for its beer. Go to A La Becasse Brewery and hold up a GISHWHES labeled beer.
61 pointsSubmit
51. [IMAGE] How long was Miss Jean Louis's "kale binge"? One might find the answer on one of our social media platforms. - 29 points
52. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Build a real igloo-doghouse in the snow. Dog must be visible in the doorway. GISHWHES must be written in food coloring on the doghouse. - 58 points
53. [IMAGE] Carve a Jill O'Lantern! Carve a pumpkin to look like a feminized Misha Collins. Bonus points for realism. - 61 points
54. [IMAGE] Elmo Gone Wrong. What would a Tickle-Me-Elmo look like if it had a serious crystal meth problem? - 31 points
55. [IMAGE] A man in a chicken suit in the pilot seat of a commercial jet. - 132 points
56. [IMAGE] Drop a school bus (may be a toy bus) into red, molten lava from an active volcano. - 145 points
57. [IMAGE] Create a public chalk art piece diagramming Kant's categorical imperative. - 19 points
58. [IMAGE] You and your friend at a children's hospital giving a sock or real puppet show. - 48 points
59. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Knit a "GISHWHES" vest for a cat with matching booties. - 43 points
60. [IMAGE] Sign and have notarized (or equivalent of notarized in your country) an affidavit vowing never to build raised garden boxes within the city limits of South Pasadena. - 34 points
61. [IMAGE] What would you and your friend look like if you were a human-sized burrito and taco standing side by side? - 57 points
62. [IMAGE] Build a model of the death scene of Galois in miniature out of legumes. - 43 points
63. [IMAGE] 5 uniformed postal workers hula hooping in front of a post office. - 108 points
64. [IMAGE] Attend a professional soccer (a.k.a. "football" everywhere but North America) game dressed in a US football uniform. Pads, helmet, cleats, etc. - 72 points
65. [IMAGE] Create a 2 foot-high dinosaur out of sanitary napkins. - 50 points
66. [IMAGE] Skydive while holding up a sign that imbeds, "GISHWHES" in a phrase. For example, your sign could say, "Lose your dignity -- join GISHWHES." Or "GISHWHES made me do it." - 168 points
67. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Find prime factorization for RSA-210. - 120 points
68. [IMAGE] There is a quote on a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of a bench in front of a massive LCD screen in Wuhan, China. Find it and follow directions. If the note disappears the points will be deducted from the last team to the last team to submit a link to an image. - 52 points
69. [IMAGE] You and a friend must take at least 50 of your stuffed animals/dolls on a field trip to a grocery store. All of the stuffed animals/dolls must EITHER be attached to your clothing or in a grocery cart or both. - 63 points
70. [IMAGE] Recreate the snake's seduction of Eve at a bus stop. Fig leaf, apple, snake, etc. - 41 points
71. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Sculpt your hair with gel, wires, tape, ornaments, animals, and whatever else into what someone would undoubtedly have to classify as the Most Epic Hair Hat the World Has Ever Seen (MEHHWHES) - 29 points
72. [IMAGE] A Yoga class in a yoga studio with at least 10 participants doing the same pose. Unlike everyone else, however, you must be wearing full skiwear including ski boots, skis, hat and goggles. - 56 points
73. [IMAGE] Break your own world record. - 20 points
74. [IMAGE] A bookstore on the Left Bank declares "Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise." Stand in front of this Parisian landmark dressed as an angel holding up a sign saying, "Don't touch me." - 64 points
75. [IMAGE] You handing coats you've collected from your closet, friends and neighbors to a local shelter. - 70 points
76. [IMAGE] Make a gorgeous wig out of cheese puffs and/or popcorn. Go shopping for diamonds wearing it. The image must show you in the wig, at the jewelry display case, talking to the sales agent, as you browse the diamonds. - 77 points
77. [IMAGE] If your team could give the entire world one piece of advice, what would it be? Have one a team member hold a sign bearing the statement over their head in front of an internationally recognizable landmark. - 38 points
78. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - A one-page GISHWHES comic strip involving a rhinoceros, a tangerine, and an appendectomy. - 33 points
79. [IMAGE] Rio is the location for the next summer Olympics. In front of the Christ the Redeemer statue, you and 6 of your friends must all be dressed in different Olympian athlete event costumes, and each of you must have at least one piece of equipment (bow and arrow, javelin, pole vault, discus, paddle, puck, etc.) and must be posing as if you were competing in the sport. You may NOT choose tennis, cycling, golf, basketball or football/soccer. If you choose equestrian as one of them, we must see the horse. - 68 points
80. [IMAGE] You posing with a "spaghetti gun" and wearing a woven "spaghetti-hunting jacket". Spaghetti may be cooked or uncooked. - 42 points
81. [IMAGE] We want to see what the inside of Area 51's most secret storage room looks like. - 42 points
82. [IMAGE] Let's see you make a snow angel. But instead of making it from snow, make it from Jello on your kitchen floor (Inspired by Nin Pipariperho) - 19 points
83. [IMAGE] You holding a picture of you holding a picture of you holding a picture of you holding a picture of you holding a picture of an apple. You must have a gold frame suspended around your head. (Inspired by nakedontheimpalacoveredinbees) - 33 points
84. [IMAGE] Stand next to a REAL Olympic gold or silver medal winner. They must have their arms upraised in victory but you must be biting on the medal while it's around their neck. Must include medal winner's name in the photo (Inspired by Paige Barton) - 98 points
85. [IMAGE] Cultural exchange: Have dinner with a Sunni and a Shiite or a Hutu and a Tutsi. - 64 points
86. [IMAGE] A Bejeweled Bosom covered with nothing but jewels (Inspired by Erin Leigh Winchester) - 36 points
87. [IMAGE] Catch the Snipe and show us what it looks like in oil paint. (Inspired by Obadiah Kliest) - 17 points
88. [IMAGE] The Maryann Elizabeth Voisinet. Write a 10-line epically beautiful brilliant love poem addressed to "My Dearest Maryann Elizabeth Voisinet". In addition to whatever else you put in the poem, include something about how much you like her cooking. The poem should be from your team name. Take a picture of the poem and submit the link here. YOU MUST ALSO mail the love poem to her with a small dried flower to PO BOX 99185, Raleigh, NC USA 27624. It must reach her by November 15th so we can confirm it was sent. - 20 points
89. [IMAGE] A priest, a rabbi and a minister all walk into a bar. (Inspired by Miss Alexandra Roberts) - 27 points
90. [IMAGE] High Tea - a formal tea party replete with parasols, silverware and a string quartet situated in a junkyard or garbage dump. - 56 points
91. [IMAGE] Table a motion - 18 pointsSubmit
92. [IMAGE] A schlemiel and a schlemazl sharing a schmear of schmaltz and getting shickered outside of a shul. (From Nicole Ansell) - 19 points
93. [IMAGE] Using only items found around you (either at work, home, or school), construct a vehicle capable of adventure and mayhem! Vehicle must be transporting a crew of three or more in full battle gear! (From Kat Green) - 56 points
94. [IMAGE] Paint a large unicorn on a military transport truck. You MUST have permission to do so. - 114 points
95. [IMAGE] Kilt made entirely of sliced cucumbers. Must be worn by a man. (From Xiomara Dilrosun) - 104 points
96. [IMAGE] In front of Hallgrimskirkja, you and a friend hold up two signs and two bags of ice. One sign says "Welcome to Iceland!" the other says "Keep your hands off our ice!" - 41 points
97. [IMAGE] Santa Clause in line at the post office with a SACK FULL OF TOYS. Must be at least 10 people in line with him. (From Sarah Charbonneau) - 32 points
98. [IMAGE] A dog taking a human for a walk. Human must be on all fours and have a collar around their neck and the dog must have the leash in his mouth. (From Michelle Rogatski) - 34 points
99. [VIDEO] Big wheel race time. 4 adults racing on plastic big wheels. They must all be wearing formal attire. - 38 points
100. [VIDEO] In mime, depict one of the following phrases: a) "The pen is mightier than the sword." b) "You're the bees knees!" c) "Holkyn kolkyn!" (Inspired by Ida Tamminen) - 32 points
101. [VIDEO] A couple who has been together for over 60 years sitting on a couch sharing their secrets to a happy and lasting partnership. They must say what city and country they're living in at the beginning of the video. (Up to 60 SECONDS) - 99 points
102. [VIDEO] Jog in real "Pumpkin shoes" (you may substitute any squash or gourd), wearing jogging shorts and headphones down a busy sidewalk. - 50 points
103. [VIDEO] Two three-year-olds wearing suits and ties standing at a lectern explaining the Greek debt crisis to the camera. - 28 points
104. [VIDEO] The "Lydia Easter": Recreate a scene from your favorite movie. Hold on, not so fast! You must film this scene in the EXACT SAME LOCATION that it was filmed in the movie (same bus stop, restaurant, park, castle, shark's belly, etc.) The actors must be dressed the same, same props, etc. The more identical the scene the more points you will receive. Extra points for depicting a scene from one of Lydia's favorite movies: "Mao's Last Dancer" or any of the "Harry Potter" movies. (2 minutes) - 100 points
105. [VIDEO] The first meeting of an adopted child with their biological parent. We will know if this is staged with "actors". Don't lie -- bad karma is not a good thing. - 148 points
106. [VIDEO] Film a Random Act of Kindness and set it to music. (May be up to 90 seconds.) Must include voice over. Note: Your video will be automatically entered into the non-profit Random Acts' SAARA contest. If your video submission wins the contest, up to $3,000 will be donated to the charity of your choice! See this link for all details: http://www.therandomact.org/events/saara/ BE SURE TO SUBMIT THE VIDEO LINK ON THE GISHWHES WEBSITE, not the Random Acts website. We will allocate your GISHWHES points and forward your video to Random Acts. If your team wins the SAARA contest, your team will vote on which charity should receive the donation. If you can't come to a consensus on which charity to support, we'll do a blind drawing to select a winner. Good luck! - 121 points
107. [VIDEO] A man and a woman in full wedding attire, standing perfectly still holding hands in a well-lit crowded public space for 20 minutes. Neither of you can move. This submission must be time-lapsed so the entire 20 minutes is condensed to 20 seconds -- fast motion. - 79 points
108. [VIDEO] Wearing swim flippers and a mask, approach a complete stranger in a public space and then hand them a "seaweed bouquet" with one flower in the middle of it. - 82 points
109. [VIDEO] Ever seen this? http://www.upworthy.com/if-your-dad-did-this-you-are-probably-an-awesome-person?c=upw3 Let's do the same thing but edit together multiple kids under the age of 5 singing "It Sucks to Be Me" from the Avenue Q musical. They must be lying down getting ready to nap, playing with toys, painting or drawing or doing other kids things while they're singing. - 79 points
110. [VIDEO] Let's see your family dress and pose and create the "Worst Family Holiday Card Ever". Note: everyone must be holding a cucumber. If you use an image already on the Internet and try to "doctor" in the cucumbers your team will be docked 60 points. - 60 points
111. [VIDEO] Created a choreographed lip-synced dance performance to one of Jason Manns' or Rob Bennedict's (Louden Swain's) songs. Must be dynamic, must really tell a story, must involve costumes (and costume changes points) and must have a cast of at least 15. - 123 points
112. [VIDEO] A mechanical catapult that sends a pumpkin more than 100 feet across an open field. MUST be mechanical. - 284 points
113. [VIDEO] Three adult men with facial hair (ideally beards) wearing ballerina costumes, successfully trick-or-treating (getting candy) from an unsuspecting homeowner. (Note: we will be able to tell if the homeowner is actually surprised or not because we have Licensed Homeowner Surprise Analysts on staff.) - 49 points
114. [VIDEO] Give a psychic reading to a psychic with a crystal ball. - 40 points
115. [VIDEO] Three of you dress up like frogs and play "leapfrog" in your local Starbucks or chain coffee shop. We must see patrons and must hear "Ribbit!" each time you leap. - 31 points
116. [VIDEO] Get a full church choir (in a church!) to sing a 30 second remixed version of Willow Smit's "I whip my hair back and forth." But there's a catch: Unlike the original version, which is an assault on both the senses and humanity itself, this rendition actually has to be musical and moving. - 91 points
117. [VIDEO] Play "Duck Duck Goose" with real ducks and geese. - 38 points
118. [VIDEO] Create a video of a mock news show (realistic set) where you are at a desk and announce that GISHWHES has taken over the world and what that means for everyone. The more realistic the set/video the more points. - 92 points
119. [VIDEO] Recite "The Raven" to a crow. - 21 points
120. [VIDEO] Have a native speaker of Zigeuner say the following, "I was having trouble with my sex life until I joined GISHWHES. Now things are going great in bed." - 82 points
121. [VIDEO] A group of at least 8 people wearing newspaper hats, performing the Haka in a government building. (Inspired by Yeal Rosen) - 33 points
122. [VIDEO] Dress in a homemade GISHWHES cheerleader outfit and stand outside a metro station or office building and cheer people on going in to work. (From Deby G) - 30 points
123. [VIDEO] Build an abacus from human beings. Use it to calculate something for a passerby. - 77 points
124. [VIDEO] Shoot an erotically charged scene. (No nudity! This is just the erotically charged foreplay). The film must involve a pizza man and the actors can ONLY talk about grammar and fonts. Please use at least three of the following terms, "kerning,""serif,""gerund,""participle," and "imperfective." - 69 points
125. [VIDEO] Have an octogenarian teach you how to do the Charleston. - 53 points
126. [VIDEO] Get an orchestra in a symphony hall with at least 25 instruments to play "Carry On My Wayward Son". - 225 points
127. [VIDEO] You in a flight attendant uniform, on a public transit system (that is NOT an airplane). Once the passengers are seated, give a full safety demonstration. Use props and carefully choreographed gestures. (Inspired by Cherylyn Crill-Hornsby) - 75 points
128. [VIDEO] Get His Serene Highness Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein to endorse your team. - 132 points
129. [VIDEO] One of you pulling up to a fast food restaurant drive-thru to order a meal, but instead of ordering a meal, you are only allowed to make sheep noises into the intercom. Must clearly hear the person on the other end of the intercom. (From Mel Clark-Schwartz) - 19 points
130. [VIDEO] Get your (1) team name or a team member's full name and (2) GISHWHES mentioned on a broadcast television news program. - 153 points
131. [VIDEO] Recode a version of the original Pac Man so that the ghosts are now unicorns and Pac Man is the face of George Bush. Then play a game. - 111 points
132. [VIDEO] A rocking horse wearing a sock monkey hat skiing off a regulation-sized ski-jump. (No passengers allowed!) - 123 points
133. [VIDEO] A woman wearing traditional shaker attire playing "Dance Dance Revolution". - 52 points
134. [VIDEO] Create a petition to declare P does NOT equal NP and get strangers on the street to sign it. Must include a convincing pitch about the dangers of P=NP. - 23 points
135. [VIDEO] A man wearing traditional mariachi attire playing "Guitar Hero". - 51 points
136. [VIDEO] March to a different drummer. 10 people in a busy, indoor shopping mall must be marching in sync to the beat of a snare drum being played loudly by an 11th person. Another person must be marching nearby to a distinctly different beat played by a second drummer. - 63 points
137. [VIDEO] A rock band performing in front of an audience of at least 1000 people. They must say at the microphone, "This next one is a new song. We've never played it in front of a live audience before. It's going to be the first song on our next album and we hope you love it..." And then they must sing the song "Three Blind Mice" in rounds. - 280 points
138. [VIDEO] A woman, in a clean empty room, sitting in lotus position in the middle of at least five live snakes. She must be rubbing oil onto her arms from a silver bowl and clearly be enjoying it. The more snakes the more points. They must be real snakes. If they're not, points will be deducted from your team. Go for the best photo/video quality. - 220 points
139. [VIDEO] It's Halloween! Carve GISHWHES into a pumpkin. Wait for nightfall. Have a child with a flashlight hide inside the pumpkin pop out and scream "GISHWHES." Hint: must be an enormous pumpkin for a child to fit in it. - 80 points
140. [VIDEO] A stop-motion film depicting the two by two loading of Noah's arc and the ensuing flood. - 99 points
141. [VIDEO] Watch the TV show Supernatural on a black and white TV set powered by an antique stream-fed wooden watermill. Your video must be a continuous, unedited shot that starts showing us the water going into the water-wheel then moves to show the belts powering a generator, which in turn powers the TV. - 287 points
142. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Pun item: It's called "Hurricane Sandy" for a reason. Show us why. - 18 points
143. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Local news coverage of a very sweet and heroic act that your team perpetrated in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Must mention GISHWHES or your team name or at the very least, the term "scavenger hunt." - 91 points
144. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Someone with their thumb out to hitch hike in front of a subway or metro stop that has been closed due to weather on the eastern coast of the US. Note: this photo must, like all other "outdoor" items, be taken AFTER your local authorities have said it's safe to go outside, but before the public transit system is back up and running. - 33 points
145. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Someone skateboarding on the floor of an otherwise empty New York Stock exchange taken mid-day. - 148 points
146. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Make a children's doll from items found in your refrigerator or pantry. Go ahead and really creep us out with this one. - 24 points
147. [VIDEO] Hurricane Item - Make a comfortable fort in your living room using furniture, sheets, pillows, towels and curtains. From inside your fort, show a storm raging outside your window. This video must clearly show high winds and rain outside the window and the window must have an "X" of masking tape across it. - 32 points
148. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - A picture of you and a loved one kissing. Here's the catch though - you must have at least 11 food items between your lips and the lips of your loved one. - 29 points
149. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - Draw or paint a picture of Miss Jean Louis riding a school bus like a horse as it flies off a cliff into a volcano. There can be no passengers and she must have a dialogue bubble above her head that says something she would definitely say at this moment. - 32 points
150. [IMAGE] Hurricane Item - It's Medieval Battle Time! Huzzah! You and a friend or loved one, dress up in your best battle gear/armory comprised entirely of kitchen ware. You can be wearing nothing else. Strike dueling poses. - 39 points
151. [VIDEO] Hurricane Item - Recite these lines from Edna St. Vincent Milay's poem, "First Fig": "my candle burns at both ends---It will not last the night;---But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends----It gives a lovely light," with a candle burning at both ends in front of your face. No other sources of light may be visible. In the background, we must hear the droning howl of Hurricane Sandy. - 19 points
152. [VIDEO] "The Maryam Al-Thani" - Dress up in Amish clothes, and use a horse or horses to tow your car into the parking lot of a corporate office building complex with "Gangnam Style" playing out of the car's stereo. - 70 points

The Official Greatest International Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES) website (which doesn't tell you much unless you're a logged-in participant, grr)
The GISHWHES Wiki (which explains a little more)

Every December, Harman Hay Publications offers gift certificates for memberships to our websites.

By New Year's Day we have generally sold roughly equal numbers of one, three, six, and twelve month subscriptions. This makes sense; there are corresponding differences in price across those options that suit all budgets.

In the past, for simplicity's sake, we have simply offered these four options, all of which give access for the advertised period to both Your Wardrobe Unlock'd and Foundations Revealed.

However, now we have three sites, and I'm becoming aware that the audience for each site is becoming quite starkly distinct. A modern corsetmaker, for example, might have little interest in History Unstitched because she never makes pre-1700 costume, but she'd love to join Foundations Revealed.

Those three audiences for the three sites are different again from the audience for each combination of two or three sites. Some costume makers who love Your Wardrobe Unlock'd are heavily into corsets and love Foundations Revealed too; others have a lower interest in corsetry at the level of detail we cover, but do make a wider range of costume periods, and would love to be part of Your Wardrobe Unlock'd and History Unstitched.

Some already consider membership of all three sites to be essential to their work.

So it seems sensible not to limit people's options, and offer gift certificates for each combination of sites for a range of durations... but that leaves me with a total of 28 gift certificate types. My marketing knowledge tells me that when faced with too many options, people tend to get paralysed by choice and abandon their shopping cart.

What to do?

Option one is to offer four gift certificate options only, as normal, assuming that a three-site membership is within a reasonable number of budgets and gives a good taster for new members.

Option two is to offer the main four options and invite emails requesting other subscription types. However, footnotes are rarely read in full on a webpage. One test subject has already emailed me to tell me that other options ought to be on the signup page, without having realised that my footnote was there (did you see it in the above link?)

Option three is to arrange them like this.

		1 month		3 months		6 months		1 year
One website	$11.97	$34.97	$69.97	$139.97
Two websites		$19.97		$49.97		$99.97		$199.97
Three websites	$22.37	$64.97	$129.97	$249.97

I can have as many signup pages as I want, so each of the prices in the table would link through to distinct signup pages giving the small range of options at that price. The drawback is the workload to set it up, but the potential additional sales could potentially offset that.

I'm torn between (a) the website design principle of making things ultra-simple to understand in three seconds or less, and (b) knowing the intelligence level of my friends and readers, who I'm sure can cope with the table above.

What do you think? Bonus points for telling me primarily what you would prefer, as opposed to what "they" will prefer.

Virtual assistant

I posted on FB this morning: "I need an assistant. Just putting it out there, because the fact that I don't have an assistant is making it very difficult to get around to finding the time to hire an assistant."

Further to that, here is my job description for this role.

Your duties will be:

Customer service for all three websites. This generally involves subscription queries - I can't log in, I want to change my subscription type, etc. You'll be trained to deal with all of this, and you'll also need to report back to me from time to time on what the overall themes are and how we need to improve our systems in response to it.

Record keeping. I keep a log of membership numbers, and would like to keep more in-depth records actually - this will be a case of checking reports in the database and entering them in a spreadsheet.

Comment monitoring. All our writers get queries and comments on their articles from time to time. All of the comments get emailed to you, so you'll need to keep an eye on them, delete the spam, and ensure that writers see the genuine ones and reply. It's important to stay responsive to our readers.

Social media Promotional posts on our FB pages, making regular weekly posts advertising new articles. We just about get this covered already, but it would be good to have someone who can really be on top of this stuff. For example, we'd like to award a free month's membership to one FB fan each month, but Marion and I just can't get around to it or keep on top of it reliably with the present workload. These are the sort of small details I'd like you to be able to keep abreast of for us.

Writers Every week we post new articles to our websites. This not only involves getting the article written and onto the site; it also means making sure the writer has signed a contract, ensuring they are reminded to send an invoice, paying that invoice, reminding them to subscribe to their comments, ensuring they have a bio on the site, giving them a free temporary membership if they're not already signed up, and so on.

(It also means proofreading the article for style and clarity as well as typos, constructing an email to send out to readers that clearly illustrates not just what the articles are, but how they will benefit readers... it'd be nice if you had a flair for this too.)

Nice to have: Bookkeeping Putting all our financial details together each month into an accounting spreadsheet (I keep this really simple; Excel has sufficed so far) and entering them in a cashflow spreadsheet so that I can ensure that we're solvent each month, and know how much leeway I have to be adventurous with future plans. These records also get sent to the accountant at the end of the year. (I get that I may need a separate person with specialist skills to cover this one, but if you have those skills, awesome!)

Qualities I'm looking for, off the top of my head, in no particular order:

• Admin experience, experience in this type of support role
• Warm writing style (I like to address customers, colleagues and writers as friends; lots of them are)
• Attentiveness to detail
• A love of creating foolproof systems for getting stuff done reliably (if you like making lists and loathe forgetting things, you're doing great)
• Enthusiasm for YWU, FR & HU, and a wish to help us make them ever more awesome
• Creativity
• Bookkeeping experience (nice to have)

This role is not location specific, since the whole ethos of Harman Hay Publications is "geographical freedom, baby!" ....but if you're offering bookkeeping skills, it'd be helpful if you were in the US (the business will be moving to the US soon, meaning that I'll be filing accounts under the US system from next year.)

I anticipate starting us off gently with a part time arrangement to see how it goes, at 10h/week to begin with. You'll be working on a freelance basis (ie you'll be invoicing me each month), and payment will be $10-$15 per hour, depending on your skills and experience. Those hours should increase reasonably quickly, if we work well together and this frees me up to take us forward as much as I trust it will. You'll also have free access to all three sites, of course, for as long as you're in this role.

Write to me at info at harmanhay dot com by midnight PST on Sunday 16th December, and tell me why you'd like to do this, why you're the right person, what your experience is, what you're doing now, and so on. Include a resume/CV. Keep in mind that I may get quite a few applications, so entertain me! make me want to work with you!

I know that some of you are wondering what on earth I made of Dickens Fair, the enormous Christmas festival taking place throughout this and every December weekend in San Francisco.

This was one of the major reasons I chose to come back to California at this time of year, and I can report with great enthusiasm that it was well worth the trip!

What did I think? I thought it was a wonderfully rich sensory overload. I think it was enormous fun. Even though I'd heard so much about the event from the approximately 34566 people I know who work (or have worked) there, I was still stunned to make the transition from a wet parking lot in an unremarkable part of town into... a Dickensian London street, lit for late evening, lined with shops straight out of Diagon Alley and festooned with more Union Jack bunting than I've ever seen in England.

I stood there open-mouthed for some time, feeling like I was there to accept an overwhelming compliment on behalf of my country.



Despite the apologies and jokes that everyone made, that they were absolutely sure that they must be making a terrible hash of it, I was delighted and diverted around every corner. It was easy to get lost among the labyrinth of streets, but that felt like a deliberate ruse to delight the visitor. The little shops were charming; I made sure I found Dark Garden's corsetry shop (above) and Mr Jeffries' tailoring establishment, and we soon made plans to return this last weekend to look more closely at more of them (I wanted to see the bookshop in more detail, and I'd been told that Mr Rossetti at the Adventurer's Club was a sight to behold.)


Mr Rossetti, posing for the sketching class...


...who was most distracting, even for a girl like I.

I was lucky enough to meet Mr Dickens himself at Tavistock House, and various members of his family; Mrs Nickleby gave us the time of day, and I'm privileged to say that I was even presented to Her Majesty.

Paradoxically, the language left me tongue-tied. Generally speaking, I can be good at finding flowery phrases in everyday conversation, and I'm eloquent when communicating in carefully constructed paragraphs like these, but this environment required full use of a spontaneous Victorian vocabulary, particularly when engaging the named characters in conversation. Ironically, although my accent was impeccable, my limited vocabulary had me stumbling and learning to think very fast indeed.


My outfits for the Fair - first weekend on the left, during which I was mistaken for George Sand (stunning photo by Laurie Tavan); second weekend on the right, during which I borrowed a dress from Laurie.

As for the fake Brits, although some were embarrassed to have to try their voice in front of me, I also heard some very impressive English accents during the day (I'm looking at you, Lady Lovelace); all were far superior to what I might manage of an American impression. Overall, it greatly surprised me how easy it was to suspend disbelief; when being presented to the Queen, I was actually quite humble and emotional, despite the fact that Amy is a friend of mine. (Good practice for when I go down to Buck House to pick up the ol' knighthood, no doubt.)


Quaffing absinthe at the Bohemian with modehistorique (left), Lady Lovelace (Jen, centre) and friends

But the best part was to come: a reservation at Cuthbert's Tea Rooms. Again, the apologies were profuse, they were sure they wouldn't be doing it right. modehistorique, demode and zoccolaro thought it was hilarious that I asked whether I ought to order tea and sandwiches first, and cake later. Although the teacups didn't match the plates and the scones were served on saucers, I had trouble not to be moved to tears in public to be able to taste crumpets and lemon curd again. Francis was sweet enough to share with me so that I could have Earl Grey, smoked salmon and soft cheese sandwiches (triangles, with the crusts cut off), the aforementioned crumpets, scones and strawberry jam, an old English trifle and the obligatory brownie (because I'd never get one that good in England.) All were wonderful, and profuse compliments were paid to the cooks.


Can-can girls sitting on the bar at Mad Sal's

I bumped into so many Costume College friends I can't even name them all, and met a few new friends too. And the day was polished off when Francis, ever the enthusiastic socialiser, insisted that I dance with him at Fezziwigs. I thought I'd seen it all by this time, but no - around a corner and through a curtain, and I was in a vast ballroom full of dancers whirling around the floor in a choreographed waltz played by the band of live musicians in the corner. Magical!



A dance and a half, and another very accommodating gentleman helped me limp through the last waltz as best I could on minimal dancing knowledge. I joined in a Hallelujah Chorus - groups of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses spontaneously formed on the dance floor as sheet music was dished out - and a couple of carols ended the day.

Appropriately enough, the rain was sheeting down outside as we left, vowing to return for more!

This is the photo I've been texting to British friends to gloat with. I've been in California for a month now, and it's living up to every expectation.

Ask the majority of British ex-pats why they left, and they'll usually confess that the real reason, as insignificant as it sounds, is the weather. Hordes of us have relocated to Spain, Greece, Australia, you name it. I'm just the latest in the stream of SADS affected limeys to get the hell out.

Not only that; it's wonderful to be in such a small area with such a high concentration of like minded friends (generally defined as "people who own at least one sewing machine"). I have some wonderful friends in the UK, but we are spread out: sparklewren's in Birmingham, an hour away; Iz and Lucas are in Bedford (2 hours), Laura, Jo & Hannah and myladyswardrobe and edmndclotworthy are in Essex and Suffolk (both of which I think of as a generalised at-least-three-hours, gawd-that's-a-long-way distance from Nottingham).

This leaves me generally pretty isolated in England. I joke regularly about how I don't get out much. It makes me inward-looking and workaholic.

Here, I started out at dazeoflaur's in San Jose, where there were wonderfully generous hosts, good food, good company, a two-year-old to cuddle (below), a sewing room TO DIE FOR, PEOPLE and much in common.



A train journey down to The Middle Of F£$%ing Nowhere, CA, and I got to hang out with hsifeng (who needs to move to the Bay Area, if only to make my reasoning work better). I was made welcome and treated to home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner; we went up into the mountains to meet hsifeng's family, we climbed Yosemite Falls on Thanksgiving (below), did a lot of yoga, hugged a lot and plotted world domination in ways that just aren't possible when you're 8000 miles apart. The Internet is a wonderful thing, but it's another thing to be able to sit side by side and laugh together.



A month later, I'm in San Jose again, where I'm being wined and dined and regularly Cocktail'd (like being Tango'd, but with alcohol) by modehistorique and zoccolaro (below). They have been outstanding hosts; they have made me feel unbelievably welcome and comfortable despite the fact that they're currently in the middle of selling one home and renovating another, while they also move from one to the other. It's like I already live in the Bay Area. I'm lunching with lbc42 weekly, I'm back at dazeoflaur's at least once a week, I've bumped into about a million more friends at Dickens Fair, and I don't know, that feels like home to me.



It's easy to change my bio now to say that I "split my time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Nottingham, UK," even though I'm only a month into the adventure. You already know that I'm absolutely fine with spending months at a time in the US; before I met Demi I was doing just that, just on the other coast. But even so, I have a special attachment to this part of the world.

When I was a teenager, I used to take all the USA brochures home from the travel agents in Rugby and cut out the pictures of all the places I wanted to visit. Lots of US cities featured, of course - I was cutting out Times Square (been there now), and the Art Deco neon lit hotels on Ocean Drive in Miami's South Beach (been there too), but there was something about this place that particularly appealed. It's uniquely quirky and arty and interesting, and now of course, 25 years later, this is where the Internet lives, which means that there's a palpable sense of excitement that one is living on the cutting edge, amongst all the most brilliant minds. The beauty of the place and the deluge of friends I've found here have sealed a fantastically serendipitous deal.

But there's something else too.

Sometimes you find that if you trace back the most important decisions in your life, they come from laughable silly associations that you made years ago. You chose your University because the sun was shining on the day you visited; the house you bought, if you're honest, was the one that had an island unit in the kitchen (I always wanted an island unit).

So I started thinking, why, really? I've been telling people that I've actually wanted to spend time here since I was twelve. Why, amongst all the places I could have fallen in love with, did I have a special place set aside for San Francisco even as a twelve year old, sitting in my bedroom in England cutting pictures out of travel brochures?

I mean, there are a lot of other reasons things have come full circle back to draw me to this place (see above re: friends), but what planted the seed in 1985?

I remembered. And this is very silly, so prepare to be entertained.

I grew up in a loving and supportive, but serious environment. Serious about life, serious about academic achievement, quiet and sheltered and over-protected, we kept ourselves to ourselves. I was growing up with crushes on girls in a single sex school. Life was not a barrel of laughs.

Light relief came in the form of the music I liked. Whereas the adults around me, both at home and at school, were generally very grown up, the guys comprising my favourite band seemed to have a pathological aversion to taking themselves seriously - you can see it in their music videos, which were always ridiculously silly. I loved it. It lightened me up. it gave me the distinct impression, for the first time, that perhaps there was more than one way to live one's life.

They came from the Bay Area, and so I associated fun and adventure with this place, and wanted to come here and see for myself. I haven't listened to them in years, but twenty-five years later, I remembered, and here I am in San Jose, watching them again on YouTube, so you get to watch too.

For particular examples of unadulterated silliness, this is genius, and of course, remember this one? And while we're about it, damn, I think this is still my happy song!!

The Internet tells me they're still around. modehistorique and I agree that for my inevitable celebratory "I Got My Green Card" Party, we are totally booking these guys. In the 2010s, we may be able to afford them! :D

Meanwhile, while you're watching those and I'm high-fiving my twelve year old self, most importantly, it's so good to be held so close among so many great friends. Thank you for making me feel so welcome, everyone. Love you guys, every last friend and acquaintance. You're awesome.

Get involved in a historic project The surface of the Peacock Dress is entirely covered in dense embroidery. It is not particularly skilled embroidery - it's beading by numbers, essentially - but there is an awful lot of it. This is not a project that can be done by one person working alone. So many people have asked to be involved in this historic project; why should I get all the fun, and you be left spectating? The Cunning Plan is this. Each piece of the skirt - eleven in total - must be embroidered on a large, home-made frame, which is relatively simple to construct. I would like to see frames being worked on in various cities around the world, making this a truly international project, as it was in 1902. I am looking for volunteers to form a team of at least four willing participants in their local area, and take on a piece of this incredible dress. Fabrics, thread and goldwork materials will be provided; as a rule of thumb, anything that is part of the dress will be provided; tools and materials will be paid for and kept by you. You will take on responsibility for a piece of the skirt, housing it, working on it and encouraging team members and others in your area to join in too, providing regular photos and reports for the blog so that we can all watch progress as it happens around the world. Why not embark on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure with us, and claim your share of the guts and the glory? The first step Each person who is interested in getting involved - whether host or team member - must do an embroidery kit first, making your own peacock feather. This will Give you an idea of what you're in for, Help you to ensure you really want to do this, and Give you a practice run before working on the "real thing" Give me a chance to give you some tips and hints before beginning work on the dress itself. The kits include all you'll need - goldwork materials, beetle wing, silk thread and fabrics - all you'll need are the tools such as needles, an embroidery hoop, and scissors suitable for metal threads. Peacock Feather Embroidery Kit (shipping included) Then use this tutorial to make your own Goldwork Peacock Feather!

---

It's at this time of year that one tends to look back at what the last year has brought, and make plans for next year. It's an ideal time: by doing this kind of review at a specific, special moment in time, like New Year, or Christmas Eve, or my birthday, I can get a great sense of no-BS, 20/20 perspective on what I've really achieved and where I really want to go next.

I don't tend to dwell too much on the past, but my 2012 in terms of achievement, progress and change is as follows:

• Helped Haiti and went out to Jacmel for a second time, all under my own steam. Not an excellent financial decision - that was a hard thing to pull off, and in retrospect I think the point is to galvanise a group of people, not to do it all yourself - but I did it.
• Got clear on what I want in my personal life and found the courage to end my primary relationship of nine years, and was able to do so in such a way that Demi and I have been able to remain close friends.
• Established a realistic method for obtaining permanent resident status in the United States.
• Went to the next level of the Grand Plan - ie. my business is now independently supporting me, and I am now geographically free, and currently on a three month stay in California.
• Built Harman Hay Publications' memberships by 30%, (with a high of 50% at one point), and got ready to launch a third website. Hired two more part time freelancers to help, and finally bit the bullet and began work on hiring an assistant.
• Attended Costume College and taught two new classes based on the Peacock Dress project.
• Completed about a quarter of an embroidered skirt panel for the Peacock Dress, and came up with a better method to get it done. Then came up with an even better method and have samples being made in India as we speak.
• Took part in the Sense and Sensibility Patterns Costume Tour of England, connected with a whooole new costuming crowd.
• Attended the Jane Austen Festival in Bath and Dickens Fair in San Francisco.

That's a pretty impressive list, now that I write it down, there's more there than I thought. (And I didn't even include the assorted little adventures: eating frog's legs, shooting with a handgun and a rifle, wearing a 30s playsuit to attend a non-costumed event alone, just to mess with people and make them smile, the list goes on...)

But there are also missing links, things I haven't done and would like to do, and that's where the list for next year begins. You'll notice, for example, that there's no list of what I've sewn this year. I've embroidered a lot of feathers, but made nothing else; my Costume College Gala gown has been a purchased vintage dress for two years running now. I haven't even mended or customised anything. This has to change.

Furthermore, now that I'm in California and looking at how costuming is used out here, I'm getting a sense of a whole new slew of things I want to do. In England I have been working on major, long term sewing projects in isolation, purely as an art form - at most their purpose has been Costume College - but now I'm here in the midst of things, I'm being invited to come to this event and that event, I'm wanting to make this for this person and that for that person, and get involved in group projects too. I'm talking more often to interested parties about projects I've had half a mind to do for years, and getting the impression that I really could get going on those, both because I have the resources I need all around me and because people really could benefit right now from what I have in mind; it's exciting and overwhelming and wonderful and game-changing.

Most of all, I know already what my number one project is for 2013. More in my next post.

I'm now halfway through my three month trip to California. As you know, I've done this transatlantic life before, a long time ago, and now I'm reliving and remembering all the joys and all the challenges of living like this. Every day is a fabulous, inspiring adventure; every few weeks I'm doing something new. I'm constantly around friends. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is finally to spend real, significant time with people I have known for years, but only online, or just for a weekend here and a weekend there at Costume College!

I am having a fantastic time. However, as one might expect, reality differs from my expectations. When I arrived, I planned to be going backwards and forwards like this for an extended period if I wanted to, and I now realise I won't be able to do that. I am already feeling the yearning for a home of my own, with a bed of my own - even my home in Nottingham is now an apartment in Demi's home, and I sleep on a sofa bed. (My back and neck are Not Impressed.) It took 4.5 years of travel last time to make myself ill with unsettled anxiety, living in limbo between one life stage and the next, so this time I know I'm on a clock, and that that breakdown point will arrive more quickly this time. I need to make this place my home as soon as I can, before I go nuts, and before I begin to make it feel like an improbable dream in my head. It needs to be "just a piece of paperwork", and I need to sort it out quickly. (Not that I mean to leave Britain for good - I intend to go back over to Blighty fairly frequently, for a month or two at a time, but I need a sense of MY HOME in one country or the other, and my choice for that place is the Bay Area.)

Once the permanent residency paperwork is in place, I'll be able to create a home, begin a new life, and fix the IRONY of my current situation: I have created a fantastic, geographically free business, but it's very difficult to SEW while you're travelling! However much access I have to other people's sewing rooms, it's a logistical nightmare to plan and execute a costume idea when you're moving from place to place, with limited suitcase space and an unpredictable number or variety of tools.

So my plans for this year are an interesting list indeed. Up till now it's been a collection of ideas in my head that just keeps GROWING, but now it's time to write it down.

• Work in earnest on my Green Card application. Assuming that I can get enough together for a confident application, I want that thing handed in during 2013. (Processing then takes 7-12 months in the category I'm going for.)
  
• In the meantime, spend another three months here in the summer, and then again next winter. For the time being, it's three months here, three months there.
  
• We did a lot last year with HH Publications. This year, we're aiming to consolidate what we've got: get used to three sites, and use our human resources well, now that the team's growing. Obviously, continuing to grow the membership is one intended result of this, but keeping our goals simple and powerful this year is a deliberate decision.
  
• Go to Costume College and teach a brand new class. I have a good idea of what this is going to be, based on what people out here have been consistently wanting to talk to me about. This could grow into a great side project that could become very rewarding, both for myself and for the people it benefits.
  
• I have been talking for a while about writing a pattern book, a la Janet Arnold/Norah Waugh/etc. Out here I have mentioned it more and more often. It would be good to begin research for this, and discover whether it's something I really want to do. Even if this book doesn't work out, I'm sure at this point that I do want to write a sewing book, sooner or later. This is the most tentative plan, since it makes this list awfully long.
  
• Sewing. I will be treating this as essential, and making time for it. I have an issue with treating the websites as Work^TM and sewing as Play^TM, hence I spend all my time Working and no time Playing. Part of taking on a bigger team is to free myself up more so that I can do my thang, ie (a) sew, and (b) blog about it. This means you get more sewing LJ posts.
  
• Continue to support Haiti. I may not do this by going to Haiti myself this year. Life is very different from what it was this time last year, and I need to affix my own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs. (This notion is still new and developing, and thus could change.)

And what will I sew? Hmm, it'd be fun to share ideas, wouldn't it?

I mentioned sewing plans, and that I need to have more of them in 2013 for various reasons.

Many ideas are swimming around my head. I have been invited to a number of events. The line-up of possible projects that you may see me blogging about in 2013 is currently as follows:

1. Oak Leaf Dress improvements
In April, YWU writer Izabela Pitcher is holding a grand Masquerade Ball in England. I want to be there both to connect with British costumers and to make up for the fact that I failed to attend her amazing wedding. She had hoped that I would wear the Oak Leaf Dress, and so that's what I will be wearing. I want to take this opportunity to make a better corset that does a better job of pulling my waist in, and alter the dress to give a more authentic Edwardian silhouette.

2. 18th century outfit(s) I have been invited to a mysterious private 18th century themed event in France in May. It's an incredible opportunity and an adventure that perhaps should not be missed. I'll be needing 18th century clothes - at least two outfits. I'm not yet quite convinced that this is possible. I appear to be showing interest in (a) 1780s gentlemen's outfits and (b) the blue embroidered jacket and gilet in Kyoto (this one, which American Duchess blogged about some time ago). Doing this will require me to completely redesign the way I work, ie. I will have to learn to spend more time sewing, and take a lighter, faster approach to it.

By chance, I appear to be accidentally taking an 18th century staymaking course in London in February with Jenny Tiramani's School of Historical Dress. Hmm. This is all sounding very much like the irresistibly terrifying oh-my-god-can-I-really-achieve-this project of 2013. HELP, I'M BEING SUCKED IN...

3. Costume College Gala Surely I must actually make something this year. I have no idea if I can pull it off in time, but I'd like to finally tackle the 1908 asymmetrical crepe de chine dinner dress on page 317 of Costume In Detail. Go on, look it up. You'll know it when you see it.

Part of me really wants to make it midriff-less. That would be awesome.

4. Regency riding habit for the Jane Austen Festival. I bought a beautiful piece of olive green wool in the LA Garment District this summer, and it needs to be paired with a Janet Arnold pattern and lots and lots of braid.

5. Titanic era outfit, also for the Sense and Sensibility Costume Tour in 2013, since it has been suggested that there might be a Titanic event there. Surprisingly, considering that I like the period, I'm not feeling too convinced or inspired yet. But that's ok, September's a long way off.

6. Peacock Dress underwear, while the Indian embroiderers work on the feathers, assuming that all that works out. I place this at the bottom of the list not because the importance of it has been reduced at all, but because it has no clear timescale or deadline right now. The project is on hold while I see what India can produce regarding the embroidery, and I'll make plans from there since the embroidery method will affect the timescale substantially. I'm expecting the samples back any time - hopefully by the time I get back to Nottingham in early February. Then I'll be able to work from there.

Overall, I'm rather nervous about all this. I like to take my time, and the bulk of the work on all of these except the last item will have to be done between Feb 7th and May 17th, while I'm in England. Hmm. Is the perfect the enemy of the good? Should I scale it back? Or should I just get on with it? I suppose the first order of business is to test out how much all of this will cost...

Among the useful words and phrases I've picked up from my American friends is the expression: to "hit a wall". It requires little explanation when used in context. I've had enough, fallen ill, had a change of plan, and turned a corner on my trip.

In the middle of last week, I began noticing some strange behaviours. I was crying for no reason, not sleeping enough, and waking up in the morning shaking. I was even dissociating from reality slightly from time to time (feeling like you're watching what's going on around you on a movie screen). It felt suspiciously like the anxiety I used to experience when I last did this travelling thing.

By Friday I worked out why I was reaching this point again. Thinking back, I realised that in the last 16 days including the night to come, I had slept in six different places. If you extended it to the last three weeks, it was eight. Uprooting, travelling, settling, organising one's living space, getting comfortable, packing again, uprooting, travelling, settling, organising one's living space yet another way... it was too much. Then add in a variety of other factors - trying to get work done *and* see everyone who wants to see me, PMS, etc etc...

The night to come was a fabulous weekend in Napa - California's wine country - for Sarah Lorraine's birthday at Castello di Amorosa. A group of us were renting a cottage idyllically set in the very center of a beautiful vineyard. Beautiful, amazing, wonderful... and home number six, in just over two weeks.

It was on Saturday morning, arriving at the party at the extraordinary Italian Castello, that I officially Hit A Wall.

You know from my previous references to it that I'm a highly sensitive person. In short, an HSP is more aware than others of subtleties. This is mainly because their brains process information and reflect on it more deeply. They notice more. They are also more easily overwhelmed. If you notice everything, you are naturally going to be overstimulated when things are too intense, complex, chaotic, or novel for a long time.

So in addition to the continual, intense, complex, chaotic, novel moving around and re-organising myself that was already causing anxiety symptoms, I was now coming into a noisy, exciting environment that was unfamiliar to me, with a group of forty wonderful, creative, interesting, excited people dressed in medieval garb, ready for wine-tasting, fun and frolics.

When you're over-stimulated, you don't think, you just get out of the overwhelming environment and look for calm. Luckily, in a labyrinthine 107-room castle there are ample options for hiding. And that's what I did. I spent most of the day sitting in the sunshine, high on a wall amongst the battlements as tourists passed by and took my photograph in my (borrowed) gown. I believe I managed to do this without offending anyone at the party too severely, but I know I failed to even greet many people I knew. Luckily I also managed to make it through the day demanding a minimum of attention from my hosts, who were having fun and should not have been worrying about me.

By the evening I was sliding into migraine territory, which is not a common occurrence for me. I missed the evening meal for 18 people and rested, and this was when I knew something was really wrong. I should have passed out and slept soundly, but I lay awake.

Sarah and Francis, as ever, looked after me wonderfully that night and the following morning (did I mention how dearly I've come to love these two in the last three months?), and the other cottage occupants were very sweet and understanding. But it was time to make a change. After the weekend I was due to drive back to continue my two week stay with Claudia and Tim in Marin County, before returning to Sarah and Francis in San Jose for the last week of my trip before I fly back to England. But there are times when you have to do what you have to do.

Claudia and Tim have been wonderfully understanding, and took it in their stride when I returned and told them I needed to go straight back to San Jose. At this point I need to be in one place and stay there, and since I would have to move again in a week anyway, it was time to make that move early. Sarah and Francis have been as welcoming as ever, and I am now delighted to say that the bed I am sleeping in tonight will be my bed for another fifteen nights, before I go back to England.

This is not the first time I've done this - I cut short a visit to Texas and returned to Vermont for the last couple of weeks of the first ever three month trip I did, because I hit that same wall; I should have realised that would happen again. When I come back in the summer, I will move around less, and not plan anything big for the final month, after Costume College.

In the meantime, I am doing well. I am warm, safe, loved, and moving slowly and carefully while I recover and get grounded again. Do please understand if I've talked about making plans in these last two weeks with you, and I don't come through; I need calm, quiet and space right now! But I am getting better, and that's what counts.

It's January 31st, and that means it's almost time to clamber back through the wardrobe into the land of Spare Oom, where I will find myself in a rather drab school uniform, no longer the glamorous princess. Or maybe I am still the princess, but it's an identity that's in my head, and no longer evident day-to-day in the fifty extra points I get every time I open my mouth to speak here.

I fly on Wednesday, overnight, a night during which I will once again try to rest to some degree and not spend more than the next week catching up on the jetlag, disorientation and lost night in which I make that mind-boggling journey. I'm doing my best to have a PLAN already in place so that I have something to focus on when the temperature of my world suddenly drops through the floor, and the blue sky collapses to milk-of-magnesia blankness; I know I have plenty to fill those ten short weeks before I go to France for the 18th century fantasy I've been invited to in May, and then almost immediately back to San Francisco once again in early June. (It's not a bad life, really. :D)

I have to work on my green card application as a matter of urgency, so that I can get sane and settled here; I have to re-register my business in the US to help that along and make things work more smoothly. I have a heck of a sewing challenge ahead; I have been introduced to a brave new world in which there is something happening for which I need a fabulous costume every time I turn around, and you will be able to watch me wrestling with a frighteningly close deadline over the next two and a half months, as I sew for France. We'll see how much I achieve, and your encouragement, as always, will help with that.

Within Harman Hay Publications I will be continuing to try to co-ordinate a team and not just do the fiddly bits myself, and my health could use some work - I have not had enough exercise here, and I am heavily dehydrated, both things that getting back into my UK routine will fix. My mental state is much better now, thank you for asking, but I'll need to be gentle with myself for a few days on the other side.

But before I go, my love and my deepest thanks to dear friends, some of whom I have known online for ten years, but none of whom I have ever had more than a weekend before to get to know in person. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Laurie, Jeremy and Corwin Tavan; to Cherylyn and Chris Hornsby; to Claudia, Tim and Vivi Laughter; and to Sarah Lorraine and Francis Classe, all of whom have opened their homes to me over the last three months and made me feel so at home and so very loved and appreciated. Thank you to Trystan& Thomas, Kendra& Michael, Isobel, Noelle, Laura, Dorothy, Brayton & Amy and many others for making me feel welcome, interesting and wanted in a foreign land; and thank you to all of you for being along for the ride. One chapter ends, another begins. So fasten your seatbelts, place your tray tables in an upright position, and off we go...

Wearing Laurie Tavan's beautiful wedding gown at an 18th century dinner last weekend. I won't be asking her to send it to France for me to borrow, I'll have to come up with my own. Photo courtesy of Sarah Lorraine

As my Sixth Form (US college level) Math teacher dished out homework, she'd often say something like, "Try questions 4 and 6 - I found them very do-able." We giggled because we all knew exactly what the made-up word meant: it indicated a problem that, when done correctly, came out surprisingly tidily, with neat, round numbers and a palpable sense of satisfaction in the solving.

This is what I'm hoping for in my next sewing project, which is about to get under way, and it also describes the event that it's going to be made for.

We all wish we could skip off from everyday life and prance about a French chateau in costume with all our friends, right? Well, one of the reasons I love one particular group of friends of mine is because they don't just dream about this stuff. They Google. And they have discovered that between ten or so chums, it is actually do-able to rent a small chateau in the south of France for two weeks. And guess who's been lucky enough to be invited to the party, this coming May?*

Here's the issue. Estimates claim that we will be costumed in 18th century style six times in total.

My cupboard is completely bare of 18th century clothing.

I have thirteen weeks to pull this off.

I'm not going to make six outfits in time, but I have considered three, involving the following:

1. A set of underpinnings.
2. Obviously, a Chemise a la Reine, because it's quick and simple.
3. Something based on this portrait, because I like jackets, particularly the patterns in The Cut of Women's Clothes.
4. Boy clothes. I really want some.
5. I'd like to make one of these for lounging in. I've been desperate for one ever since first seeing those beautiful pleats.
6. A handmade shirt for the charming gent who's making me some bespoke 18th century shoes to go with all this while I'm in England.

I know, it's ambitious. We start here and scale back as we go, right? But here's the very positive thing: usually it takes me at least a week to drag my ass back to my desk after getting off an overnight flight to England. I may be falling asleep at that desk right now, but I'm here within 24 hours.

Also, I'm usually heartbroken to be stuck back here; this time it feels like I'm on a retreat, nay, a boot camp, where I'll be getting down to Srs Bznz (green card, moving the business to the US and training my assistant also included in the deal.) A few days ago, I thought it would be ten weeks that I'd be in England this time; when I discovered that it was actually thirteen or fourteen weeks**, I would usually have been further heartbroken, but in fact my first thought was a relieved "Thank heavens, more sewing time!"

Obviously, I have begun by making a colour-coded timetable. I have no idea how much is possible - I did learn on this trip that I have to learn to pull things together fast, but it remains to be seen how well I can do. Here's the whole list, broken into weeks:

1 Start Oak Leaf dress' new corset and alterations (for an English Masquerade ball in April)
2 Start gents' shirt (finish in short, frequent bursts in evenings & weekends)
3 Chemise a la Reine
4 Shift, bum roll, pockets, 2 underpetticoats
5 Gold silk petticoat, blue silk skirt
6 Gold 1780s (padded) stays
7 (Catching up)
8 Pink silk waistcoat
9 Blue silk jacket lined in copper linen
10 Hat, my shirt
11 2 corset mock-ups for friends, to be delivered June
12 Breeches (waistcoat and coat?)
13 Regency open robe

Clearly this is too much, but it's a wish list to begin from - and I have almost all the fabric I could need already, thanks to the stashes of friends...

* I agree: how exactly to pull off a stunt like this successfully should be an article for Your Wardrobe Unlock'd - negotiations are currently in progress.
** depending on exactly when I show up in France

So I'm sure you're wondering what's happened to the Peacock Dress, and the answer is no, I have not forgotten it, nor lost any enthusiasm for it. But it would seem that once again, this is a feat requiring the patience of angels.

You will remember that it occurred to me earlier in 2012 that it is not realistically feasible for me to do all the embroidery myself, and that this is not a bad thing. After some efforts to make it a group project, it occurred to me in September that even a group project may be a vastly complex and potentially pitfall-laden route if this dress is ever going to be completed.

Finally, I decided to call on Mauritia Kirchner for help. Her business has an already established relationship with hand embroidery houses in India, who could complete the work more quickly, uniformly and reliably than a disparate group of enthusiasts spread around the world, who would each be charged with one of the huge, intimidating skirt pieces and expected to finish it with only an enthusiast's experience and timeframe.

This, in fact, would be the authentic method of costume reproduction: to commission Indian craftsmen to do the work, as Worth did. Indian craftsmen might not only be able to reproduce the work, but to decipher some of the secrets that were still confusing me.

Mauritia was enthusiastic, and in November I sent a package to Germany containing hi-res photographs and samples of the fabrics and my own work to pass on to India, from which they would make embroidery samples for me to look at. Mauritia emailed me to tell me it arrived promptly and added, "I have asked him to send the samples back within coming December. But as we all know, the time frame is always a matter of cultural interpretation..."

I told her that this was fine, that I would be away until February anyway, but when I returned on Thursday, nothing was here. Mauritia was once again professional and attentive. She apologised and told me that the embroiderer has gone quiet. She has written three times with no reply: "It is often, that he is not very keen in keeping his time frame. We have to be patient."

However, she clearly knows how to deal with him: she says they have four further orders waiting for him, and she's sure he will be interested in the work, so she has written to him to say that she will not visit him and bring these other orders before she hears back from him about mine. She plans to go to India in April, and has threatened not to show up unless she hears back from him!

You see why I did not go direct to India myself; Mauritia is clearly a woman of experience with these guys! So, as she says herself, we have to be patient. And in the meantime, there is an 18th century wardrobe to make....

A high-up view of a part of Hucknall, Nottingham, by Lee Haywood. It's driving me nuts because I can't quite work out where it was taken, and therefore whether Demi's house is actually in it.

And on a personal level, I am doing pretty damn good, mostly.

I've been back in England for about 48 hours now, and yes, it's cold and bleak, but the heating is on and I have lots of space to re-acclimatise.

Ten years ago, this matter of having to leave America and re-enter the UK was a horrible melodrama of angsty despair, and a few of you have seen how I can still get - hsifeng and claughter713 will remember my meltdown outside the Marriott as they tried to leave at the end of Costume College 2011. What can I say? I love my friends and I love sunshine.

This time, I did a better job of preparing for it, and so far I've done a much better job of re-adjusting - see, it's a little different from coming back from a vacation when you've been away for three months. Firstly, you may have noticed how I made my wrap-up LJ post a week before leaving, so that I could mentally prepare myself for the overwhelming culture shock of creeping back through the wardrobe after so long. Secondly, whereas usually I try to enjoy every last second and not think about the UK, this time I deliberately did so. I closed my eyes from time to time and thought about all the run-of-the-mill daily sights and sounds of Nottingham, of Hucknall, and of my home. The Left Lion in the Market Square (a famous meeting point); the walk to the corner shop and the post office; driving my car; the layout of the grocery store; the sound of the front door closing; the sounds of the microwave, kettle and juicer; the sound of the door to my apartment in Demi's house opening and closing.

In fact, considering that I am a visual learner first, a kinesthetic learner second, and am not particularly auditory at all, it's interesting that sound seems to be the key. The closest, most immediate memories that bring the Vermont of ten years ago back to life, for example, are the sounds of the wooden house in the forest where Rhombus lives - again, specific doors closing, or the squeak of the handle on the woodstove.

And of course, that makes voices important. Even though I can communicate with everyone as much as ever via the wonder of the Internet, even though there are 200 photos of each of you on Facebook, it's the sounds of your voices that I miss most - when I've been in England a while, it's always a joy to hear an American accent in the street or in a store, and not just in a movie soundtrack or on TV or YouTube.

So here's what I did. In the last few days before leaving, four of my friends were kind enough to record voice messages* on my phone. Thank you, trystbat, dazeoflaur, sarahbellem and zoccolaro. And that's been the stroke of genius, because now I don't have to crave attention and be public with the angsty parts. When I'm having a 3am meltdown, I listen to your voices, and you're still there, and I'm soothed and reassured without anyone having to bear the brunt of it in the moment. (Usually.)

So yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of this now. (Mostly.)

* Psst: if you want to join in the fun, you can record a message of your own and send it to me here.

You're going to spend two weeks in the eighteenth century. You have just over three months to assemble your wardrobe, and you haven't a thing to wear. (No, really. Not a thing.) What's the first garment you decide to make? Something simple, something quick, something that will get you back into the swing of it? All together now: chemise à la reine!

And so I join the back of the long line of costumers [scroll down for this one] who have made their own version of what happens when Marie Antoinette essentially wears her nightie in company and it quickly develops from scandal into the latest thing for the 1780s fashionista (above).*



And it really is a piece of, ah, cake... lots of fine cotton muslin, a few drawstrings and a bit of gathering and Bob's your father's brother, as we say in Blighty. The pattern is right there in The Cut of Women's Clothes, and I even had enough cotton on hand.

But the simplicity of it, for me, is deceptive. I'm already hitting a big "first".

You saw me angsting over my handsewing on Facebook earlier in the week; it wasn't false modesty. Despite my experience (22 years sewing, 17 professionally), I have never sewed this way before.

The Oak Leaf Dress was a turning point. It was the first time I'd actually attempted to create historical clothing, not a costume. It was my first attempt at time travelling, and not just playing dress-up. Until then, I was a bridal dressmaker with a penchant for historical ideas. Even when I made the Oak Leaf Dress, I was only going back as far as 1902; the seams were machine sewn. In the 1780s, if you're time travelling, you're handsewing all the way, and that intimidated me. Do I have the patience? The skill? The manual stamina? *eyes the wrist braces apprehensively*

So with that ideal in place, I had to create a new set of standards. How do re-enactors get this done? What's acceptable? How much to handsew and how much to machine sew? One has to compromise, after all, and after joining three lengths of muslin with the machine (long internal seams are ok to machine stitch, I hear), I was rather proud of myself for discovering a way of making the channels for the drawstrings look kind of handstitched. Instead of machine sewing a tape on the wrong side to make a channel (which I probably ought to have done, and by hand, to be totally period correct), I made a tuck and sewed it down with a blind hemstitch (below left). Not perfect, but it's a semi-visible feature, and it's ok. Better than machine stitching (below right), right?



In retrospect I'm not overly happy with that, but it's a place to begin. Really, I need to be handstitching all the way if I'm going to be happy. Overachiever meets historical clothing. Oh boy.

So I decided that the sleeve seams would be, ladies and gentlemen, *drumroll* handstitched. You would think that three months of hand embroidered oak leaves would make me confident to sew a straight seam by hand. But it didn't. My stitches then had been easily hidden behind shiny, pretty embroidery. A plain, straight seam on white cotton muslin is much less forgiving. I feel exposed. I know that if I want to do this well, if I want to do this right, the stitches have to be tiny - just ask Ava Trimble, who wrote four articles for Your Wardrobe Unlock'd deciphering the 1838 Workwoman's Guide, which gives the most explicit (yet maddeningly obscure) instructions that we have from the relatively distant past about exactly how sewing was done by our ancestors. They have to be tiny; they have to be the right stitches; I could already hear my future self dismissively apologising for this dress: "Oh, that old thing? I've learnt SO much since then..."

As you can see below, I did better than expected. I'm pretty pleased, in fact.

My nightmares of seams that begin with tiny stitches that get bigger and bigger as I run out of patience dissolved as I discovered how the stitches do stay the same if you let yourself get into a rhythm.

It was only on the first seam that I sewed for a million years before sitting back and finding that I only had three-quarters of the way to go. (I sense a lot more background TV and radio in my future.)

And I'm most proud of all of my 1/16" hem. I'd got a bee in my bonnet about this after seeing a beautiful embroidered 16th century shirt at the Bath Fashion Museum, whose 1/16" hems we all oohed and aahed over, in the same way that Janet Arnold oohed and aahed over the same phenomenon in an article** I was reading the night before I began sewing.



I knew I didn't yet have the dexterity to handroll the thing as I went along, but I managed to press an 1/8" seam with the iron, so I began there. Halfway along the seam, I noticed that the iron had stiffened the cotton edge enough for me to roll it back a little with my thumb as I went along, and leave only 1/16". I was so excited, I unpicked it all and did it again. And lo, I have a 1/16" edge. Ta da!



And having finished the edges of the fabric on the sleeves, I whipstitched them together, like this. I think this is looking pretty good, and I do love the way it sits flat afterwards, butted edge to edge. I'm not even sure this seam would have been made like this, but I know it was done this way on shifts and shirts, which is what a chemise à la reine originally was, so this is where I'm beginning.

I have to make peace with the fact that this is a learning experience. Conscious incompetence will lead to conscious competence, and thence to unconscious competence. Enjoy the journey, right?


* I over-simplify dramatically, I know.

** Arnold, J. The Dressmaker's Craft, published in Strata of Society, the proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference of the Costume Society, April 6-8, 1973. It's a hard copy that I picked up from a bookseller at ILHF in October.

Get thee to thy stashes, costumers of the world, Haiti still needs you!

On my trip last summer, I discovered that a couple of the orphanages were asking for donations of fabric. Now this, I knew, was a place where we could help, a great opportunity to clear out your stash and get rid of offcuts and buying mistakes to that very good home that you always knew was out there somewhere.

Well, here, for the first time, is that all-important address:

Marlaine Alix
1299 SW Kalevala Drive
Port St Lucie, FL 34953
United States of America

Marlaine is teaching the kids at her Faith and Love Orphanage in Jacmel to make tote bags to sell. It's brilliant: not only does that go some way to making the orphanage self-supporting, but it teaches the children a skill and a useful trade that they can benefit from later, in order to begin rebuilding their economy and their community.

This is one of Marlaine's orphans. During a long, noisy play session, she saw me sitting off to the side of the room and, without addressing me or engaging me at all, quietly came and sat next to me. Then she rested her head on my lap, and fell asleep. This was my favourite moment of the whole trip: highly sensitive types can always spot each other. [Photo by Hannah Milton, used with permission]

Marlaine told me that they can use anything you've got - if you send scraps, she'll teach them to make quilts! Additionally, I'm sure she'd appreciate thread, needles, and spare notions, and they do use some sewing machines, so supplies like generic sewing machine needles would be welcome too, I'm sure.

The reason for the long delay is that I made a fantastic video with Marlaine in June in which she herself explained all about the orphanage, all about sewing the bags, why they were doing it and what exactly she needed. I thought it'd be awesome if she could speak to all of you directly.

Well, when I got back to England, I had a ton of little videos, and some of them turned out fine, but some of them would not play at all... including the crucial one with Marlaine. I have tried and tried with great frustration to get it working, and consulted someone who really knows this stuff (thank you Jeremy and Laurie), and he also could not fix them, so I have finally had to admit defeat.

On the positive side, we are now at a time of year when people are clearing out and re-organising, so hopefully there is lots of fabric to be had. So, get thee to thy stashes, costumers of the world, Haiti still needs you!

PS. In a few days I'll have a second address for you, but the second place needs more specific things, so if you have decent lengths, a few yards perhaps, of summerweight cotton or linen to donate, keep them back for now!

Before I can finish anything else, I've got to have the foundation garments. And if I'm making foundations, it pays to make the stays (corset) first, since that has the biggest effect on my shape. I began the chemise à la reine while I waited for the other supplies to arrive, but once the 25m roll of synthetic whalebone showed up, it was time to dive in. I'm going to need this before I can fit any other garments over it (including the chemise neckline), so it really comes first.

I cut ivory silk taffeta for the outer layer, calico for the second layer (I needed the bones not to show through too obviously) and canvas for the third layer. This is what little I had left after I took most of my stash to Haiti; corsets are so good for using up bits and pieces.

And then I simply drew the pattern pieces onto the canvas.



The pattern is from Corsets and Crinolines. I've seen it done before, and although I deeply appreciate the ability to read other people's accounts of how it made up, I wanted to make these my own. So for a start, instead of being half boned, these are fully boned - the book does comment that fully boned stays are often seen in the 1780s.

I began in my usual way by stitching boning channels using a zipper foot, with the boning already pushed up inside the channel. This, however, was not always as accurate as the method would suggest. Serendipitously, I bought this book at the same time, and discovered that on THOSE pink silk stays, black ink lines are still visible on the OUTSIDE, where the maker had inscribed the boning channels before stitching over them. By the time I got to the front pieces, I conceded to pencilling boning channels (on the CANVAS, not the SILK!) and then stitching over my lines, which worked much better.

So here are the pieces, with boning channels made and boning inserted. Amount of synthetic boning bought: 25 metres. Amount of boning required to complete stays: 25 metres, exactly. I couldn't quite believe it.



Eyelets next - it made sense to do these before joining the pieces. Trim the edges, smooth the seam allowance over the edge, sew it down with big stitches, and make my first hand bound eyelets. I wanted them to be fairly quick and fairly uniform, so I went with eight spokes, and then filling in a stitch in each gap.



Here are the rest. (I'd also had a go at joining the back and side back at this point.)



I was having trouble making a decision over whether to lace the front aswell. The original pairof stays, from which the C&C pattern was probably made, lace at the back only, but I like the effect of a little decorative front lacing, and I don't like the idea of being dependent. Since I also had not yet lost the will to live regarding handstitching eyelets, I decided to follow in Tietoja Minusta's footsteps and decoratively lace the front (also correct for the period, just not on this pattern), so that it's not exactly laced functionally there, but I have a no-assistance-required emergency escape route, just in case.

Smaller, closer eyelets here. Overall number of times I stabbed myself with the awl: 2.



You can also see how well the stitching came out on the boning channels there, thanks to Kimiko's advice: sew with cotton thread in the top of the machine, linen in the bobbin, and with the outer fabric on the bottom and the (pencilled) canvas on top. I'm really pleased with how much it looks like it's handstitched.

Then I could begin to sew the seams, which I wanted to do "properly" in the period fashion too: smooth the seam allowances over, sew them down, and then whipstitch the edges of the pieces together.



And here's how they're looking tonight:





Yeah, I could do it faster and dirtier. But that wouldn't be this much fun, and I wouldn't be learning as much. Call it "Type A" costuming. Honestly, I'd rather have one good outfit than three that I find myself apologising for and re-doing "properly" later. (But three would be nice, nevertheless.)

PS. Happy Birthday, Leia!

© Cathy Hay and Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

So this is what the dress really looks like, up close and personal: photo album

What struck me was the condition of the dress. I had been told that it was in "poor" condition. It's actually very much in a complete, study-able state; it just isn't quite strong enough to risk manhandling it on and off a mannequin. Even on its arrival at the museum in 1981, it went straight into the box. It was never photographed on a stand.

Apart from Nancy Bradfield's sketches, and failing some private (and therefore, to us, lost) family photograph of Norah Hawker's mother wearing it, we have no record of what this dress looks like on a body, so to see it filled out and moving is the exciting part of this project, just as it is for the Peacock Dress. I will be bringing it back to life.

This year's Hope 2 Haiti project began a couple of weeks ago, and here is the promotional video. I'm showing it to you because there's lots for you to see - most importantly, the musical portion at the beginning was filmed at Faith and Love, the orphanage to which you're sending your unwanted fabric. The Haitian lady in the black and white top at 0:35 - that's Marlaine, the owner, whose name is on the outside of your fabric packages that are winging their way to Florida.



In the first few days of this year, I decided that I wouldn't go back to Haiti this year. A couple of weeks after we flew home from Haiti in 2012 I went through a big life change, and I'm currently piecing together a new life in which I'm standing on my own two feet for the first time. The fundraising takes a lot of time and effort, and the trip's travel and accommodation costs amount to a lot of money. I don't have the time or the resources to take part this year; I have to affix my own oxygen mask first.



Watching the video is an emotional experience. I see friends, I see people I admire and love and have shared this extraordinary experience with. I see Haitian children whom I know by name, and not just that - after doing this twice, I realise I am now watching these children grow up (the confident, growing girl with the hula hoop at the end is Bebe, the tiny, shy little thing who sang to me the first year).

This trip, this year, is Hope 2 Haiti Housewarming, when the children finally come home to their new place. It's the last time this event is happening. The Jacmel Children's Center is already two storeys high and has a roof over it. It still needs windows and doors, tiling, plumbing, solar panels, paint, and furnishings, and all that can be completed this summer. Random Acts will journey there one last time to help do it.



Although I will already be in the US in June, although I only need an internal flight and don't need time to acclimatise in Miami, that money ought to go to an immigration lawyer, and not on a trip.

But that doesn't mean that we can't help these people again, at least a little. If we have a whip round and come up with $50, that's fifty bucks they wouldn't otherwise have had. I can't turn my back completely.

So here's the deal I'm going to make with you, with your permission.

Life got in the way last summer, and I still have a bunch of photos and stories from last year's trip that I never shared. I've set up a place to donate, and from time to time I'm going to show you a photo and tell you a story, and let's see what we can do this year.

And if we make it to $5000? Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

You'll remember from our previous visit to Haiti how much the children loved our cameras; here (above) you see them fascinated by the playbacks on Tracy's camera. This took place not in a playground, but among a higgledy-piggledy group of little houses out on a scrap of scrubby land outside Jacmel. This was a place where we were shown more houses that your money helped build.

As the van pulled up, the children saw us inside and were cheering and shouting to Philip, one of our group's leaders, who has been instrumental in the project and has visited them many times. They have enormous energy and joy in every meeting!

This was the moment when I got the connection I'd been wishing for. Some of the girls on the trip were natural connectors; within minutes of our first arrival the previous year they were exchanging names and had children adopting them as their new best friend, hands firmly held. But as more of a loner, I was one of the ones who held back.

As we walked up to the houses to take a look, the little girl you see here in yellow walked up beside me and took my hand, and by the time we'd bee there just a few minutes, she was jumping into my arms. Her name's Lutsa, and she gives great hugs.

If you'd like to help Lutsa and her friends get homes built for themselves and their families, not just for a family here and a family there, you know what to do.


Image by Katie Bohdel, used with permission

PS, yes, donations are cumulative (ie will add to your previous ones), and I'll post the leaderboard and the incentives again soon so that you can work towards getting your name in the Peacock Dress if you wish. Over the winter I began sewing the peacock feathers that I promised to send to the biggest donors, and they're starting to get sent out now. Thank you!