Flora pointed out how these graceful petticoats and night-gowns depended upon their pure line and delicate embroidery for their beauty; how all gross romanticism was purged away, or expressed only in a fold or a flute of material. She then showed how the same delicacy might be found in the style of Jane Austen, or a painting by Marie Laurencin.
'It is that kind of beauty,' said Flora, 'that you must learn to look for an admire in everyday life.'
-Cold Comfort Farm
That pretty much sums it up for me: my philosophy of aesthetics in general and of crafting in particular.
Last weekend we made our second annual trip to the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg.
As my generation has continued to embrace the handmade arts, I have noticed a trend toward taking perfectly simple articles such as t-shirts and tote bags and stamping on them pictures of birds and bicycles and the like. While this is a great way to recycle old or salvaged stuff, it seems to me beside the point of crafting to buy a bunch of Am App tees and embellish them.
Like Flora, I admire a flourish achieved with an economy of means, not with a tacking-on of frippery.
We followed the fair with 2-for-1 beers, which we were able for some reason to drink on the sidewalk (it's like the Old West up there; those people are lawless),
then terrible cocktails at an adorable bistro with a roof, then cheap Mexican food on Bedford. Most agreeable.
"Most agreeable" indeed. (I want to start saying that more.) I love the print from Sycamore St and the sight of all those le crueset lids with wayward spoon handles poking out. You, like Flora, have a fine eye.
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