Bad Tuesdays The Kindess of Strangers and a $500 Nightgown

Can we Please Take Tuesdays off the Calendar?

I used to like Tuesdays. They kind of break up the week, a little more for me than a humpday Wednesday. For some reason, stores aren't as busy. Parking lots aren't crowded, and there's never waiting at my Doctor's on Tuesdays. Its just never a busy day anywhere. And in Tx, where we have estate sales every day of the week, often I can hit one, and again, no large crowds. Perfect!

Three weeks ago, I do my Tuesday thing. I come home, and one of my dear friends is sitting on my porch waiting. She has just left her Dr. with a serious diagnosis. We cried, hugged, talked a long time and hopefully she is a little better emotionally and has hope.

Then I check the computer. I discover I have my FIRST charge back EVER. In 11 years! The first! Never leaving any extra money in paypal, I had actually wiped out the account buying gas that morning at my regular little Mom & Pop local station via my papal card. Of course, their payment was approved when I made my purchase, then later declined while paypal FROZE my account! Can you say totally embarassed?

No rhyme, reason or notice from the customer. I email, politely ask what's wrong, why she didn't contact me or let us work things out. No reply. I am totally out of the loop as to WHY she did this without at least communication.

Since I now have a negative balance in paypal I immediately transfer bank funds to cover her refund AND the gas from my friends station. Guess what. It takes 7 days to for paypal to credit transferred funds. Really? Seven days in this age of instant deposits?. Just unreal. Worse, had this lady just contacted me, we could have resolved it. I'm VERY easy to work with and want only 100% satisfaction for my customers.

Then two weeks ago Tuesday, I break my glasses. I leave the house for barely an hour, run to a local optometrist and see if they can repair the frames. They did a temp job on the old ones and ordered a new pair. Can we say $100 of unexpected / unplanned expense?

When I return after this "brief" trip to town, something seems odd. You guessed it. Despite my nice safe wonderful neighborhood in the country, my house was robbed. They climbed in through the DOGGIE DOOR! No kidding?

They were kind enough to unlock the same door on their way out instead of breaking it. I'm sure their arms were too full to fit back through the doggie door. Sadly, they took my daughter Melissa's little tiny Acer Laptop (who is mentally impaired, so it meant ALOT to her for her games!) They took a few other random things, including a pillow case to carry their treasures off, but I do believe they heard me pull up and left in a hurry, not getting all they wanted. And I'm sure I almost walked in on them.

Not realizing I was on a "Tuesday roll" of bad luck again, this Tuesday I went to see the Dr. and conveniently a few towns over an estate sale. I arrive by 10am at the estate, and there were only a few people there. I run to the bedroom as usual, and wahhh! Not a single piece of lingerie. Not one to give up, I ask and am told it was "pitched."

I check the dresses. WOW! the most darling patchwork embroidered white eyelet EVER. I'm a sucker for eyelet. I grab it to check condition and the label says "sleepwear!" They missed a nightgown as it could easily be worn as the most darling summer dress.

By this time, its 11 am and already 103 degrees. This Menopausal Momma doesn't do heat well. I start the car. Nothing. Try again. Dead as a doornail. Again ~ NOTHING. I do manage to get the power windows rolled down. So that means its only about 110 in the car.

Just then an elderly gentleman walks by and asks if I need help. We pop the hood, he pulls up his truck and we try to jump it. No luck. he gets some tools, tightens things, again no luck. In the mean time, his darling little wife (they are at least mid 80s) hands me wet ones to wipe my heavily perspired (read dripping in sweat, lol) face. She tells me they have just moved here from Oklahoma. In the meantime, these darling people are out in the heat as well, and shouldn't be.

Next a young mother with three little girls approaches us. She says maybe the jumper cables are bad? She has some, goes to get them and we try hers. One of her little girls brings back a bottle of water for me, smiling so sweetly as she offers it. What a little doll, such wonderful children she has! But, her jumpers don't work either.

Then a young man comes and offers to help. His theory is its not the recently purchased battery (a whole 'nother story) but perhaps the starter, alternator or cylanoid.

Everyone offers to drive me home. Every single one of them. We're talking a 45 minute drive minimum. I politely refuse, and offer to buy the older couple lunch, they instead want to buy ME lunch AND drive me home. I thank them, and decline. The young Mom offers to drive me a town over to Walmart to buy a new battery, bring it back and help me put it in.

These people were all just amazing. Angels! In this day and age of people passing someone walking with a gas can on the highway, I've drawn a crowd of total Angels!

Although generous offers, they were just not practical. I'm too far from home. I end up calling a tow truck to haul the car back to Ft. Worth. Pretty exciting! my first ride in a tow truck! The driver was from Fla, had just moved here and agreed with me, Texans are the kindest, most generous people in the United States!

Towing? $86

We drop the car at my "favorite" garage.. the young man at the estate sale's guess was right. Starter. $403. A day or two with no car.

Does this by chance make this fabulous eyelet nightgown worth $489? LOL.. not really but the thought crossed my mind.

And.. I have learned my lesson..Three's a charm. I'm not leaving the house on a Tuesday again EVER!

Eyelet & Embroidery ~ did you know?

Have you seen that ridiculous commercial for Bing ~ the one that shows information overload? well, that's where i am right now.

i miss the good old days when you went to the library, pulled a ton of books from a specific section, took them home and gleaned the information you needed.

but now? nooooooooo.. Why drive all the way to a library (if your's is still open).. when you can just google it.. but..you get information overload. Unfortunately. I couldn't even get what i was looking for.

what was i searching? eyelet. Crisp, beautiful, embellished embroidered eyelet. I listed a few items last week in eyelet.. one of my ultimate favorite treatments on clothing.

To get to the history of eyelet, i had to weed through embroidery first.. but it was really interesting.

One version credits embroidery to the Egyptians. . The earliest surviving embroidered cloth is Egyptian, preserved by the dry desert climate from the 6th century. Ancient Egyptians also created embroidery with white threads on a white canvas that was so sophisticated that even today's modern technologies can't exactly duplicate it.( getting closer to white eyelet?? nooo)

In the 16th Century, the Chinese were creating two sided embroidery with silk threads on silk fabric.

We also have Greece, Italian workshops, Czech and German ecclesiastical embroideries of the 10th and 11th centuries, which were mainly created in monasteries and convents.

The earliest embroidery to survive in England (from 906) is a stole and maniple (church vestments) from the tomb of St. Cuthbert at Durham.

Yet another source credits the year 1639 and the Monarchy in England. . England was also credited "Elizabethian Embroidery" in the 16th centrury as raised embroidery, which we call "crewel" today.

We cant forget Ireland, who is also famous for it fabulous Irish linens and gorgeous cutwork, both ancient products.

Much like Mexican embroidery, different regions offered different styles and techniques. All were being developed simultaneously by any country that practiced sewing; each area unique, despite being a common skill.

Evidently, embroidery began as a male thing. Yep.. men invented it, then some time through the years, women enjoyed it as well. Victorian embroidery was considered an important part of a girl’s education and for part of her trousseau. Poor girls could use their needle skills to find paying work. Girls living in their Little houses on the Prairie did samplers.. Pieces of embroidery with sayings, the alphabet or just a "sample" of all their skills with various needle stitches.

But.. i still couldn't find my eyelet information. Also referred to as openwork, white works, pulled-thread, and Ayrshire Needlework, which originated in Scotland in the late 1700s.

Then i researched Broderie Anglaise - (English Embroidery), with its large eyelets and simple cutwork, was used to embellish clothing and linens. Sometimes referred to as Eyelet, Madeira, monochromatic embroidery or Swiss Work.

So i had even more names to research.. see what i mean about "information overload"??

Closest to what we currently in America refer to as Eyelet Lace is by the technical name of "Cutwork." Areas are finished with closely placed buttonhole stitches and then the inner fabric is cut away. Satin stitch is used, and for the more ornate varieties, buttonhole bars are used to fill the spaces between the remaining fabric. The result is a lace-like effect., except i thought the buttonhole bar style was called faggotting. i know horrible name, but i didn't invent it.

Then we have "Specific styles of cutwork" ~ Renaissance, Richelieu, and Venetian.

Geeze! all i wanted to know was who invented embroidered eyelet lace?? From all this, i narrowed down to "Whitework" and discovered Redwork, (first became popular in the 1880s) then bluework ~
outline embroidery almost identical redwork embroidery except stitched with blue thread instead of red.


Then i discovered eyelet was extremely difficult and most likely conceived in the 1700's. I pretty much guessed the difficult part~ stitching with white thread on white? exact, precise perfect stitches? Excellent eyesight would be a requirement, I am sure. And i did discover that early eyelet was embroidered first.. the holes cut after.

Sadly, our little local library is closed, due to county budget cuts.. so i had no alternative to google overload. And after all this research, I thought i'd pare it down to basics and share it ~ it was fascinating, i hated to waste it..lol.. and honest... all i wanted was a little blip about the history of eyelet to share with you, and three of the new eyelet pretties i have on vintageoutlet.ecreater.com.