A nice, soft case for my lorgnettes
An old lady of my acquaintance once said to me, “Getting older is no fun, dear, but it’s better than the alternative”. Well, one of the effects of getting older – for me – is that I now need reading glasses. If I try to move while wearing my reading glasses, the results are sometimes disconcerting, sometimes positively disorientating.
I’d been wondering about what to do about this, until at the end of 2019, it occurred to me to channel my inner Lady Bracknell, and start wielding a pair of lorgnettes. I duly acquired some, with my usual impeccable timing (Ha!) at the beginning of March 2020.
Since then, of course, museums and menus have alike been out of reach, and I stowed the lorgnettes in my “Eve In The Garden of Eden” box in hopes of happier times to come. I’ve decided to get started on a case now, so as to be prepared for those happier times.
As I’m now dealing with the exhaustion consequent upon getting within sight of the finish on The Amarna Family Group (which has been going for nearly a year) and the Christmas Angel (begun around Christmas 2015!), I’ve been looking for small quick projects to reset myself, and this should be a good one.
This is a piece of 22 count cotton canvas I found lurking in my stash, and so far I think it will be very simple. I think six repetitions of the scroll will allow me to wrap the lorgnettes with a closing flap, and the light yellow (pearl cotton) and cream (stranded cotton) should make it eay to find in the depths of my handbag.
Episode 59 of SlowTV Stitchery is now live, in which we have almost recovered from the unpicking following last week’s stitching, and consider the particular delight of a fully-stitched fabric.
Well well, I didn’t know lorgnettes existed any more outside the pages of Jane Austen; you have educated me. I have a similar problem, exacerbated by being short sighted to start with, which adds another layer of complication to seeing what one is stitching, and can result in dropping the glasses altogether, holding the stitching two inches in front of your face and squinting rather a lot. A good friend who used to be an ophthalmologist demonstrated a solution to me recently. No point in paying the opticians to make you an expensive pair of prescription reading glasses she said, just get a cheap pair of non prescription ones, pop them on over your normal glasses and, hey presto, you can see!!! One does need a reasonable nose to support such eccentricity, but it’s not a bad solution!
I don’t think your diagonal sky looks wrong in your stitching – it gives a strong sense of the sky continuing to swoop down behind the priory, but as you say, you will have an interesting time blocking it all straight again. The cloud colours are definitely an improvement. Will look forward to seeing more 🙂
There are reading glasses and reading glasses. I was toying with the idea of having my grandmother’s pince-nez fitted with suitable lenses, but preferred to get a pair of half-moon specs instead.
Lorgnettes are very stylish, but how on earth do you use them when you are at your stitching frame? They are perfect, however, when visiting museums or other places where you can ‘see but not touch’.
The new landscape is looking good. I am sorry to say, the video often stops and I can’t see all that is going on.
In real life, you often have a sky with rays of sunshine coming down diagonally, and in the case of the sky above a house of God, would look most appropriate.
Lorgnettes – where else would they be but in, “A Handbag?!!!” I think they look extremely stylish even if I can’t now get the image of Edith Evans out of my head!
How stylish!
Now that is a good solution. I have reading and sewing glasses and am always misplacing them. But your solution adds another dimension. Problem is that would be three pairs of glasses in the handbag.
I settled for keeping my reading specs on a cord around my neck, many years ago. This gives me instant access while leaving my hands free. I also have the habit of wearing them well down my nose, when I am in a chair, so I can see the room clearly over them as well as my book or phone. Lorgnettes are a bit too elegant for me. I can picture you with them, though! The cover looks suitably classic.
Good idea to make a case for your Lorgnettes and how fun just to buy and own them. You can peer curiously at whoever, whenever and wherever 🙂
Brilliant! The case is going to be very smart too. xx
You sophisticate, you! My tacky reading glasses in now way compare!
No way, not now way. Duh.