Conundrum: what to do with beautiful fabric

Tags

18th century, future sewing projects, hand sewing, sewing projects

I think many of us have been there: we are wandering around the fabric store, not really looking for anything in particular; more so we are waiting for the fabric to choose us. My husband laughs. A few years ago I found a bolt on the sale rack that screamed 18th century. I pulled all of the fabric off the bolt to see how much was there. Exactly enough for a petticoat.

This fabric is lightly quilted cotton with a dusty pea green and dusty “colonial blue” pattern. I LOVED IT. I also lovingly bought all of it.

My hand from wrist to middle finger is about 8 inches long.

So here is the conundrum. I found ONE example (so far in my initial pinterest search) of a quilted petticoat with a pattern printed on it. And I’m having trouble finding the original source for that one even. I’m not exactly one for just “inspiration” pieces when I’m at events. As I get more involved in my hobby/passion, I want to wear garments that are as close to an original as possible. I know that not every detail can be perfect, but if I can come close, I feel better.

My options:

• make it anyway and whatevs…I wear it saying it is inspired
• think some more about this and keep researching
• toss aside petticoat idea completely and make it in to a caraco or quilted jacket of some sort

I just love sewing large rectangles together…ya know?

Warm Clothing for Cold Weather Finished (for now)

Tags

1770s jacket, 18th century clothing, hand sewing, sewing projects

Almost a year ago I set about making some cold weather clothing for my 18th century impression. Read about that here. The petticoat was finished immediately for an event last Oct because sewing two rectangles is easy. The jacket was not finished on time because the entire process took a lot longer than I had anticipated / had patience for. I also needed to set sleeves about six times in order to get the hang of it.

Last week I finished this jacket. And today I finished my “warm weather jacket!” Hurray!!

Here it is:

I debated about the style of sleeve. I used the same sleeve pattern as I did on the previous striped linen jacket and my gown. It fits me well enough and there is one seam.

The only fiddly thing I did was make the sleeve a wee bit larger around. I followed this tutorial.

Here is my pattern piece laid out:

And a close up of the exact space between the two pieces:

I didn’t want it huge, but I wanted some wiggle room (because it’s wool and thicker with the lining). In the above pic, I cut out my lining first, then used that as the pattern piece for cutting the wool.

I used the same technique for attaching the lining and wool. Here are the pieces attached and “fileted”:

The wool is a little stiff so is laying funny at the shoulders which really bothers me because when I look at other people’s beautiful work, the shoulders on their garments don’t stand up like that. Because this is only the third or fourth set of sleeves I’ve done, I’m thinking it could be that the wool plus lining makes it bulky (what is the period correct way to get rid of that?); it could be I have too many pleats (is there a proper number?); it could be that my sleeve head is too big (how do I trim it without chopping too much off?). I have a lot to learn yet, but at this point, I’m just happy to have a lined wool jacket to keep me warm!

 

Two different types of lining:

The pinky red is just on the bodice and is worsted wool. The sleeves are natural colored linen. Between the wool and worsted wool is a wool batting interlining. I knew flatlining this to the striped wool would make things bulky in some spots, but I didn’t realize how bulky. You can’t really tell from the pictures or if you were just standing in front of me, but when you handle the garment…yeah. But it works. And it’s all hand sewn. And it’s done.

 

And now my little cold weather ensemble:

It’s all ready for an event Sept 12 – two weeks ahead of time!!!!!! (almost 3 – wow!) No deadline fear here!

The wool for the petticoat, wool tape for petticoat hem, and all fabric for jacket was purchased from the most wonderful, WM Booth Draper! (For this petticoat, we miscalculated the amount of blue wool tape and at the next event I got the 10 inches I needed and Mr. Booth sewed it on my petticoat himself! Now that’s service. 😉 )

 

 

 

 

New 18th Century Jacket

Tags

1780s Jacket, 18th century, hand sewing, historic clothing

Gotta love when you start something a year ago and finally finish it almost exactly a year later. Such is life I suppose. Since beginning my “career” as a reenactor/living historian, I’ve had one plain blue jacket. It’s nice; it doesn’t show the dirt. Before I fully jumped into sewing, I purchased one because I thought making a jacket would be “too difficult.” I guess you could say I took my time with this one, though it feels more like some little bumps in the road to smooth sewing set me back. But there is no greater feeling than putting in that last stitch and slinging the garment on your dress form to take photos!!! Yay!!

Here it is!!

My main role at most events is a middling class impression. Therefore, all of my garments are wool or linen. (I’m easing out the cotton “for now” ones I made when I started the hobby). For now I’m leaving this jacket untrimmed. But I can see adding some embellishments in the future. I used the JP Ryan Jacket pattern view D and ended up adding an insert to each side because even though I’m narrow/slender, whatever size I cut for myself somehow did not fit me. I added about an inch on each side of the front opening to give it some overlap. It pins with straight pins down the front. Originally view D was supposed to have a stomacher and lace up the front. But that just seemed like too much work. Ha. It’s entirely hand sewn with linen for the fashion fabric and lining purchased from WM Booth Draper.

 

 

 

I loved the pointed tails on view D. I also love working with stripes and getting the lines to match up in the center back!

 

 

Here is a view of the side bit that was added. At least it looks nice with the stripes.

It’s fully lined. Also evident in this pic: me too lazy to even put my stays on the dress form.

 

 

I’m also really proud of myself because last year a friend told me about this neat way to line sleeves by sewing just one seam. I was a little hesitant because I really did not want to mess it up. I looked at a few pictures online and visualized everything and what not. Then I just pinned and double checked the fit and everything and then started sewing away. When I went to flip the sleeves – it worked!!!!!! It was seriously the easiest way to line sleeves for 18th cent garments and I can’t imagine doing it any other way now.

 

 

And now a bit of preliminary research for embellishment…

I love the matching fabric pleated trim and contrasting color ribbons. I really do. A lot.

From Costumer’s Guide from Manchester Collection