2015 Year in Review

Tags

18th century clothing, 19th century clothing, Historical Sew Monthly, sewing projects

I really love the end of the year when all the seamstresses post their “year in review” with all their photos. It’s great to see everyone’s hard work. While I’m proud of the work I’ve accomplished, I feel bad that two years in a row, I had very ambitious plans, but did not finish much. I think after three years, I’ve figured it out. I am on Christmas break for two weeks. School is in the background – it practically no longer exists once I step out the door on the day before break. I look at pinterest and get all these ideas. I think, yeah with my skill level, I can totally whip that out. Except in the past two years, I’ve forgotten that I work 12 hour days (6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m), with the hours of 3 – 6 spent coaching. When I get home, I eat and fall into bed and do it again the next day. I spend all of my Sat from mid Jan to the start of April at Forensics tournaments and these are 8, sometimes 9 hour days. I get home, sleep for 12 hours and grade whatever I can on Sun. From Jan to April there is zero time for sewing. Zero. I think after 3 years, I have finally come to accept that. It is what it is. So given that a quarter of my year is spent not sewing, I guess what I accomplish in the other months is pretty darn good.

Finished projects:

May – Corded petticoat (for 1830s/40s dresses)

May: 1830s Dress

June: 1815 Dress (for my sister, who wore it at the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo)

 

August: Two 18th century jackets (and not pictured – re-done/fixed waist band on brown wool 18th cent petticoat)

Linen

 

Wool

 

November: 1840s Blue/white striped wool gown

Quilted Petticoat

 

I didn’t think I had made that much this year because not many (or most) of my projects fit with the Historical Sew Monthly Challenges. Because of that, I felt like a wee bit of a failure because every one else was cranking out these awesome projects that fit all the challenges. As a result, after three years of trying to make things for challenges and then getting frustrated because I feel like I’m not keeping up, I will, as usual make my start of year list for what I want to complete that will fit the challenges, and whatever gets made, gets made. Whatever does not, does not. It’s not the end of the world. I just have to do what works best for me, my historical clothing wardrobe and my living history needs.

Then I struggle with wanting to make more of the same garments for the centuries I’ve sewn for already because I want to make a better product, but at the same time I want to make more accessories, but at the same time I want to branch out more and try more eras – even though I have zero events in my area for that time period. It’s such a conundrum!!!!!! 🙂 But in a good way. #thesewingstruggleisreal

Here is my proposed list of projects for 2016 that won’t get started until after April 1, 2016.

Jan – Procrastination: Regency short gown

Feb – Tucks and Pleating: 18th century cap

March – Protection: Mantilla Cloak for Mid-Victorian OR 18th century pinner apron

April – Gender Bender: Regency Pelisse

Aug – Patterns: 1920s dress (will most likely make this because I have patterns and fabric all ready to go; more to come in later posts!)

Nov – Red: 1920s Middy blouse

 

I’m for sure going to bite the bullet and make myself a new 18th cent cap. I only have one, and while it’s okay, sometimes when I see myself in pictures I think woah, my head looks weird in that thing. Vain – perhaps, but a good enough motivation to make my own finally!

 

1843 Dress Construction Photos

Tags

1840s, Historical Sew Monthly

Here are some behind the scenes photos of my construction. This is my usual sewing process:

1. A few months out from the event I start collecting pics on pinterest, consulting books, and asking friends if their books have conflicting evidence with what I’ve found.
2. Depending on the person I’m playing and time of year, decide on fabric and color, then buy the fabric.
3. All of the fitting/sewing/finishing usually ends up taking place in a month or so. I figure out my pattern pieces; make a mock up; adjust; cut stuff out and then sew away.

I think this is pretty standard for most people who sew historical clothing.

Sources consulted

First, here is my 1840s pinterest board. I think I’m like most people who love historical clothing in that I’m drawn to certain lines, trim details, and colors. There is definitely a distinct style for my board. The tricky part with this sewing project was that the Christmas event we were a part of had a super specific time period: Dec 1843. My dress had to be within the date range of 1842 – 43, but not after. That also meant getting the sleeves right and the bodice construction right. Here’s the other kicker: I did not buy a commercial pattern. There are things for 1830s and 1845, but nothing exactly at 1843. Why would there be? That’s such a random date. Unless the historic site near you has that date within their time range.

Costume in Detail dress I studied:

 

 

Patterns of fashion dress I studied:

 

 

While my mom who grew up learning how to sew purely from commercial patterns freaked out over me not using a pattern, I really enjoyed the challenge of studying a picture and mulling over how the fabric was cut, tucked, folded etc so it looked like it did in the drawing/photo.

Luckily the sewing teacher at the school where I teach was pretty good at looking at a drawing and looking at my mock up and saying, yep you’ve got the right lines; you’re good to go. Cha-ching!

Mock ups:

(stripes look good!)

Construction and research on construction

I think I’ve been lucky with the other things I’ve sewn and the patterns I just so happened to use for those projects. I admitted in my other post that I never had to sew darts. Yeah not sure how I got away with that for so long, but I did. I always thought they were scary. No idea why. Thank goodness for the website, Historical Sewing! I read and re-read this post on Victorian bodice construction and it really helped a ton. I read this one on flatlining a bodice. Then I read this one on sewing darts. I’m pretty sure for the last month, I had these tutorials open on permanent tabs on my computer.

I was really proud of my reuse of a garment. I had made a not so authentic 18th cent petticoat when I first started reenacting. It was a brown/red stripe and looked fine. The sewing was nothing particularly outstanding, but it was the first article of clothing I had ever sewn by myself. Because I now only wear linen and wool petticoats, I decided it was time to repurpose my first cotton petticoat into the lining of my 1843 dress. I washed the petticoat (because I couldn’t remember the last time I had worn it and whether it had been washed) and then ripped it apart. I thought I would be sadder than I actually was! The other reason for using the old petticoat was two-fold: 1) I couldn’t be bothered with another trip to the fabric store because that would take away from important sewing time and 2) I wanted to work the bodice and fashion fabric in stripes so I knew which way was which.

Petticoat post rip:

 

Using the mock up as pattern pieces and cutting out bodice lining:

 

Flatlined bodice pieces:

I don’t know if this is historically accurate, but I used the pieces of the piping to conceal the inner seams. I still have to tack it down.

Spreading out the piping:

 

Completed bodice inside:

(piping attached to bottom, but not tacked down)

 

The fabric was about 60 inches wide. I didn’t want the skirt to be enormous nor did I want to hem all of that, so I used three panels. I really like pleating. I debated about doing cartridge pleats. I love the way they look. However, I’d never done them before. There are tutorials, but it wasn’t something that I wanted to try out given my time constraints. I had to repleat my skirt about 5 or 6 times to get the fit and bell shape just right. Working with more than two panels (a la 18th cent skirt) was a tad more challenging than I had expected. I tried to not get too annoyed / frustrated with myself. I determined that I just need more petticoats as well. I definitely need a double or triple flounced one. And I need one made of organdy that is stiffer.

Pleating take 1:

Pleating take 2:

Petticoat ghost:

 

Another fun/interesting part was making the sleeves. Again, I only had a pattern for the leg o’mutton 1830 sleeves, but by the 1840s, the sleeves started to be slimmer and more fitted all the way around. I could have done a gathered/pleated sleeve head with a little poof around the elbow, but again, that seemed like a lot of extra effort/time that I could not spare. By the time I got around to making the sleeves (which always seems to be one of my last steps), I was at my mental capacity. I used the top of a regency sleeve pattern because I knew it was fitted enough, and then I wrapped a string around the widest part of my arm to get a measurement. Then I used a different regency long sleeve pattern. I decided I only wanted one seam and I cut the fabric on the bias (because diagonal stripes are fun!) and to get a closer fitting sleeve.

Sleeve pattern:

Lining pinned together:

In looking at various 1842/43 fashion plates, I couldn’t exactly tell where the sleeves stopped. I purposely cut it longer just to be safe.

Sleeve length 1:

Sleeve length 2:

(I ended up cutting off a good 2 inches from the end of the sleeve. I will most likely use that as a cuff of some sort).

Two nights before I was to wear my dress, I was playing around the trim. My sleeve head did not come out as dropped as I would like it. But it is what it is. I have no desire to rip out all the stitches holding the sleeve in place, so I thought I would trim it in a sloped fabric of some sort to give the illusion of a dropped shoulder. Below are two options.

Trim options:

 

Lastly, it never fails – – I am *always* hemming my skirts the night before the event and usually this process starts some time between 8 and 9 p.m. What is my deal?! I had timed myself in the past and on similar length fabric, it took 2 hrs. This time I got it down to 1.5 hrs! Woot!

Kitty helps with hemming:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge #11 Silver Screen – 1840 Jane Eyre Dress

Tags

1840s, historic clothing

The dress was made specifically for a Christmas program at Macktown in Rockton, IL. I will write another post about that event, but our time period was 1843. In researching, I looked at photos from the movie and then I realized that the November challenge was about movies! So I realized that I would finally be able to complete another challenge. Sadly, had I not needed this dress for an event, I’m not sure I would have made it so quickly (in about 4 weeks) and had it done by the time Nov was done.

Construction photos here.

 

Here were some of my inspiration; fashion plates from winter 1842 found on the Digital Collections, Thomas J Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art NY:

And from 1843…

 

What the item is: A navy/white striped 1843 wool dress

Challenge #11 Silver Screen

Onscreen inspiration: 2011 Jane Eyre movie (I also read the book in college and loved it).

Fabric: Wool from WM Booth Draper (got the last 6 yds on the bolt!)

Pattern: Costume in Detail, Patterns of Fashion, modified 1830s dress I already made

Year: 1843

Notions: thread (of various types and colors (cotton and linen only) depending on where/what part I was sewing, hooks and eyes (which are too big, so I’ll be replacing those)

Historical Accuracy: I’m going to say pretty a lot because I used two books where the patterns are based on original garments. I’m not entirely certain that some of my construction techniques were *exactly* period correct. I did what I could given my time and given my understanding of the pictures in the two books. Because of time, my ridiculous amount of piping was sewn on the machine as well as the longer skirt seams. If I had not done that, there was no way I would have made my deadline. But everything else was done by hand.

Hours to complete: As usual when I’m under deadline, I end up dedicating several weekends of about 8 hrs of sewing, followed by as many hours as I can squeeze in here and there throughout the week. But I bought the fabric Oct 31, started sewing cutting out the pattern the following week.

First worn: Sat Dec 5 for our special Christmas program

Total cost: Around/just under $100.

Here are a few more photos…

Without the fur collar so the neckline is visible. (I know everyone is their own harshest critic, but I’m not entirely sure why that weird ripple is occurring on my left shoulder. I must be more uneven than I thought……oh well.)

 

Underneath I’m wearing my “all encompassing Victorian era” corset, a lightweight cotton petticoat, a corded petticoat, and a new quilted petticoat on top of that. (Yes, I’m standing on a chair to take this photos because, believe it or not, we do not have a full length mirror in the house).

For the petticoat, I purchased a twin bedspread quilt from Kohl’s on sale with a bunch of coupons. I don’t have a ton of petticoats for other eras, so getting the poofy bell shape of the 1840s was a bit of a challenge. Soon, I need a tiered petticoat that is a little stiffer. I’ll make one eventually.

I did not get to wear my dress the entire day, but overall, I really like the style. I like the tighter sleeves and different neckline. I was also quite pleased with my ability to line up stripes for the center front as well as make the pointed “V” at the front. I did not have time to dress it with any trimmings etc, so while the spirit is still moving me, I’d like to jump back to it and make some thing. The first inspiration fashion plate shows the brown dress with minimal trimmings, so I took that as a hint to give myself permission that my dress didn’t have to be trimmed to excess in order to be finished. I needed that otherwise I would not have made my deadline of Saturday!! I don’t know why I’m getting that goofy ripple near my left shoulder and above the V. Given that this was the first 1840s dress I made, without a pre-purchased pattern, and I had the sewing teacher at my school help me with the fitting, and I’ve never really put a dart in anything, I’m quite proud of myself. There’s a first time for everything and I’m glad this dress pushed my limits and comfort level. After the forensics season is done in April, I’m ready to tackle something new. (Or maybe I can crank something out over Christmas break).

Challenge #6 Out of my Comfort Zone

Tags

1830s, 19th century clothing, Historical Sew Monthly, living history, sewing projects

Normally, I’ve been sewing 18th century and early 19th century, but nothing past 1815. This was a perfect challenge for me because I literally did not have to think super hard about what to make because the plans had been laid for this dress.

Here is me at Apple River Fort! (You can tell it’s a fort because of the wooden palisade behind me).

1830s Dress

Underneath: 2 petticoats: 1 plain and my new corded one. I think the corded one gave it the perfect poof! While I feel pretty girly in my 1780 – 1815 wardrobes because I portray women, I’m usually ripping meat apart with my hands and my apron is super dirty. But at this event, I did not have any cooking duties, so that, combined with my poofy skirt, made me feel ultra girly!!! Or maybe it was the sleeves? Or the brand new first worn American Duchess Gettysburg boots?!!!! Yeah it could have been those! (I totally forgot to take a picture at this event where I showed them off. Will need to do so in a photo shoot soon).

I really like this style of dress. It was extremely comfortable. The only part that felt a little odd were the shoulder/arm holes. I’m not exactly sure if they were too small or what. When I made the mock up, it fit perfectly. I was like oh yes, this is comfortable. Swell. Then when I actually attached the sleeves, I was like hmmm. Well too late now. I do have an extra one or one and a half yards left of the fabric. If needed to, I could redo the sleeves or add another panel to the skirt. I can’t decide which, if either of those, needs to be done.

Because I was on a huge time crunch to get this thing done (literally cranked it out in two weekends) I did not make a tutorial or anything. There are enough of those online already. Also if I were truly a lady of the 1830s, I don’t think I would have been showing my arms/wrists, however, I did not put on the cuffs on the sleeves because I did not have time. Woops!! But no one asked me why I had them rolled up, which I found odd because it’s not like I was scrubbing floors or anything.

What the item is (and why it was out of your comfort zone): early 1830s Day Dress. It is out of my comfort zone because I have never made anything in this time period that involves piping. I drool over the creations on other people’s blogs who produce gorgeous pelisse’s or spencers etc with perfect piping. Jealousy was a good motivator and I figured if they can do it, I can do it! I sewed the piping by hand and then found when I constructed the bodice, it was easier to feel where I should place stitches along the piping to get it to lay neatly and be uniform in how much of the piping is seen.

The Challenge: Out of my comfort zone

Fabric: 100% cotton with brown background a peachy/pinky/coral vine-y pattern to it. Up close I love it. Far away, it just looks brown like so much of my “day dresses” in my historic clothing wardrobe.

Here is a picture from Andoverfabrics.com Jo Morton’s collection:

Pattern: Period Impressions 1828 Day Dress

Year: 1828 (officially), but I dropped the waist line about 2 inches because I needed the dress to work for 1830s also and the waists dropped a bit.

Notions: Hooks and eyes from my friend’s stash

How historically accurate is it? 92% I think the neckline is supposed to be piped (it’s not); and I’m not exactly sure about the waistband. I know it’s how “it’s supposed to look,” but I would like to know the proper historical construction so I can do it correctly the second time around. Oh and I machine stitched all the seams you can’t see because I did not have that much time. But for the record, my piping was all made by hand – I did not use the machine for that.

Hours to complete: Several weekends – two of which were 8+ hrs of sewing both Sat and Sun. I had the pattern drafted in Feb, but did not get around to it until later.

First worn: A few weekends ago for a new event where I *needed* to be in 1830s!!

Total cost: $50.00 for the fabric (I think).

 

The other thing I want to make to go with this outfit is a pretty white collar – one that is just coming into fashion in the 1830s. I also want to try my hand at white embroidery work for this project. I think it would really dress up the ensemble a lot. While I love my fichu that I have thrown over my shoulders, I feel like it hides the waist part of my dress and some of the sleeves. The next thing I’m debating about making are the under sleeve poufs of obnoxiousness. That may be one of those projects that looks simple but turns out to be a bit more complicated. We shall see.

Oh and the next 1830s dress I make will be pink. And maybe a green one. I don’t have anything green in my historic clothing wardrobe.

 

Challenge #1 – Foundations – Corded Petticoat

Tags

1830s, 1840s, 19th century clothing, corded petticoat, historic clothing, Historical Sew Monthly, sewing projects, Undergarments

Just getting around to finally posting about the first challenge now that it’s, oh gee, the end of May. Woops!!

In preparation for some 1830s/1840s events I will be attending in the next year, I made my own corded petticoat. I hemmed (no pun intended. ha) and hawed about whether I should just buy one, but I already had fabric and the cording and I figured, how hard can this really be? It was time time consuming (like I had read on several blogs), but mine required more hand sewing because the fabric I used was a heavier duty muslin that once folded, is very difficult to push a needle through with bare fingers, thus requiring me to wear my leather quilter’s thimble (no I don’t quilt). This made it bearable. I used this information to guide me.

If I can (read: have the time), I usually prefer to hand sew everything for the time periods where a sewing machine was not around. But with school and coaching responsibilities, winter sew projects have a bit less time dedicated to them and I needed to wear the item Memorial Day weekend (the day I’m writing this), so I did what I needed to do to get it done on time and that meant hand sewing all the channels and the waist band, but machine sewing the side seam.

Also because of my time restraints, I have very few construction process photos and so this is not a tutorial. But here are some “making of” photos:

Sewing the cords with Twiggy’s help

(I don’t know if anyone else experienced this when using cording, but my cat LOVED the smell/texture of the rope. She could not stop rolling all over it. I had to open up a separate package of cording and put it off to the side for her so she would not roll around on my fabric. However, white fabric and white cat works well…).

Just a few notes about my construction process:

1. All cords are sewn with a basic running stitch.

2. Fabric is 80 inches wide.

3. I sewed on the “right side” of the fabric and constantly folded my fabric over on itself to get the cording in nice and tight.

4. Not sure if this is period correct, but I had the fabric out flat while I was sewing in the cording. This actually lead to a boo boo. I left a few centimeters at each edge free of cording because I knew I would machine sew the side seam. I didn’t think my older machine could handle going through the thicker fabric plus the rope and the last thing I needed was for the needle to break because it’s my last one. So……really nice stiff cording all the way around except right along the side seam resulted in a collapsing side seam area. When I have it under my dress, it’s not super noticeable but when I first put on the finished petticoat and noticed this it was like a “awwwww oh no! (but too late now!)” moment. *sigh*. Redo.

5. The other thing I “messed up” was measuring my waist. I have wide hips which keeps things from sliding down. However, my waist is significantly smaller than my hips. I swear I measured the fit of the final waist size before I attached the waist band. However, it was at least 5 inches too big!!!! How did this hapen? NO IDEA! Grrrrr. When I recently wore it, it worked just fine and was in no danger of falling off. Now I’m debating whether to re-do part of the waist band or just add hooks and eyes and call it good.

Overall, I’m SUPER excited to have this kind of petticoat now!!! I can’t wait to make more 1830s/40s dresses to wear over it. I want one in ever color!

 

(Ignore the top thing on the dress form, it’s the mock-up for the 1830s dress).

 

Challenge #1 – Foundations

What the item is: corded petticoat

The challenge: foundations

Fabric: creamy off white muslin

Pattern: none, a rectangle, but based on these.

Year: 1830s/40s

Historical Accuracy: 80% – all materials are cotton. Most of it is hand sewn. I’m not sure if laying it out flat and folding it up as I laid in the cording is historically accurate though. I machine sewed the double running stitch for gathering the waist band because I was not going to hand sew 80 inches twice.

Hours to complete: several weekends. One of those weekends resulted in two days of 8 hours of sewing (minimal half hour breaks in between to feed myself and change the load of wash).

First worn: Memorial Day Weekend at Apple River Fort

Total cost: aprox $10.00 for the cording; all other materials I had on hand

And just a few more photos!

One seam. It opens all the way to 10 inches down from top of waist band. The waist band is actually at the bottom of the picture.

Up close cording at the very bottom.

HSF #4 – Under it all

Tags

Historical Sew Monthly, Petticoat with tucks, Regency, Regency petticoat with straps

What the items is: Regency under bust petticoat with straps

The Challenge: Under it all

Fabric: Heavy duty muslin bed sheet (vintage circa 1950)

Pattern: None (based on pictures)

Year: 1810 – ?

Notions: Cotton twill tape in white and off white, linen thread

How historically accurate is it? Fairly – There are some extant examples though they are all frilly and see through. However, I had to cheat and machine sew the pleats and back seam because the fabric is so darn sturdy that I would have put holes through my fingers if I had sewn by hand and yes, that would have happened with a thimble because that’s what happened last year.

Hours to complete: Maybe 5? I didn’t really keep track. I kinda whipped it together because I need it asap!

First worn: Will be worn in less than a week: June 13 – 15 at Years of Napoleon (pics to follow in upcoming posts).

Total cost: 0 – my mom picked up the box of sheets at a church white elephant sale about two years ago, the twill tape is left over from other projects. Score!

I needed fast photos so I’m not modeling it nor is the mannequin (Bartholomew as my husband has christened it), instead sadly it is just on the floor. Pardon the fold wrinkles….it probably won’t be ironed before I wear it because this is meant for my first person interpretation of the Ox Bow tavern keeper’s daughter. We are a middling class family who run a tavern, offering meals and beverages throughout the day to the weary living historian who happens upon the tavern in their daily work, travels, and life. Because we are constantly around the fire and what not, I wanted a heavy duty “I don’t care if this gets dirty and gross” type under garment. As much as I would have loved a froo-froo lacy petticoat, that was not going to happen.

There are no “in progress” photos because I was sewing as fast as possible; this is also another reason for the basic style/design. Overall, it goes together like a standard 18th century petticoat and here is what I did:

1. Cut rectangle of fabric. Salvaged edges will form the back seam. The bottom already had a hem so I used that as the bottom and I measure from just under my bust to the floor and added some because I knew I wanted tucks.

2. Pin tucks and sew. I don’t like how mine pulled on the machine, but I’m not complaining/worrying too much because this is going under my gown.

3. Double running stitch for side gathers. I like gathers on the side for my regency gowns/petticoats because it adds a nice fullness without being ridiculous and I keep the front straight. I don’t have an exact measurement, just to the sides of the bust (almost at the start of my armpit). However, I did not put quite enough gathers in so I have two pleats.

4. Bind waist band with twill tape. Because the fabric is so hard to puncture with a needle, I did a whip stitch on the front side of the twill tape first and then on the back. Across the front, where the fabric is not so thick, I did a back stitch to secure it. I’m really proud of myself because I re-used old twill tape from another petticoat. Hurray for upcycling!!!!

 

In this photo, at the edge of the opening, you can see where the waist band is only so long and I had to attach another piece. I’m a genius.

 

 

5. Measure and attach shoulder straps. These are genius for me because I have a super tiny under bust and everything slides down to the top of my hips (the widest part of my body at 40 inches; there is a 9 inch difference between my under bust and my hips).

6. Sew back seam. Leave enough of an opening so it can be pulled on.

 

Voila that’s it!!!!!

I will post more pics later once I attend the event.