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:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. 😉 )

 

 

 

 

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.

After watching an Ira Glass video for Slice with TWT

Tags

sewing, slice of life, teaching

I have not posted to the Slice of Life in almost a year and a half and for that I feel really bad. I want to try and get back into that. Originally, I started this blog because of that challenge combined with a strong urge to write again. Since then, my blog has become less about school (teaching reading and writing) and more about historical sewing and living history events that I participate in. I watched the Ira Glass video this morning before starting my day. It lead me to two interesting conclusions.

1. Practicing a skill that I love and am passionate about does indeed take a lot of time and quitting when I’m only just beginning is not something I do. (Ira’s skill was storytelling btw). That skill is sewing historical clothing.

2. I’m amazed at how my own journey of creating historical garments has taught me to be a better teacher.

 

1. I taught myself to sew because I needed clothing to wear to reenactments. I started with nothing. I bought a few things, but then couldn’t afford to continue to buy ready-made or custom made items, so I busted out the sewing machine. Each time I wear a new garment to an event, the people I hang out with know about each other’s sewing projects and always ooh and aaah over the new piece of clothing. It’s really nice to have someone notice your accomplishment and say, “wow this looks fantastic.”

Then that transitions into a conversation of, you know your inner seams can be hidden this way. Or let’s take a workshop class on gown construction (which I did and it totally got me hooked on hand sewing). Or have you ever thought about cutting your skirts in this shape? Reenacting / living history (some people argue it’s two different things, but whatever you want to call it is up to you) is a fabulous hobby where you are constantly learning to perfect your impression of a certain historical persona. The people I’ve met and now consider my very good friends are extremely willing to help me and anyone else to improve their sewing skills. I can call them on the phone or email or message them on fb and they respond within a few days time with an answer based on their own experience as well as the resources they consulted.

I love how Ira Glass says even when you’re a beginner, you have killer tastes. I agree. I’m awesome at choosing fabrics that look good on me (or other people) and I’m not too bad at fitting myself during the sewing process. He follows it up with instead of quitting because the product does not turn out exactly the way you want it to, to keep pushing through and increase the volume. (I would love to do that Ira Glass, however, sewing historical clothing by hand while attempting to keep track of 160 some students and grade their work while coaching an after school activity is a bit stressful; sewing can wait. My students can not). I had a good experience with this last summer when I made a new gown for an event. I got really helpful advice from two more experienced sewers and I fixed the problem areas of my garment. And I’m extremely proud of the fact that it is a historically accurate gown made completely by hand. I love wearing something that I made for myself that fits me and that brings history alive for myself and others.

2. Literally, everything I wrote above (and more that I most likely didn’t say) can be applied to my teaching. When I decide to sew a new piece of clothing, the first thing I do is look for examples (usually an original garment if I know it’s dated correctly or a fashion plate) to guide me on fabric type and color, the angle of side seams, trimmings, etc . This process reminds me that modeling the end product for students is so important. Most of us need to have a visual – to refer back to often – while working on a project.

Clear directions are crucial. A sewing pattern with directions that don’t make sense is useless. The sewing blogs I follow have quite detailed step by step tutorials with pictures. Soooo helpful. I bookmark them and reread them all the time.

Having an expert you can rely on in a time of need is the best. I know many of us are getting pulled in two directions: be connected 24/7 vs. turn off technology for several hours each day. Balance is key. I get that. I think kids get it too. I truly cannot answer their question at 2 a.m. when they are finishing their research paper. But I can put resources in place if they need a reminder about MLA format. When I see them in class, I also try to acknowledge that I read their email and I thank them for reaching out to me for help. The other thing I always keep in mind is, if I asked someone the same question (even if it’s a really stupid one that I should know the answer to because I just learned this a few months ago), how would I want them to answer me? All my living history friends are the best teachers – they lead by example and re-explain something when ever I have a question. They are never short with me and always smile. I really appreciate this quality and try to emulate it with my students.

Just because I’ve achieved my goal of finishing one project does not mean that I should never try it again. Upon completing a sewing project, I usually say, well that was fun, but now I want to try it again, only with these adjustments! Retakes, redos, rewrites – whatever you want to call them are tricky in the classroom setting at the high school level. Traditionally the same skills are taught to everyone, we practice, we test, we move on to the next skill. I am pretty good at getting kids to reflect on their work and set goals and work to achieve them. I know I can do better and I want to do better. I will do better. When I look back at the first completely hand sewn gown I made, it’s pretty impressive. I had a lot of help. I love wearing the gown still. But I notice the little things I want to fix. Like some of those stitches are a little wonky, that seam could be a little neater, this edge is a hair off from that edge. But taking note of these “not so great aspects” has forced me to pay attention to them when I start a new project. (My mother always said, “If you don’t do it right the first time, you’ll have to do it over). The instructors at the gown workshop told us not to be caught up in making every stitch perfect. We even looked at an original gown as proof that women of the past were not perfect in their teeny tiny stitches. I think in the classroom, whether focusing on reading or writing, you can’t be perfect 100% of the time. You can strive toward excellence, and that’s what I aim for with my sewing. I want students to step back from their writing or annotations and say to themselves, “Yep, these kick butt. But I’m ready to do it again and even better the second time around!”

Year in Review in which I ruminate about past and future sewing projects

Tags

18th century clothing, 19th century clothing, future sewing projects, historic clothing, Regency, sewing projects

 

The past week and a half of 2014 has resulted in cloudy skies and zero sun. The Monday after Christmas in the UP, there was a ton of sun for our drive home. I had to capture that sun through the snow-covered branches before we left town in case I didn’t see sun again the rest of the winter.

Despite the sun, the kitty was not a huge fan of the icy temps and only spent a few seconds outside.

 

I did not meet any of the challenges for the 2014 Historical Sew Fortnightly, except the first one. Woops. But I finally got to wear my creation a year later at an event! Hurray! I’m a little disappointed in myself, but by now I should realize that Christmas break is deceptive in that I think I have all this time to sew and then forensics season starts and I coach every day from 3 – 6 p.m. and when I get home, I barely have enough time to make dinner. By 8 p.m. every night, I’m washing my face, brushing my teeth, and then crawling in bed to read. Sewing until midnight – totally not feasible. I’m still determined to finish my projects though that would have fit into the challenges from last year. Though I won’t post them on the HSF fb page, I’ll still post them here eventually (aka once they’re finished).

Unfinished projects:

I think many of these did not get finished because I ran into roadblocks. Sometimes I don’t know what stopped me from just pushing through and figuring it out on my own. Maybe fear of getting it wrong and not having enough fabric? I don’t know. It’s frustrating to say the least.

Yellow Regency Half Robe – which would have fit into “bodice,” “yellow,” and “political” challenges

– Roadblock: I was worried that if I didn’t have a proper Regency corset, that if I sewed the bustline in place, it would be wrong and I’d have to take it out and redo it. That’s not a huge deal at all because it’s a simple, straight seam.

– Why it’s still not finished: Sleeves are sewn together, just not attached because I’m lazy. And I wasn’t sure how to properly line up the seam for the sleeve, but I figured it out with the brown gown and now I’m just lazy.

Wool Jacket – which would have fit into “black and white” and “bodice” challenges

– Roadblock: I ran out of time. I decided to flatline the outer pieces of wool with an inner wool lining and that took an exorbitant amount of time to cut out the pattern for each piece a third time. I still have to cut out the sleeves, but I’m waiting on that because I still never figured out the exact size for the sleeve pattern from when I jumped into the blue striped jacket.

– Why it’s still not finished: The event I needed it for came and went back in mid November so now I don’t have a real reason to finish it except maybe for an event in April when that winter chill is still in the air. I’ll shoot for finishing it over spring break? Ok so I lost motivation and was lazy again.

Pink Bedgown – which would have fit into the “pink” challenge

– Roadblock: I thought I lost the last bit of pink fabric I needed for gussets and insert for collar. I found it.

– Why it’s still not finished: Other projects took over my life/living room. This was one of those, it’ll be nice to have when it’s finished garments, so I tend to work on it slowly at an event because it’s a nice conversation piece. (Except when I’m tavern staff, there is zero time for sewing).

Miss F’s Dress

– Roadblock: Time. Midweek since summer, I would casually daydream about working on this dress and then all this other stuff got in the way: mainly back to back weekend events for about a month.

– Why it’s still not finished: See above. Considering this will be the 4th time working with this pattern, I don’t have an excuse at all. We need it for June. June. Deadline is in 5 months. I *think* I have time.

Blue striped Jacket

– Roadblock: I gained weight (but not a lot) since I first fit this pattern and stopped lacing my stays as tight as I used to. I didn’t remake/remeasure my mock up – woops – and so I had major fit issues (which almost brought me to tears) until friends came to my rescue at an event and helped me magically fit a piece into the sides. Oh yeah and then the first sleeve pattern I used for my rose gown DID NOT fit me at all (huge muscles right here), and attempting to fit the mock up sleeve on me was akin to stuffing gobs of sausage into a too small casing. Ha.

– Why it’s still not finished: Sleeves have yet to be refit. Other projects took over. I got lazy – again – gee….is there a pattern here?

 

Finished Projects Review:

Brown striped regency gown – this gown is delightful to wear once I recut the sides and hemmed it in front and added loops to the back to hold up the ties. I want three more like this. But I really should branch out. First wore it to Years of Napoleon in June. This one will go to Waterloo with me.

Grey wool petticoat – I needed another wool petticoat simply for warmth. Normally I always wear just one because I’ve found that the slightest breeze or drop in temps at events makes me cold. (I’m such a baby, I know). Because I love making petticoats, they now take me about 5 – 6 hrs (depending on life), when I was getting ready for the event in mid-November it was either struggle with trying to line the wool jacket and cut out sleeves and line them and sew them and attempt to not cry OR sew two rectangles together. Rectangles it was! I’m all about binding the hem with tape and I chose a dark navy from WM Booth Draper…..well somehow we mis-measured and I was short by 10 inches. So Mr. Booth kindly gave me the missing tape and sewed it on himself!! Wow such service from the draper. I first wore the grey petticoat to The Gathering where, upon dressing and skipping about in my new garment by the fire when I went to fill the coffee pot, Mr. B the elder, accidentally splattered bacon grease on me; my apron caught most of it, but there are a few spots on the petticoat – not super visible except to me. Christening by fire?

Regency cotton petticoat with shoulder straps – I couldn’t wear my flannel petticoat to an event in June, so I needed this one. It’s heavy duty so it actually puffs out my brown Regency gown a tad. This is not a super flowy-graceful-go-to-the-ball petticoat. I still need one of those. But it’s not see through either so at the end of the event after it closed to the public, off came the gown and I sat around in my petticoat and drank wine with my friend. It was very lady-like.

1920 Robe de Style Prom (chaperone) dress – I really wanted a period appropriate dress to wear when I chaperoned prom. I’ve always really wanted a purple prom dress. While I had major shapewear on underneath the dress, the style was oh so comfy!!! It’s just a basic shift on top with a super poufy skirt that could be embellished multiple ways, so many in fact that I just couldn’t settle on one type of trim! I would love to make another dress like this.

 2015 Insanity Sewing

My goals for this year are simple: at least by the event for which I want to wear them, have the unfinished items finished. If I get any more specific than that, it may lead to more laziness. I also realized that most items don’t get finished unless I NEED to wear them to an event. Isn’t that how it is with most of us?

After a very successful first person immersion experience, a group of us here in SE WI/N IL are stepping into the 1830s. We are outfitting ourselves as well as assisting volunteers at the Macktown Living History Center in IL in full 1830s period clothing. Our goal is to sew a bunch of wardrobes for a handful of us who will put on a Christmas first person immersion experience open to the public. (I think that’s our goal the last I chatted with everyone, but plans morph as the year goes, and we are open to all possibilities).

A bit of background about me to get up to my new found love: the 1830s. When I first truly started historical clothing research, I was 19. I was obsessed with the 1890s. I love the graceful feminine lines and the sleek way the skirts fit at the waist and then flared out down around the ankles. I stared at countless images of antique dresses online. Then I had a 1920s dress made for me. I picked the fabric – a pretty blue check – and while it wasn’t the 1890s dream dress I wanted, it was a fun style. A few years pass, college finishes and my teaching career launches. I drag my then boyfriend to a Rev War reenactment north of Milwaukee and I fell in love with the style of the late 1700s. The lines were so simple. The women walked so gracefully. I had to have it!!!! I joined a unit and I taught myself to sew. At the beginning of this time, I did not particularly care for the Regency era. Something about the empire waists weirded me out. Then I was invited to several Regency events. Well I sat down and learned how to use my Viking Turissa. I loved the dress I produced. The Regency style was soooooo comfortable. It was a new kind of graceful. Not having heavy petticoats tied around my waist WAS freeing. Wow!! New time period adored.

As I jumped on pinterest and started looking at images, I was disgusted by the 1820s through 1840s. The odd poofy sleeves. The bell shaped skirts. Ick. I couldn’t stand it. I don’t like droopy shoulder lines at all in dresses. I have a small upper body and while I don’t want 1980s pointy/pouffy sleeves or 1890s leg-o-mutton sleeve insanity, I prefer some structure. But then my group said, hey we should really stop interpreting the 1780s at this site because that’s not historically accurate and we really need to be true progressives and get our stuff together for a full blown 1830s impression. Excuse me? Ummm….search pinterest, interesting – some tasteful styles are not too over the top. I like the colors and patterns of most fabric. Hey! I think I adore the 1830s!!!!!! When do we start sewing? 🙂

This brings us back to the present: my 1830s wardrobe. I have stunning pink cotton fabric that I really want to make into a fancy day dress or more simple Christmas party dress. I also acquired American Duchess Gettysburg boots for this time period (courtesy of my mother-in-law’s Christmas present). (I’m breaking them in slowly; the other day when I was tidying, I slipped them on and they are divine!!!!). This wardrobe will literally be built from the bottom up….or is it the inside out? Like all of us who have been doing this for a while know, you can’t really make that gorgeous Christmas dress until you’ve completed your foundation pieces. Patience is key!!!!

1830s Wardrobe Checklist

Have:

– 1 white cotton petticoat

– multiple cotton stockings and one silk pair

– chemise (technically it’s for an earlier time period, but I think it will work)

– one white linen apron (that is very dirty from incessant almost daily use for the past two years)

– boots

Need:

– corset!!! (The ladies in our group are torn on making our own or just biting the bullet and ordering from a company who will custom make them. The big question: does the $400.00 trump the time / frustration of sewing your own?)

– another 2 – 3 petticoats, at least one of which must be wool if we are first wearing these items at a Christmas event (WI could be deathly cold as early as Oct so one never knows!). I also think one of these must be corded.

– knitted bosom friend

– new cap

– new bonnet (I’m not sure if my Regency era bonnet will work for this time period. I kind of want a different style just because you know….why not?)

– two dresses – one for house work and the other for the party!!! woot! I think the day dress will be wool – again because our first event will be in winter and I will not freeze in cotton, but the pink cotton fabric I have already will most likely turn into a Christmas dress!

– dress patterns

– fun Christmas dress up shoes (I have the shoes; I intend to trim them with pink embellishments to match my dress – hurray!)

And lastly, my “general sewing dream project list for the way off sometime future provided I have an event to wear it to” list

– Downton Abbey 1912 – 1918 style dress

– Chemise a la reine with a royal purple silk sash (to be worn at my oh so fabulous Regency style birthday tea party that I am still planning)

– late 1700s linen working class gown

– quilted petticoat

– Regency era white ball gown

– some type of 1790s style gown

 

Fingers crossed for a mostly successful 2015. I’m not going to be overly optimistic so that come September, I say, “oh gee, I was going to do that…but yeah woops.” I want to be pleasantly satisfied with my achievements.

Miss F’s Gown

Tags

hand sewing, Regency, sewing projects

I’ve begun sewing my sister’s gown for Waterloo. We are similar in build, though she is slightly taller than me. Having just hand sewn a dress for myself with this pattern, I thought I might as well get started on hers before I forget everything. While on vaca at the family cottage, I whipped together the three part bodice and we had our first fitting. It fit her well and I’m excited to work on the next parts. After figuring out some interesting parts on my own gown (skirt gores, waist band, setting sleeves), her dress should be a breeze.

I have a lovely blue and white striped cotton that I can’t decide if I want to use for a ball gown for her or another day dress. It’s heavenly and I also hope I have enough fabric to make other things for me!

The color is hard to see because of the yellowish lighting as a result of the setting I used on my camera. But these photos are more for me to remember how it fit her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this above photo because of how she has her head wilting back in annoyance. The things we do for our sisters so they will look awesome at an event. Alas, she was not willing to withstand one more minute of a five minute fitting!

 

Regency Gown Re-done: an evaluation of alterations after wearing the dress again

Tags

hand sewing, historic clothing, Regency, sewing projects

Like many, I finished my dress the night before an event. Why? Because I have no idea. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that hemming and other light sewing does not make me ill in the car, so I hemmed the small bits of the gores and sewed down the skirt tuck in about 2 hours and I did not even notice we were already outside Madison! Good thing the husband likes to drive and I can sew.

Thurs night I finished resetting the new gored side pieces. This was the fastest sewing I think I have ever done. The only thing that annoys me a little bit about the way the seams go together is that the fabric, even though it is a lighter weight linen, is still pretty thick when it gets folded over twice. Then when I was folding over the edges around the openings at the top of the skirt band (you know the section where you stop sewing so you can access your pockets and what not), my fabric was not exactly cooperative so there is some wonky/janky folding going on up there. Luckily, I’m not waving my arms around like a hooligan at these events so no one will ever see!

I’m so glad I put the tuck in the front of the skirt too. I think I ended up taking in about 1 inch, maybe more, I can’t recall, but no more than 1.75. I could finally walk quickly (in a most lady-like fashion of course)! I was no longer tripping on my dress – huzzah! However, I think some man decided trains on dresses would be another delightful way to keep women from moving in multiple directions. Myself and another woman in camp had our fabric just a wee bit longer in the back of our skirts and we would step backwards to move out of the way and practically trip! Grrrrr. But I love how when there is a slight breeze and I’m walking and my skirt billows out behind me – even if it is a middling class gown that will get dirty by the fire.

All in all, my alterations were a success. I’m glad I learned new techniques and as always, got everything finished in time for the event. I especially want to thank Christina J for all her help with the alterations. She talked me through a lot of it via fb chat and for this I am extremely grateful. You should check out her blog here, because she is awesome.

I want to take a break from sewing like a madwoman the day before I need to wear it. I have several things to work on, but Waterloo dresses need to get done soon so those will be the main focus for the time being. I really need to find a lightweight white fabric for my fancy ball dress too.

Even though this is not me in the brown gown, I like the picture anyway!

Regency Gown 2 – Problem/Solution

Tags

Regency, sewing projects

Because school and forensics took over for the majority of the year, I was not on top of making anything for HSF up until now (literally). I just cranked out a new Regency Gown in 5 weekends. I’m quite pleased with it. However, I cannot figure out which of the challenges that have occurred so far it would fit into. Boo. I think, therefore, I’m planning ahead for HSF #21 Re-do.

Here is a picture of the gown:

Why I made it: I needed a middle class gown of dirt/grime color so that it would not show the dirt/grime too much when I walked through mud, dust, and accidentally carried a dirt pot against the front. There are zero trimmings or anything fancy because it is worn for work in a tavern.

Things to note: All but the parts that are gathered on the waist band are hand sewn. I’m a purist, but two double running stitches on the machine is so fast. The fabric is a lightweight striped linen. I wore it for the first time and one of the days was about 80 degrees or so and I found the entire ensemble to be comfortable.

Now that I wore the dress for two solid days, I realized some alterations need to occur. This is the first time I will be taking apart bits and pieces and slashing fabric to get rid of it. In the following pictures, I will note my modification plans.

1. The back

 

Problem: Because my underbust is so tiny (read: 31 inches), everything slips down, including the waist ties. For the picture, my photographer moved them up to where the *should* be, but within a a few minutes of moving/walking, the ties slide down a good three or more inches.

Solution: The updated pattern from Reconstructing History has added loops, two on either side, to help keep waist ties up at the proper height. (We were going to sew some this weekend, but never got around to it).

This is not really a problem, just something I noticed: the small bodice back piece sits much lower on me than the one on my other dress. I can’t figure out why. It’s not getting moved because overall, the top of this dress is very comfy.

2. The front

 

Overall, the proper silhouette is achieved. I like it a lot.

Problem 1: the bib piece is too large. The pattern piece is humongous!! And I cut my fabric much smaller than the original pattern piece too. Alas, as is obvious from the photo, the girls, are small. I’m wearing late 18th century transitional stays and while they lift, they also squash, making me even more flat chested.

Solution 1: I’m going to chop off the top and sides of the bib again. Or I could make little teeny pleats. I can’t decide. That was my original idea, but then I was like meh. So I’m still undecided. But I will definitely be cutting a good inch or two off the top so that when I pin it in place, it also raises where the waist band sits under my bust.

 

Problem 2: When I made my first Regency gown, I hemmed it well above the ground. Though when I made this one, I thought, no I want the skirt longer. However, looking at this photo, it looks too long. Grrrrr!!!!!!

Solution 2: I’m going to put it one or two tucks. I like the way they look, but I’m just nervous about making them even and symmetrical all the way around. (I’m also a perfectionist when it comes to these little things).

Problem 3: Thought is it not too terribly visible in this photo because of how I have my arms positioned, my fabric is too wide on the top of the front panel. I have serious gathers and it goes well behind my arm pits when I wrap the waist ties around me. During the event on Saturday, we talked with Christina (see her blog here) and she showed us one of her in progress Regency gowns and our discussion about the construction was quite informative. I have renewed vigor with which to tackle my re-do project!

Solution 3: I will cut off more fabric on each side. What I can’t decide though is if I need to completely take out my side seams. I really really don’t want to because I’m kinda tall and each side seam is a good 45 inches. But this fix also involves detaching the waist band a ways on each side.

I started this dress in May and had it finished June 13. Now I want to make all these alterations in time for another event (this time War of 1812 in Prairie du Chien) on July 19. I’m only working three days a week this summer, so I think this goal is quite achievable.