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?

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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

 

 

 

Miss F’s Dress on location – Waterloo 2015

Tags

19th century clothing, hand sewing, Miss F's Dress 1815, Regency, sewing projects, Waterloo 200

The dress made its debut in Brussels on June 19 2015 for the Inferno Opening Spectacle at Waterloo 200. My sister was a really great sport about running through the downtown Brussels train stations in period clothing.

Here are a smattering of photos from that day and then a few from our hotel in Bruges. (The more artistic photos are on her camera, so those will be posted later).

 

The hotel, Hotel Patritius, is an 1830s house right near the Grot Markt in Bruges. It was the perfect hotel for our architectural souls. Though the house is a later date than our dresses, it made a gorgeous backdrop for our little photo shoot!

Here are some random photos at the Battle of Waterloo site.

 

Obligatory selfie

Right as I took this photo, a huge gust of wind poofed her dress. Bahahaha.

 

 

Miss F’s Dress: Skirts

Tags

19th century clothing, hand sewing, Miss F's Dress 1815, Regency, sewing projects

My fabric isn’t wide enough. I have the back skirt panel gathered and pleated and I pinned it to the bodice. I tried it on to see how it felt in terms of flowy-ness and what not. It felt okay. (Miss F and I are similar in stature). However, I think I’m going to add 5 – 7 inch-ish panels to either side so I can have a bit more pleating in the back. I like the fuller back skirt look.

 

 

Sleeves still need to be cut, sewn, attached. Belt/waist tie still needs to be cut, sewn, attached. Front big needs to be played around with: I can’t decide it it should be gathered, pleated, etc. I need to make these decisions now. Then that needs to be attached.

I’m enjoying making another dress of this style. I think it’s giving me another opportunity to refine my hand sewing skills and learn how to alter parts of the pattern for someone other than myself.

Warmer clothing needed for colder weather

Tags

18th century clothing, hand sewing, historic clothing, living history, Ox Bow Tavern, sewing projects

Do you ever find that you want to make one garment and you start making that one garment and you rather enjoy your time with needle and thread? Your mind imagines the finished item and how it will look at this oh so wonderful event in the future. Then everything comes to a screeching halt because one the event you wanted to wear it to is in just a week and two this item is no where near finished and three obviously wearing linen in 40/50 F degree weather is the silliest thing ever.

I am slight of frame, which makes it difficult to regulate my body temperature. While working in period clothing several days a week in the summer when it is 90 – I sweat a ton. Once the sun goes down and the temperature drops to below 75 – I freeze. If there is a slight wind – I’m cold. I wear knee socks the majority of the year both for living history events and in every day life because they keep my feet warm.

Though I’ve only been participating in living history events since 2009, I have been very lucky to experience most in lovely weather; a few have been rainy or cooler, and one was in subzero temps, but we were in a building and I stood in front of the hearth for the three days. Specifically, the second weekend in Sept dawned rainy and cool. I have lots of wool items: long mitts, stockings, a petticoat, a cloak and a hat. However I do not have a short gown/jacket. I have a fitted lined linen jacket which, when it’s 80F, makes me too hot, so I made an unlined bedgown for a looser, more freeing feeling. I was wearing this jacket and a *million* petticoats and I was cold. I couldn’t get warm for almost a week afterward. While I was at this event, I bought wool for a new petticoat and a new short gown/jacket.

The petticoat will be grey with a navy blue worsted wool bottom hem. The jacket is a grey/black stripe interlined with wool and lined with worsted wool. I’m proud of myself because my interlining and lining are from items in my stash so I did not have to buy anything new/extra!!!! I’m using the JP Ryan jacket pattern, view A. With my three layers, I have 18 pieces. GAH!! They were all cut out this morning (about 3 hrs time) and I started to flat line the outer fabric to the interlining.

Oh and I need this new jacket and petticoat for Oct 18 because I’m anticipating subzero temperatures.

Thank god for crock pot cooking on Sundays.

There are lots of tutorials on both short gowns/jackets and flat lining etc, so I will only post finished product photos.

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!

1810 Work Dress Part 1 Complete

Tags

1810 Morning Dress, brown linen, hand sewing, Regency

One month to make an 1810 work dress for an event in June. This will be my third time using Reconstructing History’s bib front morning dress pattern. I’m familiar with how everything goes together and this time I’m hand sewing it all. Hurray!! I chose a brown striped linen fabric because I did not want it showing the dirt. I didn’t have any fabric for the lining that I liked, so I just grabbed my mock up muslin because the off white color was good enough.

Now, I’m madly hand sewing every day after school. It gives me something to look forward to when I wake up in the morning and when I’m watching kids take quizzes. Anywho, the good camera is at my husband’s desk at his job, so I don’t have any pictures, but this afternoon I finished hand lining the bodice. It’s not too much of a painstakingly slow and tedious process as one would think. I really enjoy the look of a hand sewn lined bodice. It’s so pretty now that that part is done. 

I’m in that sewing mood/mode of “do I go ahead and cut the skirt pieces and sew those together?  Or do I just continue to look at pictures on pinterest to help me figure out how I’m going to retrim my other Regency gown?” Yeaaaaahhhhhhh. 

18th century jacket progress

Tags

18th century jacket, future sewing projects, hand sewing

Yesterday I was bored. Spring time means light lesson planning and grading. Therefore, my mind wandered back to my post earlier this winter with all of my dream projects. I thought why not! I chose the jacket, not because it was first on the list, but because there was less fabric involved. Heh. We’ll see how that works out in the end.

I cut out the pattern. Cutting out patterns or fabric is not complete without a cat stepping on the exact piece that you are working on. Watch your paws kitty!! If you look at the pattern, there are three jacket front options and two back options. I am making C-D because it is shorter (less fabric, but not by much) and is more appropriate to the 1780s that my unit portrays. However, I don’t quite have the patience for making handmade eyelets just yet, so I’m fairly certain I want to have the jacket close all the way in the front. Therefore, front A appeals to me. But I like the way the opening on B looks with the stomacher visible.

I know my shoulders at the top front are very small/short/narrow, so I made a mock up on muslin first (a la package directions). Then, I had my husband, begrudgingly, tie me into my stays. haha. Thanks!! Anyone who sews anything historical knows that if you don’t put on your undergarments with the garment for a first fitting, you have no idea whether it will fit or not. Everything fit super well!! I was so impressed. I only need to add two inches to either side of the jacket front so I can properly pin it closed. The back fits; no bunching, no weird puckering – and this was with rather fast hand sewing basting stitches too. Hooray! The part that I’m debating over is the shoulders. When I have all my stuff on, and I stand how I normally stand, the shoulder strap front gets a crease in it, suggesting to me, it’s too big and needs to be readjusted. Maybe next weekend I will climb back into all the garments and try it on again to test to be sure and pin if necessary.

My new quandary is this: I want to make the jacket reversible. I have a faded red for the “outside” color and a yellow/golden brocade like for the “inside.” I’m having a wee bit of trouble wrapping my mind around the concept so that when I stitch the two parts together, I can actually turn the jacket inside out and it works. I’ve seen one picture in Fitting and Proper of a jacket/petticoat combo that was reversible, therefore mine is historically accurate as much as it can possibly be.

The next part I have to test out is the sleeve. I did not exactly have the patience yesterday to sew a sleeve and set it in. That can wait for the following week.