At Her Leisure

I know someone who is having a baby imminently, and on Thursday I decided I should knit something for it. I found a pattern for "Infant's Boots" in the first volume of Weldon's Practical Needlework and decided to make them. I finished them last night so they were a nice, quick project.

I finished the bathing suit in February, the bag in March, and the cap in August. I took pictures last week.



It's navy wool serge with ivory wool twill trim. The pattern is from Fashions of the Gilded Age. The shoes are from a couple of years ago and are cotton canvas and tape with cork soles. The cap is silk twill. I briefly considered trying to make it into oiled silk and then decided I didn't care enough. I also didn't care enough to find a better ribbon than the polyester satin I had. It does look rather synthetic against everything else. The buttons are plastic buttons covered in wool.

Since I don't have a bathing corset and don't want to make one, my plan is just to wear this over chemise and drawers or combinations. For the pictures it's just a chemise, but the legs are loose and drawers should fit in them just fine.

I think it came out really well. There aren't a lot of instructions for the pattern, of course, but I think it was fairly clear what to do for a person of experience. I tacked the pleats at the waist so that I wouldn't have to fiddle with them too much when belting it. I think I can wear the dress part of the suit as a dress and intend to do that, perhaps this weekend. If the weather is suitable, I might wear it for the trunk or treat that the parents are doing for the school band next week. We'll see; it's borderline right now. At least if it rains, I know it's okay to get it wet - after all, it is a bathing costume!

I had the house to myself all day yesterday, and I took advantage of the alone time to sew. I started a 1920's evening dress that I got fabric for in Port Townsend. I cut out a mockup, fit it, cut out the dress, and started sewing it together. I made good progress. It's a fairly simple dress, but I want to add beading to add interest. I'm still working on what I want to do, exactly, but I'll figure it out.

I actually sewed last night. All I did was sew the front of a button-front dress closed for my mother-in-law because the buttons have a tendency to pop open, but it was a needle and thread and fabric. Then I assembled a pattern I had printed out. I'm hoping to at least mock that dress up over the weekend and possibly cut it out. After an incredibly busy week last week, this week is much more relaxing.

It's super simple and really quick, but here's the little beaded coin purse.



I do not know why I have blue and purple shot fabric, but I do. It's not silk, but I don't know what it is - probably nylon or polyester. Now a piece of it is lining this purse.



And it only took about a week to make. I'm calling it Victorian, but I haven't actually seen such a thing. I have seen a larger purse with a clasp - maybe 5"x5" - that was basically solid beads on silk cord, but I haven't seen one quite this size nor with the spring steel top. But I vote it's plausible.

I put the lining in the 1924 Egyptian beaded purse last night so that project is finished. I technically only have one project in progress right now, the 1880's shawl that's about half-finished.



The pattern comes from Emma Post Barbour's The New Bead Book published in 1924. It's blue silk beading cord, size E, with size 11/0 silver-lined glass seed beads in seven colors. I needed two bags of the blue beads and one bag (or often substantially less than one bag) of each of the other colors. It's knit on size US 4/0 needles. The whole thing is knit in six sections, mostly so you don't have to string all the beads in their very careful order at once. There's a lining of silk taffeta. I got the purse frame from Laci's several years ago as one option for the fleur de lis purse I made from the same book, and it worked out to be the right size.

I took a little video to show how it moves. It's perhaps not great, but I think it shows it a bit.



It's sparkly and has marvelous fluidity, and I love it.

I finished assembling the 1930's sweater I was working on so now I only have two projects in hand. I should finish the 1924 beaded purse this week and am halfway through the 1880's shawl. Then maybe there will be some sewing around here.

I finished knitting the body of the purse.



I've strung beads and cast on for the handle/strap. Maybe I'll have the knitting finished by the end of the weekend. Maybe I won't.

I'm halfway through the second side of the purse, and my first spool of thread is running low. I'm not really looking forward to transferring all those beads to another thread so here's hoping it holds out a few more rows. Every row it lasts is 73 beads I don't have to transfer!

I'm more than halfway through the 1924 Egyptian beaded purse.



I've knit four of the six sections of the main bag.