Progress Report

[atherleisure]

My turn-of-the-18th-century smock/shift is approaching completion.



The neck ruffle is pieced and hemmed and gathered. The neck band and facing are pieced. I just have to attach the ruffle to the neckband, gather the body, attach it to the neckband, and attach the neckband facing. I'm pretty pleased with it and with how it's coming.

I also started a couple of 1830's petticoats, though they've only had the main seams sewn and the hems pressed up. I wanted something that would move quickly, and running up those seams on the machine hardly took any time at all. Besides, when you're in the mood to work on underwear, you should seize the opportunity! How often does that happen? Two petticoats should be all I need to finish my 1830's underwear, which is definitely worth a little happy dance.

There hasn't been a lot of knitting lately, but I did take a picture of a section of the front piece of my 1860 rigolette, or winter headdress, after I blocked it. I think it's quite pretty.



I also took a picture of the fichu I made for the Jane Austen Festival since I forgot to take a picture of it on me at the festival itself. (I'm hopeless, am I not?) Sorry about all the creases; I was not interested in ironing it just to take a picture before folding it right back up into the box.



I still have to report on our excursion to Jamestown, but I'm going to wait until after all of the CoCo hullaballoo has passed. I hope starlightmasque will be as kind as she was last year and post frequent pictures to keep those of us who cannot attend involved. It was really great seeing all those pictures last year.

Comments

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely seize the momentum when you have it. Otherwise all those whites are just a drag. Both the shift and the fichu have such pretty ruffles! The rigolette looks really neat with the brown knitting over the white. I've never seen that before.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

Underwear seems never-ending. Just when I think I've got pretty much all I need, there's more to do. At least it's usually pretty easy. The shift is interesting, but it's a bit different too since I don't usually hand-sew underwear.

You can see, though, why I'm getting a bit tired of rolled hems. I've got a cap cut out that is just sitting there mocking me because I can't get excited about even more rolled hems. Maybe after my stays are done...

The rigolette is interesting knitting. It's the first time I've had something that was knit with a lining. The two layers are connected but knit separately (not double-knitting or anything like that). I expect it shows off the lacy pattern better. The back is not lined. I've only seen one of these made up before, and it's not on Ravelry so it doesn't seem to have been a very popular pattern among historic knitters.

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

It's so true. Every time I get underwear for one era, it seems like I need underwear for another. Or the underwear I've made is wearing out and I need to make a new one, like this corset.

Ah, so that's how the two layers work. The light background definitely shows off the dark, lacy stitches well. I wonder if the two layers is also for warmth, since it's a winter headdress.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

I think warmth is a consideration in the design since the front, which goes around the head and over the ears, is lined while the back, which goes over the hair, is not. I don't have anything for scale in the picture, but the whole front piece is about 5" wide and over a yard long.