At Her Leisure

I ended up sewing more over the weekend than I really felt justified in. I got other stuff done too, but there's still a list. (Of course, there will always be a list because there will always be little stuff that would be better done.)

That being said, I finished the 1826 promenade dress. I was pleased to see that the weight of the flounces does indeed make the hem hang nicely with the padding in it.



It's a green wool with bodice and sleeves lined in linen. I put a layer of silk organza in the tops of the sleeves, but it still doesn't provide enough loft. The wool has lots of drape to it, which I like but is less than ideal for these sleeves. I tried it on with the 1830's sleeve puffs, but they're too big and stuff the sleeves full. I'll need to do something to support them a bit, but I need to figure out what. The Lady's Stratagem was no help. (To be fair, it's like 600 pages long, and I only looked at the index and flipped through a few other pages so there could be something I didn't see.)

Today I realized that I made a smock for the late 16th century/early 17th century a few years ago. Since body linens were mostly unchanged for ages and ages, a 14th century smock should be very, very similar to a 16th century one. I used a pattern from The Tudor Tailor so it really is probably meant for the 15th-16th centuries. It's also really similar to the instructions from The Medieval Tailor's Assistant so I feel like I'm on very stable ground not making a new one.

Between finishing the dress and not needing to make a smock, my Costume College list is in better shape. I still want bathing shoes (started), a 14th century gown, a wimple, a veil, and a 1930's dress, but that's a much more achievable list.

Considering that I spent a lot of time cross-stitching this year, I'm surprised I made so much, but I had a good variety of projects this year. I didn't sew any clothes for modern wear so I should try to do more of that next year.

( This year's projects behind the cut )

My stays are finished, and my husband took pictures today. They didn't come out with the greatest resolution, and I don't know why. Also the shift sleeves kind of block the view. I'm going to see if I can get Jen to take better pictures in November because I'm quite proud of my stays.







They're based on the c. 1680 stays in Corsets and Crinolines. I took about an inch out of the side pieces and shortened them at the back waist by about half an inch. I also adjusted the angle of the straps so that they would come over the shoulder instead of around the shoulder. That left a 2"-3" spring at the back.

The interior is made of two layers of cotton drill with machined boning channels 3/16" wide except for the center back which has wider channels. It's boned with 3mm flat oval reed except at the center back where I cut down 1/2" flat oval reed to fit the channels. The seam allowances are turned to the back and whipped down before the pieces are whipped together with fine whip-stitching. Then the back pieces were covered with silk brocade and the eyelets made. Then I covered the tabs before covering the front and sides. On the large pieces, I made sure to keep the stays well curved while pinning the brocade to allow a little extra fabric to account for not being under tension. The reed was nice because I could prick stitch through the bones and follow the edges of the fabric, even if they didn't end up exactly along the interior seam lines. The straps were the last thing covered with brocade. Then I lined the tabs individually with muslin with a fairly fine whip stitch. Finally, I lined the center front, sides, and straps to finish off the project.

The straight front is achieved with a wooden busk between the shift and stays. I need to make another one specifically for this because the 1820's one I've been using is a little wide and a little long. I want to curve this one a little so it will rest more against my breastbone and will look more like the ones in Seventeenth Century Women's Dress Patterns. I also need to let out the shift neckline since it doesn't look quite like I intended it to. I'm going to make the mantua first, though, so I can see how it looks with that.

The stays have taken awhile, but I'm really happy with them.

I think I need a to-do list for all the projects that are scattered around here. There are far more UFO's than there probably should be.

1. 1690’s stays: Finish covering, make eyelets for straps, cut and sew in lining
2. 1830’s plain petticoat: Prep waistband and set waist
3. 1830’s tucked petticoat: Prep waistband, finish tucks (4 down/5 to go), and set waist
4. 1610’s petticoat: Reset waist
5. 1950’s turquoise dress: Shorten hem by 9”
6. 18th century cap: Everything – listed more to remember that it’s there than anything else
7. 1860 rigolette: Make 127 ½” pom-pons
8. 1912 vest: Order yarn and finish, but I’m still ignoring it because I’m not ready to order any other yarn at present and refuse to order the yarn and pay shipping for one ball of yarn
9. Pineapple bag: Just keep knitting
10. 1892 Zouave: Cast on so I can have some blind knitting for when I'm reading

Yesterday I tore apart the Tiana dress I made for my daughter a few years ago. I'm saving the other princess costumes (except the first Sleeping Beauty dress that wore out), but they never liked playing with this one because it was a really heavy dress.



I've always liked the gold sateen in the dress, though, so I tore the dress apart to rescue it. It's earmarked for the outer layer of a two-layer corset whenever I make another Victorian/Edwardian corset. I suppose I should be proud of myself; I also took the trim from a ridiculously heavy corset cover I made in college and recycled it for my 1918 combinations this spring.

1. Pushing the busk from the 1820's stays between the 1690's stays and my smock solved my center front boning problem. It's almost exactly the right length too so I might not need to get/make a new busk.

2. I assembled my knitted rigolette from an 1860 pattern except for the pom-poms. I'm calling it 60% complete because there are a lot of pom-poms. I'm having trouble getting excited about making about 150 pom-poms. That's a lot of pom-poms.

I think I might need a pair of these knitted 17th century garters.



Of course, patterning them will be a bear. I wish I could zoom in a bit more, but it looks like they must be knit in the round with the pattern on both sides because both side look like the right side of stockinette, and there are no floating threads on the back side.

reine_de_coudre, isiswardrobe, do you know whether these are specifically men's garters, or would they be okay for a woman?

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.