At Her Leisure

About half of my time this year was spent cross-stitching, which takes a lot of time, but I still made quite a few things. I’m pleased with what I made, but I didn’t make my new favorite thing. There are a couple of things that I still need to get pictures of, but since it’s already January 10, I decided to go ahead and post this and fill them in later.


( This year’s projects behind the cut )

I did a lot of needlework this year, but I didn’t make a lot of things. I liked the things I did make, but they were generally lengthier projects.

It was a much better year for events. There were several DFWCG events, and I went to Costume College. A friend and I even made our own mini-event where three of us dressed up, ate out, and went to a play.

( This year’s projects behind the cut )

One of my goals for this year was to work from my stash. I was not nearly as successful as I was last year. The 1908 eyelet dress was all stash, but then the 1805 embroidered dress was all new materials. The 1876 dress was all stash, but the three bathing suits were all new materials except for a couple of balls of yarn. “Winter Lace” was stash, but “Street Scene” was new materials except for a few skeins of embroidery floss. The 1916 dress was stash, but the 1940’s dress was new materials. The stays, the nightcap, the vest, the Eleonora stockings, scarf, kerchief, skating cap, and flute décor were all from stash. The 1910’s purse materials were a combination of stash fabric and new threads. I bought wool fabrics for three dresses, wool yarns for two sweaters, and cotton yarn for a quilt that I haven’t started yet. I bought fabric and embroidery wools for an 18th century wallet. I bought some miscellaneous embroidery threads that don’t necessarily have a project planned. On the balance, I think that means that I had no net change to the fabric stash but increased the yarn and embroidery supplies I have. I shall have to try harder not to buy things in 2024.

I finished a 1940’s dress from some fabric that I bought at Independence Day. I have bought more material this year than usual, but at least I’ve used the new stuff I’ve bought. Well, I’ve mostly used it. I’ve used the fabric. I’ve used some of the yarn and am using more.

I’ll have to get pictures of it, but I’m pleased with how it came out. I’ve done so little sewing lately that it was extra fun.

Once again I find myself in arrears on posting finished projects. I don't know why I find it so hard to keep up. Maybe it's just that taking pictures is more trouble than starting something new.

Yesterday I finished a 1940's wrap dress from a pattern a colleague leant me last year. I had to omit the sleeves because I didn't have enough fabric, but I like it pretty well otherwise. The fit is a trifle odd at the sides, but I didn't realize it after I had nearly finished the dress. It also makes sense because of how the "sleeves" are supposed to go in. They're really not sleeves - more like 17th century wings that go down nearly to the waist than actual sleeves. I haven't decided yet whether I'll just ignore it or go back and take the dress in a bit at the bust.





It has a pocket!

This is just a general progress update because I have a few things I've been working on the last couple of weeks.

After spending last weekend making a dress, I don't think it's going to end up getting hemmed this weekend. My husband is still playing in the garage so there's no way I'll get the hem marked and pressed and stitched in the next hour. Marking isn't outside the realm of possibility, depending upon when he comes in.

Last night I finished an 1840's bonnet I had started a few weeks ago. It was just down to the trimming, which is the unpleasant part of millinery. Why can't the thing have been plain hats with just a band of ribbon around the crown or something? Bonnet trimming always drives home to me how non-artistic I am. Yes, I am an engineer by training and by inclination. I am not an artist.

I spent a fair bit of time over the last two weeks reading and knitting. I've started the third ball of yarn in my 1934 Benedictine tunic and am nearly halfway through the decreases to the waist. It's really plain knitting - I'm past the raglan sleeves, and the patterned section doesn't come until the hip - so it's perfect for knitting while reading. I will have to buy some US2 (2.75mm) DPN's for the sleeves. I have 6/0-1 and 3 but no 2.

The border on my 1890-ish veil is finished, but I haven't gotten any further than that. I worked on the bonnet and then the dress and then got to reading, which does not work in tandem with lace patterns, and there she sat. I did chart the main pattern since I had read that there were two mistakes in the pattern - I had found one in the border but never found a second one - but that's as far as it went. It's been a weird two weeks with no TV on around me, which meant that I could just read and work on the Benedictine. That is bound to change soon.

I started a pair of embroidered 18th century pockets at the sewing circle a couple of weeks ago since embroidering the pansies during sewing circle sessions worked out really well last fall. I traced one pocket and worked on it one weekend and then didn't go to the sewing circle for the next two weeks. I'm using a Romantic Recollections pattern (https://romanticrecollections.com/product/mid-18th-century-pocket-hand/), but I'm doing it with backstitch and multiple colors of thread.

The next project is a 1920's dress with an embroidered yoke and waistband that I'm hoping to wear in April. I've got a pattern and printed it out. I've got the embroidery pattern, though I'll have to suit it to the curved yoke. The next step will be tracing the embroidery pattern. This will be turquoise embroidery on navy voile unless I decide some other color looks better with the navy.

Since there weren’t a lot of events in 2021, I tried to spend time on more time-consuming projects. I still made some quick stuff, but I didn’t feel that I churned things out.

( This year’s projects behind the cut )

I knit right about 20 rows of the waistcoat in the last week. That puts me inside 200 rows.

A friend at work loaned me some patterns that belonged to his mother for me to copy so that's cutting into my knitting time. They're from the 1940's and 1950's. The first three had obviously been used because there were pieces missing or alterations pinned into the pattern. The fourth didn't look like it had ever been unfolded before. There are three more left.

2020 was an odd year, no doubt. I was lucky that I was able to go to the George Washington Ball in Williamsburg the week before everything spiraled into chaos. With nothing else going on, I got a lot more time for needlework than usual this year, and by summer I realized I was churning stuff out way too fast. I started working on things that take a lot more time to get a finished product like cross-stitching and knitting.

I made two things this year that I really love – an 18th century domino and a Victorian shawl. I'm happy with a lot of my other stuff, but those are just some of the coolest things I’ve ever made.

( This year's projects behind the cut )

I worked a little on all my in-progress projects this week and started a new one.

1. 1897 shawl - I'm still plugging away at the trim; I'm getting close to 50 repeats finished. I'm trying to do one repeat a day on the days I go to work and two on the days I don't.

2. Cable-knit cardigan - I started the back last week and got through almost 1.5 repeats of the cable pattern. Cables are so cool. It's really funny to be knitting something where thirty rows gives you like 3" of knitting. I've been working on a sleeve during lunch at work, and I'm more than 2/3 of the way to the beginning of the armscye shaping.

3. "A Treasured Time" cross-stitch - I finished the top left section of the pattern yesterday. Now I just have the lower left section of the pattern to do. It's the smallest section of the pattern and is something like 90 x 110 stitches. It's 85% half-cross stitch if not more so it goes way faster than my usual cross-stitching projects do.

4. 1943 coral wool tricotine dress - I started this last week and made very good progress. I have two sleeves completely made up and two collar sections made up. The back of the dress is put together and the front is put together. I partially sewed the seams that connect back to front. I figure I've got about half a dozen hours of work left to finish it.

I've got a new dress to post about, but I'm not up for that tonight. It's nearly bedtime.

But today I finished knitting and blocking the second sleeve of a sweater and am quickly progressing through knitting the first side of the button band. I expect this sweater will be done quite soon, which is good because it's supposed to start getting too warm to wear my Aran sweater to work every day. It will be nice to have a new cardigan to wear.

I realized this morning that I'm not doing as much knitting as usual because we're not out driving around as much as usual. I ended up between sewing projects for a few days so I started knitting in the evenings, which I usually don't do.

I cut out a new dress this afternoon, but I'm so close to finishing the sweater that I'll probably work on it tomorrow night since we're going to (virtually) watch a movie with my sister.