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've been making progress on (almost) all the projects I have in hand right now.

1920 tuxedo sweater: I've finished knitting the body, the belt, and one pocket. I've cast on the second pocket. I've knit as much of the collar as I can and have now run out of yarn. I will finish knitting the second pocket and sew all the green pieces together, but then this will be on hold until I buy more white yarn.

"Street Scene" cross-stitch: I finished the third row of blocks on the seventh page last night.

1860's dress: I'm nearly finished. The skirt is complete. The bodice is functionally complete except for a couple of hooks at the waist. I'm in the process of trimming it. Then I need to make cuffs for it and baste them in. I also need to baste it to the skirt.

1902 vest: This is the one thing that hasn't seen any progress. I got pink ribbon, but the pink is very pink and looks terrible with the mustier pink of the yarn. I don't love ivory ribbon with it, but I think matching pinks online is going to be more trouble than it's worth. I'll just use the ivory.

Going forward:

I'm wearing the 1860's dress next weekend so I need to finish it. Then I ought to spend a night or two finishing off the 1902 vest just because it's been lingering for so long. I expect to finish knitting the second pocket for the tuxedo sweater so I also ought to sew together that so that it's as done as it can be at present. Then I need to make a pair of culottes for my daughter before I start on the 1826 promenade dress.

I'm halfway through the last row of crochet on my 1902 vest. Unless the day goes completely haywire, I should finish the crochet part tonight. I ordered ribbon yesterday. I actually had a really good color of ribbon in the right width in the stash, but it was a china silk ribbon that I used to lace my 1860's evening gown once. That wasn't good for it. Even though I'm planning to wash this very gently, I don't think that ribbon would hold up to any kind of laundering. Of course the online shop I bought it from doesn't seem to be available right now so I just have to hope that the new ribbon will be a good color. It's hard to tell from internet pictures.

This started as a conversation in comments with danabren, but it seems to be worth moving into a post of its own.

I'm not quite sure whether the knit 1902 vest I'm making is supposed to be a layer next to the skin or a layer for extra warmth over the corset. I went into this project thinking it was meant to be a layer next to the skin. Now I'm not so sure. I'm also not quite sure whether the openwork across the bust is supposed to be threaded with ribbons or left open. If the latter, it seems it indicate that this goes over other garments because otherwise it's just mesh across the bust, which would not be pleasant under a corset. If the former, then maybe it does go next to the skin. But I know there were knitted garments that were worn next to the skin and were basically a long tank top like this is. Mostly I've seen those called "undervests." Do "undervests" go under the corset and "vests" go over it? Does the word "vest" indicate that it's a warmth layer? Or are the two words really interchangeable?

The pattern calls for silk, which would make you think it wasn't to be washed much and therefore not a layer next to the skin, but there were "washing silk" fabrics in the period, which were meant to be washed. I also think I've run into silk knit undervests and/or union suits somewhere, but I couldn't swear to that. If it's for warmth, I would actually think it would go on over the corset since most warmth comes from trapping air, and a corset would seem to squish more air out if it were underneath.



The pattern calls for "2-1/2 yards of pink satin ribbon about one inch in width, and 2-1/2 yards of very narrow pink satin ribbon to run in the neck." Then "Run ribbons through holes and tie in pretty bows in front." That's all it has to say about the ribbon. In the figure there's a row around the neck filled with white, and all the rows above it aren't. Presumably that's where you're running in the very narrow ribbon. So far, so good. Then in the openwork below, it's filled with white. If you run a 1" ribbon through the spaces there, you'd have to fold it in half along the width. There are nine rows so you'd be able to have about 10" of ribbon per row, which isn't enough to fill the whole mesh. So maybe the 2.5yd is just a ball-park. But then what about the matching mesh in the back? Should it be filled? It doesn't show up very well in the image. If you fill it, you'd need at least double the ribbon. But then the bottom of the image also shows the mesh filled with white. If you're going to fill five rows around the hips, you need at least another five yards of ribbon.

Another relevant point is that this is really stretchy and has to be well-stretched to fit the bust and hip. If it goes under the corset, then the corset will keep it from riding up at the hip to bunch at the waist, or so I assume, having never tried wearing something like it. If it's over the corset, will it stay in place?

After pondering over the past week and a little bit of fruitless internet searching and writing all of this out, I think I'm going to assume that a "vest" can refer to a garment worn under the corset and that the amount of ribbon is wrong. I will definitely fill the mesh at the front of the bust with ribbon. I'll try it on with a corset to decide whether to fill the back. I don't think I'll fill the hip unless the mesh needs it to stay put, which the try-on should tell me. All that being said, I don't think I'm going to use 1" ribbon; I'll use something that approximately fits the holes without folding it.

Gotta love Victorian and Edwardian knitting patterns.

I've been time-sharing among projects this week.

- 1949 bathing suit: The back of the shorts is half-finished. I feel like this project is so close to finished, even though it's still got a ways to go.
- 1902 vest: I've worked on the neck edging off and on. I've still got two rows to go. Then I get to sew up the side seams and repeat the trimming on the armscyes and bottom edge. As long as I can keep devoting an hour or two over the weekends to it, I'll be satisfied.
- Early 1900's hat: I took an online hat-making workshop last Sunday afternoon. At the end of the class, I had a wire frame for a hat and materials to cover it. I've spent a couple of nights on it this week and am nearly finished covering the brim. I think the brim will be finished tonight.
- "Street Scene" cross-stitch: I'm on the third row of blocks on the sixth page. This page is exciting because there's plenty of non-background stuff going on. I'm very pleased about that.

So everything has progressed, though of course nothing is done. That's fine.

I finished embroidering the dress last night. Now I need to do a row of blocks on my cross-stitching (starting page 2!) before I finish putting the whole thing together.

Incidentally, for those who are curious, my 1902 vest has been making slow but steady progress. I have fewer than sixty rows left before starting the neckline. It sounds like a lot, but since I’m over 300 rows into it, it feels really close.

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 finished the 1900's combination undergarment this week. It's a combination drawers and corset cover, according to the pattern, which I got from The Edwardian Modiste, page 245. It's made of cotton batiste trimmed with tatted lace and silk ribbons. My combinations do not have as much trim as the pattern image showed, but since I tatted all my trim, I don't care. I'm really not into very decorative underwear anyway.

The pattern doesn't say anything about any fastenings, and the picture doesn't show any except that it has ribbons at neck and waist. I don't trust drawstring ribbons to keep anything shut so I put a button and buttonhole at neck and waist behind the ribbons.

All the lace patterns came from Butterick's Tatting and Netting published in 1895.



( Details of the lace behind the cut )

I finished the flower patterned part of my 17th century waistcoat sleeve today and started working on the border at the top. I'm hoping by the end of next weekend I can finish this sleeve. I only have 22 rows so it's doable.

I cut the fabric for the Edwardian combinations I've been working on the lace for for the last few months. I don't think they'll take all that long to make. We shall see whether they're done by the end of next week too.

I'm really close to getting to the armscye shaping on my 1930's sweater. I think I'm only four rows short.

I'm approaching the end of the big tatting project. The laces are finished for the sleeves and drawers legs and waist. It's just the neck edging left, and I've done something between 1/3 and 1/2 of it. The current plan is to finish that this week and make up the combinations next week.