My latest project!!

I made a wardrobe (now listed on Etsy) which consists of two Civil War dresses and two pairs of pantaloons!! I haven't listed the pantaloons yet, but I intend to shortly!! I love sets :-) Maybe I can post some pictures of them later!

The Corset Advances!!

I did some research and found that sewing machines in the eighteen-sixties sewed a chain stitch. As my sewing machine does NOT sew a chain stitch, I thought it better to hand sew my corset. I am in the process of doing so, and put grommets on one side just today :) It's a lot fun, though with all the other projects I'm working on it's going rather slowly. If you look at the picture above you can see on the right my cane boning, which I cut, soaked in warm water, and set out to dry. Below are the original pattern pieces, above are my altered pattern pieces.

I am making an 1860's replica Corset, I am basing my corset off of this corset here, as well as a corset from "Corsets and Crinolines." I blew the pattern, (taken from an original corset), which is included in "Corsets and Crinolines" up to it's real size, I than measured the pattern, added 4 inches to the waist (the thing measured 18 inches!!) and made a mock up. I had to adjust the mock-up a little, but now have my finished pattern all ready for sewing. I intend to get some Cotton Twill to sew it in, as this was generally used in corsets at the time, and already have some cane strips to turn into boning. We shall see what we shall see!!!

Fabrics

Fabrics

Cotton

Cotton fabrics are generally light and very breathable (cool to wear.) Cotton clothing needs to be ironed after every washing, as it wrinkles abominably. It can be washed and ironed at high temperatures, and is a fairly sturdy fabric.
Some cotton fabrics, such as Sailcloth, Drill, and Duck are heavy weight fabrics. Duck and Sailcloth cottons are generally not used in clothing, however.

Silk

Silk fabrics are used for formal clothing. They are generally delicate, thin fabrics, with a few exceptions, such as silk brocade. Silk is hand washable, but should not be dried in an automatic dryer. Silk is cool in the summer, and warm in the winter, it has a beautiful shimmer, and is generally expensive.

Wool

Wool shapes well, absorbs moisture, and is very durable. It is hand washable. It usually comes in one of two different forms: Woolen and Worsted Wool.
Woolen is generally a heavy, soft, thick fabric. It’s very efficient at keeping in heat, and is used in heavy winter blankets, scarves, winter cloths, coats, and Civil War reenactor’s cloaks :)
Worsted wool is generally a lighter weight fabric, it’s very soft, durable, has a light sheen, and holds its shape. It breathes well, is cool in summer and warm in winter, and is used in finely tailored clothing.

Linen

Linen is hand washable and lint free. It comes in heavy and light weaves, it’s a sturdy, cool, fabric, and is used in tablecloths, suiting, and general clothing items.

Polyester

Polyester is a synthetic, strong, wrinkle-free fabric. It melts at medium high temperatures, and in my opinion is best when mixed with a natural fabric. It doesn’t breathe much and for this reason can be very uncomfortable to wear, especially when it is hot and humid outside.

Polyester Blends

Polyester blends are more washable than polyester, (although they still don’t like extremely high heats), and don’t wrinkle quite like natural fabrics do. Still, they don’t breathe as well as natural fabrics do, either.


Some of this information was gathered from fabrics.net. If you want more information on fabrics, I would recommend it as the place to go.

Formal Pattern Drafting --- A Sheath Dress

I drafted the pattern for this dress from "Pattern drafting & grading.” I drafted the dress from page 18, and used the sleeve (which I shortened to a cap length) and armhole design that I found on Pg 27.
I fully lined this dress. It is made of a black sequin material, and has a pointed empire waistline, raglan cap sleeves, a kick pleat, and a "V" shaped neckline.

Pattern Drafting --- A Drop-shouldered Blouse

I drated this pattern using "Pattern drafting & grading: Women's and misses' garment design." I first drafted their fitted bodice base pattern, using the measurements of the girl I intended to make this blouse for, and this pattern drafting book's ratios and techniques. I then followed the instructions given in the pattern drafting book for my desired design (shown below). I made the "sleeves" according to another design from the same book, using a drop shoulder method found in the pattern drafting book. I had to make a peplum for the bottom of this blouse, because this blouse pattern is meant to be used for a dress, and so ends exactly at the waist. (Therefore, the peplum piece begins exactly at the waist and continues to the end of the blouse.) I used the hip extension for the bodice base pattern as a template for my peplum.

(Pattern Drafting and Grading, pg. 25)

Pattern Review --- Simplicity 5098 Pattern Review

Pattern Rating: Four Out of Five Stars

I recommend this pattern with these changes: When selecting your size look at the finished measurements for the bust, which is printed on the bodice front pattern piece. Select a size that gives you approximately 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches of ease, (for example, I am a size 10, I made this shirt in a size 6). Than look at the back of the pattern; if your waist is more than two inches larger than the size you have selected, you will have to cut the pattern out on a larger size at the waist, as shown by the red line in Diagram A below.

Diagram A

Costumes -- Lorna Doone

I made this Lorna Doone costume for a costume ball. The top comes from a wedding gown pattern, I made the sleeve pattern, and a friend of mine made the skirt and over-skirt patterns.

The Skirt
The skirt is a circle skirt, which was cut out in two half's, the two half's were sewn together, and a standard waistband attached.

The Over Skirt
The over-skirt is made of two rectangles, one taller then the other. The over layer of the over-skirt is made of silk essence, and is the taller rectangle. The under layer is made of fabric which matches the skirt. Both pieces are the same length. Both pieces are caught into one waistband, which is not as big as my waist. The over layer is sewn to the under layer at the bottom, and it is tacked about halfway down to the under layer, so as to be divided into two loops, a loop that extends from the waist band to about halfway down on the under layer, and a loop that extends from about halfway down on the under layer to the over-skirt's hem. There are ribbons attached to the ends of the waistband, these tie together to fasten the skirt around the waist.


The Blouse
The blouse was made from a fitted wedding dress pattern. I added squares of silk essence backed with skirt fabric to the bottom of my blouse for effect. You can see one in the picture below.
The sleeves were my own creation. For each sleeve I made a rectangle out of flat lace which was about a foot longer than my arm and about 20 inches wide. I hemmed one of the 20-inch sides, folded the rectangle in half width wise, and sewed it into a tube. I then made two loops of elastic, one of which fit snugly on my upper arm, and one of which fit snugly on my arm right above my elbow. I sewed this elastic onto the inside of the flat lace tube in appropriate places, so that when on my arm the flat lace ended at my wrist and the slack in the middle of the flat lace was divided evenly between two even sections, one of which covered from right above my elbow to my upper arm, and one of which covered my upper arm to my shoulder. I then gathered the top of the flat lace tube to fit the armhole. I next made strips of my dark green silk essence, which were about 30 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide. I sewed them right sides together to some identical strips of fabric which matched the skirt, turned them inside out, and attached them to the sleeve, right on top of the bottom elastic band. I adjusted them so that they looped in a manner I liked from the bottom to the top band of elastic, and from the top band of elastic to the top of the flat lace tube. I cut off the excess strip that stuck out above the top of the flat lace tube. I tacked them right on top of the upper elastic band, and sewed the top of the flat lace tube into the armhole, with the strips sandwiched between the flat lace tube and the bodice.

This Costume is for sale at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40321156

Formal -- A Bridesmaid Dress

I was asked to help sew this dress for my Sisters wedding. Although someone else did the actual sewing I created the pattern and fitted it to the bridesmaids measurements (as she was unavailable at the time.) I made the belt and sleeve pattern, and changed the neckline and waistline on an existing pattern. I also changed the shape of the skirt and than fitted the dress after it was sewn to a good fitting point.

I made a drawing according to the Bridesmaids specifications before beginning to sew, so that I could be sure I understood what she wanted.

The sleeve pattern was made from the arm hole measurement and the desired depth of the sleeve. The sleeve pattern is 1/2 an inch (plus seam allowance,) wide at the armhole. I made the bottom of the sleeve slightly curved, and curved the top of the sleeve up to make up the added difference in width between the top (middle) and underside (ends) of the sleeve.


The sash was made from the measurement of the bridesmaids hips, at the place she desired to have the sash sit, and the length she desired the sash ends to be. One end of the sash was made longer than the other, to achieve a staggered effect. Both ends of the belt were wider than its middle, and I divided the belt into three sections: two end and a middle. the middle section was straight, and the sash ends were tapered from the middle-sash width to the desired end width of the sash. To make the belt sit smoothly on the hips the belt-end sections of the pattern were tilted up from the middle (hip) section of the sash. This created an upside-down V gap in the pattern. The V gap was simply incorporated into the pattern, thus making one side of the sash longer then the other. Because of this it lay smoothly on the hips, which were narrower at the top side of the sash than at the bottom.

Costumes -- A Pirate Wench

When I was invited to a pirate ball I realized that what I had in my closet would not do for the occasion. I started by sitting down and creating a few ideas. I finally settled on idea one that took my fancy and set about making it.


First I selected some fabric, and then I set to work. I chose a vest pattern with a deeply scooped neckline, a fitted shirt pattern, and a pattern with a gathered skirt for my base patterns.

My skirt took the most alteration. I made the top part of my skirt according to the pattern, and than ran two gathering stitches down the front of my skirt. I gathered one until it looked good, gathered the other one to match, and then ran another seam on top of my gathering seam to hold it in place. I made my underskirt after finishing my over-skirt. I made it of a rectangle of muslin that was shorter than the over-skirt's length and about as wide as my over-skirt could stretch. I added two ruffles to it, which were made of flat lace. They were about one and a half times the width of the bottom of my under-skirt and the bottom ruffle was about twice as wide as the other.

The vest needed no alteration, but I added a tie in back for decoration, cut it out of a striped red polyester fabric, and found some sufficiently gaudy buttons for the front.

My shirt pattern had the wrong collar and sleeves, so I left the sleeves and collar off and made my own. The sleeves I made out of muslin rectangles that were a bit wider than the armhole when sewn in a loop. The ruffles for each sleeve I made out of two rectangles of flat lace, which were wider than my cuff and two different widths, one being about twice as wide as the other. My inner ruffle stuck out about four inches beyond my top ruffle. Hidden about half an inch under my upper ruffle I ran a gathering stitch on my inner ruffle to keep it from flattening out too fast. My collar I made of rectangles of flat lace one and a half times the length of my neck edge. I cut two of them, in the same manner as my sleeve ruffles but of a different length, to match my sleeve effect. I finished the collar with a facing and put a row of buttons down the front.

Seamstressery -- a strange hobby

Wikipedia defines a hobby as "a spare-time recreational pursuit." Most people seem to have something they enjoy doing in their spare time, and I am no exception. My hobby, however, might be: When I see a beautiful piece of Pendelton wool or a pretty new print in Joanne's, I instantly think of what could be sewn with the material. This is where seamstressery comes in: if the idea I have seems attractive enough I sit down, draw what I would like, and then either make it from a pattern and tailor it to my size or meld and change patterns to get what I want. Sometimes I make a pattern using measurements and established pattern drafting ratios. I love to see what is on my piece of paper turn into a touchable reality!!! I intend to post some examples of my work shortly.