CoBloWriMo - Day 1!

Hello to all of you new readers out there! This month is CoBloWriMo, or Costume Blog Writing Month, and I am going to do my best to post something related to the topic every single day. Hopefully this will encourage me to sew more, share more, collaborate more, and write more, as well as make some new friends!

            Here’s a little bit about me: I graduated from William and Mary this May with a degree in history. I’ve been sewing since I was eight years old, and I’ve been sewing historical clothing for the last ten years (since I was twelve). I am delighted to have my dream job, working as an interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg! I’m happy to go to work every day, and I’m so excited to have a job that lets me talk about the coolest parts of history as well as sew!

A first day of work picture - my first day with a full-time, year-round job! (And just the one I wanted, too!)

Eight year old me, wearing my first sewing project ever!

Twenty one year old me, sewing a set of 18th century stays by hand at my dream job!

We celebrate the Fourth of July in style where I work! (I hand sewed every item of clothing and accessory that I'm wearing here)

Of course, I had to graduate first...

...so I embroidered the oldest academic building in North America onto my grad cap. It's also the place where I got my start giving historical tours! I'll always love the Wren Building.

Finally, I needed a picture of myself with TJ on graduation day, especially because I made my dress the night before!

            I also love cats, like many of my fellow seamstresses seem to. Although I don’t currently live with any in Virginia, my parents have two cats at home in Pennsylvania, and you might just see them featured in some of my posts, since they are my loyal companions when I sew at home with my parents.

Dusty Rose

Tigger

            Most of the projects I feature this month will be hand-sewn, 18^th century clothing items, although there will be a few modern things sprinkled in. Hopefully you all enjoy getting to see a part of my sewing life, and if you want to join in, you can do so by following the instructions here. Happy sewing, and I look forward to getting to know some more of you over the course of the next month!

The Garter Project

Garters are a necessary part of any 18th century wardrobe, because they keep your stockings from falling down. Usually, a tape tie (typically linen, wool, or cotton) will suffice, but I wanted something a little bit prettier and more fun. As always, I began researching, and started looking for examples of 18th century garters.

"Nothing can be equal"

"Dishonored be he who thinks ill of it" - Order of the Garter

Very soon, I discovered that words on clothing was not unique to the modern era! There are hundreds of examples of garters with text on them, ranging from expressions of friendship, to love, to political sayings, and even somewhat sassy phrases. Since I love anything that shows the personalities of people living in the 18th century, I was very eager to begin making some new garters, as well as interpreting them at work.

"More sincere than I am/You will not have friends"?

I decided to begin with a saying that I had found at the beginning of my research, but had lost the documentation for: "Gentleman, thy hand goes no further". I haven't really done much embroidery before, so this was going to be my opportunity to develop some skills. Luckily, I had some cream-colored silk left over from my Fourth of July market bonnet trim, so I cut that into two rectangles, about five inches long and about four inches tall. In retrospect, I wish I would have made them 4 inches by 3 inches, but now I just have an excuse to sew more!

"I paint a faithful beauty, I form a perfect assembly..."

I spent a little time deciding what I wanted my design to look like, and then I drew it on the silk. I spent a few hours embroidering it (I did this all at work, so I just tried to replicate stitches that I had seen, I don't know the names for anything that I used), and then waited for the black silk ribbon that I had ordered to arrive.

"My motto is to love you/It will never change"

Once the ribbon came, I stitched my garters into little tubes, and put the ribbons in the ends. I cut the ribbons long enough to tie in the front after wrapping around the back once, and voila! Garters!

My original sketch

A little bit taller than I would like, but not bad for a project that I did no real size comparisons/measuring for!

Your ribbons can be as long as you'd like, but I recommend making them long enough to wrap around your leg once, and then tie easily in front.

All of this happened back in August of 2016. However, I meant to try and find lots of pictures of extant garters and make this into a huge post, but the computer that I saved most of my research on will no longer turn on or work. So, I'm finally posting this now, with a potential promise of more historical edits to come later. Hopefully, I'll also be sewing more garters, and so I can update this post with those photos as well! (I did recently embroider a 'whigish' set for one of my friends - tan embroidery on blue tape saying "Liberty or Death" and "Don't Tread On Me" - I just need to get photos of them from him!)

I found these on Instagram, and loved the modern adaptation - she really captured the true spirit of some 18th century garters by using a much more modern joke!

I would also like to say that I visited Europe for spring break, and had the opportunity to see "Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear" at the Victoria and Albert Museum - it was incredible! That exhibit was the main reason I wanted to go to Europe in the first place, and it didn't disappoint. Photographs weren't permitted in the exhibit, but I got to see a few sets of garters that I had come across in my research displayed there, and that was very exciting for me.

"United forever/I die where I cling"

Here's a really good resource for images of garters from different collections, some with words and some without.

Thoroughly Modern Stacy... By the Seaside

It should come as no surprise by now that I love most historical clothing much more than I love almost anything modern. So, when I heard that the cricket club I'm in was going to have a beach match in modern swimwear, I was momentarily upset. I don't really like most modern swimwear, and I really didn't like the idea of playing a sport while wearing a swimsuit. But then, I had a realization! I finally had an excuse to sew a historical beach outfit!

Since going to the seaside in special clothing has been gaining in popularity over time, I decided to step out of the 18th century, and into the modern world of the Victorian Era. Other than a few 1950's dresses and a couple 21st century things, this would be the most modern historical outfit I had ever sewn! I made the decision early on to let myself have fun with this project, and so I didn't obsess over every historical detail.

First, I found some examples of swimwear from the 1890's-1920's that I really liked, and started figuring out how I would roughly draft a pattern. I selected a style that had both a dress and bloomers, with the intention of wearing just the dress around town sometimes as well. I chose to heavily base my final design off of a knitted cotton outfit from 1915, although I believe the original featured a wrap skirt instead of a full dress.

I estimated that I would need about 3 yards of knit cotton fabric, and I just barely had enough! (If you want to make this yourself, it's very easy and straightforward, but please buy at least 3.5 yards - you'll thank me when you have to arrange your pattern pieces and cut it out!) I also bought white bias tape to trim the neck and hem, and I purchased white piping to accentuate the waist.

I took measurements of myself and drafted a simple pattern. I learned that I don't really have a good grasp on my true size - I overestimated everything - and later got to take the dress in quite a bit. The only thing I didn't draft myself were the sleeves, for which I used one of my trusted patterns, Simplicity 4055. However, I simply pinned those in starting at the bottom, and then gathered the five inches at the top, while leaving the bottoms of the sleeves ungathered and unbound, with just a simple hem.

My sketches and original estimations for the outfit

The body, legs, and waist band pieces (this is not how they were placed for cutting)

The dress went together very easily, and the pants were done in less than an hour. Overall, I would say this project took about 5 to 7 hours, most of which was spent drafting and remeasuring myself.

Adding piping...

...adding more piping...

...and adding more piping!
This was over some gathers I made to fit the bodice a bit better.

The dress before sleeves and hemming (with flash to show how blue it is)

The back with buttons

The first time I wore my new bathing costume was to the cricket match, which turned out to be more of an excuse to talk about history on the beach - aka a perfect evening. I even skipped a stone properly for the first time in my life!

At the beach!

Enjoying the water

Properly wading into the water

Ta-da!

A Jacket and a Holiday

I posted a bit ago and mentioned that I bought new fabrics during a sale at Mary Dickinson's. Well, I have already made a new jacket with one of the fabrics that I bought!

I wanted to make a swallowtail jacket, so I used the JP Ryan jacket patterns and did view D with a modified front that pins closed like view A.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the construction, because I sewed the entire jacket in one day during work, and therefore couldn't take my phone out to snap any documentation. I cut out the fabric the night before, and after leaving work the next day I put on the recently finished jacket and wore it to a cricket match.

Then, on the Fourth of July, I paired my new blue and white jacket with a red petticoat, a white apron, and a red silk market bonnet that I whipped up that morning and trimmed with a white ribbon for a most patriotic look. Even though I had the day off, I went into work to compete in the annual Independence Day tug-of-war. I was on the Patriot's side, and we won two out of three times!

I'll try to do another post on market bonnets soon, hopefully with all of the documentation that they deserve - they seem to be coming into fashion in the reenactment community, and I want to have one easy reference to send anyone with questions to! I have been sewing a lot of market bonnets recently, both for myself and as commissioned work, so if anyone is interested in buying one, please feel free to contact me! (I've been charging about half of the going rate on Etsy, so it's a good deal, and they're entirely hand sewn!)

Stays! (a.k.a. Another Reason Why I Love My Job)

So, I get to sew at work, and I get to talk about history all day - I officially have the best job ever!

Because of this, I have been working on quite a few projects this summer, and I am very pleased with everything I've been turning out. The first thing I sewed, and what I most desperately needed, was a new set of stays. As you could probably tell from my last post, my old set has become far too worn, the boning has entirely shaped itself to my body, and after losing a bit of weight they're just too big. So, I was ready to make another set!

Working on my stays while talking to a young visitor (not pictured)

I decided to make strapless stays this time, so that I wouldn't have to worry about the neckline of my gowns, and since I loved my last JP Ryan pattern so much I decided to order another. I chose light blue linen and a white linen lining from my favorite linen source, and I ordered leather binding and linen cord from Burnley and Trowbridge. I considered using metal boning, but decided to work with big zip ties again, as I have repeatedly been told how much like baleen they are (also, they're very cheap to buy!) I think I might use metal boning in my next set though, or perhaps try it out when I finally make my regency stays...

My linen cord, leather binding, and the linen thread that I used (thanks to some generous friends for the thread!)

I lengthened the pattern slightly, and then cut out all of my pieces from the lining material. I don't have a particularly long torso, but I've found that most stays seem to be a little shorter on me than I would like, and they are both more flattering and comfortable if I extend them by an inch or two. I really just eyeballed how much longer they needed to be by holding up my slashed pieces to my body, and then once I sewed the lining I checked the fit.

The patterned slashed and lengthened

All ready to be cut out from the lining

I should note that I deviated from the pattern instructions a little by sewing the lining first. However, I wanted to test the fit before cutting out my blue linen, and I personally like have a lining that is slightly more independent from the other fabric. It doesn't affect the fit or the look of the stays, and I think it makes it easier to air them out.

Stays aren't really difficult to sew, there's just a lot of sewing involved. I sewed all of the pieces together, and then traced the lines for the boning channels onto the lining. That was probably the hardest part of the whole process for me, because by the end of that step it was getting a little difficult to see all of my lines as I was sewing.

Pieces sewn together...

...and ironed...

...with the channels marked...

...ready to be sewn...

...and ready to be filled!

After that, I cut and inserted the boning, and basted across the bottom to close it up. Always, always, always cut your boning a little bit shorter than you think you need to! It doesn't need to be straining against the binding! (I have a bad habit of doing this, and then having to reopen the binding to trim down the bones that are poking through/poking me.)

The zip ties that I use

The left side has boning inserted, the right side still needs boning

Fully boned, with a few poking out to show trimmed ends

Finally, I made the eyelets and bound the bottom in kid leather. I think I will eventually bind the top and sides in leather too, but I was so excited to wear them that I stopped after just doing the bottom.

I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out! It took about 55 hours of work from start to finish, and every stitch is hand sewn. I really enjoyed having them as a tool to encourage discussion about stays with visitors, and to be able to inform people that stays, and corsets too, shouldn't be uncomfortable if you're wearing them properly! My new favorite part of my interpretation goes something like this: "If you have a pair of shoes that hurt your feet, how often do you wear them? If you don't wear uncomfortable shoes repeatedly, do you think that anyone would have worn stays or corsets for a few hundred years if they were uncomfortable?" This also works when people ask me if I'm hot in my clothing - yes, I'm a bit warm, but they are too, because the heat index is 109! But there's logic in wearing linens and cottons, and in keeping the sun off!

Anyway, I would highly recommend the JP Ryan Strapless Stays pattern, and I am extremely pleased with my new set of late 18th century stays!