Spring Sewing

Past two months I´ve been sewing miscellaneous items: historical, vintage and modern. So, here´s what I´ve been up to :)

Historical:

1850s Victorian skirt sewn in cotton broderie anglaise with scallop edge. The skirt has cartridge pleats hand-sewn to waistband. My own pattern.

Detail of the scalloped edge.

Victorian chemise with crochet yoke. I used 1,5 mm hook and thin cotton crochet yarn for crochet yoke. Chemise is sewn in cotton voile. Hem is embellished with lace trim.

Detail of crochet yoke. Pattern for the yoke is from the book Hurmaavat Pitsit.

I finally made the Edwardian Parasol! The pattern is from the book Making Edwardian Costumes for Woman. It has been a fun project thou a bit laborious. One advice, add a few centimeters to the height of your triangle because the parasol will stretch it to extreme. Also buy extra lace trim, 14 meters wasn´t enough! 

Detail of machine embroidered satin ribbon. 

Top view of opened parasol.

Bottom view of opened parasol. I sanded the parasol frame and lacquered it with mahogany lacquer. I wanted it to be darker. :)

Vintage:

1940s men´s shirt. Shirt has Marvel´s Hydra patch on the left arm and colors (green and yellow) were inspired by the uniform of the original Hydra soldiers in the comic books. 

1950s skirt with large front pockets made of cotton shirting fabric. The pattern is from Burda 6/2015 magazine.

Modern:

Lace jackets for summer for my dear friend. I drafted the pattern from the garment she brought with her and wasn´t satisfied with. I made all the necessary adjustments of coarse. ;)

And I liked the outcome so much that I made a couple of jackets for myself as well... 

Bat-wing top with split sleeves. The pattern is from Burda 5/2016 magazine. Top is sewn in lightweight jersey fabric.

Patchwork & Quilting Projects

 Hello again!

I didn´t get to write any post last two months although I sewed and knitted and crocheted most of the time. I´ll try to update the projects gradually. :)

 

Glove bag I made from 1850s Victorian dress fabric remnant and machine embroidery panel. Purple bias binding and white lace trim are also remnants from other projects.

Machine embroidered flower and birds. I used Metler PolySheen and viscose machine embroidery threads (Coats Doli & Anchor Alcazar).

Lace Bobbin Bag #1. 

Lace Bobbin Bag #2 with some antique english style bobbins from England. I replaced all the beads as the wire was all rusty.

Lace Bobbin Bags closed with satin ribbon.

Embroidery Sampler. Embroidery samplers were hugely popular in 19th century and I figured why not assemble my own from my samplers from school. All samplers were embroidered by hand by me in 2000, my first year in the Art School. Then they were stored in passepartout in a folder and forgotten for 16 years... Until I took them out and made this wall hanging out of them.

Detail of sampler I. and II. Decorative stitching around samplers is done on a machine.

Detail of sampler III., IV. and V.

Detail of sampler VI. and VII.

Detail of sampler VIII. and IX.

1860s Day Dress and Evening Bodice

Happy Easter to everyone!

I have finished third Victorian dress from the book Making Victorian Costumes for Women by Heather Audin. This one is from 1860s aka American Civil War era. I used dark mauve taffeta as main fabric, mauve ornamented velvet as complementary fabric and white cotton as lining. Again I didn´t scale the pattern from the book, I drafted the pattern myself and made proper adjustments for the period. 

Pinning the trim in place on day bodice. The trim is entirely sewed on by hand.

I used spiral boning and boning casing for both bodices.

Hemming the day bodice by hand.

Pleating the skirt into the waistband.

Making the pleated section for evening bodice. 

One of four sections pleated with curved bottom edge.

All four sections sewed together.

And there was a snag attaching the pleated section to evening bodice just as I suspected. Curved neckline was too small for top edge of pleated section, bottom edge fitted just perfectly. So I made 2 darts in front and 2 in back.

Wrong side of pleated section, 

Front and side view of finished 1860s Day Dress. Apologies for the round crinoline underneath instead of elliptical crinoline. I have not yet made the elliptical crinoline for the dress but it´s definitely on the "To do" list ;) 

Back and side view of finished 1860s Day Dress.

Day bodice.

Detail of the peplum and corded piping on the back of day bodice. I used velvet for the piping.

Detail of the peplum waistband. I used viscose machine embroidery thread and decorative stitch (on the machine) over satin ribbon.

Inside of day bodice.

Front and side view of finished 1860s Evening dress. The dress uses same skirt and peplum as day version. 

Details of decorative stitching on evening bodice. These stitches were sewed on Henrietta. 

Top view of evening bodice.

Miniskirt with layered side-godets made from velvet scraps from the 1860s Day Dress. The pattern is from Burda 1/2015 magazine. 

1860s evening and day bodices with velvet miniskirt for contemporary wear. The peplum could have been added to these outfits as well. I intend to bring Victorian fashion back ;)