Thursday, October 29, 2015

Historical Sew Monthly Challenge #10 - Sewing Secrets

Apologies for an unplanned absence! October has turned into a very busy month (though pleasant and quite beautiful) and blogging has taken a backseat. It has been a month filled with trips, school projects, visits to the river to see the fall foliage, David's 9th birthday and time spent with friends. And sewing! I finally finished my regency underthings and photographed them *just* in time for the Historical Sew Monthly Challenge #10.

Sewing Secrets.

This was a hard one. Although, for my stays, kind of obvious. What can be secret about stays? The busk! It isn't seen, although very necessary to get the correct lift and separate look of the regency era. And a busk was an ideal place for a lover to inscribe a secret message to his sweetheart. When worn in the garment, his message was against her heart. (or supposedly so) ;) How romantic! Right? So those are the secrets of my stays.

They went together quickly and easily with the Laughing Moon pattern. This is the same pattern I have used the past six years, with modifications made to my master pattern every time I use it. The boning and cording placement is my own.

It's made of two layers of lightweight cotton twill, with cotton Peaches n' Cream cord used for the cording. Zip ties for the boning. I made many eyelets by hand to lace it with, but the ribbon I used for these pictures was too short to lace through every eyelet so for now it is laced through every other eyelet.

Since my bust size is still fluctuating since sweet baby Rose is still exclusively nursing, the cups are a little small. Hopefully once she is weaned my size will return to normal and the cups will fit better. Still, I am happy with the shape. I think in these pictures the corset is kind of sitting a bit low. Moving the whole thing up a bit will help with bust position. I just didn't have time to properly evaluate the way it looked before having Judah snap a few pics yesterday afternoon.

I hope to post more details soon, but for now, away to life and adventure! ;) Have a wonderful Halloween weekend, dear readers!

Love to all,

Sarah

What it item is: 1800-1820 corded stays
The Challenge: Sewing Secrets
What's the Secret: A message from my beloved one inscribed on the busk wink emoticon
Fabric: Cotton twill
Pattern: Laughing Moon
Year: 1800-1820
How historically accurate is it: The shape and cut is good, as is the cording and fabric, but I sewed most of it on the sewing machine and used zip ties for boning.
Hours to Complete: Maybe 10
First Worn: For pictures, yesterday
Total Cost: Under $15


Saturday, October 10, 2015

October

Already we are approaching the middle of October! Cool nights, early evenings and mornings with chilly sunshine. The days are rather short now and the dark comes quickly. So passes summer into golden memory. Life is a breath.

I hope to soon have a post about some of the items I've been working on for a very special project. I can't say that much about it since it is to be revealed as part of a group at the end of the year, but vague updates are allowed! If you haven't heard of the Vernet's 1814 Merveilleuses and Incroyables project, that is recreating fashion plates from 1814, then check out the facebook page here!

In the meantime, this week I've worked on filling a few orders and making a few new items for the shop, including some boys wool caps and a velvet hood.



Anne and I are working together on her 1860's dress, but it's coming along more slowly than I would like. There just aren't enough hours in the day! The good thing is that there is always something to keep busy with!





Monday, October 5, 2015

Rose's White Baby Gown

Along with the chemises and drawers for her and the older babies, there was enough of my garage sale cotton sheet left to make Rose a baby gown. (And there is still some of that fabric left. Honestly that's the best buck I've spent for quite a while!)

It is made in the common style of the era with sleeves set in raglan style. Easy, comfortable and quick. With machine sewing most of it but hand sewing the hems and buttonholes and facings this dress took four hours to make, tops. 

The skirt is long enough to go past her little feet but not terribly long, since she is an older infant and would soon be in shortened dresses. If this dress still fits her next spring (it may, since I made it large) I can take up the length in tucks so she can wear it as she toddles around. 

It has one button at the top of the bodice back and one at the waist. 

She loved wearing it since she is at that age where every thing has to be grabbed and tasted. Skirts to grab! Yay! Skirts to stuff in her mouth! (and yes, she was entranced by the weeds that she could grab and taste and objected passionately when I removed her from their vicinity.) 

For these pictures, though, she wasn't all that happy since she had just woken up. Check out that face. . .haha. ;)

The little cap was one that her brother Malachi had worn in his infancy. It was a tad small for her round little head but I can make another one like it whenever I have a few spare moments. 

Yay, a smile!!

Another unenthusiastic face. :) 

Pretty blue eyes.