Sabrina

I sort of documented the rest of the making of my 1845 white striped dress and, in the process, my 18th c. style quilted petticoat. My quilted petticoat is doing double duty as an 1840s quilted petticoat. Here it's worn with a horsehair ruffled bustle underneath and my tucked petticoat on top. This was when I was measuring for skirt length and wanting to see what sort of shape I'd get with these skirt supports. I was pretty pleased with the silhouette.
( Cut for a lot of pictures and me rambling on about what I did )

I didn't bother finishing any of the inside seams, although I will probably go back and whip the seam allowances at the armhole and stitch them to the bodice so that they don't sit in the semi-sheer sleeve. At this point the dress now has all its eyes and half of the front hooks done. It's not completely done, but done enough that I'm not going to worry about it too much anymore. :)

The tucked petticoat has now been altered. The hem is re-hemmed and the waistband closure has changed from ties to hooks and eyes. I'm really glad I made these changes so that the petticoat is right, instead of letting it sit around unworn. I tried it on with my 1840 corset yesterday. It looks good, but obviously I need more than just one petticoat to get a good early Victorian silhouette. So, I've started my corded petticoat. The panels were already ripped (2 panels of 45" fabric), and yesterday I sewed up one side seam and marked and ironed the hem. I'm going to sew up the other seam once I've marked the cording lines. I'm thinking that the cording will be very close together at the bottom and graduate the spacing as it goes farther up.

I'm still trucking along with the baby blanket. It's about 3/4 done. I'm super excited for my next knitting project; something that is actually wearable, and for me: a sweater! A short-sleeved, collar-less version of Simple But So Attractive from A Stitch in Time Vol. 2. I went yarn shopping with my dad last weekend and we picked out a cherry red, baby alpaca-silk blend. So soft! I hope my knitting is improved enough by this blanket to really do justice to the beautiful yarn of the sweater. The pattern is pretty simple and the instructions are so clear that I should be alright. I've never made anything that wasn't a rectangle before though, so I'm kind of nervous, but still excited. So many daydreams of vintage sweaters are running around in my brain!

Well, I spent a much smaller amount of time than I expected putting in the last of the grommets in my 1840 corset. Then I tried it on. There are some stress wrinkles. Most of them would probably go away with more boning, but these corsets tended to be minimally boned, so I'm saying that the wrinkles are period correct. ;) (And I'm too lazy to cord it.)



Then I tried it on with my tucked petticoat. I am actually liking them so much that I feel way more motivated to work on 1840 stuff. I need at least two more petticoats. Unfortunately, it's not really on the schedule for the near future. Also, I still need to shorten my tucked petticoat because it is about 2-3 inches too long. Shortening it is on my near future sewing schedule. Ironing it is also on the schedule. lol



( More pictures )
I'm glad that I've finished this UFO. There are so many other projects I want to get to work on. Now that classes are over, I should have more time to work on sewing... When I'm not studying for exams, of course. And I'm going to my faculty's grad because even though I'm not graduating, several of my friends are. And the theme is Old Hollywood, so obviously I need a new dress for that. That's next on the list, I think.

I made two skirts in the past month. Both of them pretty easy, simple projects, and both of them using up leftover cotton from my quilt.

First, the pink print skirt, with pockets. I came up with the pattern myself. It was mostly a "cut your coat to fit your cloth" sort of pattern, basically a trapezoid with hollowed out bits in the front for the pockets. Waist is just wide elastic.



( Skirts! )

I feel pretty productive when I think of my skirts. They were nice quick and easy projects. And I got to experiment with two different pocket methods, which was a plus. Unfortunately, what I really need are pockets of doom. Neither of these skirts is designed to hold the amount of stuff that I like to have in my pockets. When I put my wallet and phone in the pink one, the lines of the skirt are all distorted. In the sprigged skirt, the pockets tend to drag the flounce down and hang below the flounce. I could have made those pockets shorter, but then they wouldn't hold all my stuff. I would have cut the flounce longer, but didn't have enough fabric. But that's not the fault of the skirts. They're still nice and I think will get worn this summer. :)

I also made a tucked petticoat, to go toward my 1840 underpinnings. I feel like I'm on a roll. I just need to keep going. Next, is to make some adjustments to my slip pattern then sew that up. I drafted up a knickers pattern to go with it. Also, I'm thinking some new shorts would be good, and I have some leftover black twill that would be perfect. Summer will continue to be busy!