I Sew Because My Mom Loves Me

"Ever since I could remember I have been in love with . . ."

That's what most people will tell you about their hobby or interest. That they've loved something so very long that they cannot recall just when they fell. It's just always been.

I love a great many things but one of my longest, enduring, widespread loves comes from my mama. Not directly, I suppose when one thinks of it. My mom doesn't sew. She reads Star Trek books, not regency era romances. She prefers tee shirts and jeans to dresses and lace. She likes a good action movie better than a period drama with corsets and crinolines. However, once upon a time, in a land far far away called Brooklyn, my mama gifted me with a set of books that sparked a lifelong connection between fabric, history, and fashion.

I'm not sure what it was that resonated the most when I devoured my copy of Samantha Saves the Day. But what I do remember was that in the back of that book, there were pictures of elegantly ladies dressed in frothy white from head to toe. 

They frolicked in the woods, flitted about country cabins, lazed indolently in little rowboats, their fingers trailing in the cool water. 

I wanted that life. I wanted those dresses. I wanted that doll.

A few years ago, when American Girl discontinued Samantha, my mother bought me one. It was quickly snatched up by my daughter. So when it came time to design something special for pinky's confirmation, it seemed only fitting my daughter should get the dress too. It also provided the perfect opportunity to finally launch myself back into the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge I managed to neglect once again. Since I've already done one blog post on the topic here, let's just skip right to the challenge details, shall we?

The Challenge: #9: Black and White

Fabric: Swiss dot from Hancocks and a variety of laces

Pattern: Sense and Sensibility's Girls 1914 Dress

Year: 1914

Notions: Swiss laces from Martha Pullen Company, 50 wt DMC broder thread from Farmhouse Fabrics, Kam Snaps from I Like Big Buttons

How historically accurate is it? While the use of the sewing machine had become widespread a number of years before, I'm pretty sure this type of work was still done by hand for a very long time. So I suppose I lose points for that. I also lose points for running out of time and sticking some snaps on there instead of a proper line of buttons. However the lines, construction, design elements, and use of all cotton fabrics make this a very good historical feel that would not be that far out of place should pinky be magically transported to a cabin in the Adirondacks just prior to the Battle of the Ardennes. I'm going to give it a 75% accuracy rating.

Hours to complete: Uhm maybe 30 I think. I kind of squeezed it all into one week.

First worn: Three Sundays ago

Total cost: Do I really have to cop to it? I don't want to be divorced! The swiss dot was about $20. Thanks to a warehouse sale at MPC, the laces probably cost about $30. Throw in the pattern, the half a bottle of Best Press I blew through, and thread, I'm going to estimate about $75.

I'll admit I'm a wee bit sad that this dress is finished. I really enjoy heirloom sewing and being the mother of a tween girl pretty much insures my days of heirloom sewing for this particular little miss are drawing to a close. I expect it will be a good while before I see a need to create this exact brand of pretty. But just as my mama passed some of her interests down to me, I look forward to seeing what kind of things my daughter pics up from me.

Mothering is full of the sweet, the nostalgic, and the wondrous.

So forgive me for being a sap and allow me a moment to thank my mom for planting seeds and encouraging them to bloom. There isn't a thing on this blog I would be doing without her. There are a lot of things however, that I'd be doing without her and none of them good so you should probably all be grateful.

Edwardian photographs were found at My Little Time Machine.

A Girl in White

Girls' 1914 Dress by Sense and Sensibility Patterns

Pattern Description: Girls' dress based on shapes and styles of the late Edwardian Era. Dress features a slightly raised waist with gathers, back closure, and has options for short puffed sleeves, capped sleeves, and long sleeves.

Pattern Sizing: Pattern includes sizes 1-10

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Aside from my changes, yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, they were. But I adapted the pattern to use heirloom techniques so I didn't follow them strictly.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked the wide range of sizes available and the thick paper used for printing the pattern. Also, it's quite rare to find patterns like this. If you want to sew historically accurate-ish clothing for children, your primary option is to use the patterns of the era. If they aren't laid out and crisscrossed all over each other crammed into a dusty old text, they still come with the expectation that you've been sewing since you were short and can turn out a gown like Ma Ingalls before Laura's wedding. So it's nice to have historical patterns for the modern sewist.

Fabric Used: Swiss dot from Hancock's for the main body. The laces came from Martha Pullen Company, most acquired during their recent warehouse sale. I ran out of time to make buttonholes so I used lace tape from Martha Pullen Company to stabilize the edges and used Kam Snaps to close it available here.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: In addition to using heirloom techniques, I created a square neckline with mitered lace trim. I cut the cap sleeve pattern but lengthened it. I also cut a full skirt instead of one tapered toward the waist as the pattern indicated. I'd planned to taper the waist but I was headed for the homestretch and got ahead of myself. By the time it was attached, yeah, that bad boy was not going to be pulled out.

As mentioned above, I used snaps instead of buttons, again, an issue of time restraint as well as error. The pattern runs small, imo. I measured her first and chose a size based on those measurements but the fit was still rather close even without the slip. It's my fault for not doing a muslin but procrastinators do what they must. Snaps it was.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I would sew it again if asked but I can't see a need for this kind of dress for pinky. But I'd definitely recommend it to others looking for a similar style with the caveat to either make a muslin or make it a size larger than the pattern indicates, perhaps even two if you want room to grow.

Conclusion: I love this dress. Can I just say what a prideful, shameful person I am? I'm supposed to be focusing on a big spiritual day for my daughter, when she affirms her faith and becomes a member of the church. All I could think though, was DAMN THAT LACE HEM LOOKS GOOD!

It's a good thing Jesus loves me.

Back in the saddle, baby!

So were you wondering what happened to that whole Sew Fortnightly Challenge? Yeaaaaaaah. Let's take a page from The Bloggess and pretend that didn't happen, okay? Maybe I'll catch up, maybe I won't but I'm here now and I have a tutorial to share, awesomesauce, yes?

This would be my first real, live tutorial so try not to laugh too hard if it's sucks. Also feel free to ask questions in the comments if it sucks so hard you can't tell what I'm talking about. Please and thank you.

Now maybe you're curious why I decided to make a morning cap . . . although I suppose I should start with the definition of a morning cap. In short, it's the flouffy thing (which is totally a word) that women of various eras wore on their heads to protect their hair from dirt, sometimes denote marital status, and usually drop hints to the personality, social status, and income of the wearer. If you were say, a farmer's wife out in the country, your morning cap would be a simple affair likely made of linen or cotton. It would need to hold up to frequent washings and you wouldn't want it to get in the way of keeping your home or wrangling your passel of children.

But if you are a silly woman, far more concerned with laying about and feeding your passel of overindulged yorkies scraps from the table or flapping about trying to marry off your passel of pretty but penniless daughters, you might done something far daintier.

Personally, I wanted something towards the mid range, something pretty and dainty but fairly simple and easy care. So I modeled my morning cap after the obnoxiously snobbish Mrs. Norris from the version of Mansfield Park.

Because I am a cheap heifer who already has more patterns than I need, I thought I could find a tutorial to help. Unfortunately, I found a lot of morning caps but precious few instructions, just suggestions for a few different patterns to try. I did find an excellent starting point however, in Sarah Jane's Regency inspired Classic Cap. There was no ruffle and it seemed quite a bit smaller than I wanted but the overall shape was on target. I printed out the crown, fudged a new brim and gave it a go with an old sheet and a basting stitch. Here was the first result.

Very cute, if I do say so myself but much too tiny and too renaissance for a regency impression. I fiddled a bit more by enlarging the crown, and working out the back closure part. My second effort was much more promising and pretty close to my end goal.

Before you can make your bonnet, you'll need to make your pattern and you'll need Sarah Jane's crown piece to help. First, measure the crown of your head ear to ear, about where you want the bottom of your cap to hit. I went for just behind the curve of my ears which was about 18 inches. I added an inch to account for the seam allowances and then cut a strip of fabric 19 x 3.5 inches. Now I wanted my cap to have a bit of a curve around the ears so I laid the strip in half and used my french curve mark what I hoped would be an elegant little swoop, reducing the ends to just about 2 inches.

This is your brim piece. Go ahead and cut two, press them very well.

To make the ruffle, you'll need to measure along the rounded edge of your brim. For the look I achieved, you'll want to multiply that number by 1.5 and add another inch for the seam allowance. Curving the brim will extend the length so don't just use the 19 inches you tore previously. I can't remember what my number was but we'll say 21. So 21 x 1.5 - 1 = 32.5. I wanted my finished ruffle to be about two inches deep so I added half an inch to that number to accommodate the seam allowance on the crown edge and then another quarter of an inch to accommodate the bit I'd lost in joining the lace to the ruffle. That left me with a ruffle piece 32 1/2 in long and 2 3/4 wide. Press with a bit of starch and set aside.

Next comes the cap. Take Sarah Jane's crown piece and lay it on the fold where indicated and lay the remaining flat side against the selvage if possible. If you don't have a selvage edge, you'll want to set the piece back about 3/8inch from the cut side so that you have enough to fold over to make a nice, finished edge. Her crown piece was much too small so I set the pieces back even further from both the fold and the selvage/cut edge to give myself more fullness, a full four and a half inches back from the fold and 2 and 5/8ths back from the selvage/cut edge. If your hair is a decent length, you'll want to add even more fullness to accommodate a regency top knot.

You'll want to round out your edges, as you can see at the bottom and the top left of my picture to give you a nice rounded point. Then you'll want to cut out a little square notch to accommodate your drawstring. As I'm using 1/4 inch ribbon, I'll need to create a channel to fit. I cut a 5/8 of an inch out of mine.

Give everything one last press, working out all the creases. Now you're ready to begin.

To make a basic cap, you'll need about 1/3 of a yard of fabric and half a yard of 1/4in ribbon. I used a swiss dot which is wonderfully lightweight and a touch fancier than a plain weave and a poly-satin ribbon. The swiss dot is from  Hancock's and the ribbon from Farmhouse Fabrics. I also used about a yard of narrow ribbon along the edge of my ruffle as well as about a yard of one inch wide poly satin ribbon on top. Of course, you can add different bits of this and that to your bonnet as you see fit.

We'll start with the ruffle first. To attach the lace, you're going to use a very narrow zig zag stitch. I set my stitch width to 2.5mm and my length to 1.0. Pin the lace onto the right side of the fabric, about four threads from the edge. Then slowly stitch so that the zig is on the lace and the zag is just off the fabric. As you sew, the bit of fabric left will fold over the tiny lace edge. 

You'll be left with some whispies but those are easily trimmed. Press your lace edge outwards, your tiny seam towards the fabric.

Fold over your short ends twice, enclosing the raw edges and sew a narrow hem on either side of your ruffle.

Leaving the threads long, put in two rows of basting stitches on the free edge and gather the ruffle up to fit the rounded edge of one of your brim pieces with each edge stopping about half an inch short of the brim edges.

Lay your second brim piece on top, wrong sides together, sandwiching the ruffles between the two brim pieces. Starting at the short end of your brim, stitch, keeping the ruffle free before turning the corner and stitching the ruffle to the curved edge.

Trim your corners and turn your ruffle out, pressing everything neatly.

Before you're ready to attach the crown, you'll need to fold up the straight edge of the crown and create a channel for your drawstring. To do that (and I apologize for not snapping a picture) you'll need to fold over that notched edge and sew two lines of stitching about wide enough to accommodate your ribbon. If you didn't use a selvage edge, you'll need to first fold over your fabric about 3/8ths of an inch and press. Here's a picture of kind of give you an idea if what I've said makes no sense.

Sew two rows of basting stitches in the crown. We're going to do a French seam here to neatly enclose all your edges so you'll need gather the crown of your cap and pin it wrong sides together to brim's straight edge. You'll want to have more fullness at the center of the brim than the sides to avoid the deflated look you see in my early muslins. 

Trim your raw edge to an quarter of an inch. I know it's close and I know it's painful but you can do it. Turn the seam over and sew with a half inch seam, enclosing the tiny raw edge.

I used a 7 yarn darner needle to thread my ribbon through the channel but you could use a bodkin or a very narrow safety pin. Draw up and tie in a bow. Tie the wider ribbon about the brim of your new creation.

And that's it. You now have a cute little morning cap to keep your curls and ribbons in place and frame your face prettily should the that aloof gentleman up the hill stop by for a visit.

I think I'll be gifting this one to pinky as, I never though I would say this, but I think I could use a bit more fullness in my ruffle. 

Here's Jane Austen in her quite ruffly morning cap and chemisette.

And now for the Sew Fortnightly recap:

The Challenge: Peasants and Pioneers 

Fabric: cotton swiss dot

Pattern: self drafted

Year: appx 1810ish

Notions: 50 wt DMC broder thread, 60 needle, half a yard of 1/4 inch ribbon, a yard of one inch ribbon, one yard of narrow lace

How historically accurate is it? It matches up pretty well with the different examples I've seen hither and yon but I can't vouch for the fabric content of the lace. It came from walmart and it has a wee but of a shine to it so I'm going to assume poly or nylon blend of some sort.

Hours to complete: about two hours total

First worn: Aside from prancing about the house, not yet

Total cost: about $5

One down, 26 to go

Well, it's a good start. I was only a few hours late, which for me, is right on time but here she is, the opening salvo in my regency wardrobe attempt. It's considered a bonus challenge, thus the #0. I thought about passing but why not get this party started off right, yes? It helped that I just happened to find a free and easy pattern. As suggested, here's the proper run down.

The Challenge: Starting Simple

Fabric: I used leftover fabric from a dress I made pinky two years ago. White silk taffeta from Joann's with a rose silk batiste from Baltazor. It's also interlined with plain cotton muslin as both the taffeta and batiste are wispy as hell.

Pattern: As I mentioned earlier, free and easy and here. The embroidery pattern can be found here.

Year: No idea but the style itself is readily seen when one googles little bags of the period.

Notions: I finished it off with some (not)silk cording and tassels from Joann's.

How historically accurate is it? Let's get something straight here. There is no way on God's green earth that I will be turning out ANYTHING completely historically accurate for this challenge. I don't even like to whipstitch or finish my hand so you best believe I will not be handsewing complete garments together. But aside from that, well, it's a little handbag. I guess it's accurate enough, machine stitching notwithstanding. I think the embroidery might not be the thing for Regency sewing but meh.

Hours to complete: I traced off the embroidery the day after Christmas and finished up everything around 3 am this morning.

First worn: I'm saving it for tea.

Total cost: Uhm, let me think. About five bucks, I suppose, including the $1.19 I spent on beading needles that I broke within minutes of getting home as my thread was too thick for the eye. Boo on me. The fabrics came from my stash. The beads are the half of those previously purchased for the advent scarf (yes, I'll update soon, gosh!). The embroidery floss is also from my stash.

And here are a few more pictures. First, of the back. The two other panels are plain.

And a peek inside at the pretty lining.

If you'd like to follow along with all my plans and attempts, you can check out my Sew Fortnightly Pinterest board.

Next up, little girl regency stays. 

I think.

They'll be good practice for my stays and I get to figure out how to size an adult pattern down for a rambunctious little girl.

I'm thrilled already.

No, really.

Kind of.

Hold me.

More than I can chew

I'm not sure how it happened, but I was puttering around the interwebs as one does when they are avoiding housework and came upon the website for a local museum, The Davenport House. How I've lived here for five years and never heard of the place, I can't quite explain but that's neither here nor there. The point is they have tea, regency era tea or whatever you refer to that period of time as here in the states when we clearly could no longer give two hoots about Georgie's craziness or the other Georgie's hot mess secret marriage or whatever it was he was doing. 

As it also happens, pinky is slightly obsessed with American Girl books. We ordered her the catalog and every time it arrives, she is breathless with excitement, skittering around the house with passive aggressive comments about possibly getting a new one or new outfits for the ones she has, or a bonnet, mommy, I can't have a bonnet, can I? Because I know I can't get the new dolls, right, mommy? Like that. And what about this newest doll?

Her name is Caroline and she is perfection in miss Pinky's little starstruck eyes and really, who can blame her when the little thing comes decked out in full 1812 awesomeness, amiright?

There might have been some Caroline books under the Christmas tree this year and it might have renewed her desperate need for a bonnet. But where on earth does one wear a bonnet circa 2013 (can you believe it's that already? ugh?)

Why, to tea, of course. At a house built in the era and later converted to a museum for the era.

Eureka!!

And so, as I do, I have committed to turning out period appropriate garb and escorting our whole wonderful ensemble down to the Davenport House sometime in March, me, the pinkster, Kirsten, and Samantha, resplendent in little empire waisted beauties.

Just when I was thinking of wavering, wondering what in the hell I'd gotten into, what should my eyes come across but that wonderful challenge from The Dreamstress I mentioned yesterday. Here's a refresher. There's a lovely little facebook group to pepper with all my questions since I've never sewn historical before. I'll try to make as many of the early challenges in regency garb as possible for well, obvious reasons. But after that, I'm considering attempting the Federal era.

Corsets for everyone!

Ahem, I mean stays, of course. They were called stays before circa 1840 or so. I'm not quite sure when it changed to corset but it was after both the Federal and the Regency eras.

So again, pray for me.