A Swedish Spencer

On October 11, 2013October 11, 2013 By kittycalashIn Clothing, Historical Sew Fortnightly, making things3 Comments

Because I lack good sense, I have fixated upon this Spencer from a museum in Lund. I have inflicted it upon people who have no particular interest in women’s wear, and extracted opinions on the fabric. Shameless, really. But I love the simplicity of this garment, and have therefore closed my eyes, written a check for some Kochan & Phillips bottle green broadcloth so that I can pet the wool to cheer myself up while patterning this beast.

To be fair, I have a Spencer half-patterned, and need “only” to work on the sleeves and collar. I have a sense, from examining a friend’s frock coat, of how to construct this stand-and-fall collar. Pad stitching, here I come. I enjoy the challenge of sleeves and hope this will not break me of that. So far, I have not been able to find a photo of the back of this lovely garment, so I’ll have to extrapolate from other examples.

I’d thought about making this for the Historical Sew Fortnightly # 21: Colour Challenge Green, but it took me too long to commit to the K&P wool, and at that price, you can bet I’ll make a careful muslin. While I’m not certain when or where I will wear this, I already know that I will wear it with my black petticoat and green boots, and will have to make a shirt to go under the petticoat, which will be its own challenge.

Puffy sleeves aren’t my thing, and they won’t fit under these trim Spencer sleeves, but there is at least one extant example of a long-sleeved shirt-like garment. I expect I will feel about chemisettes much the way I feel about caps…but in the end, it will be worth all the tiny hems and the muslins. After all, the Spencer has a huge bonus: it closes with clasps so there are no buttonholes!

Mid-Year Review

On July 9, 2013July 8, 2013 By kittycalashIn Clothing, making things1 Comment

Yes, we have those at work. I tend to set enough goals for 3 single-spaced pages, and actually accomplish many of them. My boss, though a Known Over Achiever, thought I should work on this…tendency. So I came up with six goals for the first six months, and mostly got them done, along with a lot of other things.

When I updated the Projects 2013 page here, I thought perhaps I should heed my boss’s advice (don’t tell her that, I have a reputation to maintain) and, you know, assess my goals versus reality ratio.

It’s a long list of stuff, when you get down to it. How did I do, and what else needs to be done? Here’s a chart for the first six months of this sewing year; not all items were planned…some just happened, like kittens.

Item	For whom	When finished	Did it get made?
Tan wool waistcoat	Mr S	1/1/2013	Yes!
Red wool waistcoat	Young Mr	1/15/2013	Yes!
Off-white cotton trousers	Young Mr	1/18/2013	Yes!
Ikea curtain petticoat	Kitty	2/11/2013	Yes!
Black Taffeta Bonnet	Kitty	2/11/2013	Yes!
Shift	Kitty	2/11/2013	Yes!
Monmouth Cap	Young Mr	3/29/2013	Yes!
Blue wool jacket, 1770-1800	Young Mr	3/31/2013	Yes!
How Now Brown Gown	Kitty	4/7/2013	Yes!
Linen Hunting Frock	Young Mr	5/26/2013	Yes!
Linen Hunting Frock	Mr S	6/14/2013	Yes!
Striped pocket	Kitty	6/15/2013	Yes!
Blue checked linen bags (2)	Kitty & Mr S	6/15/2013	Yes!
Chintz jacket	Kitty	6/15/2013	Yes!
Linen Overalls	Young Mr	6/15/2013	Yes!
Black straw hat	Kitty	6/22/2013	Yes!
Alterations to Green Frock Coat	Mr S	Not yet	Nearly!
Linen Overalls	Mr S	Wearable	Nearly!

The Cherry Seller Gown is not on this list because it was started 7/4/2013, and is thus in the second half of the sewing year. A blue linen unlined frock coat for the Young Mr was started 7/7/2013, so counts towards the second half as well. For the coming months, here’s what I know I would like to get done:

Item	For whom	Due Date	Notes
Blue linen frock coat	Young Mr	7/14/2013	Ack!
Alterations to Green Frock Coat	Mr S	7/14/2013	More Ack!
White linen shirt	Mr S	11/2/2013	Just needs one…
Tan Virginia Cloth petticoat	Kitty	8/9/2013	1763
White linen petticoat	Kitty	8/9/2013	1763
Bed gown	Kitty	8/2/2013	For OSV!
Bed sack	Kitty & Mr S	7/19/2013	For Salem or OSV
Proper 1770s frock coat	Mr S	10/5/2013	For Quincy
Striped 1790s petticoat	Kitty	10/5/2013	For JBH
Printed 1790s shortgown	Kitty	10/5/2013	For JBH
Dress for a Lady, TBD	Kitty	10/5/2013	For JBH
10^th Mass 1781 Regimental	Mr S	11/2/2013	Putnam Park
Neckstocks	Young Mr & Mr S	TBD	10^th Mass

The list seems alternately doable and crazy. So what am I sitting here writing for? I’ve got to get backstitching!

The 1763 Project

On May 9, 2013May 7, 2013 By kittycalashIn 1763 Project, Clothing, Living History, making things, Reenacting

Sweet, right? Who wouldn’t want to look (or at least dress–those pupils suggest something untoward, chemically) like this doll? And she’s 1763. Of course, my friend DC didn’t get the grant he applied for, so he has to try again.

Still, it seems the event will go ahead and I am stumbling on under the impression that I will have a chance to make myself something lovely for August. Of course, that comes only after I make the regimental menswear, so why am I typing and not backstitching? Because after a while, it’s just plain dull. Plus, doll! Printed cotton! Lightweight and lovely! And look: a hairstyle I can manage: birds’ nest.

What I like about this doll are her details. (The better written description is on the V&A website, but the better photos are at VADS.) She’s wearing a sacque (known also as a sack-back robe or a robe a la Francaise) and matching petticoat, a green silk quilted petticoat, a white linen petticoat, and a pocket that matches her gown.

The blue silk of her stomacher is used as trim on her sleeves, which are ornamented with flounces. Hallie Larkin goes into this well on her blog post about Changes in Cuffs. And that’s what stops me: the fine linen and the lace.

The gown itself, even a sacque, seems like something I can manage. (And yes, this is but one more piece of cotton sacque evidence.) A very similar fabric is available and if this sells out, there are variations on the theme. The blue silk stomacher can be managed: I have taffeta sources, and from making bonnets have learned the basics of the serpentine designs. I could make that. But those flounces–what about those?

Here she is from the V&A, ca. 1760, T.19-1936

Here’s the V&A description: “lace and cotton elbow ruffles.” Hmm. Cotton, perhaps that I can find in a fine, sheer weave. But the lace?

The more I think about this lovely gown, about the materials, and who would wear it, the more I think I’m better off sticking with lightweight wool and Sandby’s cherry seller...

I love a good challenge, but the lads need regimentals and their own 1763 apparel. Sandby’s woman wears a gown I’ve made before, so construction ~~screw-ups will be fewer~~ time will be shorter. And at least we can all wear whatever I make for various other celebrations and riots. New England had them in abundance in the 1760s and 1770s.

Details. All in the Details.

On May 4, 2013 By kittycalashIn Clothing, History, Living History, making things, Museums4 Comments

Detail, pair of pockets. Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester City Galleries. MCAG.1922.2150

This image is from the fantastic VADS site‘s gallery of pockets. I need new pockets, or a pocket update and overhaul, so I went looking for inspiration.

Child's Pocket, 1720-1760. RIHS 1985.1.9. — Child’s Pocket, 1720-1760. RIHS 1985.1.9.

This is a dangerous path to go down if you are as unskilled with a crewel needle as I am.

Sew18thCentury can do it– so, sew, lovely. Me…well, everything I knew about embroidery I learned as a child, and promptly forgot with puberty. So my skills remain appropriate for reproducing this, from a Rhode Island collection. The pocket is child-sized, at 14 inches, and the embroidery has a crabbed, angry look, as if the girl would much rather have been outside, chasing her dog or brother. I can relate, at least to the dog part.

I made a pattern of the embroidery, traced it onto linen, and started working on dredging up those long-forgotten skills. As a child, I had a sewing or embroidery book, but what I remember most about the projects I made was how far their finished form was from what I had envisioned.

This is not an uncommon experience for children; my son has certainly experienced this, and even adults are subject to it. I think the best rendition of it, sewing-wise, is Eleanor Estes’ portrayal in The Middle Moffat of Jane Moffat attempting to make a “brocated bag” for Mama’s Christmas present.

The image of Jane sewing or crocheting under a tree while talking to Cranbury’s Oldest Inhabitant, a Civil War veteran, sums up every reenactment I’ve ever been part of… but I digress.

My embroidery stitches lack a lot, but most of what they lack is practice–and that’s what makes reproducing that RIHS pocket a perfect project for me. Pockets were “sampler” projects, and suitable for girls to learn on. This combines plain sewing with embroidery, and ends up as something useful and authentic, so what more can I ask?

Pocket, single, embroidered. Snowshill Costume Collection, National Trust (UK). mid 1700s. SNO1452

The VADS site has tons of images to inspire me, and with practice, someday I could manage something as beautiful as this. I need only make sure that it fits my time period and station–and for some events it will, but for most, the plain pocket or the crabbed-stitch embroidered pocket, are probably far more appropriate.

Kirsten Hammerstrom

Tag: sewing project

A Swedish Spencer

Mid-Year Review

The 1763 Project

Details. All in the Details.