{Works With Her Hands} - HSF Challenge #10 - Art

For the next Historical Sew Fornightly challenge, I actually decided not to sew something, but to crochet something. The challenge theme this time was Art. My dreams were to replicate some beautiful gown from a favorite painting.These were some of my original inspiration:

But, practicality meant that I needed to scale down. I already had some other big projects in the works, and I couldn't spend the time or money on a fancy dress. However, I soon realized that there WAS one piece of art which I absolutely loved that would be easy to replicate:

This plate comes from the 1856 February edition of Godey's Lady's Book. Ever since I first saw the green and pink hair piece, I have wanted to re-create it, and this gave me the perfect excuse! Its description reads thus:

"By Happy Conception of the artist, we have at once the front and reverse of the single graceful figure in evening-dress. Hair in full bandeaux, fastened by a pearl comb, a cordon of the point passed across the brow, fastened by a single black rose and foliage. For a dinner dress, nothing could be more simple and elegant."

I realized after reading it that the coloring of the plate is not accurate to the description. However, I prefer the pink and green to the black, and I just so happened to have green yarn and pink flowers.

After much trial and error of various crochet lace patterns, I settled on Wheel Pattern Insertion from Knitting, Crochet, and Netting by Eleonore Riego De La Branchardiere, published in 1846. 

Here's my finished product....oh the joys of trying to take pictures of yourself :P The hair still needs a little practice, but I'm really quite pleased with how the hair piece turned out!

And the HSF details:

What the item is: Hair piece

The Challenge: #10 - Art

Fabric: sage green wool yarn

Pattern: Wheel Pattern Insertion

Year: Specifically 1856, generically 1850s and 60s

Notions: pink flowers

How historically accurate is it? I'd say pretty close....the only thing that might be different is that the yarn and flowers would be better as silk.

Hours to complete: Several hours of experimenting with different patterns, maybe 1 1/2 hours once I had decided.

First worn: for pictures

Total cost:$0!!!

{Works With Her Hands} - Black and White Challenge

The next challenge in the Historical Sew Fortnightly that I chose to do was Black and White. I had dreams of doing all sorts of really spectacular things with that color combination, but right now practically must take precedence over fancifulness.

What I was really in need of was a new chemise, so I decided to adapt it and still make it fun by adding some black embroidery. This was a neat project because I drafted the pattern myself from pictures of original 1850's and 60's chemises. It worked out really well, and only needed a little tweaking in the shape of the yoke.

The sleeves are just simple rectangles with small triangle gussets in the underarm seams. My biggest problem with my other chemises was that the sleeves were too full and too long, so I tried to rectify that with this one.

The front and back of the chemise are basically just rectangle, but the top front is cut into this funny shape in order to fit nicely into the shaped yoke.

The back of the yoke is just a gradually curved band, but the front pieces kind of remind me of a bat. :/ Thankfully, they look less bat-ish when finished!

Here's the finished chemise, complete with embroidery. There are five tiny buttons down the front of the yoke.

Over all, I'm super pleased, both with how it looks, and how it fits. Glad to now have my own, easy, nicely fitting chemise pattern!

Here are the details for HSF:

What the item is: Chemise

The Challenge: #9 - Black and White

Fabric: bleached cotton muslin

Pattern: my own, drafted from pictures of originals

Year: 1850's/60's

Notions: Black cotton embroidery thread, buttons

How historically accurate is it? I would say about 90%. I think the shape and fabric are good; the embroidery is inspired by original pictures, although I know that it was usually done in white.

Hours to complete: One hour for drafting the pattern, two hours for sewing, and four or five hours for embroidery.

First worn: Yesterday

Total cost: $4 for fabric, maybe?

{Works With Her Hands} The Making Of A Kirtle

This year, I am participating in a sewing challenge, called Historical Sew Fornightly. The challenge I chose to do this month was called "Under It All". So, I decided to sew an early medieval kirtle, or under dress.

I decided to do this for two main reasons. #1 - These dresses are beautiful, and I've seen many wonderful examples from other people in the sewing group. #2 - I thought it would be a great chance to learn new techniques.

What made this dress so different from other dresses that I have made is that it is a bust-supporting garment; that is to say, you don't wear a corset underneath like I do with my 1800's dresses. Instead, it is the fit and shape of the dress itself that provides the support. The other big learning curve is that for the most part these dresses are draped instead of cut from a pattern. This means that I created my own pattern by laying scrap fabric on myself and pinning till it fit correctly.

This was the first time I tried to drape my own pattern, and it was quite the challenge! It probably took me four tries, but I finally managed to get this:

Next, I used those pattern pieces to cut out the dress. This was the scariest part of the whole thing! Usually I don't flinch about cutting into the real fabric, but this time I was terrified, since I really didn't know if it was all going to work.

One of the coolest parts for me was learning about how to draft the sleeve. I've always had issues with sleeves on dresses I sew. Either the sleeves lay perfectly but restrict all movement, or they allow for free movement but have lots of ugly wrinkles. I never understood what the problem was or how to fix it, but researching how to draft a sleeve pattern explained all that! Apparently it has to do with the ratio between the measurement of your bicep and your armscye. Either way, this is the silliest looking sleeve pattern I've seen....but it works!

The actual process of sewing all the pieces together was very easy. It consists of two front pieces, two back pieces, and four skirt gores. I flat-felled all the seams, and did some basic facings for the sleeve and neckline hems. The sleeves button part-way up. The style of button used then is a self-stuffed fabric button. I made 24 of these, sewed them all onto the dress, and then had to do all the button holes!

The front laces up, so I also had to sew all the eyelets.

And here, finally, is the finished kirtle!

I'm very happy with how it turned out, and I'm so glad that I chose to do this project, because I learned a lot. Next in the making is a cotte, or over-dress to go with this.

And, the info for HSF:

What the items is: Medieval kirtle

The Challenge: #4 - Under It All

Fabric: 70/30 Linen/cotton blend

Pattern: my own, drafted using tutorials on Cotte Le Simple

Year: 1300s (?)

Notions: Thread

How historically accurate is it? About as much as time, money, and practicality allow. Since I won't be using this much, cut some corners, like blended fabric and sewing machine.

Hours to complete: Maybe 30, spread out over several days.

First worn: For the pictures, and just for fun the rest of the day around the house!

Total cost: $25 for fabric and thread.

American Duchess Giveaway!

American Duchess is hosting another giveaway!!!! The prize?

1 pair of "Nankeen" Regency Boots in your size
Nankeens are a later Regency fabric boot with leather soles, adjustable lacing closure, and a soft, round toe. They are perfect for daywear, intended for outdoor use, and are even dyeable (purple, red, blue, oh my!) You can learn more about the boots here.


Click on the picture of the boots to go to their giveaway page, and enter for a chance to win your own pair!

{Works With Her Hands} Let The Quilting Begin!

A few weeks ago, I finished piecing the Double Wedding Ring quilt top:

It's queen size, so there is no floor space in our apartment big enough to lay the entire thing out flat! Definitely the biggest quilt I've made yet.

Such a big quilt can be really expensive to get backing for, so I reverted to my new money-saving trick - a bed sheet from a thrift store! This past weekend I got a queen size sheet in just the color I wanted for $3.Can't get much better than that! It isn't cotton, which I'm sure any quilting die-hard would nag me about, but I'm not picky. It's soft and silky, and gives a unique look to the quilting and drape.

Today, I layered and basted the quilt, and now the first ring is quilted!

The deep red backing really highlights the white quilting; the pictures don't do the color justice, though. 

For the large squares between rings, I chose to do a fleur-de-lis motif. Ever since Stephen gave me a fleur-de-lis pendant back in 2010, that symbol has had special meaning.

And now, only 55 more rings to quilt!

{Works With Her Hands} - New Etsy Shop

Many of you are already familiar with my historical sewing business, Period Correctness. Well, orders there are just starting to pick up, and I've decided to help grow my crafting endeavours by starting a more modern Etsy page as well. So, here is it!





Please check it out, and spread the word to your friends! Also, if you see anything I have made on my blog and you would like to have one, too, don't hesitate to contact me about it! And, I've added links to both my shops on the upper right corner of my blog.

{Helpmeet In Training} Harsh Love

Does this look familiar?

Yup, we're back at it again. Stephen was accepted into the second semester of LIFT; I'm so proud of him for how hard he had to work to be accepted again, and for how hard he continues to work now that he is up there. He's been gone for about a week a half now, and my countdown chain has made it from 118 to 107.

But, the point of this was not to write about the countdown; I want to write about something I've been learning this past month - harsh love. It all started one day after Christmas when I was bored and decided to pick up one of the books Stephen has to read for this semester. It's called Your God Is Too Safe, written by Mark Buchanan. I was only able to read the first half before Stephen had to leave for LIFT, but even just that taught me so much. 

The idea that Mark really stresses throughout the book is the idea of "borderland". A place between the worldly life and the Christian life that is safe, and yet full of apathy. You may be comfortable in borderland, but you'll never really accomplish much. He then goes on to discuss the ways in which Christians have been blinded into believing that borderland is the best place to be, and how we have tried to mold the One True God into our own timid, lazy, permissive god of the borderland. The main point that I took away from the book is that God loves us too much to let us stay in borderland. Even if He has to chase us out with wind, rain, and hail. Mark quotes C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, talking about Aslan:

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king I tell you."

The second thing which got thrown into the mix in this lesson that I've been learning is 1 Peter 5:6-7. We read these verses in family Bible study the day before Stephen left, and they really stood out to me: 

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

The mighty hand of God - a hand works; it creates, destroys, moves, cleans, comforts. So, Peter is telling us to submit and humble ourselves under whatever the hand of God is doing in our lives. But how can we do that when so often God's hand is not gentle? By casting our cares upon Him. By saying, "Your will be done. You be glorified." By recognizing that each and every hardship that comes our way is for our benefit.

And so, all of this has been thrown together to teach me an important lesson. I know God is good, but so often He also feels harsh. And yet, in this season of my life, that very harshness is what  shows me His great love for me. Even as I was crying right after Stephen left, I kept hearing these words play through my mind: God loves me too much to let me stay in borderland. And that has brought me comfort; I know, without a doubt, that God is working mightily in both Stephen and me during this second semester. I know that He is using the challenges to bring us out of borderland, and into a deeper relationship with the Living God.

So, is He safe? No. But, He is SO good.