The Federalist Corset 1820

While poking around the Metropolitan Museum archive for Regency clothing, I came across this.  So, while the English were wearing their gusseted plain white corsets, here in America, this woman, was prancing around hiding a work of art. The corset is cotton, the embroidery is silk.  I could see this hanging on my wall.

Inspiration garment from Victoria and Albert Museum Albania....1800's jacket... and progress on the corset

According to the rules of the V&A website, I'm not allowed to lead with a photo of the garment, so here is the corset so far.

The boning has not been added yet, it is pin basted for fit, it still needs to be bound on the edges, grommets, flossing, supplies have been ordered, so this is going in the WIP list until the items get here. Looks like the theme for February is.... I don't have everything I need to finish my projects.
  

Onto the inspiration garment....

I'm living in the wrong timeline, I thought this was stunning.  Albania, 1800's women's jacket, silk brocade, trimmed with metal braid.  I can see this with a long black gauze skirt, or some high waisted pants.  I see this and wonder, are we really so technologically advanced that we can't recreate fashion and materials from the past? Hmm makes me wonder.

This is the closeup of the buttons in the same collection.

Victoria & Albert Archive..... click HERE.

History Bounding Ralph Lauren Classic Safari #Historybounding

History bounding sounds unrealistic for most of us.  What we don't understand, is that designers are history bounding all the time.  Always looking back in history for design ideas to reinterpret.  Maybe, this is why he's been so popular, he gives us a little escapism. Sigh.

My case in point.... Ralph Lauren and his Safari collection.  Safari is not his only example, more on that in upcoming posts.

Be still my heart, this suede safari jacket is on sale from $3,200 to $1,300, still available girls....

The safari dress

The safari evening gown

In the 80's, his collection was actually shot on "Safari".

And if you want more safari inspiration, just look at this Pinterest search.... HERE.

Update on the corset.... I think a corded corset is more work than a straight up boned corset... and it's evil..

Reacquainting yourself with your machine Singer 20u & Stitch Lengths

 The machine I had been working with stopped forming stitches, so I moved the industrial machine over from storage.  This was no easy task, too heavy to move as is, it needed to be taken apart.  Once  in place, I checked my little featherweight, and the issue was a piece of thread that had made it's way behind the bobbin.  It's working again, so I can start again tomorrow. I swear that machine is a difficult woman, I'm renaming her Scarlet. In the meantime, the Singer needs to be oiled and cleaned.

I've struggled with this machine, it's an industrial, and it's ugly.  This is a machine that my mother purchased over 40 years ago, it's had a lot of use.  She chose it because the Pfaff  sewing machine had started acting up.  So much for German precision, the timing belts on that vintage machine were not standardized, so finding the exact belt it needed became difficult over time.  It was my machine in college, but it was eventually sold on ebay after it's last service.

Mom selected this machine because she was looking for consistent, well formed stitches.  This has been in storage for the last 5 years, and after a good cleaning and oiling (to show it I still love it), it does not disappoint. This machine is simple, it has a straight stitch, zig zag, and reverse.  In the booklet, they give you instructions for embroidery, which I have never tried. Mechanically, it is easy to service, it has no belts (except for the handwheel), it is gear driven.

Here is the first stitch sample, for the straight stitch. I'm pleased with the stitch formation, and now just checking to see if the stitches per inch are correct.

The number settings on this machine range from 1 to 5, they say that this represents the stitch length in millimeters. I'm sure there are wonderful reasons for this, one being that measuring in millimeters is more precise than measuring in inches.  What we really want to know is what are the stitches per inch.

Many times, when instructors are recommending stitch lengths, they give you a recommended setting but, then follow up with "but check with your machine settings".  Why?  A setting of 1 should be the same across all settings.  I'm actually pretty shocked that the test between Singer 20u, vs Bernina Artista 730 gave a different result.

The Bernina, is calibrated more closely to the mm stitch length.  In order to compensate for this my Singer 20u settings would need to be set to compensate as follows.

Moving onto non precise mechanisms for setting stitch length, these would almost have to be verified each time you change the stitch length.  Yikes!!

Laughing Mercantile 115 Corset prep

This is the first pattern I've seen with an instruction booklet.  It is very thorough, and has been recommended because of the size range, and the very specific instructions for grading to your size.  The corset comes in two versions, a theatrical version and an historical version.  The historical version is corded, which is the one I'll be making. Hmmm long or short version?

They recommend a hot water soak for the fabric before starting, I will also include the cording while at it.  Since the corset is meant to conform to the body and not alter it's shape, a light weight fabric is designated, cotton sateen, for the exterior and broadcloth for the lining. I'm using a lightweight denim, and a quilting cotton for the interior.

The fabric has turned the water yellow... yikes. I don't know why this has happened. It shows up better in person, I continued changing the water until it ran clear.

Oh, and don't soak your cording, because this happens... it happened so quickly, once it hit the hot water it contracted, now it smells like mildew.

Fabric prep finished.  Marking and cording next...

Did anyone catch the Fabric Mart sale last week?  65% off, I need more fabric, like I need a hole in the head.... but it's so pretty.  I think some marrakesh pants are in my future. There's a soft black handkerchief linen, a check linen, a very stretchy suit weight linen, and a navy linen.  They all say, Dry Clean Only... I don't think so.  This may be the week I ruin my FM linens.  I love an experiment.

Quilt will be put on hold for a week, other projects are beginning to pile up and I need to get to them.. the small blocks are finished. The small blocks make up the center of the quilt, the larger blocks will outline this center piece.

I didn't think this would work.... clover mini iron... Slow Ironing....

An evening of firsts.  This is the first time using the Clover mini iron, in combination with the Omnigrid portable mini ironing board/cutting board.  I bought these with my Joann's 50% off coupons, last year. They had been completely forgotten about, I had hoped that the little combination mat would find some use at a class, but it came in handy this evening. 

The quilt is to the point where there is a lot of ironing seams open, little seam allowances that don't want to stay open.  This means standing at the ironing board, prying the seam open and trying not to burn your finger tips.  The small seams have a tendency to close shut even after opening them, especially at the bulky intersections of piecing.  Meanwhile, as you are diligently working on one seam, you can inadvertently iron other seams closed.  Ah joy.

The instructions recommend high for cottons, and it actually worked.  It's not perfect but this will allow me to whiz through with the larger iron later.  The light turns on, when it's on, but it does not turn off when it reaches temperature.  The iron stand, is very cute but will drag from the weight of the cord, so be careful.  The tip, is smooth enough to actually open the seam a bit.  The sitting down and using the mini iron, allowed me to trim the long thread tails at the start of each block.  I'm finding they can turn up in the most unlikely places later, so it's better to clean while you go.

There are 9 more strips to sew together, then it's onto the larger block border, a brief break might be needed, as I'm seeing stripes in my sleep.

  

It's been fun to see how the blocks shrink from the initial layout, to sewing together (they shrank 6 1/2"), then they grew another inch or so after being pressed.  When the strips are all joined, they will shrink and grow width wise. 

 The first three strips have been joined and pressed here.

 This quilt should finish at 85" x 85", it's going to be large enough for a queen bed, the largest I've attempted so far.  We will have to see what kind of quilting will be done here, stitch in the ditch again? or tied?  

Oh, and the most important part of this quilt, I have extra fabric left over.  All that fuss at the beginning, it was the pattern matching that saved me on the 1/4 yard lengths.  It made the process a little more laborious though.  So if you followed the directions in the book for 24 striped fabrics in 1/4 yard lengths, you can still make the quilt as planned, but you'll have to match your stripes before cutting the fabric into 2 1/2" strips.

Now what will I do with these extra blocks and strips?

Vintage Scarf Dress...Sustainable Fashion . it was a trend in 2012 and I just found out...

Did I see this in 2012?  I don't think so.  I recently watched, yet another youtube video, it was about repurposing vintage clothing.  The presenter has a store in LA, and has some crazy beautiful clothing.

She pulled out a vintage scarf dress, that she said was her favorite, and I thought, I understand why.  Could be that I didn't see this when it was a trend because I didn't have that many vintage scarves around, it wouldn't have been on my radar.  Since my move in 2015, my favorite thrift store would have some amazing silk scarves, and I started buying them.... why?  Haven't a clue.... this could be the reason why, there was a dress lurking in the scarves.... or a kimono... or a top.

The Way We Wore... Sustainable Fashion... click HERE.  The video is 19 minutes but if you are looking for ideas to repurpose, you might find a nugget in here.

Her Vintage dress by Gigi Renee Designs... the designers website HERE

Then onto the web and Pinterest for some other versions and ideas....

I'm not skinny enough for this one

These are pretty cute.

More Pinterest inspiration HERE.

Progress.... and SHOT fabric

The quilt I’m working on is cotton Shot fabric, in solids and stripes, it has an iridescent quality to it, depending on what angle you view it. This is especially apparent in silk content fabrics.

 A "shot" is a single throw of the bobbin that carries the weft thread through the warp, and shot silk colours can be described as "[warp colour] shot with [weft colour]. Wikipedia

SHOT COTTON
Shot Cotton is typically a low-thread count woven cotton fabric with a two tone effect created by using two different colors for the warp and weft fibers. fabric.com

SHOT SILK - CHANGEANT

Shot silk (also called changeant, changeable silk and changeable taffeta) is a fabric which is made up of silkwoven from warp and weft yarns of two or more colours producing an iridescent appearance. A "shot" is a single throw of the bobbin that carries the weft thread through the warp, and shot silk colours can be described as "[warp colour] shot with [weft colour]." The weaving technique can also be applied to other fibres such as cotton, linen, and synthetics. Wikipedia 

Progress on quilt, all blocks are completed, assembly next.

Gratefully, I have 6 extra large blocks, in case I find some duds, and I have fabric left over.

This is the center of the quilt, made up of the smaller blocks, this will be the largest size quilt I have ever attempted.

My trimmings pile ;), it reminds me of cousin It, in the Addams Family

I may never look at another stripe again.

More to come....