Kannik's 1812 waistcoat: progress report

The fronts are just about done. The pocket, lining, and buttonholes are in. After doing the pocket and lining all by hand, I resorted to machine sewing the buttonholes. I tried handsewing one, and it just looked hideous.

Kannik 1812 waistcoat

Can't sleep...so this is a quickie post on what I'm working on. It's a Kannik's waistcoat, for my 1812 reenactor friend. So far I cut the pieces out, basted the interfacing and stay tape to the fronts, and started on the welt pockets - all by hand.

Book: BurdaStyle Sewing Vintage Modern

I have fallen behind in posting book reviews here, because I picked this one up shortly after it came out. If you got the first BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook, this is a good follow-on to that. It has more basic patterns with instructions for variations, and even includes a pattern for a mens shirt (in addition to several iconic dress silhouettes, blouses, and pants).

Meanwhile, I made two blouses from the blouse pattern in the BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook, like so:

I wore this one this week as part of my work-travel wardrobe. 

A story about art, obsession, and crazy

I worked a 9-5 type of job in downtown Pittsburgh for several years, early 1990s until about 2007. As I was commuting to and from my work and walking the city streets, I noticed an unusual plaque that was embedded in the middle of the street. I saw it everyday, walked over it, and wondered what it was and what it meant, but didn't think about it too much until many years later, when I saw it again -  in St. Louis. Now it really had me thinking, so I snapped a photo of it and uploaded it to the interwebs for all to see. One of my internet acquaintances recognized it and gave it a name - Toynbee tile. Mystery solved, well sort of. I just stumbled on this documentary - Resurrect Dead - which searches for the identity of the mysterious "tiler," and they do narrow it down, but....no spoilers here. It was just a provocative story, and I feel in some small way like a firsthand witness to it.

There were hundreds of these Toynbee tiles in major cities all over the Northeast, and amazingly, in South America. However, many of them are paved over, and some have even been stolen - as in cut right out from the street - because they now have a perceived value as art. There is no effort to protect or preserve them. In Chicago, they were routinely removed like any other graffitti. So the tiles are disappearing and soon will be gone forever. There is a lesson in impermanence here. Otherwise, one might say that it was a brilliant PR campaign.

Addendum: Found the photos I took of the ones I saw in St. Louis, which aren't there anymore (I don't think).

 

 

Book review: DIY Couture by Rosie Martin

This was an impulse purchase and I am pleasantly surprised.

http://www.amazon.com/DIY-Couture-Create-Fashion-Collection/dp/1856697991

There are a lot of books of this nature out lately because making your own clothes has caught on with the younger crowd, but I find some of these books rather boring. NOT this one. It definitely takes a unique approach and offers a lot of cool, interesting designs.

It covers 10 basic wardrobe pieces, and eight different variations on each one, so that's 80 different styles to play with. The pieces include:

A straight skirt
The Grecian dress
The skater skirt
A waistcoat
A cape
A slouch top
The goddess dress
A hoody/jacket
trousers
and a romper

The variations follow eight different themes:

The Acid Candy collection: bright and modern
The Monochrome Art collection: black and white and classic
The American Road trip collection: a little boho, country, hippy
The Rude Disco collection: glam and flashy
The Coffee Classic collection: stylish neutrals
The Jungle Punk collection: fun and funky
The Safari Prep collection: earth-tone classics
The Tea Picnic collection: girly and flirty

The beauty part is, there are no patterns. The instructions for constructing each piece describe how to use your own measurements and clothes to draft a pattern, and you don't need anything fancier than a t-shirt or pair of jeans that fit you well.

If you have never sewn anything before, this is not the place to start, but if you have a few finished projects under your belt, most of the looks in this book are within your grasp. The instructions for pattern drafting and constructing each piece are well illustrated and easy to follow. This collection also leaves lots of room for your own ideas and customization. This is a great, inspiring springboard.

The Queens Servants: Rusty gown with W neckline

Yes I have gone a bit crazy with The Tudor Tailor. I just couldn't wait to get the new book - The Queens Servants - at Pennsic, so I ended up paying for shipping from the UK. It was well worth it. They do an excellent job of researching and illustrating the clothing, and the patterns are working out pretty well. 

New pattern from The Tudor Tailor

They have this new full-size pattern for the gown I made, but once again I just drafted the pattern out of the book and scaled it up to my size.

I am fascinated by this W neckline, but it was a bit tricky to pull off. It is trimmed in black velvet. I also stiffened the bodice with reed boning. I'm hoping that with the back lacing, it will be supportive enough. Ideally, I should have made a kirtle to go underneath this gown, and that would provide the support, but I want to be able to wear this alone over a chemise/smock.

Late Elizabethan flounced skirt

So this is the next look that I'm going for, from The Tudor Tailor:

I was hesitant about doing a flounced skirt, which would require a bumroll - it seems odd to modern eyes - but it turned out ok:

 

 

That's the doublet bodice that I made earlier; drafted that pattern from scratch, but it's very close to the one in the book, and I did use the pattern from the book for the medium bumroll.

However, I totally guessed on how to do the skirt. I measured down from the waist, over the bumroll, about 8 inches, made a tuck about 1 inch wide, and ran two rows of loose stitching to gather it. The fabric is a teal-colored wool gabardine that was left over from another project from a long time ago.

Since it's an open front skirt, I might make some sort of forepart to go under it, to hide my corded petticoat. I wish I had the time and fortitude to do something in blackwork, but that's definitely not my strong suit.