Hanging cuffs

It was 4th January and I was to take part in my first C18th event on 6th January. Despite not having a gown, I would at least make myself some hanging cuffs. They may not be 100% accurate, but they did their job and looked pretty!

I started with 2 pieces of white cotton fabric measuring about 31" in length. I then measured 6" half way along (this is how much I wanted my cuffs to hang) and then at either end 3", adding on seam allowance. I joined my pencil marks to make a curved line and then cut out the pieces. I then hemmed the ends and curved line.

After this I did a gathering stitch along the straight edge and gathered the cuff equal to the measurement of my arm just above the elbow. I then covered the gathered edge with some cotton tape, sewn down on both sides. I sewed the ends of the cuffs together at this point. Hey presto, I had a pair of cuffs...

However, I did think them a bit plain and so I wanted to jazz them up a bit with some blue trim to go with the rest of my outfit. I popped over to a haberdashery shop in a local town in the hope of them having something, otherwise I would be driving around to various shops on a hunt. To my delight they had some suitable looking blue lace so I bought 2m. When I got home, I sewed the lace to the edge of my cuffs.

Sewing Days

From 28th-30th December, I spent my time sewing with my friend Lidi. The main aim was to fit our friend for stays and make a start on those as we said we would make her a pair for her birthday.

On the 28th, we fitted her, made the pattern and roughly cut out all the pieces ready to be sewn the following day. In the evening Lidi kindly pinned the hem for my blue silk petticoat, which I sewed that night whilst Lidi continued with her Jacobean sleeves.

Lidi went off to an C18th sewing day with her dance group on the 29th, so I spent the day by myself making the stays. I neatened up all the pieces, apart from the two centre back panels (I saved these til last) and tacked the side seams before sewing the bone channels using my sewing machine. When this was done, I trimmed and sewed down the seam allowance and started sewing all the panels together. I managed to finish this within about 12 hours and so afterwards I made my friend's petal pad and adjusted the hooks and eyes on my petticoat (as it was a bit too big) and Lidi continued with her sleeve and started adjustments on her Jacobean gown.

During the morning on the 30th, Lidi draped a pattern for my C18th Polonaise gown bodice which was really cool (and very much appreciated!). It took all morning because I was wearing my stays and so I wasn't much use! After a spot of lunch, we decided to put the boning into the stays and Lidi made a start on binding them.

A Bergere Hat

I went to The Original Reenactors Market (TORM) Sunday just gone and bought myself a straw bergere hat. I had already bought the bits to addorn it with - 2m millinery wire, 2m black bias binding, approx. 6m 4cm wide black organza ribbon and lots of ostrich feathers! (as I want to be 'the crazy feather lady'). It is partially based on the hat worn by Elizabeth Foster in her portrait.

I started off by sewing the millinery wire to the brim edge with a whip stitch and then sewed on the binding. After this I used about 1.5m of the black ribbon for the tie and sewed it to the inside of the crown of the hat. I then gathered the rest of the ribbon (although not all of the ribbon was needed) using a large zig-zag stitch. I gathered enough to go around the hat crown. But before I sewed this on, I sorted out my feathers and decided how I was going to arrange them, this included binding the ends with left over binding and then sewing that to the hat before sewing on the gathered ribbon. Afterwards I then positioned the feathers and attached them in place with a few small stitches.

Caraco Petticoat

This is slightly delayed, but at the beginning of last week I made the petticoat for my caraco as I am yet to be patterned for my polonaise gown. The petticoat was made in the exact same way the the polonaise gown petticoat except it doesn't have a flounce because a) I really didn't want to make a flounce again and b) the silk was £15 p/m! All is left to do now is the hem (it is currently pinned) which will be done when someone can measure it for me.

Victorian Cap

Another piece to add to my housemaid wardrobe - a cap. Made pretty much the same way as my C18th one here except it's made from muslin, I only have one ruffle and the bag piece is half oval shape rather than semi-circle.

The cap is actually too small really, but then I'm rubbish at making headwear because a majority of it ends up being too small. With a little ingenuity, I have got it to fit and I'll also add button loops so I can slide in kirby grips discretely. It also needs an iron!

Regency/Victorian boots.

A couple fo weeks or so ago, I bought some white jazz boots off ebay as they were of a similar style to Regency and Victorian boots (2 periods I plan to do/start on next year). It worked out cheaper to buy white boots and dye them black so that is what I did. Before I did that I had bought some 5mm thick leather (I expect something slightly thinner will also do, but this was the only thickness I could get hold of) and drew around the boot to get a shape for the sole and cut it out with a stanley knife. The heel part needed to be cut off as these are separate on the jazz boots.

Once the boots had had 2 coats of dye (Dylon Shoe and Accessories dye) I started to attach the leather soles. Luckily I had some thin black leather at home which I used for the sides of the heel. I then stuck on the thick leather soles - the main sole was quite hard to do as this required pegs and carrier bags to tie the boot and sole together so they stick! To glue the soles on I used, what has been recommended, Shoe Goo and it certainly does do the job well. I also put some Shoe Goo on the edges of the leather to protect them when wearing outside.

When this was done, I made up a couple of organza ribbon rosettes - 1/2" wide and a metre long makes 2 reasonably sized ones. I the ribbon in half and neatened both ends before running gathering stiches along one edge. I pulled the gathers as far as they would go and then arrange and stitched it into a rosette shape. I glued the rosettes onto the toe of the boots with a blob of Shoe Goo.

All I need to do now is find some black shoelaces long enough!

Engageants.

Next year I plan to be a housemaid for the Victorian events at Kentwell Hall. When I found a bit of time between writing essays, I managed to make a start on my first bit of clothing - engageants - these are cotton half sleeves that cover the fore-arm and protect the dress sleeves and so one doesn't have to roll their sleeves up and look like a scrubber (of pots and pans).

I started with 2 x 14" square (for the sleeve) and 2 x 4"x9.25" (for the cuff) of white cotton. I wanted my sleeves to be tight around the top so they stay up - the extant examples I've seen are quite wide so you might want to make your measurements bigger than mine.

Going by the extant examples, I used really small hems and seam - I allowed for 1/2". I sewed the sleeve seam first and neatend it and then hemmed the top. After this I did 2 rows of gathers around the cuff (as the sleeve is tighter compared the extant examples, there wont be many gathers in comparison) and knotted the thread when I got the desired size - 8.25", the measurement around the widest part of my hand so I can put the sleeve on. I then sewed on the cuff which was made up like bias binding.