Month: August 2011

Simplicity 2207 – Striped Steampunk Skirt

Simplicity 2207

The title says is all really – this is Simplicity 2207, my striped steampunk skirt!

Somewhat eye-bending, but I knew the stripes on the skirt would end up going in all directions, so I deliberately placed them vertically on the front and horizontally on the ruffle.

Both edges of the ruffle are finished on the overlocker, with the “raw” edges left visible. Over the gathered join is four metres of beaded trim, with four metres of braid stitched over the top. I think I spent more on the trimmings than I did on the fabric!

(This was sadly evident as I was sewing – the black stripes are printed rather than woven, and I ended up with very grubby hands. Yuk.)

Simplicity 2207

I attempted to put pockets in the side seams, but that turned out to be a lesson in reading the entirety of the instructions before you start. The waistband has a somewhat unusual construction, so the two sides of my pockets didn’t match. Not wishing to rip out all the overlocking and start again, I simply chopped off the pocket pieces and pretended I didn’t want pockets after all.

The back of the skirt is twice as full as the front, and has an elasticated waist. I have a horrible suspicion that, despite measuring, I’ve cut the elastic a little bit too short. Thanks to the waistband construction I can’t easily get in and change it, so for now I’ve adjusted my dress form to be a little bit bigger than me, in the hope that it’ll stretch out a bit before I wear it. Fingers crossed.

Black Linen Dress

Black linen dress

Okay, so I didn’t dive straight into the organic cottons, but I needed a new black summer dress and I had a piece of linen tucked away in the Shed. It was originally earmarked to become another Regency-ish dress, but I decided to try out a long version of the blue organic tunic instead.

The ruffle’s twice as deep, and I think I might go back and chop a couple of inches off it, because the dress touches the floor. I wanted it to be long, but that’s a bit too long even for me! I haven’t made a matching belt for this one yet – in fact I’ve been wearing it without – but I think it looks quite smart with the blue one.

Having worn it, I also want to go back and add pockets. It’s too late now to put pockets in the side seams (well, I could, but I don’t fancy unpicking overlocked linen!), so it’s going to be big patch pockets on the front. I just need to decide whether to make them in matching black, or whether to have the pockets and belt in a contrasting colour. Maybe I should keep the pockets plain, then I can choose whatever colour belt I’d like.

Organic Cotton Skirt Ideas

Skirt ideas

Starting to work with the organic cottons again reminded me that I’d already put together some designs for skirts that were very similar to the blue cotton tunic dress. Large pockets and a ruffle, although I think I’d go for an elastic waistband rather than darts and a zip.

I drafted these little sketches way back in 2008, when I was also going through a phase of buying lots of recycled fabrics, mostly in the form of duvet covers. I thought I could use the matching pillowcases to make the ruffles and pockets, and do you know what? I think that might just work! Why it’s taken me three years to get around to doing anything with this idea, I’m not so sure.

I have four colours of organic cotton left in the stash – blue, green, pink and cream. My favourite place to buy organic cottons has a special offer on pot-luck remnant pieces, so I might buy a bundle and see what turns up. That, along with the Kaffe Fassett fat quarters, should give me plenty of choices for contrasting waistbands and pockets.

Blue Organic Cotton Dress

Blue organic cotton dress

This is a little tunic dress, from one of my own patterns. The main body of the dress is blue organic cotton from Bishopston Trading. The yoke and assorted other parts are also organic cotton, from Kaffe Fassett’s collection for Rowan a few years ago.

The pockets are set into the side seams, because it seemed like a good way of creating a nice sturdy finish. As the tunic is so full, next time I think I’ll make patch pockets and place them a little further towards the centre.

I’ve worn this with and without the belt, and I think it looks great either way. The belt is made from 5cm elastic, simply covered with matching fabric which gathers as the elastic contracts. The ends are fastened with loops and matching fabric-covered buttons. Next time I’ll add a slightly thicker interfacing, or perhaps a scrap of corset coutil, to make the front panels a little less likely to fold over on themselves. I also need to make another one about two inches longer, as this one’s a bit too tight for my liking!

I’ve been thinking for a long time about what to make with my organic cottons, and I’m really pleased with this tunic and belt. This is going to be the start of some thinking out loud in fabric, as I try to work out which styles might be available for sale.

Edwardian-ish Blouse

Edwardian-ish Blouse

I don’t think I showed you the finished blouse that I was making for Aldbrickham Clog & Step Dancers. It took much longer than I was expecting, because I ended up having to make all of the buttonholes by hand.

The body and collar of the blouse are from Simplicity 3623, with pintucks instead of gathering at the shoulders. The sleeves are from Simplicity 2207, and the buttons down the front were added by request.

I’m just waiting to find out whether the blouse is going to be okay for dancing – because of the shape of the sleeve heads, I might need to add a little gusset at the underarm to allow a better range of movement. Otherwise, I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.

Satin Bustle Skirt

Bustly skirt - front

To go with the silk corset, I made a satin bustled overskirt. The idea was to have something that could be worn over several different skirts, and could be varied in style.

The top layer is from Simplicity 2207, with a bit of modification. Instead of using a single layer, I doubled the fabric to give a bit more volume. Rather than making ruffles, I gathered a pretty wide lace along the centre back and the lower edge.

Bustly skirt - back

The under layer is made from two widths of fabric joined together in a french seam and gathered in to the waistband. Left rectangular, all the edges were trimmed with the same wide lace, and then the sides were gathered tightly to create the draping at the front. The whole thing simply ties around the waist.

In between the two layers, below the waistband, are several plastic rings. These correspond with ribbons sewn onto the skirt. The ribbons can be pulled through the rings and tied in place to create different bustle effects, or left loose to create a train. I used six metres of satin in total, but because it’s such light fabric you get a lot of volume without too much extra weight.

The skirt, corset, pirate shirt and waistcoat all took a trip to the Summer Darkness festival, and I’m hoping to be able to show you some action photos soon!

Silk Corset

Alice's Silk Corset

This is a little underbust corset which matches the silk waistcoat. It’s made to a pattern that I drafted a couple of years ago. The only alteration I made to the original was that I boned the modesty panel with plastic rather than metal. This makes it much lighter to wear, and as the metal boning isn’t really structural in the modesty panel it’s probably superfluous.

I didn’t have quite enough fabric left to make matching bias binding for the edges, so it’s bound with satin. You can’t see the true shape of the corset on my dressform – it’s much more curvy in real life. Even though it looks very plain and simple, I’m really pleased with the way this corset’s turned out. I hope its new owner is too!

Lobster Skirt!

Basildon Park

I managed to miss the Horrockses exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum, so I was delighted to pick up a leaflet for Basildon Park and find out that I could see them a little closer to home. The dresses were beautifully displayed throughout the house, but the highlight for me was this lobster-print skirt – ideally placed in a room full of shells!

It was really nice to be able to get so close to so many of the dresses. I learned a lot about the intricacies of their construction just by being able to look at them in such detail. Most of the dresses featured an underarm gusset with tiny topstitching, which was something I hadn’t seen on any of my 1950s sewing patterns.

We also got to chat to the housekeeper, who was doing some conservation work on a pair of beautiful silk curtains. She’d had some very fine net dyed to the same colour as the fabric, and was carefully removing some older, more coarse netting and replacing it with the new. It was really interesting to be able to see the work in progress, and to compare it with some of the work around the house that had already been done.

The gardens and house were very beautiful, but mostly I just want to know where I can get hold of some lobster fabric!

She Sells Seashells…

Seashell Collecting Display

These seashells, part of an original Victorian collection, are now on display in the Cole Museum of Zoology. The Museum had recently acquired four new display cases, and the volunteers were asked to fill them! The new cases now contain examples of fossil fish, specialisation in bird skulls, variation in beetles and my Victorian seashells.

Seashell Collecting Display

These are some of the boxes containing the tiniest little shells, complete with original handwriting on the boxes, and newspaper underneath. Some of them list the place and date of collection, others have only the species name.

Seashell Collecting Display

I didn’t manage to get a very good photo of the entire display because of the lights reflecting on the glass, but it shows the difference between amateur and professional collections, and the variety of boxes that the shells were packed into. I wrote a little bit of information about the history of shell collecting, and Amanda (the Cole Museum Curator) added some more about the current laws regarding bringing seashells home from other countries. (If in doubt – don’t!)

I really enjoyed rummaging (carefully!) through the Cole Museum’s shells to pick out just a few for this display case. They’re still in the process of being cleaned and catalogued, and there are some real beauties.

Silk Waistcoat

Scot's Silk Waistcoat

This is Simplicity 4923 again – a waistcoat to go with the pirate shirt.

It took me a whole day to hand-work fifteen buttonholes and then sew on fifteen buttons. Blimey. I know I’m quite slow at hand-sewing, but I didn’t expect it to take so long! It was worth it though. The waistcoat looks really lovely with the matching buttons, and although I had no choice about making the buttonholes by hand (stupid sewing machine), I think they look quite smart.

(I have a horrible sneaking suspicion that I’ve accidentally sewn the buttons on the “women’s” side… but there’s nothing I can do about it now.)

I only made one change to the pattern, and that was to make the pockets functional. I hate pocket-flaps without pockets underneath, and this waistcoat definitely looks better with pockets than without. I broke out my trusty Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing and learned how to make a bound pocket with a flap. It’s not the neatest sewing I’ve ever done, but the slightly wobbly corners are completely hidden by the flap, and it looks lovely from the outside. Possibly it’s not the best idea to try out a new technique for the first time on somebody else’s clothes… but hooray for functional pockets!