Tag: linen

New Year, New Dress!

Vogue 8813

First completed garment of 2014 – this is Marcy Tilton for Vogue, 8813. The fabric is silk noile, dyed in my tea urn with about six months’ worth of saved tea bags. I blogged about my failed attempt at dyeing the fabric and scalding my foot, but apparently I failed to mention the second attempt, which came out looking lovely! Well, I think so, anyway.

Paul doesn’t much like the black marks, which are iron stains from rusty nails. I’m slightly concerned that people will make “hilarious” jokes about tea stains, but I really love this fabric. I plan to over-dye it every six months or so with the tea bags that I’m still saving. I figure that each successive dye bath will add new stains and patches and colours, which will add lots of depth and texture.

Some of you have been following the progress of the smocking over on Facebook… ta-da!

Vogue 8813

I’m slightly peeved about the wonky bit in the centre, caused by a dart that I added after the smocking rather than before. Note to self: read the instructions all the way through, especially if you’re making changes to the pattern.

Often when I’ve finished sewing something I’m so sick of the sight of it that I can’t even think about making another one. I enjoyed working on this dress so much that I’m already thinking about different colour combinations, and wondering how many I can get out of the fabrics I’ve already got in my stash. There’s a version suggested with contrasting colour panels, one with buttons on the enormous pockets… and I want to wear them all!

Vogue 8813

Notes on the pattern: BE CAREFUL. It’s not difficult by any means, but there are a few places where you need to be really accurate otherwise you’ll come unstuck. You also need to read the instructions properly *cough*, as the pocket construction in particular is a bit origami-like. The back, by way of contrast is completely plain and flat.

Fitting-wise, the only measurement you need to worry about is the full bust. If the dress is too tight across the front, it’ll be too tight under the arms and through the cap sleeves. I still went down a size from my usual Vogue Large to a Medium, and there’s plenty of room to breathe.

Vogue 8499

This, as you may be able to tell, is not another dress. It is another Marcy Tilton though, Vogue 8499. These trousers have a flat front and elasticated back, large pockets, and darts at the knees. They’re very wide at the hips, tapered at the ankle, and sit very high at the waist. Perfect!

My only complaint about this pattern is that there are no actual garment measurements given anywhere! If I’d sewn my usual Vogue size 18 or 20, these would have been phenomenally huge, even for a very baggy style like this. After reading a lot of reviews online, I took a gamble and made a size 14. This has turned out spot on, thank goodness. Any smaller and I wouldn’t have been able to pull them over my hips, but thankfully there’s still plenty of ease.

Once again, parts of the pattern require absolute accuracy. I ended up with a tiny hole in the waistband where I sewed past one of the small dots by a couple of stitches, though it was easily fixed.

This picture doesn’t really do them justice, although I think you can get an idea of the shape. I think they’ll also work well in lightweight corduroy, or maybe a nice drapey suit wool. They’re so comfortable that, like the dress, I want to make more already!

A lovely parcel arrived from France!

Cozy Memories goodies

Look at all these lovely goodies! I recently entered a giveaway on Facebook, when Sonia of Cozy Memories reached 500 Likes. I was very surprised to find out that I’d actually won – and here’s my prize!

I was expecting to receive the festive Mug Rug, shown at the bottom – a lovely organic cotton coaster with room for a biscuit on the side. I was also expecting the scarf, which I chose with a voucher that was part of the prize. I wasn’t expecting the matching square coaster, the lovely handwritten card, and the delicious tea bag! The scarf came in a lovely hand-dyed drawstring bag too, which looks to be just the right size for storing my tarot cards.

Cozy Memories Scarf

Best of all – everything is made by hand, with natural materials. The linen scarf is dyed with Sicilian Sumac, sourced locally to Sonia, and the colour is a gorgeous grey-toned purple. I had a really hard time choosing which item I wanted from her shop, as everything is so lovely! I was very taken with this zipped pouch, dyed to the same colour and decorated with a ginkgo leaf.

Cozy Memories scarf

In the end I decided to choose something that I could wear often, and that would fit in with my wardrobe. I have a lot of clothes in variations of black, grey and purple, so this scarf will go with all of them! I especially like the variations in the dye that you can see in the photo above. They add a lovely depth to the fabric, and a reminder of the natural dyeing process.

In the spirit of paying things forward, I’ll be having a giveaway on The Eternal Magpie Facebook page, when I reach 100 Likes. Now I just need to choose something that I think people would actually like to win!

Going to work in my nightie

Broderie anglais dress

Anybodywho follows me on Facebook will be aware that a) we’re having a heatwave in the UK, and b) I’m not enjoying it. (Please note: this may be an understatement.)

I’m really not cut out for existing in hot weather, never mind still having to go to work and actually Do Things on a daily basis. My current medication makes me light sensitive, which means I burn even more easily than usual, and my eyes hurt. I also overheat easily, which means I sweat a lot (lovely!), which means I’m now on my summer diet supplement of disgusting electrolyte drink sachets, as it’s physically impossible to drink enough fluids to replace what I’m losing in the heat. Not Fun.

So, in order to alleviate the horror of the summer just a little bit, I decided to make myself a couple of Emergency Dresses. They’re both from the same pattern, one I drafted a couple of years ago. I wear the black linen version all the time, so a white one seemed like a good idea.

White linen dress

The one at the top is white cotton broderie anglais, with multi-coloured embroidery. It’s lined down to the knees with plain white polycotton, and I’ll probably wear a pair of bloomers underneath too, to combat horrible sweaty legs. (Classy!) I am slightly concerned that it looks rather like a nightie, especially since I added some matching rainbow coloured broderie anglais trim to the bottom. (It has the cutest little stars on it! Not as awesome as the pears, but still pretty.) I might add some big patch pockets onto the front, to make it look more like a dress than a nightgown. But I think with a nice belt, it doesn’t look too much as though I’ve accidentally gone sleepwalking.

The plain white one is linen. You can’t really tell from this picture, but I definitely should have lined it. And I didn’t. The black one isn’t lined, and the linen is a thicker fabric than the broderie anglais, and of course doesn’t have holes all over it. However it is a looser weave, and the light does pass through it rather well. I think this one might end up as a layering dress rather than being worn on its own. Sadly that means it probably won’t come out of my wardrobe until the weather starts getting a bit colder again. (Can’t wait!) Unless of course, I decide to just wear it as a nightie, on the days when I’m too ill to do anything other than pootle gently around the house. A pretty lounging dress might be quite a nice thing to have, come to think of it.

Simplicity 3968 – complete!

Simplicity 3968 (1952)

Please excuse the state of my garden. We’re in the process of moving house, so we finally had to do something about the terrible mess. The move has come about a little bit suddenly, so our plans for the garden have changed, but it’s all coming along very quickly which is nice.

Simplicity 3968 (1952)

So, you saw the toile of Simplicity 3968 the other day, and since then I’ve been hunting in my fabric stash to find something appropriate. This is a linen blend – I thought it was blended with wool, but the more I’ve handled it, the more I think it might be polyester. I obviously bought it before my self-imposed ban on man-made fibres. It makes a pretty nice dress though!

Simplicity 3968 (1952)

I’m pleased with the v-neck. It’s nice and neat, if you ignore the little wiggle on the right – that’ll press out with a bit of steam. I think it shows off the collar of the shirt underneath very nicely. I was a bit concerned that the neck would be so high that you would barely see the shirt at all.

Simplicity 3968 (1952)

The back, however, was nowhere near as cut away as I’d expected from a dress described as a “halter”. Once I had the neckline finished and the bodice and lining basted together, I decided to make an alteration to the armscye to make it much deeper at the back. I took the plunge and drew this freehand. I then used the piece I’d cut away to make the identical alteration on the other side.

Simplicity 3968 (1952)

The change was then translated to the pattern, so I can make the next one the same.

Simplicity 3968 (1952)

Much better! I like the waistcoat effect, which shows off more of the shirt fabric underneath, and allows for a greater range of arm movement without pulling across the back of the dress.

Simplicity 3968 (1952)

My absolute favourite part of this pattern though – in fact the entire reason I bought it – is the pockets. Look at them! They’re absolutely ENORMOUS. Despite that, I don’t think they draw an unnecessary amount of attention to themselves. They do stand slightly away from the skirt, which was an oversight on my part. I made the four panels of the skirt slightly narrower (to make the pattern pieces fit more easily on my sewing table!), but forgot to change the placement of the markings for the pockets. Next time I’ll try and remember to sew them on flat!


HEPZIBAH image © Fairysteps

The belt, for anyone who’s wondering, is the fabulous Hepzibah, courtesy of Fairysteps. I might have accidentally bought a turquoise one as well.

I plan to wear this dress to work tomorrow, so I’ll be able to see straight away whether it’s the right length, and is easy to wear. There’ll be the usual amount of sitting on the floor, rummaging about in cupboards and generally making a mess, so anything I wear to work has to be able to cope with a lot of abuse! I’m hoping this will turn out to be the dress equivalent of jeans – comfortable, but hard-wearing and practical.

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.

Purple linen Regency-ish dress

Simplicity 4055

This is Simplicity 4055 again, this time in a lovely deep purple linen. I did make a couple of amendments to the pattern, mostly to the fit of the bodice. I widened the sleeves by an inch, to allow room for my biceps and to make it easier to lift my arms. I also made a full bust adjustment (a novelty for me!) to allow me to wear a modern bra rather than Regency stays. Next time I need to bring the gathering a little more towards the middle, but the fit is still very much improved.

Simplicity 4055

I also altered the back of the bodice, to eliminate the buttons. Not having a maid to dress me, I couldn’t fasten the buttons between my shoulder-blades without some serious yoga practice, so I decided to get rid of them. Instead I added a rather anachronistic zip into the side seam, which was much easier to manage. I really like the back of the bodice without the buttons, it looks much neater.

I did have a brief look around the internet and in some of my costume books, to see whether there were any examples of Regency dresses that didn’t fasten at the back, and was very interested in this tutorial for making a bib-front style. The wraparound section at the front would eliminate the need for separate stays, and you could make lots of different detachable bibs with embroidery and smocking and all sorts of details. That idea is now looking very tempting for my next big dress project!

Pirate Shirt

Simplicity 4923

Today, rather than sewing something I actually need, like a dress for work or a winter coat, I decided to make a pirate shirt. As you do. (If you’re me.)

The pattern is Simplicity 4923, view C. I made a size Medium.
The fabric is just a plain black polycotton, and the cuffs are trimmed with flat broderie anglais lace – all from my stash. The collar size and length are just right, but the sleeves are absolutely ridiculous – even by 18th century standards. I could easily shorten them by four or five inches and they’d still be enormous!

Next time I think I’d like to make one in a nice soft white linen. I’ve found the perfect linen buttons too – just like the ones on the smocks at MERL. In fact, I might employ a technique I saw on a number of the MERL smocks, and make some horizontal tucks in the sleeves to shorten them.

I also want to have a look at The Cut of Men’s Clothes by Norah Waugh, and see what I want to do about the front fastening. I don’t really want to add eyelets and ribbon, so I might go for thread loops and little buttons. I should have done that on the sleeves, but for the sake of convenience (and maybe a touch of laziness) I went for snap fasteners instead.

There’s another goth night in a couple of weeks, so I plan to wear this with Paul’s old leather trousers. If I have time, I might make a waistcoat to go over the top. I’ve still got a piece of black and silver brocade that should be just about big enough.

New job, new waistcoat.

Style 1815, herringbone waistcoat

I start my new job next week, so I thought I should probably make myself something smart to wear. Hopefully I’ll have just enough time to finish this waistcoat and its matching trousers.

The pattern for this waistcoat is Style 1815 – it’s dated 1990, but I probably bought it in 1997 as I didn’t have my own sewing machine until then. There were no “shorten here for petite” markings on the pattern, so I just folded each piece to take about 2″ out of the length of the body. In hindsight I wish I’d taken a bit less out of the body and balanced it with a bit taken out of the shoulders, but hey. Maybe next time.

The fabric is a sort of a greyish-brown herringbone. I discovered after I’d bought and washed it that it has a high percentage of linen, so I’m hoping that I don’t end up looking too crinkly whenever I wear it.

All I need to do now is slip-stitch the lining side seams together, add the buckle at the back, and work out what I’m going to do about the buttons. My sewing machine absolutely refuses to sew buttonholes for me (despite performing this function perfectly every time I take it back to the shop to complain), so I tend to fasten everything with poppers, and then sew decorative buttons over the top. That may be the answer for this, too. I don’t want to spoil it at the last minute by taking a risk and hoping that maybe this time the buttonhole function might decide to work. Or I might just bite the bullet, and sew them by hand.