The Vintage Nerd Sews

I mentioned in my last post that I had found a lengthy yardage of blue striped cotton and I was planning to make it up using Black Snail 219. She's complete! The pattern was quite simple, with only a handful of pieces. Where the pattern called for standard straight seams (skirt, sleeves), I opted to use my sewing machine, which was a big time-saver. The bodice and hems I did by hand. Authenticity is good, but when you've got the kind of schedule that requires all hand sewing to be done as a part of multitasking, "cheating" makes it possible to complete projects in a more timely manner. By only doing my hand sewing while I listen to lectures for school or watch a movie in the evening with my husband, I find that I can indulge the creativity that keeps me happy while making sure I'm using all of my time wisely (and avoiding the guilt that comes with feeling like I've wasted time).  Back seaming details I made very few modifications to this pattern. I found it to

I've been working away piecemeal on some 1790s-1810s things. I don't think I'm ready to go full Regency, but the transitionary period is really fascinating to me right now. As I said in a previous post, I'm looking to make an open robe and a Chemise a la Reine, but those feel like big projects for the moment. Since time, energy, and money aren't at a level to channel into this project heavily at present, I've dipped my toe in to the era with a chemisette, a short sleeveless spencer, and stays.  While listening to lectures for grad school, I find that knitting and hand sewing are a nice activities to help me stay focused and keep the fidgets away (lectures average 3 hours, and while they're good, they're often quite dry). At the end of last month, using the American Duchess 18th century dressmaking book (see this post for more information), I cut out the shirt-style chemisette from some white cotton dimity given to me by a co-worker cleaning out her fabr