The Vintage Nerd Sews

Everything aligned at last to do a proper photoshoot of my round gown, and seeing the photos, it was worth the wait. Liz and I are so often on the same page for photos, it's not even funny, and this time, we were both feeling inspired by Fragonard's pastoral-yet-decadent portraits. I think she absolutely nailed it. I used a silk ribbon for my sash, and my hat is trimmed with velvet ribbon from my stash. The wind spent the entire shoot trying to steal my hat. Pleats and back shaping As always, I find things to correct every time I wear a make for an extended period of time. Most obvious to me is my too-much tucker. I'll be making the ruffles fuller and the height shorter. I'll also re-gather the back of this cap--the gathering needs to be more concentrated at the top. At present, the gathers seem to almost drag it down. It's nice to know that there are only tiny tweaks to make this time. I'm looking forward to wearing this gown again, and styling it in other ways...

We got some snow over the weekend, and of course I had to take some photos of the round gown against the cold, crisp backdrop! I only managed to make it as far as the backyard, but I'm still fairly happy with the results.

My modern sewing machine has been in the shop for the last couple of weeks, and was finished and ready for pickup just a couple of days before Christmas. While I was there, it was a moment of love at first sight with this Morris & Co quilting cotton. I grabbed a couple of yards and whipped up this sweet little jacket using Janet Arnold's pattern again. I went with View D this time, with the swallowtail back, and added lacing. It goes remarkably well with my wool sage petticoat (pardon the wrinkles--I pulled it out of the trunk for a few quick photos). I had to eke out the pattern as I got the least possible yardage, but it was well worth it to match up the pattern at the back and center the stomacher. I'd like to get some green silk ribbon to add a bit of flair to the stomacher so I can wear it pinned in as well. Nicely centered pattern on the stomacher As ever, I can only hope for opportunities to wear this in the upcoming year!

There is a lot of content here, so I'm breaking this up into three separate posts. Two will be on the gown itself; the third will be on the accessories I made to wear with it. And now to the good stuff! When we visited Williamsburg, I knew I wanted to pick up some of the reproduction fabric they sell. I chose the Serpentine Vine cotton, and got 5 yards, enough to make a simple gown. You can see here on their site the comparison between the reprint and the original fabric--it's remarkably close! By the Monday after our trip, I already knew what I wanted to do with the cotton: a round gown, using the one from Fitting & Proper as my guide. As my sewing machines were both giving me trouble at this time, I decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to sew a gown 100% by hand--no machine sewing at the skirt side seams or anywhere else I would usually "cheat." I also decided that just for fun, I'd also track my time spent on making this gown from start to ...

I didn't get the market bonnet made in time, but I did finish my linen gown in time to wear to Fort Frederick Market Fair this weekend. Under it, I wore my new Augusta Stays and the undergarments and petticoats I made last summer. After several hours walking around in it all, I had a few fit notes. Thankfully, nearly all were quick fixed that I was able to correct in a short amount of time.  The first thing was my stays. I found the fit to be overall good, but gapping a bit at the bust. This is normal for me, so I typically just add a little padding and call it a day. However, after several hours of wear, I realized that these needed an adjustment. The curved portions of the stays top where the shoulder straps attach spent the afternoon digging into the front of my underarms. Having narrow shoulders as well, I didn't love where the straps sat on my shoulders, so I applied a quick fix. I shifted the eyelet down and further in, trimming down the curve of the top of the stays. Aft...

I said in an earlier post that I strongly dislike making historical undergarments. Making stays seems to have done something to my brain, because a few weeks back, I spent the weekend sewing and cording a pair of ladies' short stays, and while sewing cording channels did start to get dull toward the end (I cheated and used the sewing machine for this bit), I thoroughly enjoyed cording and assembling them.  The first portion of cording underway with the help of a circa 1900 needle. Stays front ready for cording I used Laughing Moon 115 for these, opting for the short stays option. For cording, I used cotton yarn from my stash, and salvaged zip ties from my failed half-boned stays for the couple of places boning was required. For a busk, I'm going to use a paint stirrer, as was recommended as a "cheat" by the pattern. I happened to have one lying around the house, and it fits perfectly in width! One unfortunate issue with this pattern is the cup size. I went with my rec...

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...