Chemise Part 1

I'm making all my undergarments from Simplicity 9769 (except the hoops, which should show up soon!) I got a very lightweight poly-cotton of the chemise and the drawers. After wrangling all 11 yds of it onto the table to be cut up, I decided it would be better to just hack off a piece.

Now note that this is a cotton blend I'm using here. I wish I'd remembered that when ironing the front opening... One slightly melted, shrunken, bubbly piece of chemise later, I was pulling out the ridiculous lengths of fabric to cut another.

sigh....

The body and sleeves went together perfectly, all flat felled seams. I didn't do too badly for my first try :) And then the underarm facings.... Those weren't fun.... I managed to sew one side in on the machine, then back to the ironing board (and a cooler iron). Pins weren't cutting it, so I sewed it down as I went along. Also not the most brilliant thing, as I sewed it to the ironing board....

Not too shabby :)

Nasty little things....

Gathering the body to the yoke, no sweat. Sewing on the yoke, a different story... I thought everything was fine until I went to sew down the facing. Everything was NOT fine, for I'd sewn the dang thing on inside out... Both sides looked the same to me... Not about to try and take the seam out (no seam ripper... I lost it a few months back), I just decided to use microscopic hand stitches and make it look like nothing was wrong. Press seam, trim it, accidentally cut hole in facing.... By that point, I was rather annoyed with myself. So, I'm not done yet, though I'd hoped to be. Maybe by the end of the weekend... I'll get pics of the finished thing up eventually :)

Athenaeum Rectory

In two summers, I am going to be attending the 1861 Girls School at Athenaeum Rectory in Columbia, TN. (Here's their website: http://www.athenaeumrectory.com/index.php/1861-girls-school)

So my first big project is the long process of outfitting myself :) The school requires each attendee to have period clothing: undergarments (chemise, drawers, hoops, corset), two day dresses, a ball gown, and a mourning dress. So much fabric! I went fabric shopping this weekend and picked up a very lightweight poly cotton for the chemise and drawers and a unidentified diagonal stripe cream fabric for the corset.

Hope to have some pictures up by the end of the week!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi everyone!

Here I shall be capturing my adventures through the wondrous world of sewing. A few people suggested I start blogging as to better share my creations. So here I am :)

Happy reading!