Catching Up

I've fallen a bit behind on my sewing lately but I've finally found a bit of time to catch back up. I'm in the middle of planning to move back to my home state currently and while our apartment search has finally come to an end the packing is about to begin in earnest. I have a day or two of free time to try and get a couple projects finished and I finally managed to complete my entry for the Black and White challenge.

I had decided on making a simple project for the challenge knowing my time was limited but it still managed to get away from me in the end. I finally finished my Edwardian princess slip however. I will hopefully get a chance to make an Edwardian corset soon and then I'll have an almost complete set of Edwardian undergarments.

I found some lovely cotton lace to use for the insertions and a midweight linen for the fabric. The linen is rather stiff at the moment but will hopefully soften up with a few more washings.

The neckline need a little fixing, it gaps a little but I think cutting it a little lower will fix the problem. Other than that minor issue I couldn't be happier with it.


The Challenge: #9 Black and White

Fabric: 3 yards Linen

Pattern: Self-drafted

Year: 1900's

Notions: 5 yards Lace, Buttons, Thread

How Historically Accurate is it? It's based off my best guess at a period pattern with correct materials and construction method so I'll give it 80%

Hours to Complete: 5 or 6

First Worn: Not yet

Total Cost: Around $25

Gibson Girl Blouse

Just managed to sneak one more project into the UFO deadline! Several months ago I started working on a Gibson Girl Blouse using a pattern from Folkwear. I got as far as cutting all the pattern pieces out of the fabric and then got stalled about the time I needed to start making the pintucks and lace insertions. I think I got a bit intimidated by them, and then other projects came along and the blouse got buried and forgotten about.

I'm fairly lucky that the blouse is one of the very few projects that has ended up in my UFO pile. I'm actually incredibly surprised at myself that I don't have a big UFO pile! I think I tend to just not start a project at all rather than start it and then abandon it. Either way I decided the blouse needed to be finished for the challenge.

When I cut the pattern pieces out I didn't have an Edwardian corset so I cut it to my natural measurements planning to use it in my everyday wardrobe. I still don't have an Edwardian corset, but even uncorsetted I think I could have gone down a size in the pattern. The blouse is so drapey and soft that it's not too obvious, it's mostly just from the back that it looks a tad too large for me.

This is probably one of the most comfortable blouses I've ever worn though! It's made out of a very fine linen/rayon blend. It's a little thin for winter wear but I bet it will be perfect come the fall. It should even be comfortable in the summer despite being black. I'm planning on making a few more variations on this blouse soon.

It looks quite nice untucked for modern wear, though it is a bit short in the back. The pattern included a historically accurate back length and a modern back length so of course I went with the historically accurate one for this version. I'll probably try out the modern length for future incarnations.

Once I finally got around to starting the pintucks I found them not nearly as intimidating as I had thought. I had a few problems with them ended up a little wrinkly but more practice will probably smooth them out in the future. The amount of time they consumed was really the worst part about them. I think I spent longer on the pintucks than the entire blouse construction even though there's just one little panel of them!

The Challenge: #8 UFO

Fabric: Maybe 2 yards of a linen/rayon blend

Pattern: Folkwear Gibson Girl Blouse

Year: 1900's

Notions:Eight buttons, one hook and eye, thread

How Historically Accurate is it? The only inaccurate material is the lace insertions made from nylon and I'm never sure how accurate Folkwear is so we'll call it close to 85%

Hours to Complete: 7

First Worn: Tuesday

Total Cost: I think the fabric goes for around $10 a yard, the buttons were a couple dollars and so was the lace so maybe $25-$30

UPDATE: Since the blouse is a bit too large for me I'm putting it up for sale in my new etsy store Costumes by Ophelia.