I had had this fabric in my stash now for a while and I bought it just because it was cheap. I'm not so in to blue as a colour, but the fabric looked lovely and though it is 100 % raw silk (except the gold part, I assume) it looked more like wool.
And then I washed it. Very carefully. 30 degrees (Celcius), just like the label said. And this happened.... ok, the blue colour is still there though in this picture the colour is gray, but all the gold was now gone and those black stripes are like nets, they lost some kind of filling?? And when before the wash the fabric looked more like wool, it now has a rough linen look and feel.
So I was going to make a jacket and a petticoat for a lady to be worn as her undress wear but now it's going to be a outfit for a common woman....
Petticoat was made in a "normal" way. Two part joined together with pocket slits and black cotton ribbons to tie it.
For the jacket I used J.P.Ryan's pattern " A fine collection of Ladies' Jackets for Undress Wear" http://www.jpryan.com/details/jacket.html. I had already started to do it before the challenge (so actually a ufo) - I had cut all the parts for the lining (black linen) so I continued from there. Everything is hand sewn with black linen thread (and I would have absolutely used wax if I just could have located it...). The pattern was very fast and easy to sew with no problems, except the sleeves were so tight I had to make them bigger. But since the sleeves were the only thing I tried on, I still don't know if the jacket fits on me, it may be too small....
Because the fabric was now after the wash so coarse/ weaving was so loose (or what ever is the right term...) I had to top stitch the whole jacket. Though I tried to use very tiny back stitches it seemed like it would break if strech even a little bit. So the top stitching seemed like the only solution, historically accurate or not...
And the cuffs...I had so little fabric left I couldn't match the stripes, the other cuff did match but there was no way I could get the other one match. I tried piecing but the seams made the cuff so thick. And it didn't look good when the other cuff matched and the other didn't. So I decided not the use those cuffs at all.
There are 5 lacing holes on both sides, hand sewn of course, but not in the nicest way I'm afraid. But I'll keep on practising...
The stomacher is supported with 3 cable ties, those attachment parts are made from the same black ribbon I used in the petticoat. Sadly there seems to be some stripes from the wash...
And since I had few small pieces of the fabric left I made a little pocket. This pocket is meant to be worn over the petticoat.
Challenge #2 Blue
What the item is? A jacket and a petticoat (and a pocket)
Fabric: Raw silk and black linen for lining
Pattern: Basic petticoat pattern and J.P.Ryan's - Ladies' Jackets for Undress Wear
Year: Later 18th century
Notions: Black linen thread, black cotton ribbon, cable ties for the stomacher
How historically accurate is it? Looks ok, but I guess raw silk was not used, but luckily this feels and looks like linen (though it used to look like wool), all hand sewn
Hours to complete: One week
First worn: not yet and since it's been a ufo for a while I guess it wont fit anymore
Total cost: the silk was 6 €/ m, linen about 12 €/ m I guess
Upea puku!
VastaaPoista