Challenge 2021:1 Joy: The Shirtwaist I Got To Use
Kategori: Allmänt, Historic Sew Montly 21, Stashbusting, edwardian
Apart from buttonholes (on a machine) and inserting zippers, apparently my cryptonite is having no deadlines and no clear "reason" for making stuff. Which, as I have mentioned before, has not been in my best interest during this seemingly neverending pandemic.
But! Finally! The clouds cleared, if perhaps only briefly, and I finally have been working against a deadline with a specific event in mind. So therefore Joy seems a fitting challenge for this project; a tiny celebration of being back with my community for a few days.
At the larp Winter Tradition I was to play a lady's maid - the one thing I did not have anything really fitting for, clotheswise. I had some kind of idea to make a dress combining two types of wool, but in the end that demanded a bit too much thinking and potential fitting and draping issues - so skirt and blouse it was.
I am very much in love with the early 1900s blouses in sheer white with lace inserts, but this time I need something else. So browsing I went - this is the fun and the dangerous with early 20th century: there are a lot of extant garments in various collections, and it's a rabbit hole that can swallow one for days.
I am very much in love with the early 1900s blouses in sheer white with lace inserts, but this time I need something else. So browsing I went - this is the fun and the dangerous with early 20th century: there are a lot of extant garments in various collections, and it's a rabbit hole that can swallow one for days.
I knew I wanted to make the shirtwaist in wool for various reasons: It was to be used at a winter larp (even if mostly played indoors), I had black wool in my stash, it stays black much better than cotton and is more dresslike. Now for looking at models. I was looking for something simple, more along the lines of this one from the Met than the frilly, airy dreamy ones. I'd rather like at least a cutting diagram, though, to get it remotely right. Some further googling brought me to this page with two Edwardian Blouses taken from a publication called Enquire within* from about 1910, which is exactly what I wanted: while a skirt can be a few years old, it made sense that my newly appointed, no doubt vain lady's maid would have aspired to keep up with fashion at least a bit.
The blouse I picked was the simpler one, which accually had wool as an option in the fabric suggestions. Here, it started to become really obvious that Enquire within's sewing patterns was... economic with their instructions at best, and that the image of the finished garment was something of a serving suggestion - a lot more fabric consuming than the advertised yardage for a simpler version. Nevertheless, that didn't particularly bother me since I was to use plain fabric anyway and didn't have to worry about pattern matching or cutting stuff on the bias for decoration purposes.
The "serving suggestion" - I do agree that it's nice to have the stripes go in various direction, but there is no way they are going to do that if you use this suggested pattern layout:
The suggested layout, that clearly omits the second sleeve, cuffs and front... Obviously Enquire within expects you to do a lot of the thinking yourself.
I still don't know if I was supposed to cut two yoke pieces or not, but in the end I did one to not add unnecessary bulk. I also totally deviated from the suggested layout, since my fabric was a lot wider than 29". After some experimenting with sheeting and pinning and measuring ("if this fabric is 29 inches wide in the picture, this means that the sleeve is about yay wide" etc) I ended up with a pattern. The near final pattern layout:
My layout, with the fold along the upper edge of the picture. "Front placket" is my brain being to tired to google while using a second language, I still don't know what the correct term is. Google fails me - the part where the buttonholes go. I decided to add that as a separate piece, since my poor brain couldn't work out who to get it to be in the middle of the garment otherwise. This probably means deduction of HA points.
Not in picture: the cuff facings/lining, which I had to cut from another tiny piece of black wool from my stash. Serves to prove that you should never throw away uselessly small pieces of fabric, you never know when it might come in handy.
I then zigzaged all edges, since I don't trust this fabric not to fray, and started putting it together.
(Measuring tape there to give me an idea of what it would look with a waistline). Not too shabby, even if the wool could have been even thinner for nicer draping.
Button hole thingy added. That it's not hanging straight will bug me for all eternity, but it doesn't really show when the shirtwaist is worn.
My sewing machine have a really nifty function for making button-sized button holes, but I have never been able to make it work and I had only one try. I couldn't face risking the last button hole to wreck the whole thing, so there I was: hand-sewing button holes yet again. I will never learn.
Button hole. Yes, the corner is wonky.
The original image didn't have any "extra" collar on it, but since I was to work in this one and find high collars a nightmare to fit I made a slightly lower collar and added a basted on white collar, made from a strip of lace/frill/whatever from my inherited stash. The piece was too small to be used for anything else, so I even more pleased. I decided to not go for any white on the sleeve cuffs, though.
It's sooooo pretty. And, since my character was supposed to be about a decade younger than me and there would be photos: it will make any makeup end up on the easily washed collar rather than on the wool. Win win.
The finished shirtwaist, worn with the skirt. The blacks don't really match, but I am ok with that - I guess that would have been an issue back in the day, too.
The facts:
What the item is: A 1910's shirtwaist.
How it fits the challenge: I got to use it! With friends! In person! Doing my hobby! WOooop!
Material: Thin wool
Pattern: Drafted from a pattern in Enquire within (c. 1910)
Year: 1910
Notions: Polyester thread, a piece of lace, plastic (beggars, choosers) buttons
How historically accurate is it? Fairly! It's (mostly) made from a period pattern, from wool, using a sewing machine wouldn't be out of the question etc. I did tweak it a bit though, and used some more modern notions, so I'll say 90%
Hours to complete: About 25. I work slow, and creating the pattern and handstitching buttonholes took its time.
First worn: 26th-27th November for a larp
Total cost: About 15 euros, tops. The wool was bought from a seamstress who closed her business about ten years ago, and I got a few nice end of rolls (in this case about 1,2 m of 1,5 m wide fabric) for next to nothing.
How it fits the challenge: I got to use it! With friends! In person! Doing my hobby! WOooop!
Material: Thin wool
Pattern: Drafted from a pattern in Enquire within (c. 1910)
Year: 1910
Notions: Polyester thread, a piece of lace, plastic (beggars, choosers) buttons
How historically accurate is it? Fairly! It's (mostly) made from a period pattern, from wool, using a sewing machine wouldn't be out of the question etc. I did tweak it a bit though, and used some more modern notions, so I'll say 90%
Hours to complete: About 25. I work slow, and creating the pattern and handstitching buttonholes took its time.
First worn: 26th-27th November for a larp
Total cost: About 15 euros, tops. The wool was bought from a seamstress who closed her business about ten years ago, and I got a few nice end of rolls (in this case about 1,2 m of 1,5 m wide fabric) for next to nothing.
The finished garment when actually worn. Photo by Bjørn-Morten Vang Gundersen; My character sitting down for about five minutes reading a very silly novel.
