>Bolero progress while on vacation
23 Aug 2010 3 Comments
in heirloom sewing, Needlelace, romanian point lace
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Here is the progress I made at granddaddy’s house and in the four hour drive home from there. You can also see a little bit of the progress I have made on the heirloom blouse. I am thinking about putting a battenberg yoke on it (that use to be a collar) to make it a little fancier in the yoke area still thinking on that part of things and you can see the type of collar I am putting on the blouse. Also you may have noticed I have added lace around the hem of the blouse. Just so it is clear these two items would not be worn together on me they are just both on the mannequin at the same time to test things out.
To place the bolero on the dress-form easily it is actually inside out because it is still attached to the pattern. The pink fabric you see is a pattern that is over 100 years old. You can see where it is still attached to the pattern which is where I am still working on it. This has close to two hundred hours of time in it already. That of course is the cord making too. This is why I don’t mind giving my children the supplies to make one well because the expense isn’t in the thread it took to make it but in the time involved and the skill needed to make the filling stitches and cord and baste to the pattern. In their case I would do the tracing of the pattern too as I wouldn’t let them use the original it wouldn’t survive the abuse of children working on it. But a new copy on muslin would. I just don’t think they have that type of patients yet.
>Heirloom Sewing blouse in progress
21 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
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I wanted an under blouse to wear under shirts that are too low in the neck line. I give this a high collar toonot sure yet. This is the shirt that I mentioned in the Irish crochet top post. I printed out the patterns and for me it was my size sort of. Meaning if I didn’t need seams it would fit.
So I cut it to the exact size as the pattern then added entredeux to the seams to add some to the wide and I split open the front and added swiss embroidery insertion and machine made tatting to make the front a little wider and I added two bands of swiss embroideries to the back. I am debating if I want to add ribbon to the entredeux beading at the shoulder and sides and if I want to add it to the tatted beading in the front too.
Still need to add the neck and the button bands to the back and swiss edging to the arm holes. Since this is to be worn under other clothes I am not putting sleeves on it also the pattern didn’t have sleeves for the same reasons to why I don’t need them. that is why I will use a swiss edging to finish the sleeve areas.
I am still debating if I want some pin tucks near the center back and front at the waist line to bring that part in as this is a Gibson girl style blouse which means it has a lot of fullness around the waist that was supposed to be gathered and let be puffy. Which may be annoying to me to wear it under something else if I do it that way. that is also why the shirt is longer in the front to accommodate the puffeyness meant to be there. The back is way shorter than the front.
>HS101: Mock rolled hem by hand
17 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in heirloom sewing, HS101
>Supplies
- Needle (size 10 crewel needle)
- thread to match fabric this is a regular weight 100% cotton sewing thread
- fabric
How to:
- Clean up edge by trimming off all ravels
- turn the raw edge to the wrong side (1/8 inch) (actual hem will be about 1/2 of this width that was pressed)
- press well
- Attach thread into the fabric fold (securing it well ie a knot)
- Make tiny stitch into the garment just below the raw edge. Go straight up and go into the fold travel for about 1/4 of an inch. * repeat this up and down motion in stitching. You should have a series of parallel lines (threads) see photo
- when you have made several of these make sure needle is in the fold in the top and pull the thread to close the opening. This will form a tiny rolled hem.
>HS101: Pintucks
14 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in heirloom sewing, HS101, sewing
>Supplies
#50 thread heirloom thread
1.6/70 twin needle
7 grove or 5 grove pintuck foot (I do not own a 7 groove foot wish I did)
I am using the wrong thread in the tutorial it is so you can see it. Because of its thickness it doesn’t make pin-tucks as well as it would with heirloom thread. But you will see good examples at the end of the post.
L 2.5
- Place twin needle in machine and attach grooved pintuck foot
- When using a twin needle you need to also have two threads of course feedinging into the needles here I have used two colors so you can see them in the photos to come.
- adjust tension as needed (the bottom tension will need to be a little tighter than normal to pull the two sides of the pin-tuck together)
- pull a thread
- the first pintuck is along the pulled thread hold fabric tight in front an back of the needle. Line up the left needle with the pulled thread line so the pulled thread is hidden and reinforced by this thread.
- To line up future pin-tucks place the last pin-tuck made into the out-most groove of the pin-tuck foot. While watching the outside groove with the last pin-tuck in it stitch the next one and continue doing this till you have all made that you need. The more groves you have your foot the wider you can place the pin-tucks from one another. You can place them in other groves if you desire them to be closer. I have not ironed these pin-tucks in this photo so things look a little way but if you notice the threads I have removed you can see the stitches are straight even out a few rows.
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- leave the tails long so you can use a needle and pull them to the back of the work and make a knot to hold the pin-tucks secure.
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The photo above and the ones below are from a dress I am making that is full of pin-tucks.
On a side note you can make your first line in other ways. Such as using a wash out marker and a ruler to mark your first line ( it will not be on the straight of grain thought) and then stitch on this line use heirloom sewing thread size 80 to stitch a straight stitch on the marked line them switch to twin needle and size 50 thread for pintucks.
One other way is to iron in a crease and use that as your guide same thing is true for this as the last it will not be on the straight of grain. You can do these two other methods but they are not the straight of grain methods nor are they the traditional methods.
>Start of Irish crochet blouse
11 Aug 2010 1 Comment
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I saw an Irish crochet blouse on etsy the other day that I really liked but didn’t want to buy it (it is worth the 365 dollars I just can’t afford that price). Also a size 0/2 would never fit me. So I wanted to try and make it. The above photos are from etsy and not mine. They are what I am working from. I have to guess at the gauge and such and a ton of the stitches but I will end up with something that I am happy with. It does not have to be identical I just want the same feel as this. But I am thinking I may want a collar on mine or I may want to make a shell that has a collar using heirloom sewing techniques. you should check out that last link lots of free vintage patterns from around 1900 for woman, children and men. If you are into heirloom sewing that is a good source of some free patterns.
I have some vintage thread (not antique becasue it reads made in U.S.A.) that should do the trick if I have enough if not I will figure that out when I get to that point. It is always fun to see the old prices on old threads these use to sell for 12 cents a ball. Not anymore that is for sure.
As you can see I have started to make some of the Irish roses I am using a size .4 hook also known as a size 16 steel crochet hook.
>HS101: Lace to Fabric
07 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in heirloom sewing, HS101, sewing
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For the sample I will just be using normal sewing thread so you can see it easy in the photos and it will be a contrasting color for the same reason.
prep work
- Cut 1 piece of lace and one piece of fabric the same length
- Prep by starching and pressing both (using clean iron, and clean board, also use spray starch)
How to
W=3.0-4.0
L = 0.5
- place right sides together with the lace being 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch away from the edge of the fabric
- using zig zag stitch stitch over the edge of the fabric and the edge of the lace” the header”.
- press towards fabric
using correct thread this is what your finished piece should look like
>HS101: Swiss Entredeux to Gathered Fabric and ribbon weaving
06 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in free patterns sewing, heirloom sewing, HS101
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How to judge amount of fabric 2 to 1 ( fabric to entredeux) is always a nice ratio I like to add 1/2 inch so I have a little on each end that is not gathered to go into the seams
- Make 2 rows of basting(gathering stitches) Place them 1/8 and 3/8 inch from edge to gather.
- Pull on one thread to gather being careful not to break the threads spread the gathers over thewhole length of the stitches
- to lay the entredeux such that the edge of the entredeux lies between the two gathering stitches. The red lines on the right in this photo are to show where the bottom gathering stitch is and wear the two new sets of straight stitches are to go.
- stitch in the ditch ( witch means right next to the entredeux stitches (see photo if confused) fabric should be right side up entredeux right side down (in other words right sides together) and entredeux on top
- L:2
- I made a mistake in mine I was supposed to do another row of stitching here 1/8 of an inch away from the one next to the entredeux I forgot to then I trimmed and realized it so with yours make sure there are two sets of lines of sewing
- trim next to last one
- Zig zag over the edge you just trimmed to hold it all together
- W:3
- L1
- Press entredeux with the seam pressed towards the fabric
- turn to front of work
- and zig zag into the entredeux holes and over the seam to secure the seam on the back to stay behind the fabric This is supposed to be real tiny stitches they just look big in the tutorial for the example so you can see it
- W1.5 -2 use which ever you need to to get into the hole of the entredeux and bearly go into the fabric
- L 1
- Remove basting thread
- Stream press the holes should disappear from the basting thread. Your thread should be the same color as your fabric. As you can tell mine left a residual it your threads match your fabric that will not be seen. As mine was such a screaming color it left damage. But even with that said they are almost impossible to see here too.
See how on these you can almost not see the basting thread marks and this one was not steamed.
This entredeux lends itself to ribbon weaving as youcan see the holes in the first one in the second they are filled with two colored ribbons this is a way of adding more detail and color to your item with out having to add a real expensive embroidery brightly colored insertion or by doing embroidery. Use a big eyed crewl embroidery needle to do the weaving. Your work in the weaving should look neat on the front and back do not let the ribbon twist. This one was steamed and the basting thread marks are gone.
>Antique/New collar in the making
05 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in heirloom sewing, Needlelace, needlework
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This collar is being made out tennerife lace that was made on a Palma hand loom over 100 years ago. The thread is from the same time as is the linen battenberg tapes. this will be an adult size collar when done. I am using fagoting stitches to hold everything together. I will probably line it with netting when done just to give it some added strength.
I hope to make some shirts/blouses for myself in the future with heirloom sewing techniques employee just have to find a good pattern for a blouse that looks circa 1900-1920. If you know of one please recommend it to me in the comments with a link thanks.
Now that I have my little brothers stuff done I am back on track for tutorials. One will be posted tomorrow I made it today but still have to go through the photos and type it all in.
>Part 26: Nightgown with tatting
28 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
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This use yo hang on my sewing room door at our old house with the baby christening gown. I know this is real simple and plain. It is on the easy end of heirloom sewing. But what it has going for it is that someone took the time to tat that entire yoke. It does have french seams and the lace/yoke and sleeves is added in a way that is synonymous to heirloom sewing.This actually fits me but I don’t wear it.
>Part 25: Not finished antique gown circa 1900
26 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in embroidery, heirloom sewing, sewing
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Here is the second gown from circa 1900 that is not finished this one has much more embroidery started and it is being worked with floche. I do have the original thread to finish it so that is how I will do it all white work.
This is a real sheer fabric. These are not fancy gowns by any means but they are lovely all the same. The is a label on the dress that reads:
No 355 Infants dress Use American Beauty Embroidery Floss 651/=K1
The center back is to be slit open too i think I will use taylors button hole there as well as I do not have any fabric to make a button placket. So it I use the taylors button hole and make thread loops for the buttons ( also using the taylors button hole over the thread bars it will work well.
There are marks on the sleeves and the waist area that will need the taylors button hole stitches then slit open to weave ribbon into.
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