Finished Elizabethan

I called this my primary colours Elizabethan, because it has a red (well, pink) jacket, and yellow and blue petticoats. I never did get around to taking a good photo, so here’s one by a friend.

My finished garb. Photo by David Gotlieb.

Jacket Progress

The jacket is coming along well. The main body is mostly done and it’s fitting nicely.  The wrinkles below the waist are there because it doesn’t fit around my my hips.  This will be fixed once I add the gores to flare out the bottom. Those still need to be added (obviously), as well as the sleeves. Then all that remains are the hooks & eyes.

Pink jacket in progress

It’s the simplest style of jacket. I’ve opted out of cuffs, collar, and shoulder wings. I may add a small collar at the back later on, to help raise the shirt ruffles a little, but it can be whipstitched on after the jacket is finished with no trouble.

I still haven’t decided how, or in what color, to trim it so I’ll leave it plain for now.

Three-Day Weekend

I managed to use my time productively this weekend and knock through a number of my sewing tasks.

I’ve completely finished my plain shirt, except for a fastening at the neck (which I’m not going to bother with right now since I so rarely wear it closed and I haven’t decided what fastenings I want to use). I’ve completely finished my yellow petticoat and bodies, AND I’ve hemmed my blue petticoat. My jacket lining is cut out, all ready to be basted and fitted.

Still, my to do list is getting much shorter. My goal is to have it all done by mid-May.

Progress

My thread arrived and I’ve finished the eyelets on my bodies (and will get to the ones on my yellow petticoat eventually). This means that I have the base layer complete, and can start fitting my jacket. I have a mock-up partly done, and I think it’s good enough I can cut my lining for final fitting.

My goal is to the the fill thing finished by mid-May.

Sewing Mania

I love it when things come together without too much effort. The yellow petticoat is almost done. It still needs eyelets and hemming but I can’t sew the eyelets until my thread arrives, and I can’t hem it until I get all my eyelets sewn (so I can see where it sits).

I’ve started on my second petticoat (the sky blue one). It’s all cut, and now needs ironing, stitching, and pleating to the waistband. Then I’ll have to make another order of linen thread for the eyelets, if I can find a color that matches well (I have a color card coming in the current order).

I also have a pattern ready to go for the mock-up of my jacket. The ‘muslin’ fabric needs washing. It’s a nice 100% cotton I got on sale, so I may give it away once I have my final pattern made. There’s always people in need of things. I’m between sizes, so I’ve made the larger of the two sizes. It’s easy enough to cut a smaller size if I need it.

Also on my to do list is organizing my pattern box. I’ve been stashing all the patterns I’ve used in one big box for years now. I need to sort them into bags so all the pattern pieces are together, and get rid of all the patterns I no longer need.

Sewing again

Cold winters have been great inspiration for crafty projects at home.

Currently, apart from the knitting and weaving, I’ve been working on a new Elizabethan/Jacobean outfit from the skin out. I ordered the linen over a year ago, but with so much happening I never really managed to do much.

First up, a high necked smock of fine white linen. I’ve made good progress so far. The body is together and the sleeves are attached. All that remains to do is the collar/cuffs. This is the slow part as I’ve been having trouble getting the pleating the way I want it. I spent the weekend pleating and re-pleating, only to end up back where I started. I’m going to pore through the latest PoF this evening for inspiration before I go at it again.

Because I like to change up projects when I get frustrated (or bored), I also cut out the linen for my pair of bodys. I’m using a pattern this time instead of going it on my own. The outer layer is a mustard yellow linen, with the lining and interlining in white. I managed to find linen thread in the exact same colour, so I’ll be using that for all visible stitching. It will be boned with reed.

Once these are completed, I’ll be making petticoats of the same mustard yellow linen and sky blue. After that, a jacket in rose-pink linen.