The Finish Line Is *IN* sight!

Yesterday I managed to sew together the base for L's mantua. The more I sew with that Pendelton wool, the more I fall in love. The second time on the mantua was definatly the charm. Everything has come together beautifully. Well except for the fact that the body was too long, leaving the gores in the side about 5 inches too low. Drat!

So today I pulled out the side gores and pushed them up to L's proper hip level. Unfortunatly I used nearly all the blue linen thread from Wm. Booth Draper sewing everything together in the too long incarnation, so everything else is sewn with dark blue poly thread. Sad, but true.

Anyway, once the gores were in the right place I mimiced the pleating in the underarm area like Kass has on her mantau pattern. In her version you cut an inverted "L" shape to create the underarm and side seam. When you reach the gore you stop, letting the remaining fabric fall to the inside & create a box pleat. On this smaller version I tapered in from the underarm to narrow the side seam and stopped at the gores, but didn't cut. It works nearly the same way and looks rather good (if you've got your nose in my 6 year olds armpit!)

Tonight I bribed L with "Night at the Museum" and cotton candy, so that she would stand still long enough for me to put the pleats in the back & the two pleats in either side of the front (the ones that were "lost" on my mantua). Everything is now pressed nicely with my new fancy-schmancy steam iron and basted in place.

Tomorrow I will blind stitch the pleats with the remaining blue linen thread & cut off the extra length on the front/back panels. Although I'm seriously considering leaving the back long. It's acting as a short train right now. How wise that is for a kid though. Come to think of it, cutting it ever all the way around sounds like a good idea. I am also going to install a hook and thread eye in the front center so that L doesn't have to wear a pin. She is genuinely afraid of getting poked with a pin so the hook is a better choice not just for general functionality (what kid doesn't move around tons?) but also for her own comfort level. If there is ONE thing that everyone making historically based clothes for kids should consider it's the comfort level. These are modern children and while we adults will suffer for our "art",the kids just want to have fun. Uncomfortable clothes & boring events aren't going to encourage them to continue reenacting when they become adults!

Birds of a Feather

Cut a few quills the other day. The ones I got on e-bay were sadly too short. But as it turns out Hobby Lobby had all their feathers on %50 sale last time I was there. I grabbed a few packages of plain white goose feathers. Can't go wrong with those.



After a few tries and shaking up my ink a bit more, I started to really get the flow right. It's a very different motion than modern ball point pen work. Very, very light. I find that I get the best flow if I turn the quill just slightly to the side rather than having the splits come down straight.

Here is the final sample after about 20 minutes.



Now I just need to do some practice. This is the Italian Hand that I am hoping to write in, with my quills. Some day.

Mini Me

Here she is, everything but the mantua!



- Linen shift with linen tape neck & sleeve hems & cotton tape drawstring to make it wearable longer

- White linen petticoat with linen tape waistbands

- White linen pocket with linen waistband

- red linen petticoat with linen tape waistbands



- yellow linen "jumps" with heavy linen interlining & light linen lining trimmed in dutch linen tape. Back (yes I know it's laced wrong, it was 2AM!) has eyelets bound with linen, tied with thin cotton tape. Each side of the eyelets has 3 strands of hemp cording (left over from my hemp corded bodice) for stability. Otherwise they are unboned to give her the flexibility that a modern child is used to. And of course don't forget the shoulders, tied with the pink silk ribbons off my stays. I'll just have to use the blue silk on mine instead, after all, L just loves the girly pink ribbons.



- White linen cap hand sewn with silk. I'm going to make another one since this is actually the first one I made that was too small for me. It fits L but we're having a problem getting her long, thick, heavy hair up enough to stay in the cap. I have also added a purple silk ribbon to one of the straw hats I had around that didn't fit me because of my hair. It fits L perfectly & is painfully cute!

In other "Mini Me" costume news; I lucked out and found her machine knitted, hand dyed stockings. I was doing a search on E-bay and ran across a woman who had made a pair as a test which unfortunately came out too small in the ankle for her to wear. Well they fit L's measurements perfectly so I snatched them up. I'm stalking the mailman for when they arrive.

The last details are the mantua (currently in progress) and finding her suitable shoes. I had an idea about cutting down these loafers I found at Walmart, but unfortunately they don't go up to L's size. I also found a place that makes later 18th C. children's shoes, real leather & meant for real buckles. I just don't want to take the $85 plunge for shoes for her just yet if I can find something else that will work.



She wore this for 3 days straight. Didn't even take off the shift or under petticoat to sleep. I'd say she's ready for a period encampment!