February Mending

A fairly busy mending month (especially as a proportion of overall sewing). After Steilacoom's open day at the beginning of the month, I fixed some escaped bones from my 1850s corset, the tie my plaid petticoat and a section of gathering which had disengaged from my pink apron. I was at Nisqually the last weekend, where I discovered several problems with my brown print (a few inches of detached skirt gauging, a section of loose neck binding, escaped cording on the left armscye, and a loose seam on the interior waistband lining), all of which have now been fixed. In between, I patched a pair of modern jeans, fixed a loose seam on a brace, reattached the elastic to some pjs, and secured two sets of escaping underwires. 

How it started.

My workbasket is still piled high with both mending and in-progress projects, but I did manage to clear all the garments from my travel workbag, and am most of the way back to having a functional 1850s outfit.

Another Typical Tudor Smock, mid-16th century

So I apparently never posted one project from last summer: a second Typical Tudor smock, this one all hand-sewn to use the 'hem each piece then whip-stitch the seams together' method. And because my older smocks were suffering catastrophic seam failure all through the first weekend of Faire.

The place where this method shines.

Compared to run-and-fell seaming, this method takes about 50% more sewing per seam (since both sides of each seam is getting finished individually before they're even joined). However, it makes the square gussets fit beautifully with no weird lumps or bulk where the felled finishes of the gusset overlaps with the sleeve and body seams. Other benefits include most of the project being very portable (the sleeves and gusset pieces fit very easily in my to-go work bag, so that most of the hemming could be done in odd minutes), and very easy repairs (since the seams under stress can be replaced without compromising the edge finish).

Managed to photograph this smock before wearing it on the last day of the event.

Doll Reform Dress, c.1849-1855

Finally finished Nelly's reform dress or Bloomer ensemble. It's a two-piece outfit made of brown wool crepe: her usual dress made up with slim bias-cut sleeves and a shortened skirt, worn over ankle-length trousers.

Nelly's new outfit.

 The trousers are not part of her usual pattern; to make them, I lengthened the split drawers, added a cuff at the ankle, and tacked the center split most of the way closed. They close with a shell button and thread loop. The dress was made as usual, except for the shortened skirt. The dress closes down the back (doll-style) with three metal hooks and thread bars.

I didn't both making a short petticoat to wear with the outfit, since the trousers and the skirt's own body give it ample support at this small scale. The overall effect is a bit dull, so I might add some trim (or at least a nice collar and small button brooch).

Foods in Season: February 1861

Late this month, but I finally have some historic cooking to do, and decided to once again consult with Beeton's Book of Household Management about ingredients considered to be in season for February.

Fish- Barbel, brill, carp, cod may be bought, but is not so good as in January, crabs, crayfish, dace, eels, flounders, haddocks, herrings, lampreys, lobsters, mussels, oysters, perch, pike, plaice, prawns, shrimps, skate, smelts, soles, sprats, sturgeon, tench, thornback, turbot, whiting.

Meat- Beef, house lamb, mutton, pork, veal

Poultry- Capons, chickens, ducklings, fowls, tame and wild pigeons, pullets with eggs, turkeys, wild-fowl, though now not in full season.

Game- Grouse, hares, partridges, pheasants, snipe, wild-fowl, woodcock

Vegetables-Beetroot, broccoli (purple and white), Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, celery, chervil, cresses, cucumbers (forced), endive, kidney-beans, lettuces, parsnips, potatoes, savoys, spinach, turnips,-various herbs

Fruit- Apples (golden and Dutch pippins), grapes, medlars, nuts, oranges, pear (Bon Chrétien), walnuts, dried fruits (foreign), such as almonds and raisins; French and Spanish plums; prunes, figs, dates, crystallized preserves.

I was interested to note that the only different in fish suggestions between January and February is the cod being "not so good," while venison falls off the meat list moving into February and wild fowls are added into the game category. Poultry sees the most more changes, as wild pigeons, wild fowls, and chickens are now "in season" and rabbit is out; I plan to bother my friendly neighborhood chicken-raisers with questions about this. I had expected the vegetable category to slightly expand over January to March as spring approaches and the fruit list to contract over that time as winter storing varieties run out; the main difference instead seems to be that the February lists gives more specific varieties of broccoli, apples, and pears.

Knit Undersleeves (1855), Take 2

Revisited the November 1855 Warm Undersleeve pattern from Godey's, once again on my circular knitting machine. Having learned from last time, the main change I made was reducing the frill to 4 whole motifs (with the extra 8 stitches divided between them and added into the plain sections; this was necessary because the repeat is 18 stitches and I was using my 80-slot machine cylinder). It was much faster and easier to work the pattern that way, and I think the symmetry it quite becoming. The one downside is a slightly less dramatic scallop effect. I also positioned the upper frill higher on the sleeve (~2" rather than 1" above the lower), which I think looks nicer.

New sleeves for Friend E.

For this pair, I used the Knit Picks pallette yarn which I like for socks on this machine. One skein did the first sleeve and both extra frills, with a bit left over. I knit the sleeves and frill headers at two tension-dial-rotations above the loosest setting, switching down to the loosest for the 'Old Shale' pattern, to make it lacier.