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Hand Stitching vs. Machine Stitching

1/13/2020

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I bought a vintage slip and knickers in July 2018, for less than $8!  Quite a bargain, when I consider that the silk jacquard they are made of is probably worth $30/yard!  And when I examined the seams, I found that the things were constructed with a mix of very tiny machine stitches, and equally tiny hand stitches.  The front and back panels were machine stitched, then hand embroidered.  The side seams were hand stitched in French seams, then the bottom hem hand-embroidered.  I believe this would have been called "hand-finished" back in the day.  (Perhaps by French nuns?)  As I gushed to the shopkeeper (she knows me as a regular at that shop, since it's enticingly close to my bus stop), I realized that she didn't know how I could tell that it was hand-sewn, and I thought I should post some pictures to show the difference between hand stitching and machine stitching. 

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Butterick 3836, Plaid Wool Blazer

1/10/2019

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Couture kitty likes the wool!
Today, I'm gonna try a new format for my project diary... I think it'll be useful for people learning to sew to have a clearer idea of how long something takes and how much it costs, so I'll start including those details as accurately as I can.  I also know that a lot of people stop reading when they see a block of text (not sure why, since I like blocks of text, but the world is diverse!), so I'll try to put vital stats in bullet points to make them easier to read. 

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Hussifs

8/13/2018

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Men going to sea or joining the military miss women... for so many reasons.  But when they wear a hole in their socks or tear their pants, it's the "feminine" art of mending that they most require!  And, since there are no women about, the men have to learn a little handwork.  I remember listening to my uncle, a US marine (there's no such thing as a former marine), tell me with pride how he learned to keep his clothes nice, how he wouldn't trust his wife to properly launder his uniforms, and how every stray thread had to be clipped close to the fabric in a procedure called "Irish pennanting". 
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Sewing kit, or hussif, belonged to NZ41868 Flying Officer Derek Vaughan Bullock, 218 Squadron, Bomber Command, WW2. Auckland Museum [CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Elizabethan Stays - first try

7/16/2018

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My Elizabethan-inspired modern ensemble continues... not exactly apace.  The posts so far:
Elizabethan Inspiration
Blackwork Ruffle
Blackwork Partlet

Today, a post about stays.  I won't go into the history of stays, because so many other people have done so, and so well.  Instead, I'll focus on making my first pair of bodies.
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Darning a Tartan

4/5/2018

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In 2003 I visited Scotland, and I wanted to buy some tartan souvenir, since the plaids are so beautiful.  Since I have no affiliation with any Scottish clan, I didn't feel right buying a clan tartan; luckily, there are non-clan tartans.  So I browsed through a very touristy shop, and one particular color combo caught my eye: almost equal parts blue and green, with thin orange and black stripes, and subtle gray easing from one stripe to another.  I looked at the tag, and read "New York City". 
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The tartan belongs on the bed. The kitties don't!

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A Child's Nightcap

2/22/2018

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It seems I am not the only one who likes nightcaps!  While visiting my family recently, I was wakened by my five-year-old niece.  She asked me what was on my head, and I groggily explained that my nightcap kept my head warm, my hair neat, and spiders out of my ears.  So she decided she wanted one!  Knowing the transience of a child's desires, I didn't jump to make her one... until she'd asked over and over for a week and a half. 

All right, then!  Into her mom's stash we went, and she selected raspberry-colored satin and blue-green sari fabric.  Knowing the cap would need more body than those flimsy fabrics provided, I fetched out the same white fabric I'd used last year for my cap, and decided to use it for the interior. 

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Rose on Snow - An Embellished Gown

1/4/2018

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​A friend (B.) found a lovely wedding dress at a thrift store.  Check out the pricing history: originally $3,000, marked down to $350, then marked down to $19.99!  The tags were all still on, so the dress has never been worn for a wedding.  But it's clearly been tried on... a lot.  I suspect it was a floor model at a bridal salon, and when it got shop-worn, they discounted it.  Eventually it landed at Goodwill, where B. bought it. 

B. has a vision for the dress, though.  She planned to attend a Leukemia survivors' ball, and wanted to wear this wedding dress, but embellished with flowers to look less bridal, more fairy-like. 

Now, as Mark Twain put it in The Prince and the Pauper, "Let us change the tense for convenience".  (If he could do it halfway through a novel, I can do it in a blog post!)  Present tense for the project diary...
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Making a Flower from... a Flower.

1/1/2018

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Happy New Year to everyone using the Gregorian calendar! 

Have you ever looked at a fake flower--you know the type: plastic stem and fabric leaves and petals--and thought "too bad that's a big bulky fake flower; I wish it were softer and more sew-able so I could stick it on my dress"?  If that's the sort of thing you think, you're reading the right blog! 
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If not... well... how does your brain work, then?  I'm really interested, because it seems like such a normal thought to me, and I'd be curious to know how someone thinks who doesn't have that thought. 

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Crewelwork Pillow (2012)

12/14/2017

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When I was a small child, someone gave me a crewel kit, partly sewn already.  It was a hive of bees, with bees buzzing all over the place, and flowers.  There were instructions teaching each stitch.  I enjoyed sewing it very much... in fact, it probably started my love affair with needle and thread.  But I didn't like the pattern... I was not a fan of orange, and this kit was one of those 1970's shades of orange... Anyway, the kit came to me half-started and left me half-finished. 

Years later (2012), I was moving to a wilderness area with limited internet access and decided to bring some handwork with me.  I found online a beautiful crewel kit in the Jacobean style, ordered it, and waited. 
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Crewel embroidery on a curtain, c. 1696, Victorian & Albert Museum T.166-1961. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Aaaand waited.  After a few months, I complained to the seller, contested the charge on my credit card, and generally made a stink.  Then the darn thing showed up!  Sometimes you just have to be the squeaky wheel! 

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Hibiscus Circle Skirt (March 2014)

9/18/2017

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​I moved to Portland in March 2014, and one of my goals while in my new locale was to learn to draft clothes.  This circle skirt, made with brilliantly printed cotton with a hibiscus flower pattern, was one of my very first attempts!  Lacking a sewing machine, I hand-sewed it. 

Most of my early sewing projects have long since been consigned to Goodwill, in hopes that someone else will love them more than I did, but this happy skirt has been a prominent member of my closet since I made it!  When you're learning a new skill, it's nice to have an early success, to encourage you to keep going.

​One day in 2015, my friend Dwayne and I did a photoshoot, showing off my outfit and playing with his camera. ​ More recently, I took some pics of the hand-sewing and interior construction. 
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Picture by Dwayne Purcer / 2015

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    Karen Roy

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