As of yesterday, February 14, I have made 6 more trade shirts for Kalamazoo. Since it takes me two days per shirt to make them, I am right on schedule. (Twelve days of sewing plus the two Sundays - I always take Sundays off.)
It's a good pace, but I have to admit I am perplexed by another living history sewist, one I have never met but follow on Facebook. This person sews the same pattern as me and says it takes three hours for them to stitch up a shirt.
How that happens is a mystery to me but I think it may partly be the ironing. To me, the iron is a must-have sewing tool and the finished piece looks much better when it has been ironed throughout the sewing process. Many sewists skip even rudimentary ironing and it shows in their end product. That may be why this person can make a shirt in three hours.
I'm not trying to throw rocks at that person; I've just been curious as to how they can work so quickly on the same thing that takes me much longer to make.
Anyway! Here's a look at those six shirts. And can I just say, I LOVE block prints? Their uniqueness, the places where you can tell someone hand printed the fabric, the vibrant colors and patterns... They are so cool to sew.
I think of this as the 4th of July block print because that's when I first found this beautiful block print.
It's a size Large and, like all shirts that I make now, has sleeve buttons. My new Janome has an exceptional buttonholer, and I can whip out the four buttonholes on a shirt in just a few minutes. The new machine has literally saved me hours of time just on buttonholes alone.
Take a look at this jaw dropping block print. And no, that's not hyperbole on my part.
Details can be difficult to discern when ordering block prints, and honestly, I bought it for the green color, a color that is very popular among living history people right now. It wasn't until it arrived that I could see the print design more closely.
I got far more than I'd expected - look at the detail on this elephant. This block print took a LOT of work to produce.
A closeup of the sleeve. This shirt is already sold and I will deliver it at Kalamazoo.
There is an unusual swirl at the hem of this block print but it is documented as correct for the 18th century so I bought the fabric. It, too, has already sold and I will deliver it at Kalamazoo.
This next shirt was first, a surprise, and then, an experiment. Another time when it is hard to really see the details of the fabric when buying, and I was surprised at the size of the flowers when I opened the package.
Generally, a flower or other print (like the elephant) should be no larger than your hand. This passed the test and so I went ahead and stitched it into a shirt. I am curious to see if it sells. (I have the same print in blue and depending on how this one sells, I may make it into something else.)
I get asked a lot if I have any clothing in purple. This fabric has purple and so on my Facebook page I included that in its description.
I love this particular set of sleeve buttons - isn't that an interesting design?
Finally, the shirt I just finished yesterday which is another that is already sold. A customer saw this same shirt on my Facebook page but it was in a different size than he needed.
I ordered more of the fabric, got it sewn, and will send it out to him tomorrow. (He lives in Nebraska and is unable to come to KZoo.)
The shirt may look familiar to you - it is the shirt I was cutting out in the sewing hacks post a few days ago.
This gentleman asked for the same sleeve buttons I'd sent with his last shirt. I asked him about it to be sure I didn't misunderstand, and he said he wanted another pair of the same.
I shouldn't be surprised; this is my biggest selling pair of sleeve buttons and he got the last pair I had on hand. I'll have to order some more buttons and make more before Kalamazoo.
Just two more shirts to make before I move on to making bedgowns. Those two shirts are already cut out as is one bedgown (in purple!)
Hopefully I will have the shirts finished by Wednesday when I will have a marathon bedgown cutting session since the dogs will be with us.
Stay 'tooned!
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