It Has Begun

Second Post of the Day

Year after year, as a mom and as a teacher, the school calendar dictated what I was doing and when I did it. 

That changed in 2000 when I began sewing and selling for Horsiemama's Haversacks & Mercantile and Jolis Chevaux. For the past six years, my calendar has looked like this:

January - March: sewing for the Kalamazoo Living History event

April: preparing & filming my BreyerFest workshop (I've now done 5 plus one for the Collectors Club newsletter)

May - June: family visits, other sewing projects, making beeswax ornaments

July: family bocce tournament, BreyerFest, Camp Tecumseh for the grands, more family visits

August - October: sewing for The Feast of the Hunters' Moon, making beeswax ornaments

November - December: making family Christmas gifts, family visits

... and repeat!

We are at the end of July, and I am now in Feast sewing mode. Already I have a men's shirt finished and sold. It was a new project for me, and I only did it because one of my best customers asked me to make him an 18th century white shirt.

Normally I make the less formal trade shirts that the hunters and trappers wore. A white shirt was worn more by soldiers, merchants, and gentlemen and would require altering my trade shirt pattern, but I told April I'd give it a go.

I buy a high quality cotton fabric by the bolt and so I had plenty of fabric in stock.

He and I both were pleased with the end result.

The pleats at the shoulders and the cuffs turned out well. (Pleating is one of my favorite things to do as a sewist.)

April wore the white shirt to an event in Illinois last weekend and sent me these photos from it. 

I asked him for feedback, and he didn't feel I needed to do anything different if I made another. In fact, he said, "It was totally perfect; it fit like it was tailored. It was comfy throughout the event and I even slept in it!"

While April's shirt was a success, I'm not sure I want to begin making white gentlemen's shirts yet. To begin with, I'd have to alter six sizes of patterns plus I think that many men would prefer a button closure at the collar. (April used his stock to keep the neck closed.) I'd want to look at some extant shirts and see how the collar buttons were sewn so I could replicate the shirt correctly. 

Still, it was fun to try something new and to have it turn out so well. 

We shall see. In the meantime, I have two chemises cut out and prepped along with a green wool cloak to stitch up. There is plenty to do before I tackle another sewing project!

Stay 'tooned!