18th Century Riding Habit: Getting Started

Despite our busy July schedule, I just began a new project - not one, but two 18th century riding habits. 

I need to have them done in time for The Feast of the Hunters' Moon on October 9, and that means I need to get started on them yesterday.

I mean it when I say yesterday - all that gold braid on this riding habit is hand stitched. (This is my sister Leslie and her husband Rick.) And while the two I am working on won't be duplicates of Leslie's, they will require a lot of hand stitched embellishments.

Mass marketed patterns like Butterick, Simplicity, and Vogue are checked and tested many times before being released to market. You can almost always count on their directions to be correct and their pieces to fit together well. 

But their patterns for historical clothing are actually costumes - details have been dropped and shortcuts taken that you would not find in historically accurate clothing. 

The patterns that are historically accurate target a very small market and are not tested as thoroughly. There can be errors in them, and it is those errors that make me leery.

The fabric is in for the first habit and I plan to get started today or tomorrow.

I've stitched 18th century clothing in the past, done alterations to wedding gowns, and made prom and bridesmaids' dresses, but an 18th century riding habit may just be the most challenging thing I have ever sewn.

50th Anniversary: The Embroidered Blankets

Ever have one of those, "What was I thinking" moments? I sure did after I announced that one of the giveaways for my 50th anniversary in the hobby would not only be a model horse blanket, but an EMBROIDERED one as well.

It can be scary to sew for other people, especially when it is something new to you. Haversacks no longer scare me - I've made over 200 of them and had time to tweak my patterns and be happy with them. Embroidered blankets, though, are quite another thing. I made sure everyone understood that these were not live show quality replicas of live horse blankets, but still I was nervous at how they would be received.

 Like the haversacks, I had to come up with a pattern. I tore apart a Breyer blanket to see how it was constructed. (I was impressed with the quality of their design - it is well done.) Then I did an online search and found some free patterns that I downloaded and tried. Finally, I looked at blankets I'd been given. I combined all those into one pattern and while I am still not completely satisfied, it is getting to where I'd like it to be. 

Here are the finished blankets that I sent out to the five winners.

I've said it before, but I absolutely love this gold and silver holiday fabric.

The green cotton with cream fleece and gold writing turned out well.

I made an extra pony blanket for Jennifer Buxton. This was my first attempt at a pony-sized blanket and it is too short through the back. The belly strap needs to be narrower, too. I tried again.

I like this one much better. Since they have Jennifer's name on them, I sent them both to her. After all, she might have a smaller model that could wear the first pony blanket.

The lighting was poor when I took this, but this blanket is black with cream fleece and gold writing. 

Blue cotton, white fleece, and bright yellow embroidery. (Again, sorry for the poor lighting. It was very early morning and the sun was coming up.)

One winner asked if I could make her blanket to fit the Clydesdale mare.  I did some measuring, tweaked the pattern, then made a practice blanket for my Clydesdale mare. The back was a little long - always good to practice first, right?

She sent me a photo of the finished version on Troubador. (Photo by Shannon Call.)

Even though I found it stressful, I did enjoy making these blankets for the blog readers who'd won one. I plan to tweak my patterns a bit more and see about putting in darts to take some of the fullness out of the fabric and make them lie flatter on the models.

Hmmmm... maybe I will do a giveaway in January. Stay 'tooned!