A Pattern Takes Me Down a Peg or Two

Second Post of the Day

I love sewing, and I love making pleats. But every once in a while, a pattern can take you down a peg. 

This pleated shortgown took me almost a year to make - I started it before last year's Feast.

At first, things went well, but then I got stuck on the back pleats. I pinned, I asked for help from Brooke Sauter (a master sewist) and we repinned it together, I realized it was still wrong and I pinned again...

But it still wasn't right - the neckline (at the bottom) was WAY too short and the shoulders would be scrunched in towards the body if I stitched it that way. It was not wearable like that.

I'd made the pattern once before and not had any trouble with the back pleats. I pulled that shortgown out and laid it on the sewing table next to the problematic one. I flipped it over and examined the pleats, and then I saw the problem.

I was making the pleats to face the center of the garment when they really needed to be oriented to face the side seams.

I took all the pins out and repinned those pleats so they faced outward, then stitched them up. Success!

All that was left was to finish the raw edges of the sleeves, the hem, the center front, and the neck.

The neck was a curved narrow hem and those are not easy to do. Ironing is essential, but laying it flat to do that doesn't work well - the rounded edge can lose its shape and then the hem is off as you stitch it. It needed to be ironed on a rounded surface, not a flat one.

Luckily, I have a tailor's ham, a stuffed muslin tool that is rounded and allows the sewist to iron the curved hem without losing the curved shape.

I ironed that curved hem and then carefully stitched it down, ironing it again on the tailor's ham when I finished stitching.

Finished! Finally, after almost a year of hanging on the clothing rack waiting to be worked on.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and the fabric I used was a fantastic find. (I made a bedgown out of it and it sold almost immediately. I expect this one may do the same.)

Having said that, I'm not sure I want to tackle that pattern again. I think I will wait and see if it does sell quickly and then make my decision.

Stay 'tooned!

Touring, Pleating, Singing, & Jingling

Want to get a scope of just how large the grounds of The Feast of the Hunters' Moon are and how big the event will be? Check out this video that was taken yesterday. And then imagine all that open space filled in with tents and tens of thousands of people. (Usually 40,000 to 60,000 over the two days of the event.)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1707386966741109

Today is the first day that event participants can start setting up their tents and camps. I'm heading out mid morning with Mr. Friday Night Lights and Local Son Curt to put my tent up. Leslie and Rick will be setting theirs up as well.

Because I'm using a walker much of the time, I am going to unpack my tubs in stages with lots of breaks in between. (I have until the Feast begins Saturday morning.) Lisa has offered to come out after school and help, and I'm sure Leslie will drop by. 

Despite calling it done (and it was), I did just a little more work on the robe a l'Anglaise yesterday. I decided the pleats needed to be pressed again. 

It took me almost two hours, about 175 fabric clips, and four or five steam burns before I was finished, but they look much neater and flatter.

I've said it before but I will say it again - this is the most difficult thing I have ever sewn, and I've been sewing since I started making doll dresses when I was 8!

When I finished ironing those pleats and put the gown back on the dress form, the clips jingled like the jingle cones the Miami, Wea, and Potawatomi people at the Feast sometimes wear when they dance - made me smile.

You can't hear them jingle very much in this video because of the singing and drums, but trust me, it is a beautiful and happy sound. (Each of those dresses has 365 jingle cones hand stitched to them.)

Jingle cones on a pair of my trade silver earrings. (Rick made these.)

Although the Feast hasn't begun yet, I've already sold one bed gown and possibly a second. And, a woman contacted Leslie and asked if she knew anyone who sold panniers (pocket hoops.)

Leslie knew I'd made two sets and asked me to send her pictures to pass on to the woman. 

The woman, Audrey Johnson, is an opera singer from the East Coast who tells 18th century history in song and she will be performing at Feast this weekend. I got a chance to hear her perform last year and it was engaging for kids as well as adults. (And can she ever sing!!) I hope to sneak away from my tent this year and at least hear a song or two.

You can see the pocket opening - some female re-enactors stash Hershey Bars in their pocket hoops. Not naming any names, but all three of them are mentioned frequently here on the blog...

Panniers can take a lot of room in your closet - they have plastic or reed strips in them to give them their shape. (Originally it was whalebone.)

Luckily they "deflate" and collapse down into a fairly flat bundle

that can then be flipped one side onto the other and stored on a shelf, taking up much less space.

Time is getting away from me and I need to get some things loaded into the car, the dogs walked, and run to the grocery before I head out to Fort Ouiatenon.

I did get some horses in the mail yesterday - Horatio, Outlaw, and Felix all arrived! I'll share those tomorrow if I can.

Wish me luck today - the Feast becomes very real whenever I do set up, and I can't wait!

Stay 'tooned!

Pepper Passes, Pleats, & Plenty More

Pepper may no longer be guiding her former partner, Sarah, but she still does service in another way.

She goes into schools so that kids can read to her. Depending on the school and the teacher we are visiting, she may be hearing a child's first written piece ever (dog poetry, in one case), or helping a child practice reading aloud with a non threatening "listener" who won't know if they've read the words correctly or not and will simply enjoy the companionship of the child.

Teacher Daughter Lisa lets her students earn "Pepper Passes" as they meet their reading goals, and once or twice a semester, Pepper and I join her for a morning of celebrating those who achieved their goals. This past week we spent a morning with her.

Theoretically, her students are supposed to bring a book to read to Pepper,

but mostly they pet her, play ball with her, and learn about guide dogs and the work they do. This visit we even learned about alliterations during our time together:

"Pepper is nicknamed Princess Pepper and loves to be Petted. She may take treats from your hand like a Piranha so Please hold your hand flat like you would feed a Pony because she sometimes eats like a Pig. Her sister is named Paige and Pepper was the fifth Puppy born in her litter. Perhaps she would like to Play with all the People she will see today." And so on.

(The alliteration fun actually came about as we talked about litters of guide dog puppies all having names that begin with the same first letter.)

After spending time with the kids who earned Pepper Passes, Pepper and I go back into Lisa's classroom where she lets every student meet and say hello to Pepper. That can be a real incentive to those who haven't yet earned a Pepper Pass.

I was back at the sewing machine as soon as we returned home. Naturally Pepper slept on the bed behind me while I worked. Tammo joined us, too.

Pepper "just happened" to grab his favorite toy and laid on it so he could not get it back. (He patiently waited her out and grabbed it when she moved to a different spot.)

Not only am I working on Lisa's robe a l'Anglais, but I was asked to make some red and blue Stablemate sized haversacks for an upcoming live show. 

Finding a horsey print to fit the scale of a haversack that small was challenging. I found several possibilities and the show holder selected this one. 

They asked for five in each color

but I made six so they'd have an extra if needed. 

I'm also working on something else for this show but it's to be a surprise so I can't talk about it or post pictures yet. I will when I can.

It is scary to begin a major sewing project. (Especially when it is for someone else.) One wrong cut could be a disaster. But I was at the point where all the preliminaries were done - the muslin had been made and fitted, the pattern pieces had been redrawn to reflect the changes needed for a good fit, and the petticoat was finished.

Now it was time to cut the fabric, trusting that my math was correct when I made the alterations and that each pattern piece that needed to be changed had been altered correctly. Seriously, my heart beats faster when it is finally time to start cutting the pattern pieces out.

This is the piece that will fall from the neckline down past the waist and to Lisa's ankles. It is 55 inches long, a significant amount of the fabric on hand for the gown. If I make this wrong, I will not have enough to complete the gown. Gulp!

The instructions call for me to measure and mark a 15 1/4 inch seam that cants at an angle, growing wider from 1/2 inch at the neckline to 1 1/2 inches wide where it ends at the waist. 

You'd better believe that I triple checked those measurements before I finally drew the chalk line that I would sew.

The result is a box pleat, the one that will be centered at the back of the neck. On either side will be two knife pleats, making a total of five pleats down the back of the gown. Making those four knife pleats are today's project, and they are complicated by the fact that they, too, are angled and they curve just a bit.

Wish me luck. 

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Don't forget the give away! Some maple cakes will be sent to the lucky winner. It's your chance to try a yummy (and very sweet) 18th century treat.

Enter by commenting on any blog entry that was posted Friday, March 6 through Monday, March 11 at 11:59 Eastern Time. I'll spin the wheel for a winner on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Stay 'tooned!