Reading List Part Two: So You Want to Learn Some History

Tiny babies with giant bread!

These are the sources I turn to in my quest to learn more about domestic history.  This is an incredibly incomplete list and contains no truly academic writings, journals, theoretical texts, etc.  There are even some TV shows.  I know, I know, they should take my grad student card away.


Blogs:

Susannah at CargoCultCraft spent a year on her Fashion on the Ration project, buying and making clothes within the constraints that British families faced in 1941.  She's collected both the original government restrictions and information on how home seamstresses managed, from paring down patterns to take up less fabric to remaking worn-out men's clothes into women's.  This is one of those things that I was terribly curious about and elated to find out that someone else had already done the research (literally!)!

Shelley at New Vintage Lady makes vintage garments with a focus on drafting or altering plus-size patterns!  Her blog has lots of tutorials, and the 'foundation garments' and 'sleepwear' sections of her website contain some very useful information on making these overlooked items (not to mention her blog, which is a veritable wealth of inspiration for the "stout" figure).

Reading List Part One: So You Want to Learn to Sew

Oh, Natalie, my Russian taskmistress.

Here are some books to get you started.  (Note: these books will skew toward the pattern drafting side of things, since that's my primary interest, and also not terribly easy to just pick up on your own.)  We'll start useful and move on to the more "historical" texts in Part Three.  Most everything here is in the intermediate range; I sewed amateurishly for almost six years before finally getting serious about it, so it's been quite a while since I looked at the books for absolute beginners--though The Sew Everything Workshop looks like a good all-around start, if you're at the what-is-this-dial-on-my-sewing-machine stage of things.  If you're a bit farther along, try these books:

Modern Sewing Texts:

Renaming Blog "Some Things I Have Won"

I'm pleased to say that Charlotte from Sew Far Sew Good has tagged me for the One Lovely Blog Award!  Thank you, dear.  She has a lovely blog with an emphasis on deliberate sewing--making what you really need, when you really need it.

The done thing seems to be to post five facts about oneself and then tag someone else, so here goes:

1. One of my undergraduate degrees is in ancient languages.  My Egyptian is still pretty good but my Sumerian and Akkadian are fading fast!  If you ever watch The Mummy with me, be prepared for a lot of critical commentary about everything they got wrong (backwards hieroglyphs, improbable geography, at least one completely anachronistic codex, etc.)
2. I love showtunes and often put on musicals or their soundtracks (Hair, Gypsy, Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar) while I sew.  (I also sing--not always on key.  I should probably apologize to my downstairs neighbors.)
3. My favorite part of making biscuits and pie crusts is rubbing the butter and flour between my fingers to make a crumb.  It's like mud pies, seriously, getting to dig your hands right into a bowl full of food.  Just wash them first, obviously.
4. Dear Partner and I live on the third floor of a Victorian house, in what was once servant's quarters.  There are all these tiny hobbit doors that open onto cabinets, and a regular-person door next to the fridge that opens out onto air.  I believe this is called "charm."  Oh, and the bedroom has an elaborate Oriental rug painted onto the floor--very cool.
5. I am taller than Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, and Rita Hayworth.

And I'd like to pass this along to Unsung Sewing Patterns, one of my favorite blogs ever; and Medieval Threads, which I just discovered but have been busily reading.  I love sewing blogs with a historical focus--they combine my two favorite things!

Drafting The Sweetheart Dress: in Pictures

The first step--the one not pictured here--is drafting the pattern itself.  I use Dress Pattern Designing by Natalie Bray (which you'll hear more about in coming days I'm sure), along with a tall stack of newspaper, a sharp pencil, felt-tip pen, measuring tape, and a battered green ruler.  This system has always served me well.

Next: a muslin!  I leave the seam allowances off the pattern, trace each piece onto the fabric (an old polyester sheet from the Salvation Army) in black pen, and then cut an inch outside the tracing.  That way I have a neat seam-line when I go to assemble the muslin (as Tasia recommends but less work).

Tutorial: Drafting a Pencil Skirt, Part Four

Are you sure you want to proceed, knowing the
poor orphaned patterns you'll leave in your wake?

This is Part Four of a four-part series on drafting your own pencil skirt pattern.  (See Parts One, Two, and Three.)

Phew, the home stretch.  From here, you've got a finished pattern--the rest is just formalities.

Step Seven: Seams Require Allowances

Seam allowances!  Most commercial patterns call for five eighths of an inch (or so I am told); this is what I use, because all the books say to.  I hear that some extraordinarily confident people use half, or even a quarter of an inch; and when working with a brand new (un-muslin-ed) pattern that might need adjusting, it's smart to go for a full inch.  You decide.

What I've Been Up To Lately

In no particular order:

• Drafting a dress with long sleeves, sweetheart neckline, and six-gored skirt.  Dress Pattern Designing by Natalie Bray is never far from my elbow.  I've just finished the muslin, and it's amazing in the back, neckline, and shoulders, but has a few problems in the lower armscye.  You know how Victorian and Edwardian women needed special garments to do their hair, because the sleeves of their dresses were so tight they couldn't raise their arms above their heads?  This dress has that problem.  I'm taking pictures of the drafting process, so I'll throw them up next week to show you how I solve it.

• Making an apron.  So incidentally, I had no idea my local Joann's carried quilting cottons--I mean, I knew they must, I'd just never seen them--until I wandered into a secluded corner and discovered a rainbow of colors.  It's easy to see how they could seduce newcomers to sewing.  I certainly bought a few back in college when I had no idea what I was doing.  Anyway, I didn't see anything garment suitable (not least because I'm not a fan of busy prints) but I picked up the perfect fabric for a double-sided apron: one side robots, one side skulls.  It's going to be so awesome.

• I've also got an old cotton sheet from the Salvation Army that I'm planning to turn into winter underthings: a chemise dress, and a pair of pettipants (bloomers?) if there's any left over.  It is cold in upstate New York; I need to get ready for winter.

• Making another Summerberry Crumble Pie!  This time with peaches and blueberries.  Also, if we're going to get prosaic about it, cleaning my kitchen.  I have written poems to the weird smells in my kitchen.

Tutorial: Drafting a Pencil Skirt, Part Three

Just leave this pattern on the shelf--
lonely, heartsick, its purpose unfulfilled.

This is Part Three of a four-part series on drafting your own pencil skirt pattern.  (See Parts One, Two, and Four.)

Step Five: Waistband?

When it comes to the waistband, you've got options.  If you have a tried-and-true waistband from another pattern, just throw a seam allowance along the top edge of your skirt and use that.  If, like me, you are too cheap to buy patterns when you can just draw a rectangle, you can draft your own waistband.  I constantly refer to the waistbands chapter of this book, which describes several very useful ways of making and attaching a waistband.  I won't go into too much detail about it, but here's what my waistband pattern looks like: