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Did You Know?

Did you know the techniques in Fanciful Utility: Victorian Sewing Cases and Needle-books can also be used for a variety of other 19th century projects?

They can!

The stitches and assemble techniques can be used for making many of the items found in Godey’s Lady’s Book, Peterson’s Magazine, Workwomen’s Guide, and A Girl’s Own Book just to name a few.

This leather, cotton and silk market wallet was made using the pasteboard and binding techniques outlined in the book.

You can make travel cases such as this one using the skill you learn from FanU.

I enjoy making both 19th and 21st century Christmas decorations. You can make some of those seen here. Also, the templates for the shaped in FanU can also make great ornaments.

I used the same techniques when I made the soles for these quilted silk slippers.

Other items found in period publication you can make using the same skills and techniques can include:

Watch pockets
Pen wipes
Children’s toys
Small books
Work baskets
Pasteboard doll furniture
Card cases
and so many more……

If you don’t already have your copy of Fanciful Utility: Victorian Sewing Cases and Needle-books, purchase your copy directly from ESC Publishing.

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on October 18, 2013 at 6:15 am Leave a Comment

This Year’s Fair Favorites

This year’s Agricultural Society Fair had several entries that fall into my “Favorites” category.

The tiniest entry was actually smaller than the display tag that went with it. Look at this little doll. She is adorable! I was hoping to meet the person who made this doll, but I missed her. I’m pretty sure she is made entirely leather, with a painted face. I’ve been thinking about making a nice little doll for Mea. This would be perfect.

This is my tasty favorite of the event.

Of course, I always enjoy the hooked rugs. This one is so very pleasing to look at.

This piece of tineware is just nice. I would love to be able to request one for Dan.

I can’t help but wonder what this piece of crewel work is going to be. It is so pretty and well balanced.

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on October 8, 2013 at 4:29 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: GCV

How Lily & I did

I’ll start with how Lily did at the Ag Fair. Because… let’s be honest, this pig is just too cute:

This pig, one of three photographs she entered in the adult categories, won a blue ribbon. She also entered a really nifty fungus photo and a black and white architecture photo. For some reason, I just couldn’t get a clear shot of this photo. My apologies for this shot:

Lily also received a blue ribbon for her candied flowers. I can tell you they were tasty.

On to me. I can say this was my worst Ag Fair. I knew leading up to the fair that I didn’t have the entries I wanted to enter finished. Okay, in some cases even started. I also knew I was going to try some categories I hadn’t entered before. Then, the week before came this stupid cough that turned into a nasty cough accompanied by muscle exhaustion and a fever by the time of the fair. So, here I am at the fair on Sunday as the humidity crept up and the temperature crept up, utterly over heating. This makes for a cranky me.

As far as those new entries go… I tried pickles. They turned out to be strong enough to knock one on their bottom with just one bite. So, these did not get entered. This was much to my husband’s delight, as he started taking them for lunch as soon as I said they weren’t going. (I suppose I could have taken a photo of the half eaten crock.)

I also tried my hand at shrub. To me, a shrub needs to do its job of keeping someone hydrated and have a strong fruit flavor. I don’t like super sweet drinks in the summer heat. The sweetness just turns my off. So, my shrub is a cherry & peach done with red wine vinegar and honey. A tablespoon to a glass of water works nicely for me. It did not win a ribbon though. I was able to taste the blue ribbon shrub. It was light and sweet, almost like candy. I think it would make a nice winter, holiday time drink with more of a 1:1 ratio of syrup to water. She used the recipe on the museum’s blog. (btw – Mom called Sunday night saying I forgot my shrub in her canned goods box and hoped I didn’t mind that they were drinking most of it.)

The other category new to me was one of the non-clothing quilting projects. This piece is part of the memorial & commemorative project I’ll be coordinating over the next year or so. This memorial applique is taken from the center of a memorial quilt. Now that the fair is over, I’ll be adding the initials of family members in the open space. (I hadn’t thought about it until I was there on Sunday; but it is interesting that the first quilt project I enter is a memorial one while Grandma had been a quilter there.)

I entered a drawn bonnet in the “non-corded clothing” category. This is the “Peppermint” bonnet I was working on at the end of the summer. I guess the advantage of it winning a red ribbon instead of a blue is now I won’t feel bad about selling it. (btw – It is available on Etsy right now.)

I entered Dan’s wallet in the sewing “Domestic article” category. You should see the very awesome tiny piece that won in this category. (It will be in my favorites post.)

I wasn’t going to enter a needle-book this year. But, skipping the story, I entered one.

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on October 7, 2013 at 5:00 pm Comments (4)
Tags: GCV

Mom, Swimming in Blue

With being under the weather and the weather being heavy, this was not my favorite Ag Fair. Though, I did realize I entered my first Ag Fair entry 30 years ago.
This year, Mom was swimming in blue. She did really well. I think we counted 7 blue ribbons and 1 white.

Butter was one of the categories new for Mom. She joined a dairy coop this summer, which supplied her with an ample amount of local milk. She separated the cream and fats herself. The quest for a butter churn started in May, if I remember correctly. She found a nice reproduction piece. Then she found an original bottom in nearly the identical shape. They look nice sitting next to each other in the living room. I’m not sure when or where she found her butter press. It sure is pretty. (So is the pineapple) She was worried the butter would get stuck. But, out it came.

I won’t even try to get the names of the preserves right. I really should have written them down. I know there is a pickle, corn relish and a jam that won.

Here is her pumpkin pie. She also did an English gingerbread which is very heavily molasses. I happen to love molasses. So, I enjoyed the uber-darkness of the bread.

Mom decided to enter two plants this year. The first is a scented geranium. It smells wonderful. The other is a rosemary.

I missed a photo somewhere of her 4th blue. I have no idea what that was.

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Working on - Events/Activities

on October 6, 2013 at 3:39 pm Comments (5)
Tags: GCV

Peppermint – Full Size, Mini Size

I have waited so patiently to share the photos of this project. Now that the Agricultural Society Fair at the Genesee Country Village is underway and judging has taken place, I can share. Yeah!

This bonnet is called “Peppermint”. The striped pale red and creamy white just begged to be made into a bonnet. (This is one of the silks that was swapped in the FanU Silk Swap). The bonnet is drawn on canes over a buckram base. The flowers are paper in blues and rosey reds.

This is the bonnet that made me a little ribbon nutty for a few days. I just could not decide which ribbon to go with. There were several ribbon colors that would contrast so nicely with the stripes, a royal blue, a blue-lilac, even a warm brown. But, the more I looked at original drawn bonnet, I saw most of them went with a matching or nearly matching ribbon. With this in mind, I opted for a four inch wide ivory satin from The Ribbon Store, which is much more ivory than the cream of the photo.

I did say “full size, mini size”. So, here is the mini-size:

A bonnet Mea and Jo to share.

In this miniature version, made from the left-overs from the full-size version, the silk is drawn on wire over a small buckram frame. The lining and frill are of the same materials. The flowers are tiny blue paper from the larger roses in the full size bonnet. The ribbon ties are the same as the narrower ties above.

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on October 5, 2013 at 11:00 am Comments (1)
Tags: Anna's Millinery

A Must Dress

You know those moments when you see a dress you absolutely must make?

This is one of those moments. This is the dress, the must dress….

I just love how this simple plaid fabric has so many special details.

Look at that neckline. At first, I thought it had two wide ruches applied on the bodice. But, looking closer, that neckline is made from strips of gathered and flat fabric. I think the bodice would have a flat lining with the fashion fabric layered over it. At least, that is how I would do it. The very center of the bodice appears to be pieced together along the plaid. Then there is that cord. I have to ponder that cord.

Moving down to the skirt…. Oh, my! that hem!! (The zoom feature is a must here.) Those corded tucks, for a lack of a better word, in two different sizes are stitched to make the horizontal plaid lines disappear. Amazing! I can see how the stripes may have been hidden as the fabric wraps around the smaller cords. I would just stitch right on the stripe. But, those larger ones? Were the threads pulled out? Or was this section of the fabric different? There are white sections side-by-side. Is there piecing hidden in those tucks? I would be very tempted to do sets of corded tucks emphasizing the white in a couple bands and sets of corded tucks emphasizing the color in other bands.

Looking at the sleeves, the upper sleeve looks like an easy assembly with a larger cord and an inch to inch and a half tuck or fold inserted. The cuffs mimic the neckline with the alternating gathered and flat bands along with the thick cord.

This is a dress that will take a good bit of hand sewing, tiny hand sewing in some cases.

Now, I just have to find the right fabric at the right price at a time I have the cash.

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Working on - Projects

on October 4, 2013 at 1:10 pm Comments (1)

Doll Millinery

For quite some time now, I have wanted to do a line of millinery for dolls. I finally have a set of patterns for hoods and bonnets drafted for a couple different size dolls including collectable china dolls, like my Mae, fashion dolls and 18″ character dolls.
As the weather has already turned cool (or cold) here, I started with some snuggly warm quilted hoods. Both of these are black silk entirely sewn and quilted by hand.

This is Jo in her 1850-1865 silk hood. (She needs clothes made for her and a chair to sit In.) Her hood ties below her chin with a black silk ribbon. The inside is silk with the edges whipped for finish.

Here is Jo with the same style hood done in a dark blueish grey silk quilted in black.

Here is the larger hood in the same style that will nicely fit a doll with a 9″ circ head as most 18″ character dolls have. This hood is also black silk with a period cotton lining. The interior seam are turned under for durability. The future wearer, or her dresser, will need to pick the perfect ribbon and best placement.

I’ll have a section of doll millinery up on Etsy soon.

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on September 21, 2013 at 2:30 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: Anna's Millinery, Dolls

Yellow Silk Sewing Case

I have to admit, when I opened the envelope from this month’s Fanciful Utility Silk Swap with the bright yellow silk, I thought “Wow, Bright!”. This bright yellow silk puzzled me. I was worried I would not find a sewing case project for it.

Then I was flipping through the photo files I’ve stacked up in my phone. There they were. Not one, but two sewing cases made with bright yellow silk! I remember saving these from an auction of Shaker items. Here they are cropped together:

Now, which to make? The on the right is fairly straight forward. The one on the left is very similar to one of the cases in Fanciful Utility. But, I’m not too keen on the closing case inside. Okay, I really think they, the auctioneer’s photographer, took a photo of the cases open and a photo of the cases closed, then layered the closed on top of the open. If I make the case on the right, I far prefer something like this:

This is the same case as above with the center piece from another case replacing the center. This structured center has a compartment and a pincushion. You can see the pincushion was well used. Actually, the light blue case shows far, far more wear than the other silk and leather cases in the lot.

Now, the problem… I have black leather rather than brown at the moment. So, I must decide whether to wait for super thin brown leather or use the black I have……

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on September 19, 2013 at 4:38 pm Comments (2)

A Modern Needle-book

Tonight we have a little modern sewing tangent – A coworker has been making little coffins for her Death and Dying health class this week. When I saw those little coffins, they scream “needle-book”.

Here is version 1 of my take on a Halloween Coffin Needle-book:

This fun case is made using the techniques in Fanciful Utility.The exterior is a silk I had stashed away with a bit of padding for the front. Inside, the pair of white wool needle pages are placed like a pillow at the top of the coffin, while a black wool pocket is at the bottom for a small pair of scissors. It closes with a silk ribbon. All the embroidery is cotton. I do have another sewing case version in mind as well. This would be a multi-sided case with a pillow-pincushion inside. I’ll add that to my project list.

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on September 18, 2013 at 8:01 pm Comments (2)

New Project – Late/Post-War Commemorative & Memorial Pieces

First off, this whole project does need a better name. That said…

The concept here is with the 1864 & 1865 anniversary years of the American Civil War approaching, I would like to see a comprehensive display of items made by the wives, mothers and daughters in commemoration or memorial of their loved ones serving in or who served in the War.

Recently, at an event for the Hunt, NY Memorial Hall, I was able to talk with a few ladies about this project. To my delight, they expressed interest in working on it as well. How wonderful to make this a community project!

During the war and in the years following, a great many handmade pieces were worked in memory of a family member or friend who served during the war and may or may not have died. I would like to see those interested in participating reproduce these items. The list is an ongoing, growing one, changing as we learn more about commemorative and memorial works. This is what we have so far:

Quilts – (Examples include: 1, 2, 3, 4 also GAR signature quilts and GAR ribbon crazy quilts)
Embroidery pieces – (Examples include: 1, these are each pre-war )
Pen and ink art – (Examples include: looking)
Personal items and jewelry – (Examples include: Handkerchiefs, Hair piece, silhouette brooch, gutta percha, jet, bog oak, etc.)
Hair Pieces (Examples include: 1 )
Memorial die-cuts (Examples include: scroll down)
Patriotic items that may or may not be memorial/commemorative pieces but are worth looking at & thinking about: Needle-book 1, poke bag?

If you are interested in participating, please send me a message or leave a comment. It will be nice to have some of these items available for visitors to see at events in the coming year with a comprehensive display available for 2015.

EDIT/ADDITION Sept. 17th:

While this particular piece (center) is earlier (1785-1793), I would like to see if this was still done in the mid-19th century. If this does turn out to be appropriate, the next question will be whether it would have been a commemorative/memorial piece for our purposes. Then comes the question of how to replicate it. This one has a simpler frame that may be easier to recreate. (must learn some jewelry techniques.)