Challenge four; Underneath it all

I had big plans for this challenge, and was making good progress, until life got in the way. I was going to make some bras and tap pants and a girdle/garter belt, but it didn't happen. Due to sad family circumstances I only finished one bra. this one:



It fits me better than it fits Sally Stitch.

I had cut the lining out of an old leather coat I repurposed a while ago, it was peachy pink with black stripes, draped nicely and was silky. It was 100% acetate. I washed it in the sink and the dry cleaning chemical smell was just awful, it took several sinks of water and long soaks to remove all of the smell. When it was dry it was a terrible mass of wrinkles and a blue pink color, I think the peachyness was residue from all the dry cleaning chemicals. I ironed it on a mid setting and it's silky smoothness was restored yay!



I had intended it to be a test bra, since it was just lining fabric, a wearable toile, but it turned out better than expected. There are a few wrinkles around the seams on the cups, but these are invisible under clothes. I think the shape of the cup seams are to round and that is causing the problem. I might bullet seam the cups to see if that helps, I have read that doing so can help shape the cups into a more pointy form.



The Challenge: Underneath it all

Fabric: Pink and black striped acetate lining from an old leather coat, pink shirting as lining

Pattern: Cobbled together from several vintage bra patterns

Year: 1940ish

Notions: One hook and eye, 6" of green elastic dyed pink (too pink!)

How historically accurate is it? Hmm... 50%, the pattern is accurate as is the shape it gives, but acetate? no.

Hours to complete: Around one

First worn: Not yet, as it doesn't allow for breastfeeding.

Total cost: All from stash so free!

Challenge three; Pink

I had some problems with this challenge, for starters I love pink but never wear it. I also have lots of pink fabrics, that are all too small to make a garment from. First I wanted to use this lovely vintage seersucker:

I bought it on Etsy and sadly it was quite stained, I couldn't get all of the stains out either. I won't be naming the seller here for obvious reasons. But it was just too small to make something from, I only had 32"x64". I tried many other fabrics and patterns but nothing spoke to me!

In spite of this though, I actually sewed three pink things this fortnight! Sadly the best was not an historical garment; I made my daughter a coat! She selected the fabrics (lovely pink coating and pink, black and white lining from Fashion Fabrics Club) and pattern (Marmalade from Tamanegi-Kobo). It came out quite nicely, though the pattern matching and hand stitching made it a rather intense project! In fact it took up over half of the fortnight to complete. If anyone is interested let me know and I will post some pictures of it!

For this challenge I originally intended to make something like this blouse:

which is currently for sale at Ode to June on Etsy. I don't own the pattern (but someone should buy it because it's beautiful! And um, make me a copy, please?) so I used one of my basic bodice blocks to cut it out and then I sewed it up without trying it on (because I am foolish). Unfortunatly I used my unaltered block (foolish) which does not account for my square shoulders at all! Big mistake, there were large puffs on the tops of my shoulders which took a lot of work to fix. But fix it I did.

I hand sewed the sleeve hems and the tie belt at the hip with a blanket stitch but sewed the rest by machine. In all I really like how the blouse turned out, though it is a bit large in the hips. I may take some small tucks in the hem to snug it up a bit.

The Challenge: Pink

Fabric: 1 yard apricot cotton voile

Pattern: My own

Year: 1928

Notions: Pink thread, embroidery floss in colors 842 and 3779

How historically accurate is it? 95%, I did some decorative machine zig-zaging on the ties.

Hours to complete: Three-ish

First worn: Today! Photos forthcoming!

Total cost: All from stash so, free!

After that I hand sewed a pair of pink garters with some lovely pink striped ribbon I had on hand, I used lace as a backing and added three mother of pearl buttons to each. I had made some vintage style ribbon rosettes but I found them unsatisfactory, probably due to the cheap polyesteryness of the ribbon. The beads look much better! To make them I simply measured my thigh and added half of that measure to get my length then sewed ribbon to lace with a running back stitch and threaded through the elastic. Sewing on the beads was the most time consuming part (and bent my needle into a nice curve!).

The Challenge: Pink

Fabric: 2 yards pink ribbon, 2 yards white lace, 28" elastic

Pattern: none

Year: 1923

Notions: 6 Mother of pearl beads, thread

How historically accurate is it? Let's say 95%, my fabric is definitely synthetic, regardless of what JoAnns says.

Hours to complete: Under an hour

First worn: Today, for photographs!

Total cost: Beads-$2.00, the rest was from stash.