HSF challenge; Brown

While I wear brown frequently I usually do not gravitate to it as a colour when choosing materials. In spite in of this I made several projects for this challenge!

My first is another sweater, knitted based on the stitch pattern in the Daffodil sweater from 1939 which I found here on Bex's awesome blog. I made up the pattern as I went along, working my pattern repeats as necessary. Like my last cardigan it is a cropped length with 3/4 length sleeves, this seems to be the best shape for me currently. I used my Blarney Spun yarn in the color oatmeal and some vintage faux wood grain buttons, the button bands are reinforced with beige bias tape. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, and have already worn it tonnes!



I also sewed a blouse using Hollywood pattern 1087 from the 1930s, Liberty of London fabric and vintage Costumaker buttons.



I think of this blouse as being more navy than blue, but every time that I wear it I am struck by it's browness. I made the short sleeved blouse, and I left off the collar because it simply did not work for me, I have very square shoulders and a sloping neck so I often have trouble with small collars. You can't really see much of the blouse in this picture, but it looks just like the picture on the envelope except collarless.



Here is a close up showing just how neat this fabric is.



Finally I sewed a blouse using Vogue pattern 5522 from 1945. I used a very thin mocha and black slubbed jersey fabric from my stash, but it was too thin on it's own. To make the blouse wearable I fully lined it in a black and white slubbed jersey which matched the mocha. As a bonus the blouse is now completely reversible! Since the fabric is jersey I left off the back opening, and bound the neckline with the black fabric, I left long tails to tie the neck opening closed.



I love the way that the blouse turned out, it looks very vintage when worn, and works without shoulder pads on my shoulders. My photos did not turn out though, I am a blur, and on Sally Stitch it looks simply terrible!





The Challenge: Brown

Fabric: 8 skeins of Blarney Spun in Oatmeal

Pattern: Stitch pattern is based on Daffodil by Patons & Baldwin from 1939

Year: 1940s

Notions: Six faux wood grain buttons, one yard of cotton bias tape

How historically accurate is it? Semi? The stitch pattern is good, as is the yarn type.

Hours to complete: 42 tops, it took around three weeks all told, working around an hour or two a night.

First worn: September 8th

Total cost: I think around 15$


The Challenge: Brown

Fabric: Liberty of London lawn

Pattern: Hollywood 1087

Year: 1930s

Notions: Three vintage Costumaker buttons, thread

How historically accurate is it? Very, lawn is the suggested fabric, and I used all vintage sewing techniques.

Hours to complete: Five

First worn: September 24th

Total cost: Around 25$


The Challenge: Brown

Fabric: Two yards of cotton slubbed jersey

Pattern: Vogue 5522

Year: 1945

Notions: Thread

How historically accurate is it? Semi, the fabric is just not accurate!

Hours to complete: Two

First worn: September 29th

Total cost: Free, all from stash!

HSF challenge Heirlooms & Heritage

I was excited for this challenge, because I have always wanted to recreate a specific dress that my grandmother wore in the mid thirties. It was a fairly simple cotton day dress with a layered or pleated skirt, but when the time came I could not fin the picture! Someday I will find it again and recreate the dress, but for this month I knit a sweater that, I hope, will become an heirloom.



I used my favorite yarn, Bernat's Blarney Spun, which was manufactured from the 1950s through the 1970s. While not a true vintage or heirloom yarn, it does have a lot in common with earlier yarns, it has a high natural lanolin content, making the sweater both water and moth proof. It is an aran weight 8 ply yarn, I used the colour Chestnut which coincidentally matches my hair perfectly.



My goal was to knit a sweater that looked vintage, and luckily when I wear it that is usually what people assume. I knit the sweater to high hip length with a knit three, purl two ribbing band at the hem and cuffs. I notched the collar band and reinforced the button bands with bias binding. For my buttons I used six vintage 1940s plastic buttons. I made the pattern up, using features that I like from several different patterns. My construction methods are modern, as I cannot stand seaming together knit pieces!





The Challenge: Heirlooms & Heritage

Fabric: A bit under 630 yards of Bernat Blarney Spun yarn in Chestnut

Pattern: My own, but I used bits of Hetty, by Andi Satterlund and Beacon Hill, by Jane Richmond.

Year: Mid 1940s

Notions: 1 meter of cotton bias tape in warm brown, six vintage brown buttons

How historically accurate is it? I'm going to say 45%, my materials are not vintage, aside from the buttons, and neither are my construction methods. However, the overall effect is one of a vintage garment so I'm saying that counts.

Hours to complete: 23ish days, around two hours a day of knitting, so 46 hours.

First worn: On the 29th, because it was finished and I could!

Total cost: In the range of 40-50$.