To be a bit cliché, this shoemaker is a professional Web Developer and her child is this blog, but it was past time to launch what I have of a new design. All the content is still here, everything else is a work in progress (kind of like most of my sewing projects)!
I thought things would calm down after I finished all the Christmas presents I made, but I was mistaken. Between house renovations/organizing, freelance work, 9–5 work, and whatnot, I haven’t made any progress on the 1812 fashion pieces. What I have done is buy an extremely important part of the outfit: a shawl. From Target.
It has been an amazingly productive weekend. After work on Friday, I pulled out the 1812 quilt challenge fabrics with the decision to finally start and at least get the first border on the medallion and sew some quarter-square triangles. By 1pm on Saturday, I had the top done, and by 1pm today, I had this:
which, if you can’t tell, is a sandwich ready to quilt.
My copy of the Mantua Maker 1800 -1820 Regency Corset Pattern came, so I started working on my first mockup of the corset to wear under a regency gown at the 1812 Quilt Challenge show in March. When I was in highschool (the last time I really did a lot of garment sewing), I could somehow get away with cutting straight into my fashion fabric, but now, eight years and 40lbs later, that would have been a very dangerous proposition. So here is what happens when you try to make the pattern with no alterations for someone with size 16 measurements, larger-than D cup breasts, a short waist and a lot of squishability.
Though I haven’t been able to sew much lately, I’ve been thinking about my 1812 Quilt (and the fact that I really need to get started on it) quite a bit. I finally have all the fabrics I think I’m going to use, a plan, and after a bit of tea-dying, my medallion is a bit closer to the color I’d hoped to have.
And, since Halloween just passed and we didn’t really celebrate or dress up, I’ve had costumes on my mind. Since the organizers are encouraging you to come in regency garb, I’ve been looking into patterns and general fashion plates for Regency fashion.
I was actually quite productive over the weekend. I pieced most of the back for the Strip-pieced Lone Star/Star of Bethlehem quilt, although I had to stop before I finished, because it was just all going wrong on Friday night and I needed to step away. It happens.
Then, I managed to finish the top and back of the Synchronized Squares quilt, but don’t have photos of either, thanks to the torrential rain we received Sunday courtesy Irene.
As of last night, it’s all sitting on the back of the couch ready for me to baste it. I just couldn’t bring myself to crawl around on the floor, not to mention my painter’s tape seems to have disappeared.
Fair warning: I’m not actually going to show you my medallion yet—partly because I don’t have it yet, and partly because I want it to be a surprise. But, I would like to talk a bit about options beyond the typical reproduction and 19th-century-look fabrics that are available. Between royalty-free images or your own artistic skills and digital printing, you can create your own custom fabric or medallions for a federal-era quilt.
Although the deadline is seven months out, I’ve started researching for the 1812 Challenge Quilt. I’ve been doing what I can online, for now, with plans to hit the library soon.
This is an odd size to think about designing for. Most of the extant period quilts are square or counterpane-sized, some even almost-T-shaped to accommodate four-post beds. “Cot-to-coffin,” is a stretched rectangle of a size and aspect ratio you don’t often see in extant designs or in modern quilting.