Current projects for 18th century costuming

Doing the seed stitch filler on my first 18th century mitt. I'm still new to embroidery.

I’m trying to finish a few things for an upcoming private gathering with the 18th century costuming group.  One of them is an actual costume piece, and the other is to help with my sewing.

18th century mitts

I have been working on the pattern for 18th century mitts.  I made a mockup to check the sizing, using an old pillowcase.  It seemed to work fine, but I’m a little worried that — even cut on the bias — the final version will not fit as well.

I’m using some sort of taffeta that’s most likely not silk.  The fabric store didn’t seem to have a good selection when I was there.  I will also be using a cotton for lining.  I want the lining to add a nice contrasting effect when the flaps are turned back, and also to hide the embroidery’s back side.

Instead of just sewing up a pair really fast, I decided I just had to embroider them.

The prep work went fairly slowly, and the first part of the embroidery was also slow (something with the fabric, I suspect).  It’s starting to go much quicker now.  I still have to finish up the embroidery on the first mitt, sew it, and then prep the next mitt for embroidery and sewing.

I am noticing something I don’t like with this fabric.  On my pockets, the stem stitch on the scrolling vines was smooth.  No matter what I do to make all of the stitches smooth on this taffeta, they still have a choppiness to them.  Oh well — it will get the point across, and it’s yet another learning experience.

I do hope that they fit and everything works out nicely.  I shared the pattern with a friend, Jen Thompson, and I can’t wait to see how it works for her.  She’s much better with working out patterns and making things so awesome.  I figured it was the least I could do since she’s always been such a huge help for me.

Tape dress form

Which leads me to my next project.  A clear packing tape dress form.  I need something so I can make and fit my 18th century jackets.  Jen wanted to try this type out and see how it works compared to others.

I’ve not finished it yet.  I’ve sealed up the back, but I still need to fill it, and clean up and seal the opening edges.

If it works out nicely, I think I’d like to make one for my husband.  I think tape dress forms would be a great help getting me started on the right path, and of course doing major or final fittings on the person.  My husband isn’t always around when I’m sewing, and I’m not in the mood to have to put the stays on (I need help to put them on) every time I need to try something on.

I just wanted to update with some of the things I’m working on at the moment.  I’ll of course do full entries on each project when I finish them.

The 18th century mitt marked out for embroidery and cutting. This will be my first pair.

The embroidery is about half finished. The fabric caused the stitching to be a bit choppy -- nothing I did seem to fix it. I still like it, and hope the mitts fit well.

The tape dressform (over my 18th century stays), just before cutting it off. I still have a lot of work to do to finish it before I can use it.