Late 1770s Working Class Gown

A quick post about my most recent completed project:  a late 1770's working class gown.  There are no new techniques to show off here. I used my favorite pattern and converted it to a center front closing gown as outlined in this post.  Because this is a working class gown, I made sure the hemline was straight around as I was not planning on wearing any hip supports.  I also made the gown about 2 or 3 inches shorter.  The fabric was a new one from Burnley & Trowbridge that is a wheat colored linen with a white stripe.  The petticoat is linen dimity which has an interesting texture.  The apron is a madder red medium weight linen from Liberty Linens.

The petticoat was constructed in the usual way using two widths of 60 inch linen pleated to 1 inch linen tape.  The apron was a full width of 60 inch wide linen that was stroke gathered to a 1/2 inch wide waist band with 1/4 inch linen tape ties.  The sides were narrow hemmed and the bottom was completed with a 1/2 inch hem.  All hemming was stitched with running stitch.

Here it is put together with my smaller cap as I wore my hair in a modest style.

Finished off with my green silk market bonnet.

I was very happy with this color combination which is a departure from my normal 18th century self.  I wear a lot of blues and pinks in period clothing.  This outfit is more reminiscent of my modern color scheme.

Overall I was happy with the way this turned out.  I have a number of accessories I can wear with it to change the look. 

A Lady's Apron

I took a sick day earlier this week and decided that while I was home, I'd tackle a small project that I have had planned for months.  We had been discussing checked aprons and stroked gathers in the 18th century sewing group on Facebook so that discussion along with a desire to experiment got my creative juices flowing.  I had purchased some handkerchief linen with a checked pattern woven in for the purpose of making an apron so along with my stash of linen tape, I had all that I needed.  The discussion of the stroked gathers intrigued me.  I had never heard of them though I had seen them before.  Upon doing some quick research, I found that the gathers are made by making 2 or 3 parallel rows of even running stitches--usually counting the threads to make sure they are even.  Enter the smocking pleater!  I bought this handy gadget shortly after Emily was born--probably sometime in 1984.  The needles are 1/2 inch apart so I decided to thread 3 of them for 3 rows of gathers.  

First I had to compute the size of the apron.  I decided to use the full width of fabric which was about 54 inches.  I cut it to a length about 3 inches shorter than most of my petticoats. Before running the fabric through the pleater, it must be rolled evenly on a dowel.  The checked design on the fabric made it easy to ensure that the fabric was rolled straight.

The fabric is then fed through the gears from back to front while turning the handle on the right.

This is what it looked like right off of the pleater.  I had to draw up the threads to the finished length that I wanted and evenly distribute the gathers.  I made the top of the apron 1/2 of my waist measurement (measured with stays) so that I could still find my pocket slits.

Then I trimmed the excess fabric from the top.

I pinned one edge of my 1 inch linen tape along the middle gathering thread then whip stitched it down. 

Then the linen tape was folded over and stitched on the backside.

The side edges were finished with tiny rolled hems and the bottom was rolled up twice using the lines in the fabric as guides.

Here you can see the edges from the right side.

The top finished.

The finished apron.  I don't have any modeled pics but I will update once I do.  The finished length is about 3 or 4 inches shorter than my petticoat.

Overall, I'm pleased with the way this turned out.  It was a fun little project.  I think it will look lovely with the equipage that I purchased from K.Walters at the Sign of the Gray Horse!