Remnants

Fabric remnants are wonderful things.  When I first started 18th century sewing, I thought that there wouldn't be many occasions where I could use small remnants since most garments require so much fabric.  I'm finding out that I was wrong!  One can always use more kerchiefs or aprons but I'm finding other uses for them as well.

I've used remnants for my last 3 projects.  The first was a pair of pockets.  I had been wearing some children's pockets I had bought to keep at school to show the kids.  I can't believe how much larger adult pockets are!  I can fit everything I need in them.  I really wanted some crewelwork ones and one of these days I'll get around to making some.  In the meantime, I found a half yard remnant of some crewel embroidered linen blend in the home dec section at Joann's.  That along with some leftover osnaburg linen and some linen tape that I keep on hand was just what I needed.  

I used the Kannik's Korner pattern which has a number of different styles.  The last two views are from the last quarter of the 18th century in the United States.  I chose the ones with the wide opening and made them according to the pattern directions.  The opening is faced on the inside with wide linen tape which you can see above. The one place where I cheated was that I machine sewed the seam attaching the front and back pieces.  Once that is turned right side out, it is top stitched by hand so I figured it didn't matter as the seam stitches were encased.  Time was of the essence so this was quicker.  All other stitching is by hand.  I was pleased with the result.

The next project was another jacket from the J.P. Ryan pattern.  The first one I made had an overlapping front that pinned closed. I decided to do one with a stomacher this time as I purchased two remnants from Renaissance Fabrics:  1.5 yards of striped linen and 1 yard of plan buttery yellow linen.  I ended up using the striped linen for the jacket and the yellow for the stomacher.  The jacket was lined with plain white shift weight linen and made entirely by hand. 

My 21st century self told me that I had to balance the uneven stripes which I did.

The stomacher is boned and the tabs are made from cotton tape.

The eyelets were stitched by hand with silk buttonhole twist.  I marked the eyelets as indicated on the pattern but I think I need an additional one at the top as the top edges didn't lay flat when I wore it so I'll be adding those before I wear it again.

I wore this with my blue petticoat and a fancy new kerchief at Mt. Vernon for the Call of Arms event.

With my new friends in the garden at the greenhouse!  What a lovely day for a stroll!

My last project was a new kerchief.  This one is pretty generously sized--about 38 inches square.  I had a little over a yard of the my woven checked handkerchief linen that I made the apron in the picture out of so I decided to use it.  I love checked fabrics because it's so easy to cut a nice even square.  All I needed to do was a rolled hem all the way around.  Voila!  Another project done!

I love having these small projects as the big ones take sooooo long and it's nice to complete something in a night or two!  

Next up will be a big project!