From Scrap Pieces of Linen

I have an awful lot of fabric scraps, most of them from past projects. A few days ago I went through the case containing my linen scraps and dug out some herringbone twill. I wanted to put it to good use, and had some vague ideas about making a cloth bag to put our toiletries in during events, and, if I found a piece big enough, another towel. You can never have too many towels when you have a baby (especially a pukey one), and we don’t have enough linen ones to last us through an event.
 

I had enough fabric, and have now finished the bag and the towel. They’re both straightforward enough, the towel being a rectangle of fabric, 34x48 cm, hemmed on three sides, the fourth being a very neat selvage. The warp is running from side to side, rather than up-down, but I should think many simpler towels and washcloths were made from scraps and old worn out clothes, the warp directed every which way gave the best use of the fabric, so I don’t mind.

The bag (21,5x28,5 cm) also has the warp running the wrong way, and is pieced in one place. It closes by a braided linen cord in a casing. The thread in the cord is pulled from the fabric left when cutting the pieces to the bag and towel. None were long enough for the cord, but I managed anyway; I used three threads in every strand, and every time I got close to the end of one thread, I added a new one, braiding with four threads for a little while, and then continued with three, the new one having taken the place of the one that ran out. I waxed the threads before and after braiding, and the cord is now quite strong. It felt good not wasting good thread or yarn on such a common, rather dull thing, but using what would have otherwise been thrown away.

 I found a similar bag in a picture depicting the Biblical story of Joseph beeing sold by his brothers.

 Bible historiale, Royal MS 17 e vii vol 1 c. 1356-1357.

Tobias and I had talked about marking our things in some way, to lessen the risk of loosing them, and making them identifiable if they should get lost. In the past, it was not uncommon for households and/or individuals to have a mark, used as a signature on documents, and to identify property and sometimes animals. These marks often looked a little like runes. I don’t know much about them, so perhaps you should take what I wrote with a pinch of salt, I might have gotten my facts wrong. 

Anyway, we designed a mark for us. It’s just a T and a W on the side (we tried to fit an S in as well, but didn’t manage to make it look good…), but I rather like it. I embroidered it in the corners of the towel and bag with unbleached linen thread.

I think it looks rather nice. Now I need to make a larger bag for diapers…. I think I know in what style I’ll make it :)

Wearing History Pattern Giveaway

In case anyone has missed it, Wearing History is hosting a giveaway of their soon to be released 1910's blouse pattern. I usually draft or drape my own patterns, but this is so pretty, I'd be glad to win it - of course, I am very possibly lessening my chances by spreading the word ;)

Anyway, if you like the look of the 1910's, don't miss this.

Wool Skirts

Spring is producing its first flowers (I saw snow drops and winter aconite the other day), but it is a bit chilly most of the time, with occasional frosty nights. Wool skirts (which are what I usually wear from autumn to early spring) are still very comfortable. Of the two I wear most right now, one is at least six years old, likely more, while I finished the other just a month or two back.

The old one is made from a charity shop bought wool blend, trimmed with another wool fabric. It is made from seven gores, has a raised waist (that is still a little too tight post pregnancy), and closes with an invisible zipper in the back.

It has a loose matching pocket, made from the wool used to trim the skirt, with piping made from the main skirt fabric. It closes with a button, as does the belt it’s attached to. The skirt is flat lined with brown cotton.

The new skirt is also made from a wool blend found in a charity shop. It’s made from two full panels of the fabric, the width taken in by stitched down box pleats. It closes with an invisible zipper in the left seam, and a button and buttonhole on the waistband. I made most of it while still pregnant and wasn’t sure what size I’d be after, so it’s actually a little too large. I might redo it at some point. It has a pocket in the right side seam.

It also has a band of contrasting wool fabric close to the hem, with decorative running stitches in red. And look, proof that little B actually exists :)

On a side note: isn’t motherhood just wonderful? I feel so happy to have been blessed with such an amazing little person to care for, love, teach and guide.

Soon it’ll be spring for real, and after that, summer isn’t far off. I’m currently working on a summer dress, and if time allows, I have more plans for dresses in my head that might be realized.

Instead of a Bedside Table

We have B’s crib in a corner, with one side detached and our bed pushed up right beside it. This makes it possible for me to comfort and sooth, or just check on him, without having to get out of bed at night – very comfortable. It does however prevent me from having a bedside table. Up till now, when he’s been pretty much immobile, and been sleeping in a sort of improvised baby nest within the crib, I’ve been able to put my glasses and other little things in the crib without him being able to get to them, but that won’t be possible to do safely for much longer. Beside, I’d grown tired of the clutter surrounding my baby. To solve this problem, before it became acute, I made a hanging pocket storage to put on the outside of the crib.

The material in the base is a self fabric lined piece of simple cotton sheeting; the pockets are made from old shirts (charity shop finds that I’ve bought because I liked the fabrics), lined with the same sheeting. The middle pocket still has the breast pocket left, so there are actually four pockets. I thought it was a cute detail (not that it shows in the pictures).

I made running stitches in red round the edge, and sewed buttons to the corners for decoration, blue ones by the blue pocket, and green ones by the green. The ties are made from the same fabric as the middle pocket, and, tied together, rest on the bottom of the bed right now, under the mattress. When B is beginning to start crawling we’ll have to lower the crib bottom and put the side back on; the ties of the pockets can then be tied to the rail instead. I’m sure it’ll look prettier when they’re not hanging so low as they are now.

The plan is that he’ll be able to use the pocket storage himself when he's a bit older and I no longer have a need for them, so I tried to make them appealing to a child, while only using materials I had at home. Not sure how well I succeeded there, but I think them rather nice.

So now he has a safe sleeping place when he starts moving around, and I don’t have to have my things in the other side of the room. And it looks nice. Win - win.

Giveaway Winner

So, I just picked the winner of the giveaway. I did it by making a slip of paper for everybody that entered, give the slips a good stir and then pick one at random. The winner is Cindy Eppich - I hope you'll like the pincushion!

Cindy, if you'd please tell me your adress in a comment (which I won't post), I'll send it to you :)

Giveaway

Last April I promised to give away my brick stitch embroidery that I would make into a pincushion. It took me ten months to actually start the sewing, but this past Friday I did, and I finished it yesterday.

It’s embroidered in wool on a linen fabric, and the design is a 14^th century German one, the pattern of which can be found on the Medieval Arts and Crafts blog. The mustard fabric is a wool blend with a cotton interlining, decorated with simple embroidery at the seams. The pincushion has a base (8,5x9,5 cm) of cloth covered cardboard to prevent pins and needles to go through. The colours are not “me” as I said before (which is why I’m giving it away in the first place), but I still think it has a certain what’s it.

The pincushion is not medieval. I’ve never seen one in pictures, so I’ve no idea if they even existed, or how they looked if they did (if anyone knows more than me about this, please tell me). It can however give a medievalish flavour to your modern day sewing table, box or basket.

If you would like the chance to receive this, please post a comment. The giveaway is open until midnight Sunday next (19 February), after which I will randomly pick a winner.

An Old Shift and a New Pair of Socks

After finishing the pillow cases I posted about before, I decided to make nursing slits in one of my medieval shifts. You can sometimes see nursing slits in period art, situated on the dress in front of each breast, and as you have to be able to gain access through the shift as well, I decided to make some in mine. I put them slightly to the side, to prevent the breasts from poking through. I have heard of reenactors making one deep slit in front, or a neck opening wide enough to pull down, as well as nursing slits, but for me, this seems the most discreet and warm method – I wouldn’t want to risk blocked milk ducts…. (I had it last week, and it was unpleasant, I felt really ill, and it hurt!) As my dresses laces in front I think I’ll be able to wear them unaltered while nursing.

I made the nursing slits by simply cutting a slit where I wanted it (following the grain of the fabric exactly to prevent stretching), cutting a corresponding slit in a narrow strip of linen, folding each under three millimetres or so, and whipping them together. I then sewed the outer edges of the strip to the shift. I suppose you could just sew buttonhole or blanket stitches around the edges of the slits, or make simple hems, but this seemed the best method to make them strong as well as preventing them from gaping more than necessary. I’ll let you know how they work out in action.

Right side of nursing slit

Wrong side of nursing slit

This past week’s project has been a pair of needlebound (nålbundna) socks for Tobias. They’re made from wool yarn, bought at an outrageously low price at our local grocery store of all places. This is my second pair of needlebound socks, and I think these turned out better than the first pair. Not perfect though, the heel on one of them turned out a bit funny, but it won’t affect the fit that much. I think my needlebinding will improve with practice though, I felt I understood the technique much better this time. We have not yet decided if we will full them or not.

I love my wooden needle, it's a joy to work with :)

I have a long list of things I want to do now, but although I may have time to sew by hand or needlebind when little B is sleeping close to me, he sometimes find it hard to come to rest if not in my lap. That effectively prevents me from doing more advanced things, like drafting patterns, cutting out new dresses or machine sew, so we’ll see what the future may give me opportunity to work on.