Monday, April 9, 2012

It's Edwardian Week at My Happy Sewing Place

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your lovely comments on my Marlene suit.  I am just absolutely in love with it!  Our weather has turned decidedly more Scottish so I'll get lots of wear out of it in the months to come!

This week I'm turning my sights to 100 years ago in order to celebrate the Edwardian era.  As you know, there's a huge buzz in the sewing and costuming community about the milestone centenary.  While I'm not super excited about celebrating the sinking of a ship, I AM super excited about celebrating the beauty and innovation from the time period.

Many of you may recall that I've signed up for Project 1912 which is being hosted by the Vintage Pattern Lending Library (VPLL).  Janyce from VPLL has undertaken a massive project that has created a tremendous community of those interested in sewing from this time period.  She is transcribing all the patterns from the 1912 issues of La Mode Illustree.  La Mode Illustree was a weekly magazine that had several patterns in each issue (much like a modern BurdaStyle but with less instructions).  And she has invited sewists to participate for one year in the project and to blog about their experiences sewing up these patterns (which she supplies one at a time for those involved in the project).  Janyce originally thought this would be a great way to have a small handful of people involved.  Little did she know that Threads would run the story in their online newsletter--resulting in over 350 people participating!  Janyce is a superstar and is keeping to her original mission to make these patterns available and to create an online sewing community around this activity.  What a fabulous lady!!

I received my first VPLL Project 1912 sewing pattern in the middle of March but am just now getting around to it: 
 
It's a long skirt with a scalloped trim and high waist.  I can't wait to tackle this!  And of course, I need a blouse to go with the skirt....so I'm going to be sewing up the new Wearing History repro pattern for a 1910's blouse:


My goal is to finish these both by Sunday but we'll see how that goes (have you seen all those scallops on the skirt? hehehe).

Throughout the week I'll be posting the rest of the Downton Abbey costumes close-ups and some photos of Edwardian Scotland!  Looking forward to exploring this decade more!
SHARE:

9 comments

  1. Your outfit is going to be smashing, I'm sure!  I'm excited to see it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful choices! I can't wait to see how you bring them to life!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So excited to see your rendition of this skirt! If I ever visit Scotland, I vote that we meet up somewhere both wearing our #E0200s!

    ReplyDelete
  4. How lovely! What an amazing project and kudos to Janet for heading up such an interesting and massive project.  I don't know if I'll be sewing too much from the period, Armistice blouse excepted, but I am thinking about knitting this lovely jumper: http://archive.org/stream/columbiabookofya03schu#page/152/mode/2up

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love a girl with a goal, and you Dear Debi, have quite a goal! I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this skirt. I also appreciate the style of the blouse. I attended a couple Martha Pullen Schools and learned some essentials about the French Hand Sewing by Machine techniques. It would work so well for this style of blouse. While I don't need another project right now, I will look forward to seeing yours. My biggest problem with white blouses right now is finding the right fabric. 

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm so excited that you're doing this.  It's giving me more information on what my grandmother's life was like as a 20 year old in 1916.  She made many of her clothes.  Thank you!  Here's her latest diary entry:  http://www.starwoodquilter.blogspot.com/2012/04/morning-quilt-block.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is one beautiful blouse. I cannot wait to see it, either. I like Folkwear's Armistice Blouse as well. Same era, and also beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stephanie CousinsApril 27, 2012 9:38 AM

    That "hehehehehe" sounds slightly insane.  I recognize the sound, having made it innummerable times myself..  I'm positive you'll turn up with something absolutely 10000% amazing.

    ReplyDelete

I read each and every comment--thank you so much!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
MINIMAL BLOGGER TEMPLATES BY pipdig