A riding habit petticoat (HSM #3)

Now that I am posting late HSM's, here is another one I finally got photos for just this week.

What the item is: 18th century riding habit petticoat

The Challenge, and how this item fulfills it: riding habits (as I'm going to call them, because I don't know a better name) were often worn in this period for outdoor leisure pursuits.

Fabric/Materials: 2 metres of unbleached cotton fabric fabric- that amazingly cheap IKEA drapery backing that they sell by the metre, 2 metres of twill tape

Pattern: my own

Year: 1785-1795

Notions: white cotton thread & wax

How historically accurate is it? The construction itself is decent, but I've had a difficult time figuring out whether or not the material I used is more like a (valuable) nankeen or a (cheap) onasbruck- I've never gotten a chance to see either of these types of fabric in real life, so that remains a mystery to me.

Hours to complete: not many

First worn: for pictures (with last year's HSM 11 waistcoat).

Total cost: $6 cad.

Spring is here... and a pineapple to celebrate!

It finally looks like spring is here to stay (here's hoping... you never know). Assuming spring has come for good, here's a fun warm weather-y project I've been working on lately:

The pattern for this tiny little purse is a combination of the instructions from Franklin Habit's and Isabel Gancedo's patterns,* both of which are based off an 1840's pattern from Gaugain's The Lady's Assistant (1840). It was surprisingly simple to make, and I just love the strange texture of the whole purse.

ALL the pineapple spikes!!

The thread was a size 16 crochet cotton with 1.5mm (I think) needles- I should maybe have made the gauge a little tighter in the body though. I added glass seed beads in coordinating colours where the pattern called for beading. I'm not sure whether or not I'll line it, but I'm making up the drawstring now, and I think I'll leave any considerations of lining until after that's finished.

And look at the inside as well! I find this pattern so neat!

*If you are a fan of Ravelry, both patterns can be found there as well.

A modified Regency brisé fan (HSM #2)

I actually hope to put up documentation and a tutorial for this soon enough (and I know the post is pretty late already). Anyway, here it is.

Challenge/What the item is: A Regency/ Empire brisé fan. It was a simple sandalwood fan that I re-shaped (filed down/sanded and sawed- hence the scalloped edges) and re-strung (replaced the plastic thread with silk) to give it a more early 19th century look.

Material: sandalwood, metal rivet pin (already part of fan), silk thread (my addition)

Year: 1800- 1815

Notions: Silk thread, wax for thread, Sandpaper (both coarse and fine)

How historically accurate is it? I tried to give the edges a scalloped shape similar to photos I've seen of extant fans, and cut off part of the bottom to make the bottom of the fan end closer to the pin. Most of the examples I saw while researching this made of ivory or horn, rather than wood, and had ribbon to hold them together rather then thread (the slats are so thin though that I didn't want to risk ruining them by carving larger holes in them. Although the angle of opening of the fan is ok for this time (as far as I know...) if I were handier with rivets I'd also take out some slats and make the fan opening angle more acute.

Hours to complete: Estimating 5, including time for figuring out how to do it.

First worn: Not yet.

Total cost: Fan= $1.25 CAD + a small amount of silk thread already in stash.