HSM 2020 challenge: no buy - my Edwardian underwear

For my visit at Hildasholm I needed some underwear. I had the Rilla corset from Scroop patterns, but I should have something to go under it and over it. When looking at my stash I realized that I am actually starting to run out of regular white cotton. I also didn't really have the time to do a full set of underwear. I decided to use a modern shaping slipdress under the corset, it would give enough support for my bust as well, and then concentrate on a petticoat and corset cover.

I've already written about the petticoat, and afterwards I realized that since everything was from stash I can include it in this challenge.

This was the challenge

No-Buy: Make something without buying anything. Whether it’s finishing off a UFO, using up scraps of fabric from earlier challenges in the year, sewing entirely from stash, or finding the perfect project for those small balls of yarn, this is your opportunity to get creative without acquiring more stuff.

From my small amount of white cotton I just managed to squeeze out one back piece and two front pieces for a corset cover. I have made a corset cover before, but I just can't find it which is a shame since it had some antique lace on it. It probably wouldn't have worked though since it was quite a cream colour that would probably have been visible under the bright white viscose that I used for my Elsie blouse.

Even if I didn't find the corset cover, I did find the pattern and I used it again. I wanted to add some extra seam allowance, but I didn't have enough fabric, and in the end it worked out well without the extra margins.

This was done the evening before I went to Hildasholm, so I cheated on the inside. The raw edges have just been zigzagged, and the hems are zigzagge and then just folded over. There is a tape at the waist level, to be honest I think I put it in a bit too high, to make a channel for a drawstring and on the neckline there is a drawstring as well.

It is closed with two sets of snaps. I had planned to make button holes and use mother of pearl buttons, but snaps were faster. I was happy when I found a piece of lace in my "miscellanous lacy stuff" box. That was also where I found the ostrich plume that I used for the hat. The lace is shiny and probably polyester, but it was a nice way of adding something to the plain corset cover.

Here I am wearing the petticoat and the corset cover. I also realized how dirty my mirror was after having seen the photo. As mentioned I'm wearing a Rilla corset under it all. The Rilla was quite comfy, but I didn't manage to tight it quite enough. It's laced with interlocking laces, like shoe laces, and that makes it harder to tighten it. Even if my shoulder is a lot more mobile than it was just a year ago I still have a problem reaching stuff on the back. On the one hand it was a lot easier to sit down and drive to Leksand in a quite loose corset, on the other hand I could feel it sliding arond a bit when I was just walking around at Hildasholm.

A new experience for me was that I felt that a longline corset with attached garters was more complicated when you wanted to use the bathroom, compared to when I've worn 18th century or 19th century corsets. It's probably just necessary to find the right way of doing it.

Anyway here are the facts for the challenge

The Challenge: No buy

Material: 1 m of cotton fabric, one 1980s romantic lace skirt

Pattern: The petticoat was a reuse, the cotton cover is from the 1911 Textbook of Domestic Art

Year: 1910s

Notions: Snaps, cotton tape ( a wide for the waist tape, narrow for drawstring). 1 m of polyester lace

How historically accurate is it? 30% It gets the look, but is made from a mix of modern and historical materials, and the inside is not finished in a period correct way.

Hours to complete: 1 evening

First worn: On a visit to Hildasholm on the 8th of July

Total cost: This was all from stash, but probably around $20 if it would have been bought new.

What a difference some starch make

Ever since I starched the edges of Lady Poe to keep them from unravelling I have been interested in trying out more starching. I did use the leftovers of the starch and dunked a petticoat in it, but that was quite diluted and weak. Now I wanted to really starch a petticoat.

Only problem is that I don't have a good late 19th or early 20th century petticoat. What I had up in my attic though was one of these probably 1980's romantic skirts, in cotton with a bit of ruffle and broderie anglaise at the bottom. I had gotten it as a gift many, many years ago for someone who thought I could use it for something historical. I hope my photos in the following are clear enough, I can't use my dressform for this since the 1520s court gown is occupying it.

One issue was that it was too small, I could pull it up to my thighs, but not over them. It was quite long as well, and with my short legs I wouldn't feel bad cutting off the top to make it larger.

I measured and cut off around 12 cm. I had planned to use the cut off strip to enlarge the skirt, but as you can see it wasn't straight, and when I tried to rip it into a straight strip it simply got too small.

Instead I took a strip of cotton voile and cut it into three lengths. I used one length for the top part of the skirt, and I gathered two lengths to make a ruffle. I then simply cut out the side seam of the skirt and added this new panel in. It's not the most beautiful or discrete piecing, but I'm not planning on showing off the petticoat.

At the top I just folded and sewed the top edge down and put a piece of cotton tape as a drawstring. I had a functional petticoat, now it was time to play around with starching it. I very much followed the instructions from Leimomi at The Dreamstress.

I don't have a garden or balcony, so in order to dry the petticoat (after I had dunked it in my biggest pot on the stove) I put it over a stand made from my washing basket and an extra bucket. I had covered the stand and the floor in plastic bags, so that the starch wouldn't go down the drain or the petticoat wouldn't cling to the stand. Also since I had a limited space, and bucket/pot, I didn't wring any extra starch out, I simply tried to pat off the worst. I left the petticoat drying until next day.

When it was dry it felt very much like paper and as you can see it could stand on it's own. I took it to my ironing board, that I had covered in an old sheet, and pressed the whole petticoat with the ironing on the highest setting and using a lot of steam.

After the pressing you can see that it has gotten a lot softer. It's still crisp though, and it's definitely more comfortable now that it doesn't feel like raw paper. If you don't let the starch dry completely you are supposed to get a stiffer result when pressing it.

Since the dressform can't be used, I still wanted to show the effect of the starch. As you can see the ruffle is at a definite angle and holds its own shape.

I'm definitely converted to starching my petticoats from now on, I'm not sure I'm daring to starch cuffs and collars and finer delicate things though.

Brown food is good food - a week with 1890's lunches

The last week I was home in isolation due to coming down with some cold symptoms (I feel fine now). Since I was working from home I decided to take the time to actually try out some food that was eaten in the period 1895-1906 in Falun, since the museum where I'm working are aiming to build up a living history part dedicated to that time period. Most of the food is very hearthy and simple with few ingredients.  Since I'm not doing hard manual labour for me it was definitely enough to have lunch, and then just a very light dinner because I was still full from the lunch. Also my dinners were almost all vegetarian, since the lunches were severly lacking in vegetables and it feelt good to eat something that wasn't just different shades of brown and beige.

The recipes are with one exception taken from the book Dalmål - från barkbröd till björnstek, by Kerstin Ankert et al., but I have modified them to be more suited for one person, and for a modern stove.

Sluring  - a recipe after Anna Johansson, wife of a brewery worker,  in Falun 1906.

Served with some crispbread and pickled greens

2-3 slices of thick bacon
200 ml milk
150 ml wheat flour

Fry the bacon in a pan and remove it but keep the fat in the pan. Mix the milk and flour into a batter and pour it in the pan. Let it simmer for 20 minutes and stir from time to time until it turns lightly yellow. Eat with the bacon.

This tasted as expected, and I like bacon so it was good.

Korngrynskaka or barley pudding - a recipe after the worker Axel Petterson in Fredshammar 1897

I forgot to take a photo of this dish

100 ml dried barley
1 small onion
1tblsp golden syrup (ljus sirap)
30 g butter/margarine/fat
300 ml milk
salt

Grease a baking dish and pour the barley into it. Chop and fry the onion in the fat until golden. Mix it with the barley and add the syrup and some salt. Pour the milk over it and put it in the oven at 175 degrees Celsius for 45-50 minutes, or until the barley has soaked up all the milk and is soft.
I don't like fried onions in gratins, some of my least favorite dishes in the traditional Swedish kitchen have golden syrup added to them so I was really sceptical, but it tasted surprisingly good.

Kolbotten with sauce

Kolbotten - recipe after Lena Johansson, a miner's wife, in Falun,1906
3 slices of bacon
150 ml flour
150 ml water
salt

Mix the water and flour and let it rest while you fry the bacon in a pan. Remove the bacon and pour the batter into the pan. Put a lid over the batter and let it fry on a low heat for 15-20 minutes, turning it once to make it even on both sides. The result is a quite thick pancake.

Sauce  - a "common dish for workers in Borlänge at the turn of the century"
25 g of fat (margarine/butter/bacon drippings)
1 tblsp of flour
200 ml water
one small onion
chives
salt

Use the same pan that you used for your bacon and kolbotten. Add in some more fat and let it melt. Whisk in the flour and when you have a thick paste you add the chopped onion and water. Whisk the sauce so that it is smooth and let it simmer on a low heat, be careful so that it doesn't burn, until the onions are soft. Add chives and salt for some extra flavour. The original recipe doesn't have chives, but it's such a common herb in other recipes from the same time so I didn't feel bad for using it.

Eat the kolbotten and bacon with the sauce poured over it. You can also substitute the kolbotten for boiled potatoes.

Klimp with mesost-sauce - recipe after Listen Mårtensson, wife of a painter, in Falun 1906

Klimp is basically the Swedish form of small dumpling, it's a great food because it's very cheap and filling. In Sweden it was common to cook the klimp in soup or stews and use them instead of potatoes or bread.

Klimp
50 g flour
30 ml milk
pinch of salt

Whisk the flour, salt and milk into a smooth batter. Boil up a generous amount of water, with salt in it. Take a spoonful of the batter at the time and drop it into the boiling water. The klimp rises to the surface when it's cooked through. It has a tendency to stick to the bottom so it might be good to use the spoon and make sure they can rise up.

Mesost-sauce
Mesost or in Norwegian brunost is a cheese made from the whey, and usually contains some amount of goats milk. It has a sweet taste that is a bit toffeelike. I really don't like mesost, so I used messmör (mes-butter) which is a softer, more mellow spread also made from whey but without any goat's milk.

1 tblsp fat (margarine or butter)
1 tbslp flour
200 ml milk
1 tblsp mesost or messmör

Make a roux from the fat and flour and whisk in the milk. When yout have the consistensy that you like add the mesost and stir it in until it as melted into the sauce.

This was sooooo good, and definitely my favorite dish of the week. I added some chives to the serving.

And finally something sweet to go with all the savory dishes

Bärkaka or berry cake - from a description Selma Ström's Hemma på Elsborg, a book about growing up in Falun around the year 1900.

Spisbröd

25 g margarine or butter
400 ml flour
1 tsp baking powder
0,5 tsp salt
200 ml sourmilk (filmjölk)

100 g frozen berries (or fresh if you have them, should be lingonberries but I used a mix of currants and strawberries)
golden syrup (ljus sirap)

Melt the margarine/butter and let it cool. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the fat and the sourmilk. Take up the dough and use a rolling pin to make really flat round cakes and prick them with a fork. Fry the cakes in a dry and hot pan, around 2 minutes on each side. When they are finished place them under a towel to keep them warm.

Heat the fruit until it's soft and mash it with a fork. Take a cake and spread a generous layer of the berry mash on it and sprinkle some golden syrup over it

A day of skirts

Today I left the handsewing behind. I've had my sewing machine in for service, since it for example refused to go forwards and just wanted to go back and other things, and today was the first time I had the chance and time to sit down and sew. I hadn't noticed how much in need of a service it had been, outside of the obvious issues, but now it was a pure joy to just use a machine that worked perfectly again. I have counted that it was 5 years since the last service, and the machine is going on 18 years, so it was definitely time.

I started with sewing a skirt for my mother. She has asked me to do it for a long time, and given me a beautiful red wool to work with, and she also said that I would get all the leftovers from the fabric. At first I told her that I was going to make a very short mini-skirt, so I would get more fabric, but in the end we decided on a knee-length pencil skirt. I used my standard skirt patter, Buterick 4451, and just adjusted the darts to fit my mother's smaller waist. I lined it with some silk charmeuse that I had in my stash.

When I took the photo it still needed a final press, but it's done. I now also have around 2,5 m of nice red wool in my stash.

The other skirt I made today took a lot more fabric. For the last weeks I've been working on making a family tour through the museum, with a focus on children. In the tour I'm making stops in the 16th, 17th and early 20th century, and of course I wanted to look the part. I managed to find everything I needed for the 16th and 17th century outfits by combining my own and the museum's stash of clothes and costumes, but it turned out I couldn't find a suitable skirt for the early 20th century. All the skirts in the museum were made for girls in size S, which I'm definitely not. Today I went to an op-shop and found a pair of suitable curtains in a quite heavy cotton. They also had a nice deep hem. I cut off the curtains, so that I could keep the hem and then pleated them into a waistband. I'm not joking when I'm saying that this was probably my quickest historical project ever.

I also have enough fabric leftover that I would be able to make a matching bodice for the skirt.

So, two totally unplanned and quick projects finished in a day.

An antique bodice - part 2

That bodice that I found and posted about earlier this week was way too small for me, but I have a petite sister. Yesterday I brought it with me and gave it to her, because of course it fit her. In fact she claimed that it was a bit big. She was wearing modern underwear under it, and interestingly it seemed as it was a bit big in the waist and shoulder, but small over the bust.

Here she is wearing it, which of course gives a much better view of what it looks like.

An antique bodice

Yesterday something happened that I thought only happened to others. I've read from time to time about people doing proper antique finds in op shops, but I never thought it would happen to me. Yesterday thought my mother wanted to go to IKEA in Borlänge, the neighbouring town, and if we we were going I also wanted to go into the only craft store, Panduro, to pick up some thing for my current project. I also wanted to go into the local second hand store that's there, Myrornas. Myrornas used to have a store in central Falun as well, and even if they are one of the more expensive second hand stores, the fact that they were open when all other shops were open and was very central made it a natural thing to just pop into it. Since it closed down and moved to Borlänge I've been buying a lot less second hand things.

At Myrornas I first found what's probably a 1980's romantic skirt that will fit nicely as a simple early 20th century petticoat. It's white cotton with two flounces and some broderie Anglaise on it. Then I saw it. On the rack among a lot of other party clothes was a bodice that just screamed early 20th century. I got closer, and then realized that it is probably exactly that.

I started to open it, and when I saw the insides I actually got weak in my knees, it was so exquisite. Of course it's way too small for me, but I just had to buy it. The thought of it handing in that store and the risk that somebody would buy it that didn't appreciate that it's an antique was simply unbearable. So now I own a proper antique piece of clothing, even if I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I'm not good enough to exactly date it, but I would guess around 1900-1910, probably closer to the later. Here are some more details.

The sleeves are a wider outer sleeve that ends with an applique and Pearl fringe, and then there is a thin lace undersleeve peeking out.

I found it interesting to see these stripes on the inside. They are well hidden so you can't see them on the outside.

The lace collar is supported all the way, and it fastens with a snap to the main bodice, but is closed with hooks attaching one of the spiral supports.

The outer fabrc is fairly loose and closes with small hooks and eyes since it doesn't carry any strain. The main closure is in the strength layer and lining. It's amde up from a heavy cotton, it feels almost like a denim, and then lined in a striped fabric.

It's closed with heavier hooks and eyes. The lower part has a steel bone and here the hooks are all on the same side. The upper closure is unboned, and here the hooks and eyes alternates to keep them shut even if there isn't much tension to them.

There are boning channels on the seams, but he boning only goes up to around the bust.

One of the very few placec where it looks a bit worn is that one of the steel bones is sticking out, but it must be attached well, because I couldn't move the bone at all.

All in all I'm very happy with this piece of actual fashion history.

HSM Challenge 4 - April: Gender Bender

This year again the National Railway was organizing a turn of the century fair, even if it wasn't as big as last year's 100 year anniversary. In the winter I had this idea to look at Edwardian sportswear, and I decided to do a pair of bloomers, which would of course fit well with the Gender Bender challenge, since this was the first time in the western world when women started to wear any kind of bifurcated garment.

At first I thought I would be able to create the pattern myself, but then for simplicity I decided to order Laughing Moon #110 Ladies´1890's Sporting Costumes. The bonus is of course that I didn't just get a pattern for the bloomers, but a nice jacket and gaiters as well, and I'm planning o making them in the future.

The bloomers need a lot of fabric, and in my stash I had a brown striped fabric that was just big enough. I'm pretty sure that it's some kind of polyester suiting fabric, but I picked it up years ago in an op shop. I didn't take any photos of the making of the bloomers, I basically just followed the instructions with the pattern. I also opted for using elastic at the kneebands instead of buttons to keep them tight. If I want to change that I can do that some time in the future.

Overall the pattern was really simple and it didn't take me more than 4 hours to make them, including handsewing the waistband and the kneebands.

I wore the bloomers together with my Edwardian shirtwaist and corset cover from last year. I wore one of my TV110 corsets and my smallest 18th century shift instead of a chemise. I finished the outit with wearing a my smallest bergére hat, brown stockings and black shoes. I have a pair of shoes that look more Edwardian, but I have a big blister on one of my feet and couldn't walk in them, these were the most neutral shoes that I could wear for a whole day.

At the National Railway Museum I met up with Johanna, Aggi, Carolina and other people from the Swedish 20th century society. Here are some of the photos that I took while there.

There was a penny-farthing there

 

Would I be able to get up on it?

Nope, not a chance

The owner of the vehicle showing how it should be done

I wanted to show how agle you are in bloomers though so I climbed up on a statue instead

When I got home I decided to try the bloomers on a bike though, and after all I have what I call an "old ladies' bike", so not too different from old bikes.

A lot easier than the penny-farthing

The bloomers were comfortable and easy to bike in

No problem at all.

Just the facts:

What the item is: A pair of 1890's bicycle bloomers
The Challenge: 4 Gender Bender
Fabric/Materials: 2 m of polyester suiting fabric
Pattern: Laughing Moon Mercantile #110
Year: 1895
Notions: sewing thread, hook and bar, elastic
How historically accurate is it? Polyester fabric and elastic in the kneebands drops this down to around 40%
Hours to complete: 4
First worn: May 15 - the National Railway Museum's 1900 Fair
Total cost: $7, the fabric still had the price tag on

A kind of Edwardian hat

So at the Railway museum I wore quite a large hat. The thing with the hat is that I'm not too happy with the details of it, but the sum is larger than the parts and I just loved walking around this big hat, and I got quite a few compliments on it as well.

It all started with this hat, that I prepared at the hat making day earlier in April.

In the end I felt that I had cut down the crown too much, and it didn't feel very Edwardian, definitely more Georgian.

In the end I found a last remnant of tulle and piled it on top of the hat.

Then I covered the tulle with some silk habotai that I found in my stash. Then I went with the "more is more" approach and added the last tulle, some silk flowers that I usually have as decorations in my living room and some ostrich feathers.

The hat was held in place with some hat pins, but I need to practice putting them in a better position to really hold the hat steady. Still it stayed on the whole day, despite some gusts.

HSM15: Challenge 5 - Practicality

What the item is (and what practical things you can do in it):

For the Practicality challenge I decided to make a shirtwaist, suitable for the first decade of the 20th century. At the beginning of the year I didn't have a plan for this challenge, but then I got invited to attend the 100th anniversary of the National Railway Museum, with a theme of 1900-1915. In the end the finished garment fitted the challenge in two different ways.

The shirtwaist in the end of the 19th century came to be almost a uniform for the respectable and independent working woman. From the beginning the shirtwaist had been modeled after men's shirts, but at the end of the 19th century application, embroideries and other detailing could be added to make it into a fashionable item.

For the bodice of the shirtwaist I used the instruction in Text-book on domestic arts from 1911. Then I looked quite a lot for inspiration pictures, since I wanted to go for a ca 1900 look. The pattern was easy enough to modify for an earlier look. I wanted to add detailing to the front, that wasn't in the instructions, so I simply added extra length to the bodice fronts and pleated them down in the front. The pleats fanned out from the neck down to make the shirtwaist fit snug at the neck, but be roomy over the bust and give some poufing when tucked in at the waist. For the sleeves I used the two piece sleeves from TV493. That's a fitted sleeve, but I cut out the largest size to give it extra width. That meant that I then had to take it in at the wrists, but the should fit very well. The collar was also taken from TV493, but made higher. It was constructed of one of the fashion fabric and one layer of heavy white cotton. The cotton is actually an antique bedspread from my great grandmother, so it's probably around 100 years old. The lace on it is shredded and the cotton has been worn out in many placed, but it's perfect to use for small pieces where you want a nice heavy cotton. I also love using these antique things since it gives a nice connection back in time. The cuffs were simply a length of fabric folded double and attached to the end of the sleeve. It's closed with 10 buttons in the front and a button each on the cuffs.

Putting the pieces of the bodice was easy. Most of the shirtwaist is actually handsewn. Not because of a wish to make it more accurate, since sewing machines were around at the time, but simply because I was up in the mountains and didn't have access to a sewing machines. I've also learned to make button holes by hand now. They aren't perfect, but they work and look just as good as when I do them on the machine. It was good practice to make it by hand, since I could practice stitches, but since it's not a very tight garment the seams won't take a heavy strain so I don't have to worry about the strength of my seams.

The shirtwaist turned out to be such a comfortable and practical garment. Coming from 18th century upper class clothing, it was so wonderful to have full range of movement in the arms and it was easy to close with the buttons in front.

I also found it to be a very practical pattern. Under the shirtwaist I'm wearing a corset cover and a chemise made from the same basic bodice pattern. The only difference is the extra pleating on the shirtwaist and the deeper neck opening on the corset cover and chemise. It's so practical to have a basic pattern that can then be tweaked to fit whatever you need it for. I'm definitely going to use it again, if I make more clothes for this era, since it's so simple and the possibilities to adapt it are almost endless.








The Challenge: 5 - Practicality

Fabric: 2m of embroidered cotton, 10 cm of antique heavy cotton

Pattern: Adapted from shirtwaist from the Text-Book on Domestic Art, combined with modified sleeves and collar from TV493.

Year: ca 1900

Notions: regular sewing thread, buttonhole twist, 12 buttons, 0,5 m cotton lace for the neck

How historically accurate is it? As far as I know it's accurate both in pattern, choice of fabric and techniques used.

Hours to complete: Handsewing took some time so probably 25-30

First worn: May 23, the Swedish National Railway Museum's 100th anniversary

Total cost: $45

Swedish National Railway Museum anniversary

On Saturday the Swedish National Railway museum celebrated its 100th anniversary. I was happy enough to have been offered the opportunity to go there together with a group costumers dressed in fashion from the period 1900-1915.

I got up at six in order to get my hair ready. I had slept on pin curls the hole night, and it was amzing to see how they gave the hair volume when they were brushed out. I used a nylon kneesock that I filled some fabric scraps as a rad and put it at the front of my hairline, and then I just brushed the hair over the rat and pinned it in place at the back. The rat was a bit lopsided and it was hard to cover it all with my hair. Still when the hat was pinned in place on top of the hair it looked well enough.

I took the train, very suitable, Gävle. I got quite a few compliments while waiting at the station, and there were quite a few grandparents with their grandchildren on their way to the museum as well.

One thing that makes the Railway museum quite special is that they have a unique collection of actual working engines and cars. So from Gävle station to the museum itself they had one steam engine and one electrical engine serving as shuttles the whole day. During the day they drove a lot of different engines back and forth, the oldest one being from 1856,

It was also fun to see that a lot of people had dressed up in costume and showed up to the event.

This was a group of people who had also just showed up to have a pick-nick at the museum. I was also happy to run into Henrik and Anna, from Pilerud's Cosplay and Arty Anna Cosplay, who were there as steampunk fireman and chimney sweeper.

Happy early 20th century costumers, and a chimney sweeper

During the day we walked around, had a lot of people taking photos of us, especially when we were in a big group together.

Since it was at a railway museum, here is a picture of a steam engine.

Some days off in the wilderness

On Wednesday I went up to the family cabin in the mountains. It's so wonderful and peaceful to be there, not the least because my phone operator doesn't have coverage so I'm impossible to reach when I get up there. It's still quite a lot of snow up there when come to the higher elevations.

Not a view from the cabin

 On Friday me and my mother decided to go down to Idre, which is the closest locality. Going in to Idre it's also mandatory to stop by the local clothes and fabric shop.

This is a really fun shop. A house where one part is a clothes shop and one part is a home furnishing store. It's basically stacked from floor to ceiling with stuff so you have to search to find things. I don't always find stuff there, but when I do it's usually some clothes that people like because they don't like things both from H&M or other major retail stores. I did get some wadding from the fabric section, so I can make a bum pad to wear on Saturday.

As a costumer you also realise that you are not always after qualities that modern clothesmakers find good. I found a nice piece of blue fabric up on a stash, but too high for me to feel it. When I asked the assistant what it was she answered "it's a mix of polyester and acrylic, it's great because it falls nicely and doesn't wrinkle". Not the right answer for a person that only wants natural fibres.

Except for talking nice walks, but on the roads and out in the nature, and cooking (it's always so fun and challenging to cook where the nearest food store is 30 km away, so you need to make it work with what you have), I spent most of my days in this spot sewing on my 1900 shirtwaist (when not having the table laid for waffle eating).

I used the pattern for the bodice of my 1911 corset cover, but I added extra width to the front. The front was pleated to make it fit. For the sleeves I used the largest size from Truly Victorian 493 - simple bodice. It's a fitted two piece sleeve, but by cutting the largest size I got a bit of pouf up at the shoulder. I had to take in the sleeve at the wrists though. It's all handsewn, but I'm getting better and better with handsewing.

In order to finish the shirtwaist I need to sew a waist tape to keep it fitted, sew cuffs and a collar and add buttonholes and buttons.