Exercises in invisible mending

Recently came upon a vintage sampler of invisible mending with woven patterns and didn't know how soon I'd have an opportunity for practice :D It was the very first try ever, but for that it came out nice enough.

Short tear in cotton fabric, medium weave shirt.

Make a very small knot at the end of the thread, just enough to keep it secure - if any at all. As there is no strain on the thread, you can just as well leave a tiny end on the left side of the fabric.

And then start re-weaving the pattern minutely. I left the warp of the original fabric and just replaced the torn weft with matching thread. Unfortunately the added blue thread shows rather blatantly, at least to me as a perfectionist. For absolutely invisible mending I guess I'd have to cut all fuzzy threads and replace warp AND weft with threads taken from the fabric to avoid the slight fuzziness my mending produced.

Iron and, if you like some extra security, back with some light fusing tape to seal raw edges at the back.

Late 19th century necktie made from ordinary silk tie

So I happened to stumble over a bunch of really low-priced silk ties with patterns that would suit late 19th century. And because I have a male character up my sleeve that I'm playing every now and then (usually when I know there's gonna be a lack of gentlemen at a ball), I bought one of each pattern. As I said, they came at an irresistably excellent price...

Just the shape doesn't suit at all... So what's there to do but unpick them and give them a new shape! Usually you can make a necktie and a bowtie from one ordinary tie. Here's how to:

Unpick the hand-stitched back-seam all along. Cut away all loops and hindrances and take out the inlet. You'll end up with something like this, an outer shell with pieces of lining attached, and the thicker inner fabric:

You'll notice that the outer shell of a tie never comes in one piece but in two or three joined together. Unpick the seam closest to the slim end so you get a larger, broad and a shorter, slender piece.

The borad piece is going to become your necktie, the slim piece will be used for the bowtie.

Update to come, currently busy with baroque...

Attempts in victorian hatting

There is one fashion problem especially in Victorian liveroleplays: a lady would never leave the house without a hat. And with your outfits improving you will want more sophisticated headdresses, matching your dresses, instead of one decorated straw hat for all purposes. I have so far tried four different patterns.

Of course I started with the most difficult one: a top-hat. The shape was entirely modelled on a mould. The inner layer consists of stiff interface joined with paper glue as it remains flexible when dry and doesn't smell. It's not the best solution, though, as it takes long to bind with the fabric. The cover was made from brocade matching the dress, sewn and then glued and stitched over the basic shape. I prefer a combination of glueing and sewing to just hot-glueing everything. It allows for much finer work and looks better. I'm a nerd when it comes to details...

The second type of hat I tried was a nice little hat to sit over the forehead so you can wear your hair taken up at the back - which usually gives you trouble fitting a hat on top. This has become my favourite shape now, as it can be decorated and modified to fit the dress: wider brim, higher top, folded up like a tricorn, loaded with flowers, plain with ruffles, anything goes. When using the pattern, keep in mind to add about a centimetre seam allowance at the inner side of the brim and at the top of the crown when you cut your material for the basic shape, and to add seam allowance to all adges when cutting the outer fabric. For the outer fabric, crown and top are cut once from fabric matching the dress and once from thin, matching fabric for the lining. Glue the brim to the crown, close it at the back, then glue on the top and cut off excess material (it never fits perfectly). The brim is cut twice from dress fabric and joined at the outer seam. Top and crown piece are joined, both go over your basic hat and are glued in place, then joined along the crown where the hatband will cover the seam. The lining is glued in in some places and joined with the outer fabric. Add hatband, decoration and a few small loops for hairpins, or just use a hatpin to keep your dainty little headdress in place.

Here are the example pictures of my blue velvet hat.

Only the inlay is glued, the fabric is sewn, in many places by hand. I usually use buckram or cardboard. Do abstain from using hot-glue anywhere on your hat, even for the decoration - you will never be able to change anything or correct mistakes. These days, hot-glue is used for almost everything instead of using the proper methods. I used book glue (which remains flexible when dry) to join the fabric layer and the cardboard and shaped the brim by letting it dry pinned up.

 

The lining was finished by hand.

The three sides had their shape already by glueing the fabric in, but after attaching the hatband and the decoration, they were fixed to the crown with a few stitches.

 The plume easily gets its shape from an ordinary curling iron. First, get the quill in shape to sit nicely on the hat, then curl the ends.

This is the finished specimen: A tricorn, covered in blue velvet (same fabric as the dress), lined with blue art silk and decorated with a shaped plume and some golden flower-berry-thingy.

The third and fourth pattern are the easiest ones, they're almost flat and are basically just a platform for your decoration - ruffles, lace, flowers, bows, and plenty of them. Cut the shape from cardboard or any other stiff material and overlap the slit about a centimetre or two to get a 3D-shape. Cut your fabric a bit bigger than the basic shape plus seam allowance, join it with the lining (which should be smaller than the basic shape) but leave a slit big enough to slip in your hat. Glue in some places (through the slit) so your fabric follows the shape of the hat-base. You can also help with a few stitches in places that will afterwards be covered by the decoration. Close the slit and decorate. Also here, either use a hatpin or sew two or three small loops for hairpins.

Pattern to come...

Cabochon jewelry

Pretty simple once you've gathered all the ingredients, like frame, glass, glue, and pictures. The glass covers come in flat and convex. If you're using convex covers, only choose landscapes, flowers or anything neutral as your motif. Portraits only go well (i.e. undistorted) with flat glass, and you don't want your fiancé at twice his breadth on your necklace ;)

The trickiest thing is to avoid bubbles of air when you glue the images to the glass. I find it easiest to put a generous dollop of glue on the flat side of the cabochon, press the picture onto the glue and wiggle it very gently until it has spread the glue all over the glass and lies down flat. Dry on a flat surface (some hours will be enough, I just leave mine overnight), cut away the excess paper and glue to the metal frame.

The simplest way of wearing them would be to attach them to a piece of satin ribbon or a slender metal chain, or you can attach them to any pearl or bead necklace, lace ruff (expecially for rococo), or whatever you fancy.
 

 For a rose quartz version I also added a matching pendant, the beads are rose quartz and crystal.

A very nice thing is a two-faced version. Take two pieces of the same foundation style and very diligently glue them back to back with some jewellery glue so they're absolutely apposite. For the front picture, proceed as above, with a rounded cabochon and a nice picture. For the reverse side that is to remain hidden when worn, use a flat cabochon so the pendant won't turn but remain nice and tidy with the flat side down and the convex side up and you can keep your secret lover's picture nicely hidden ;) If you're in a hurry and there are no flat cabochons at hand, it also works well with a piece of clear plastic cut into shape to cover the picture.

Millefiori summer-skirt

Last summer I decided I need more summer skirts and dresses. Shopped. Bought. And then there wasn't much of a summer and hence not much motivation. I finished the skirt this year. It's made from just 1 metre of black cotton with a white millefiori-print.

Tear off two pieces that are approximately knee-length plus some allowance for the hem and join them into a tube at the short sides, leaving one side about 10 cm open for the zipper. Hem one of the long sides and pleat or draw the other side to fit your waist. Cut a strip of the remaining fabric, fold it lengthwise and iron some fusing web on one side. Sew the pleated skirt to this side of the strip (right on right),  sew the other edge to the inside of the skirt and iron the waistband flat. Insert a zipper and, if you like, a hook and eye for extra security - and voilá, there's your new summer skirt! :)

 And because it was done so quickly and I found such a lovely piece of fabric which I couldn't resist - yet another skirt of exactly the same making with an extra-cute pattern of little hearts.

Briefcase/wallet turned into notebook

Let's face it: LARPs are usually just one huge mystery/secret/crime/scheme to be uncovered and solved. And as we don't have the trained short-term memory our illiterate ancestors long ago tended to have, we need to jot down the odd name or idea lest we forget it when it might come in handy to solve the plot. In style, of course - no plastic pens and spiral-bound notebooks. So here's a short tutorial on how to turn a leather briefcase into a very pretty notebook in almost no time.

On a flea market I bought three (I know, one would have been enough, but I found them SO pretty and practical!) of those very nice leather wallets (rather large specimens) that even have a little pouch worked into one of the sections. Cut away the gruesome plastic in one section where I intended to put the booklet.

Measure the size of your briefcase you want to use, and cut the paper according to it. If you use thick paper, 12 layers will suffice, if you use something like normal printing paper, you could go up to 24 layers or so. Fold the stack of paper neatly in half and punch four holes in the fold with an awl or a thick needle. Now sew the sheets together with yarn: beginning from the outside, go in, out the next hole, in the following and out again the last one. To bring the ends of the yearn closer together and strengthen the whole binding, go in once again and out through the two centre holes. Tighten the thread and knot it at the back of the booklet.

Put the booklet in the place where you want it to be in the briefcase. Mark the place of the holes with your awl or needle and punch them.

Take a double length of yarn now for additional strength and sew the paper into the wallet the same way you bound the booklet. Knot and draw the ends through and behind the paper.

That's it!

Quick'n'easy musketeer hat

You need:

- a broad-brimmed fedora - the kind you usually get in any fashion store in autumn
- 1 - 1.2 mm wire, as long as the outer circumfence of the brim
- same lenght of woven trim or ribbon or bias tape in a matching colour
- matching thread

1) Put the edge of the brim into the sewing machine and let the wire run right alongside while you zig-zag around. Overlap the wire ends a little so you get a smooth connection.

2) Cover the whole edge with trim/ribbon, putting it around the wired edge in U-shape. Again, overlap the edges a little and finish the visible end neatly by hand.

3) Add a hatband in a matching colour.

4) Take two or three ostrich plumes and sew them to the hatband on the side of the hat that will afterwards be tucked up.

5) Put one side of the brim up and either pin it to the crown with a small, decorative pin, or sew it up with a cross-stitch in matching thread. Finito! :)