Dorset Thread Buttons

Two linen shirts made for two petit garçons including handmade Dorset thread buttons.
These buttons show at the collar of the shirt with lace jabot and cuffs worn with a banyan in Liotard's painting.

Bits of Ribbon

Bits of ribbon, used to attach brooches of loved ones, often worn in pairs. Here is pictorial documentation from the 18thC by Jean Liotard, 1760.

April Fish

April 1st, in France, is a day to give gifts and express friendship. This is an old tradition, seen hidden in painted lines on a gift box from the 18thC.

A Cache for Furbelows

18thC paintings show blue ribbon-edged boxes seemingly expressly made to store and protect furbelows and trimmings for gowns, caps and hats. Here is my version, covered before edging with a few scraps of wallpaper saved from my dining room in the house with the pink door on Kootenai in Boise.

Petite Pochette - Little Pocket

A little stitcher's pocket to hold my thread bobbins and a couple of needles to stitch a current project--a petite pochette tutorial is found on Mon Aiguille's site. Thank you, Véro--your instructions were excellent. Here is a slideshow on how to twist cord for tying the pocket closed.

Jellyroll Sewing Machine Cover

Here is my interpretation of a Moda Bakeshop Recipe designed by Margot Languedoc, Jelly Roll Cover Up. Margot sewed her strips together before sandwiching them to the backing and batting and then quilting. I laid out my backing face down, then batting [actually fleece], and finally the 2 1/2 inch strips were sewn together with a 1/4 inch seam, beginning at the top of the bottom strip and flipping up each strip and pressing before sewing down the next strip. This results in a each piece being quilted down as I went. All I did to finish the cover up was to insert two top curved end pieces wrong sides together. The ends were bound first, then the bottom edge. This cover up is for my Singer 201-2 in an oak Lotus treadle cabinet. I have another one to make for my elna Carina SU-66, which is made to fit into a cabinet right next to my Singer. It has a push button to lift the machine up to disclose the free arm--so it sits flush with the cabinet surface most of the time. The fold out covers to the two machine cabinets stand open all of the time. The end of one holds my White Super Lock 534W-2 Serger [it will need a cover, too], and the other surface allows me to spread out my sewing projects.

Doubling Yourself for Sewing, Fitting & Pattern Drafting

Make yourself a duct tape double upon which to drape and fit clothing and patterns. If you are sewing for the 18thC, you would wear your stays or corset under the T-shirt prior to wrapping. Lace up the back and draw your chemise throat/collar line on the duct tape double and you would be ready to either draft patterns or drape yards of fabric into your own robes.

Another method is the Moulage as taught by Ecole Guerre-Lavigne, using measuring and sewing of a muslin «second skin», which could also be stuffed and placed around a dressform foundation to make your own pattern-drafting-fitting mannequin.

SALexandre - Outlines

One thread of floss over one thread of ground (linen) is really small. I had thought to be able to stitch quickly--it will take longer than I thought to finish even one panel. But the results will be worth it. Hints: make sure tapestry needle is of a similar size to thread--too large a needle will result in distorting the linen.

SALexandre - Layout of Stitching Panels

I have used pins to mark every ten threads 126 stitches high. There are 10 threads surrounding each panel on the top and bottom and outer sides and 20 threads between each panel. I have used a pulled thread at the top to mark what may be a cutting line. Once the panels are stitched, I can use the top section above the pulled thread to stitch the smaller inner pieces of embroidery. I have also hand-overcast the edges of the linen to keep it from fraying. I will not be using a hoop and will roll the linen over my needleroll to keep creases from marring my work.

Preparing Variegated Thread for Stitching

Prior to beginning to stitch on my SALexandre stitcher's wallet/housewife, I am preparing my thread by winding my skein of DMC#99 variegated floss around a yardstick. This divides the floss from light to dark. I will cut the 36 inch lengths into 18 inch lengths and put them into 2 floss bags marked light to medium and medium to dark. Then no matter where I am within the design when I run out of thread, I can select the appropriate intensity of floss to begin stitching right where I left off with no wasting of thread. This technique of preparing variegated thread is found in Variegated Samplers, Leaflet #1617, a Craftways publication, edited by Karen Strauss.