Thimble Raven

I’ve been at a standstill in terms of sewing progress for the past few months due to returning to school and being focused on a very work intensive condensed class. Now that said condensed class has concluded (huzzah!), I’m putting some efforts into having wearable items for a trip to Williamsburg this winter.

I impulsively decided to start machine quilting a silk petticoat a couple weeks ago. I have one panel finished, and have finished basting the second panel. The design, which I just made up as I’ve been going along, looks more art deco than 18th century, but I’m calling it “good enough” for a last-minute first attempt.

I intend to make a jacket or caraco to wear with the quilted petticoat, but haven’t firmly ironed down which pattern or style I want to make. I might use an Ikea duvet from my stash, and I will probably choose between a JP Ryan pattern or the Scroop Amalia jacket pattern (which I’ve made 3 times before). I may only have time to fit a toile for this before the end of the month, and that would be satisfactory progress in my book.

Stays! My current pair of stays no longer fits, and I need to work on a new pair soon – so I can actually fit and construct a jacket. I’ll be using the Redthreaded 1780’s front lacing stays pattern again, since I’ve made it up twice before, and it fits me wonderfully without any adjustments. As time consuming as stays can be, I feel very comfortable making corsetry, and I tend to get these projects done reasonably quickly.

Wrapping gown/banyan. I’ve cut out a wrapping gown with some beautiful gold-toned jacquard from my stash, and this should be a theoretically quick make, as it’s mostly just felling seams and hemming.

I think that’s MORE than enough productivity planned for the rest of the month, and I’ll be very impressed if I get all of this done. The stays (for jacket fitting) and banyan (for a November event) will be my top priority.