Size 7/8/9 Liz Clark Girl's Dress

It is AMAZING what you can get done when you don't clean the house and when you get off the computer!  We are planning on doing TITP again this year and the kids needed a few things.

Actually, my son needed new everything.  I tried that 15-minute shirt and it worked; I had fun with it.  I got him new pants at the DI, and now he may need a new vest because his old vest really clashes with the new shirt.

D2 (daughter 2) needed new drawers, so I pulled out an old elastic-waist pants pattern and made her some from that.  After I did that, I realized I actually own Liz' Clark's girls' underpinnings patterns!  I'd totally forgotten.  So much for being authentic!

D3 fits into all the old stuff from D1 & D2, so she's good to go.

D1 is the one who needed an overhaul.  Surprisingly though, her old, old, old drawers from TITP year 2 still fit her when taken down.  She needed a new petticoat and dress though.  I whipped up the petticoat, then had super fun making a new dress.

First, I got the inspiration from this picture from Mrs. G at Earthly Angels.  It was so hard to choose!

It's a little big on her, but that's okay!  I used Liz's Girls' Dresses size 2 pattern.

How should I fix my little girls' hair?

Well, from what I can tell, it's actually easier than you think!  I've always tried little braids and pigtails for my daughter, but since we're not endowed with much hair in this family, it doesn't work so well.

I believe it was in one of Liz Clark's many documents on dressing children that she mentioned just parting the hair down the middle and slicking it down, cut short.

I was looking through Earthly Angels for some new toddler dress ideas and noticed so many of the girls wear their hair this way.

An example from the site:

Now wait a second...  is that three little girls or two little girls and a boy on the left?  Well, I'm beginning to notice that all the little girls' hair is parted in the center (or no part at all -- just combed back); whereas, the little boys' hair is parted on the side, even though they may be in dresses!  The little boys in dresses just signifies that they are not yet potty-trained!  Getting pants must have been a rite of passage!

Toddler Pinafore

Baby needed a new pinafore this year. I used Elizabeth Stewart Clark's FREE 1-2-3 Pinafore insturctions.  I used a full strip of 45" fabric.  I was so good to line up my plaid at the side seams, then forgot to on the pockets!!  Now that's going to bug me since I could have actually done a very good job.

Baby was asleep when I needed to measure the neckline, so I guessed WAY too big.  Rather than taking the neckline all out, I fixed it by using a long needle with a large eye (my needle isn't very blunt, but a blunt needle would be good), secured a string at one end of the neck binding (on the inside) by making a few loops over each other, ran the string through the neck binding, pulled a little to scrunch the fabric (like gathering), and secured at the other end with a few more loops to tighten it up.

This project took around 2 hours.

Baby with the way to big neckline!

She won't stand still for a picture.  Got a good back shot of her running away!

Caught her off guard when she turned around!

1840 Girl's Chemise (Slip) Try 2

I took another try at a variation of a girl's chemise last night.  The Workwoman's Guide  (1840) mentions this technique for a lady's shift (chemise) on page 45, so I thought I'd try it for a little girl.

I cut this one out the same as the other chemise according to the child's chemise dimensions.  Well, I did steepen my slope giving me more fabric to work with at the pointy end, but that, in the end makes the back slightly bigger than the front, but still workable (that probably doesn't make sense, but I don't think I'll take the time to figure out how to explain it).

So the body (big trapezoid) is basically 18" on the top and 25" on the bottom and 21" tall.

The shoulder straps are 4" x 11".  The instructions just mention shoulder straps but never say dimensions, so I just made that up.

The sleeves are 4" x 16" with little triangles cut off the ends to mimic the shape of a gusseted sleeve.  See, here I am cutting corners again!

First, I finished the edges of the sleeves as well as the tops of the body (just folded over 1/4" twice and pressed) and straight stitched along the edge.

Then, I folded the shoulder straps in half lengthwise and pressed and attached them to the inside of the body with a straight stitch.  I made sure the folded edge was toward the center -- this makes it so you don't have any edges to finish later!

Next, I marked the centers of my shoulder straps as well as my sleeves, matched them up and stitched them together.

Then, I folded the whole thing in half, matching the side seams and the sleeves and stitched closed.  Typically I finish my seams with a second straight stitch close to the first.  If I remember correctly, that is period appropriate.  You could zig-zag, but they didn't have that back then!  I actually didn't do my second straight stitch on this garment, so I really need to go back and hand overcast my seams together.

Here's the garment right side out.  Obviously it's too wide.  If the arms were bigger, it would fit me!

A technique mentioned in the Workwoman is to run a string through the hem/casing of the neckline.  It doesn't say to do it in these instructions, but I can't imagine NOT doing it.

So, I got my super long needle, some embroidery floss, secured one end on the inside by sewing a 1/2" loop over itself a few times, fed the needle through my little hem to the other side, pulled out the needle, secured the end, then did the same to the other side of the chemise.  You can't really tell in the picture below, but I'm trying to show how I secured the ends of the floss.

It's a little big on her, so I had her hold her arms up for the picture so it wouldn't fall down too low.  I believe the Workwoman said this size should work for age 5 on up; but, my daughter is only 4, well, for a couple days anyway ;-).  It should fit next year.  Had it not been 11:00 last night when I started this project, I would have had her try it on so I'd know how long those shoulder straps should have been!  If I took about an inch off the total length of the strap (4" x 10"), it probably would have been perfect.  I'll probably just sew a 3" piece folded in half along the inside of the front just for modesty's sake and ease of wear this year!

We all think it's really cute!  How am I ever going to get her to wear the first chemise I tried yesterday that fits better?

Girl's Chemise (Slip)

I had another sewing adventure today with The Workwoman.  The elder of my daughters needed a chemise to wear under her dress.  I considered drafting one as suggested by Elizabeth Stewart Clark, but thought I might just follow the measurements and diagram in The Workwoman's Guide (1840).  The only problem is those instructions!  So much guesswork as I'm only going off little sketches!  Oh well, here's how I did it.


Liz Clark suggests in her document on dressing girls that a girl's chemise can be basically like a woman's.  She suggests the length be about to the knee, but this one is rather short.

The woman's shift (chemise) in The Workwoman's Guide looks like this (Plate 6, corresponding with pages 46-49): 

The child's shift (chemise) looks like this:

I'm not sure what the deal is with that flappy thing hanging down in front, so I went with a rounded neck (which the Workwoman says is an option, too, at least for a woman's chemise, don't know about a kid's).

 Once converted from nails (2.25"), the measurements are approximately:

• Top of the trapezoid:  18"
• Bottom of the trapezoid:  25"
• Height 21"
• Arm depth:  6.25" (however, I had to make it deeper because of the gusset in the sleeve)
• Shoulder seam (distance from edge to short line in Fig. 10):  3.5"
• Lowest point of rounded neck, center front:  4.5" (I wouldn't make it this deep in the future)

I used 45" wide muslin.  I tore a 21" strip across the entire width.  Then I tore my main body down to 25" wide.  I folded my main body in half, measured out 9" from the center top and marked a slanted line down to the bottom corner and cut (see picture).

Then I took the cut off pieces and stitched them to the sides of the remnant I discarded earlier.  It makes a perfect back.  (Although, I could have steepened my slope, which would have given me a little more fabric to work with at the pointy end).

 

I cut out my neck, then stitched my side seams and shoulder seams.  I should have definitely made the back neck opening not as deep as the front -- and made the whole thing more shallow.

For the sleeves I used 2 strips: 12.5" x 4".  The little triangular gussets are just a 4" square cut diagonally, then sewn to the short ends of the long rectangles.

I hemmed sleeves before setting them into the chemise.  You can hem the bottom of the chemise any time.

A modern construction where you sew the sleeves to the body before sewing the side seams would have worked really well with this shape.

Because the neck was so huge, I put some pleats in both center front and back, so it is just big enough to fit over my daughter's head.  For some reason the neck gets weighed down funny in front.  Good thing it's going UNDER her dress!  So, not my best work, but hey, look what I'm working with!

 

 
 View of the gusset:

Elizabeth Stewart Clark Girls' Dress Size 4

I'm really excited about this dress. I made it with Elizabeth Stewart Clark's Girls' Dress patterns, size 4, and it fits me! Too bad I'm not a Pioneer girl. I kind of want to wear it around the house. I'm about 5'4".

When one of our old neighbor's daugters wanted to come up to TITP with us this year, I thought I'd better come up with some girl clothing for her to borrow. I'm also going to loan it to one of the girls going on trek -- so I didn't make it fancy at all (not that I make anything real fancy).

I was actually going to make it with long sleeves, but ran out of fabric! I'd gotten the fabric from my aunt who is selling her house and getting rid of things, so I couldn't choose the yardage :).

I did bring the neckline (sides/top of the shoulder) in 1.5" because I knew the girls borrowing it won't want to be pushing their straps under the whole time they're wearing it.

Not that you're counting, but I wanted to space the buttons very close, like you're supposed to. I measured it all out and was one button short, so I spaced the buttons a little further apart.


When I started sewing on the buttons, I realized I had one extra. Apparently it was too much before 7:00 this morning when I counted my buttons. I thought I needed 9 when I only needed 8, which is what I had! Oh well. Now I have one extra button.

Pioneer Bonnet Tutorial

Here's a bonnet pattern (guidelines/instructions/tutorial) that I made up after making several bonnets using patterns in my earlier days of re-enacting. What I really wanted was instructions on how to craft my own bonnet without needing a physical pattern. So, if you want an authentic pattern, look elsewhere, but if you want something that will work, and where you don't need to go buy a pattern, give this a try.

If you are going for authentic, here are some better options:  

Easiest: Elizabeth Stewart Clark's slat bonnet. 

Easy: Sarah Jane's Victorian Sunbonnet (with multi-sizes here) (and pdf of her tutorials here).  

Slightly more tricky, but do-able: Godey's Lady's Book 1857 Sun Bonnet (with more sizes here).

Materials
1. Fabric: Up to a yard of 45” fabric (see sizing and layout below)
2. Elastic: 7 – 9” of ¼”
3. Interfacing: equal size of one brim piece (see layout below)

Sizing and Layout
[IMPORTANT!]. I'm finding that if you measure your head and subtract two inches for the measurement for your main square, that measurement is a good size for your bonnet.
. For 16" bonnets, use 6" elastic.
. For 17-19" bonnets, use 7" elastic.
. For 20" bonnets, use 8" elastic.

. A 19" square seems to work well for 19.5" - 20.5" heads.
. My friend's girl has a 19" head and she looked great in an 18" bonnet.
. My baby has a 17" head, and a 16" bonnet is just a tiny bit big.
. My head is 22", and a 20" square looked good.
· For a baby doll a 9” starting square works well (see layout below).


(Please note:  There are two brim pieces.  One is for the outside of the bonnet, and the other is for the lining.  The ties sandwich between the two brim pieces.)

1. Cut a square of fabric. In this example, we’ll use a 20" square.
2. For the brim depth, use ¼ (or slightly less) the bonnet length plus the bonnet length for the length of the brim: 5” x 20”.
3. For the ties, cut 2 strips 3” x 30”. (The length may be a little long (especially for kids), so hold the strip up to your jaw to see how long it falls and shorten as necessary.)

Cutting

1. Fold the bonnet piece in half, and then in quarters (to make a 10” x 10” square). Press to mark a plus sign in the fabric. Unfold the fabric one time so it is still in half (see drawing).

a. Cut a quarter circle off the top half of the folded fabric. Look at the pictures below to see how you can fold the fabric to make a nice cut. I learned that from The Workwoman's Guide!






(Don't mind the bottom of these pictures, for some reason, when I upload, it looks like the picture has gone through a bad photo-copier.)

b. Cut a ½” deep mark 1/5 the way up from the bottom of the fabric: in this case, 4”. Cut another small mark ¼” deep 1” above the first mark. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this!

(You will be folding the top mark down to meet the bottom mark to form casing for the elastic. You actually may need to cut 1 ¼” above the lower mark to create enough room for feeding your elastic – depending on how big your safety pin is.)

c. Mark the top center of the bonnet piece with either a pin or a ¼” snip.


2. Take one brim piece and fold in half two times to end up with a 5” x 5” square. Press to create lines. Unfold once.

a. Cut a quarter circle off the top half. Cut the second brim piece to match.






b. Cut a piece of interfacing to match your brim.

Sewing


1. Below the bottom slit marks on both sides of the bonnet, fold the fabric in ¼”, then again ¼”. Press. Stitch.


a. Fold up the bottom edge ¼”, then again ¼”. Press. Stitch.


b. To make casing, fold top slits down to meet bottom slits in a “Z” shaped fashion. Press. Stitch bottom and top of casing (leaving ends open).






c. Cut a 7” piece of elastic and feed through casing. Be sure and stitch ends down.




2. Take one brim piece and fuse or sew interfacing to wrong side.


a. Take other brim piece and fold straight edge ½” to the back (wrong side). Press.
b. Stitch the two brim pieces right sides together along the curved edge with a 1/2 “ seam. Trim to ¼”. Clip and notch curves. Turn. Press.



(Sorry! I put my interfacing on the wrong side in the picture!)

c. Mark with a ¼” deep clip the center of the straight edge of the brim (or use a pin).

3. Fold ties in half lengthwise. Stitch a ½” seam from one short edge then across the long edge, leaving one small end open for turning. Clip corner. Turn. Press.  (Another option is to press both long sides of the tie in 1/4-1/2" as well as one end.  Fold the whole thing in half the long way and press.  Top stitch the short, pressed-under edge as well as the long edge.  This is a good way to go if you don't want to turn your ties!)




a. Baste ties to inside (wrong side) of bonnet by matching small, open end to notched corner (on top of casing, not below it).  (Also, if the tie seems too wide where you baste it on, put a little pleat in the tie -- like a little "z" fold right in the center of the narrow part of the tie -- to narrow it down to the desired size; then just baste over the tie as previously indicated (shown in picture).)

4. Run two rows of gathering stitches from one side just above the tie around to the other side just above the tie. Gather bonnet all the way around.


5. Pin straight edge of brim (unfolded piece) to bonnet, right sides together matching centers and brim ends with notched ends of bonnet. Baste with a ½ inch seam, being careful not to catch the second piece of brim (the one that was turned ½” down). Stitch, ½”.


6. Turn bonnet inside out and hand stitch folded brim piece to inside of bonnet to finish, making sure unfinished edge is tucked inside the brim.  (You may also machine stitch this if you are very careful! I find I do better hand stitching this part.)


For a (printable) PDF of this tutorial, click here.

The Idea Door also has a few links to patterns. One link doesn't work anymore, another goes to Mother Earth News (but there are no pictures), and I did try the last link entitled Women's Pioneer Bonnet (.pdf), but can't remember why I never finished that one.

I tried this pattern also, but it turned out kind of funny.

You know, had I known that on-line patterns were called tutorials when I made this pattern, I would have just Googled for a bonnet tutorial like this one from Given Moments in the first place. Here's another tutorial from Pickup Some Creativity.

10/2/10:  http://tipnut.com/sunbonnet-pattern/ 

4/5/11:  http://romantichistoryclothing.blogspot.com/2009/12/little-house-on-prairie-sunbonnet.html


Hey! If you try my pattern, let me know how it goes! I'd love to know what sizes of fabric work for what size of head.