Tuesday 26 April 2011

Oh, how I hate raw cotton!!!!!

But it does create such a nice effect... *sigh*

I used it recently on this padded jack (photos taken at the Re-enactor's Market).


This is made in two layers - an outer, quilted with raw cotton, and a lining, also quilted with raw cotton.  The sleeves are only quilted in the outer layer (or it really would be Michelin Man like)!  The sleeve puffs are also stuffed with cotton fleece.

The quilting is done by machine, but due to the thickness of the padding, the seams are all sewn by hand, and the edging is all attached by hand.





Raw cotton is not the pleasantest material to work with, as the title suggests - you simply can't work with it without a mask, (without getting 'weaver's cough') and even with a mask, at the end of a week, you feel as though you've inhaled a small cotton plantation.

But it looks so nice once it's all done.

Thursday 21 April 2011

A cloche hat in progress

A few weeks ago I started making hats in my 20 minutes of 'nice' (i.e. not work) sewing at the end of the day.

This is the first - still in progress, but close to being finished.


It's a sewn cloche - six panelled. 


My inspiration for it was a 1920s 'Vogue' cover, of a girl wearing a green hat, with a deep (low sitting) crown and a close fitting brim.

It's made in a crepe satin, which is covered with an unpanelled layer of soft rhinestoned tulle,  (i.e. the tulle is all in one piece, with the fullness at the base of the crown evenly distributed in gathers).  The brim is covered with a straight piece of the tulle, which also gathers at the base of the crown.



The lining, (still to be attached), and brim underside are in the same satin as the outer. 

The silver trim is cut from embroidered tulle, and the feathers (purple), are individual stands of ostrich feather, cut off a plume and sewn on separately.



The crown is interlined with one layer of linen buckram, and the brim with two.


Quite happy with it - is ages since I made hats!


Wednesday 20 April 2011

Badges, badges, badges...

 

So I spent last weekend (or Sunday afternoon, anyway), taking some decent pictures of livery badges.

All machine embroidered, and all designed and digitised by moi!

A chalice, digitised over a freehand sketch I drew:


A lion rampant, based on the colours of Owain Glyndwr. 




 A royal (British) leopard (aka lion), taken from an original drawing I did.





 And this one, not embroidered, but cut from pure (Hainsworth's) wool, with the detail painted on, and done from an earlier (less detailed) version of the sketch used for the above embroidered badge:





And when loading the pictures, it occurred to me that I had more pictures that I never shared.

So first, some later (not medieval) badges I did a while back.  The client provided me with a picture,

 
from which I made a working sketch,
 
 

from which (in turn) I digitised the image for machine embroidery.

And this is the finished result (after several try-outs, much tweaking, adding and removing outlines, and playing with stitching orders, and a proof):



And a closer one showing the detail:
  



And a Tudor dragon, embroidered directly onto a Tudor livery coat I made: