Simplicity 8162 - Chemise

The chemise was the 2nd thing I made out of this pattern. I was going to make it out of something like voile or lawn but went with broadcloth instead. I was planning on wearing this during the colder months and wanted the extra warmth a thicker fabric would provide. Plus, its what I had lying around.

I really like how quickly this pattern came together. Also, the amount of hand sewing required was like zero so my hands were grateful after just hand sewing all the bias tape on the corset.

The arm gussets were pinned in place and sewed down. I also sewed an inch over the large dot on the sleeve fabric.

 I ironed the seams outward and cut little slits at the large dot where I stitched so that the fabric could slip behind it. I also did a small hem on the edge of the sleeve by turning it inward twice 1/4 inch and sewing it down.

Next I worked on the neckline. I sewed the shoulder seams together using french seams. I attached the neck facing, which becomes the drawstring channel, and sewed it down. Then I turned in the facing  by the specified amount and sewed it down. I made sure to keep the two pieces on the end turned in and separate to make the opening for the ribbon.

Then the sleeves needed to get sewn on. I attached them with a modified French seam. I say modified because I sewed it on regularly and then decided I would rather do French seams so I just turned in the ends and folded them over, ironed them down, and then sewed close to the edge of the fold. Maybe there is another name for it?

The side seams were sewn up in the same modified French seam manor. The last thing I did was hem it. I folded the edge inward by 1/4" and then by another inch and sewed it down.  Then she was all good to go.

Here it is with the corset over top of it. It comes up a little high on the dress form in the chest, but it looks fine on me when worn.

 And below are the finished undergarments together at last!

Thoughts on this chemise pattern were that it was pretty easy to put together and I didn't have any instructional issues like in previous Simplicity patterns.

Overall thoughts of the pattern as a whole were that they are really great starter foundation garments. I feel like a lot of thought was put into them to make them as historically accurate as possible while also still being functional enough that an inexperienced person could put these together. Great job American Duchess!

Here are the links to the stays and bumroll.

Happy sewing and thanks for reading!

Simplicity 8162 - Bumroll

This easy project is definitely something that can get done in just a few hours.

I had originally filled my bumroll pretty full. Then I saw some examples of it being a lot less full than mine so I adjusted the fluff. Bumrolls are such a weird concept. These days we are all concerned with big hips/butts but in the 1740s they embraced it. They even enhanced it.

I used scrap fabric for this piece. Part was a soft and thin white fabric used for drapes. Maybe curtain lining? It was part of a mystery batch of fabric I was given years ago. I used this for the ruffle. The body of the bumroll was made from an high thread count Egyptian cotton bed sheet. The ties are made from some twill tape.

I made the ruffle first by sewing 1/4 inch from the bottom edge to make a guide for folding. Then I folded the fabric on the stitching line while ironing it down. Then I folded it over once more to enclose the raw edge and ironed it down. Then I ran it through the sewing machine close to the inside folded edge.

Next I took the sides and folded them in in the same manor and sewed them down.

With that done it was time to work on the body of the bumroll. I cut out the pieces and sewed the twill tape to the spot where the large circles were marked on the fabric. I pinned this inside to keep it from getting caught in the edges when sewing around for the ruffle.

Then I gathered the ruffle down to fit around the curves of the edges. I basted it down to one layer of the body.

 I placed the other side of the body over the ruffle making a sandwich and then sewed it down. Then I trimmed the raw edge and flipped the whole thing right side out and ironed it.

Next I sewed the stitching lines making the separate pockets for the stuffing. The open raw edge was ironed down at its seam allowance and I sewed over the top leaving gaps for the stuffing to go in.

I stuffed the pockets and then ran the openings through the sewing machine again.

And it was done! It came together pretty quickly and only took about 3 hours. The gathering was the longest part. I machine gathered it, but it still needed to be gathered down a bit after.

I don't really see any issues with this pattern or instructions from a technical standpoint. Historical wise I trust American Duchess to put out a well thought out and designed pattern.

To see the creation of the chemise and stays click here and here.

Happy sewing friends!

Simplicity 8162 - 1740's Stays

This project was very time consuming. There was a lot of hand sewing and figuring and reinterpreting to get it right. But I am happy with the end result and know how to make it better for next time.

 I was super stoked when these patterns came out for a number of reasons. I had been wanting to go into 18th century fashion for a while and did lots of research and looked at many examples of dresses and underpinnings. The first reason I was excited was because they were made by American Duchess! I knew she would have put a lot of research into creating the patterns for this and it would be as historically accurate as possible. The second reason was because she had promised to give "hacks" to the pattern to guide in making it even more historically accurate. And third was because it was an Outlander themed pattern! That show's second season had me drooling over all the gowns and feeling really inspired.

Unfortunately, American Duchess has been SUPER busy with growing her business and hasn't had time to finish the "hacks" series for these patterns. I am super bummed about this. I really wanted to make these patterns more historically accurate. But its alright. I can use these to build my skills so when she does finish them I can remake everything and already have a familiarity with this style of dress.


I used some scrap fabric I had laying around to use for the stays. The outer layer was made from a mystery yellow fabric that was a soft cotton, but due to Hancock Fabric's poor labeling system for scrap I had no idea what type of fabric it was. The interlining was made from a vanilla cream colored denim from Joann's. And the lining was cut from a white Egyptian cotton bed sheet with maybe a 400 thread count.

On to the pattern!

I cut out all my pieces and marked the boning channels on the interlining layer. I used some guides from what American Duchess has already published for the "hacks" and added a bit more boning to the pieces than what is required.

I took the top and interlining and based them together. The pattern tells you to sew down the long sides of the pieces. But the picture shows that you are to have sewed all the way around the pieces. This confused me and is what I really hate about Simplicity patterns. They tell or show you to do something different than intended. If you sew all the way around you close your boning channels. I stupidly didn't realize there was a difference until I had already decided to sew around three sides of each piece leaving one end open for boning. It still worked out for me, but next time I know what to look out for.

I sewed all the boning channels in and ironed each piece down.

Then I assembled the pieces together and sewed them down. This creates a few more boning channels on the edges.

The strap was sewn together with all three layers. The pattern suggests just the outside and the lining but I didn't think it would hurt to add in a layer of interlining to add more durability to the strap. The strap was then sewed onto the tab of the outside/interlining portion of the corset and the excess was trimmed and ironed down towards the bottom.

I then sewed the lining together. I ironed down the tab for the strap on this section towards the inside of the lining. Then I pinned it, with right sides facing each other, to outer layer on just the sides. Each side was sewn down and that created the outside edges of the boning channels. I left the pieces as they are, turned inside out, and started working on the boning.

 

This took a lot of boning. I used zip ties, from Lowe's, as the pattern suggests. I always use zip ties and was happy to hear that American Duchess suggests it too. Each piece was clipped to size and had the ends cut to curve them. Then they were sanded down, to reduce any sharp edges, with a metal nail file I have. You can use sand paper, but I prefer my file.
 
After the boning was inserted I flipped it right side out and pinned the bottom and top edges together and made sure everything lined up. Then I sewed the shoulder strap section down with hidden stitches. Next the top and bottom were sewn together a scant 1/4 inch away from the edge. Some of the fabric shifted and creased but I wasn't too worried about it so I left it as is.
 

Next I made some bias tape to cover the ends. I used a fat quarter of white fabric and measured my strips to be 1.5 inches wide. I had tested 1/4 inch bias tape but it wasn't enough to cover the basted stitches. So it being halfway between 1/4 and 1/2 inch was perfect.

I applied it all to the top of the corset. I did run into some issues going over the outer curves at the end of the strap which I'm sure would be fixed if the bias tape was narrower but I wasn't too worried. I sewed this part down by machine. I should have done it by hand but I was impatient.

The bottom was done by hand and took quite some time. I opened the bias tape and lined up the edges with the bottom edge of the corset. Then I hand tacked it in place along the first crease. I attached it first to the front and then folded the bias tape back and around the bottom edge. Then I whip stitched it to the lining. when I looked at the front I didn't like the way it looked compared to the back. Some places were too thin or blocky looking. The inside had nice rounded binding. So for the future I would suggest doing the reverse of what I did and start tacking it to the lining and then pulling it towards the front.

 

Next it was time to do the eyelets. My markings had shifted on the fabric and both the lining and outer layer were not matching up. No big deal. I just punched holes in the center between the boning level with the marked dots with my grommet pliers. I also added extra holes to allow for spiral lacing in the front and back. Then I clipped the holes open a little more with scissors and insert the grommets. Once they were all placed (not hammered yet), I applied fray check around the holes just to give them a little extra durability. Then I let the glue dry for a couple of hours till it was not tacky.

 The grommets were then hammered in and the corset was finished.

 

Right now I have it laced sloppily just for pictures. I am also switching out the black para cord for ribbon when I get to the store.

Next up will be the bumroll and the chemise.

Thank you for reading!!

Avengers Apron - Simplicity 3544

The past couple of months it has been hard to get into the office to sew. But I finally pushed myself and got this apron done!

I was super tired of constantly ruining shirts while cooking so I wanted an apron that would cover a lot of myself. I also really wanted to use a vintage pattern because well . . .  that's me. I had the avengers fabric for quite some time. I was initially going to make a dress or skirt out of it for the Avengers 2 premier and then, after waiting so long and not doing it, the Civil War premier. But that didn't work out and I needed an apron so this was born!

The instructions for this are fairly simple. I really didn't run into many problems besides issues with bias tape. Which I had to make a lot of! I could have purchased it and saved time but I wanted the tape to match the waist ties and buttons I was adding.

I started out by taking the front piece and making the dart for the pocket and ironing it down. The rounded bottom part will come together to make the pocket.

The pockets in this thing are awesome! I have a huge phone, the Note 4, and these pockets fit it perfectly.

The next thing I did was to add the pocket front piece to the large front sections. Then I added bias tape to the tops. 

 

Once those pieces are completed you can sew the pocket pieces together. I suggest using a serger or some kind of finishing stitch to the edges to keep fraying down. Maybe even use bias tape on the edges as a bound seam. This project will use A LOT of bias tape so buy or make extra! I chose to use my serger and serged the seams.

Below is what it will look like when the two pieces are sewn together.

Next is the center front. Use the bias tape to encase the neckline in bias tape. Don't fold in the edges. They will get caught up in side seams to get finished. 

 The next step will be to sew the side fronts to the center front. You will sew wrong sides together so that the seam is outside. Then trim it down by 1cm all the way up to the shoulder seam edge so you can put the bias tape over it. Make sure you are pressing everything regularly. You want to make sure everything is flat when you are laying the tape down.

Now it is time for the shoulder straps. I sewed them together with french seams. I didn't want any exposed seams on this because I knew this would be washed often and I didn't want the seams to shred. You can either use a serger or a finishing stitch. I do not recommend using bias tape for bound seams because it will create bulk for the edges when the trim goes on. 

I also sewed on the side back panels using my serger and ironed the seams towards the back. On the sides in the front, the edge just under the first scallop you will need to trim away 1cm from the edge all the way down to the side edge.

  

 The next step took the most time. I pinned on all the bias tape from the side all the way up and around the strap and down the center front seams. It took a lot of time to get the tape properly set in the corners of the scallops and over everything evenly. But I sewed them down and ironed them towards the center in the middle.

Now it was time to work on the ties. This part was super simple. The pattern calls for 1 piece of fabric to create the tie and then you make narrow hems the whole way around. I decided to modify this because I wanted the ties to look nicer. So I used 2 pieces and sewed them into a tube. Then I flipped it right side out and make sure the pointed ends were pointy and ironed it down. I top stitched the edges 1/8th away from the edge and then gathered the square ends. 

I basted the ties down onto the edges and then wrapped bias tape around the hem of the apron. 

Sewing the bias tape over the waist ties seemed to be the most difficult thing. The gathering created extra bulk that the 1/4 inch bias tape didn't want to handle while going through a machine. If I had laid it flat it would have worked. It might have been the extra layer in the tie, but I refuse to believe that. I had to sew and resew the section over and over. It looked terrible. Finally I just decided I would force it down with hand stitches and then top sew over it. So I sewed the edges down with invisible stitches and then ran it through the machine. Still not pleased because the fabric is visibly mangled a bit from the constant resewing but you can't see once its tied and buttoned. The rest of the hem looks great though!

I made button holes in the ends of the shoulder straps and covered some 1" buttons with the yellow fabric and sewed them onto the edges. It was finally finished!

And now for one picture with a petticoat under it as is tradition. Well at least EVERY picture I see of aprons always seem to have petticoats underneath. 

Thank you for reading! Happy sewing!