Examining the Old to Make the New

You may not know that when I was a senior in college I received an undergraduate research fellowship through Buffalo State College. It was through this fellowship that I got a taste of curatorial work with the Historical Society of the Tonawandas. For a summer I was the curator of the clothing and textile collection of this organization. At the time the collection was not cataloged and some of the boxes had not been looked into for 20 or more years. Each day I went into work was another amazing opportunity to see old clothes and textiles. To me, the entire collection felt like my children; I brought them into the light, putting them on dress forms I breathed life into them, taking their picture for documentation was like watching their first step and posting it on social media for everyone to see, knowing full well that I was one of the very few who appreciated it for the true beauty it was.
I learned so much from that summer, and from all the work I did with the historical society. We mounted a modest exhibition of clothes from the collection at the local library and in order to do so we needed dress forms, so, I made them using information from Janet Arnold. I find all of her work to be most valuable; even if you're not a fashion historian it is very fascinating to see her illustrations of historical clothing from England. The book that I went to numerous times that summer was A Handbook of Costume, one of her lesser known books. It has since become a rather expensive out-of-print book, but if you can get your hands on a copy at your local library, I greatly encourage it.
In this book Janet Arnold explains how you can learn from clothing. She talks about having the actual garment in front of you but also how to examine art works, of all forms from paintings to stain glass windows, to better understand the clothes in them.
So, why am I telling you all of this? To me, clothing is a vital part of seeing who people were in past times. It can also teach us how to do better work with our fiber crafts. Since moving to Wyoming I feel as though I've fallen into being a vintage clothing dealer. I can look at clothing or textiles and tell you how they were made. That is something that I am proud of, and today will be the first of many posts in an examination of a certain garment. This post will be on the simple side, a late Victorian to early Edwardian full apron.

Description:
This is the apron with a dress underneath. The front is on the left and the back is on the right. It is made from a simple white cotton calico with a small floral sprig motif printed on it in navy blue. It is simply constructed with all straight of grain pieces. There are two patch pockets on either side at hip level. There is one button at the top of the yoke at center back.

How they made it:
The fabric was a mere 25 inches wide. One panel 43 inches long is the front. A second, the same length is the back, but split down the middle. There is a small gore at the side seam, placed on the selvage, measuring 13.25 inches with a height of 3.5". The bias side of the triangle is placed on back panel and the straight of grain is on the side seam.
The yoke and straps are a folded 4 inch piece of straight of grain material cut into 12 inch pieces. The little ruffled hem flounce is 75 inches long and 4 inches wide, so three 4 inch wide strips of the 25 inch wide fabric.
With the front panel, you would gather it down to 12 inches and sew the yoke to it. The back yoke is cut in half and the back panels are sewn into each yoke piece. The straps are top stitched on the yokes. The sides seams are open from the yoke down 11 inches. The fabric folded twice and top stitched. The rest of the side seam is felt felled. The hem flounce is sewn together, hemmed on one long side and gathered on the other. It is then mounted on the apron hem using a french seam. A 7/8 inch button hole is made, on the horizontal, 1 inch in from the center back. A matching button is sewn on the other side to form the closure. The patch pockets are a 6 inch square with a slightly rounded bottom. They are placed 4.5 inches down from the bottom of the armseye, with one side placed on the front panel side of the side seam.
Does that make any sense? If not, comment, and I will try and clarify!
Now you're probably say, 'Ben, this is an old apron and this would not fit me, nor can I find 25 inch wide fabric!' So, here's some thoughts on modernizing it:
You can shorten it, although fiber friends I think it would be helpful to have a full length apron to card or dye or spin in.
Substitute fabric. If you get a 54 inch, or so, wide fabric you can make the full length apron in 2 yards of fabric, less if you want it shorter. The only important thing here is to not pick a directional fabric or one that you will have to match a pattern on, then you're going to need more fabric. Or, if you wanted to use scraps of fabric you could piece them together into the shapes and have a sort of crazy quilt apron. The straps and yoke could be substituted for ribbons.
Make it fit you. I would make the front and back yokes 2 inches shorter than your across front measurement. This measurement it taken from one side of where your arm meets your chest to the other, pretty much right over your heart. For the front and back panels, I would measure your hips and add 6 inches for ease, more if you want it to be more full. Half of your hip measurement plus ease should be the width of your front panel.
Again, does this make sense? Contact me if it doesn't! I'd be more than happy to explain it more!
I hope this inspires you to examine the old to make your next new project! Be prepared for more in depth examinations too!

February Project: Started

So the bitter cold, snow filled, month of February has started here in the tundra which is now the greater Western New York Area. And what do you all think I do to compensate for the weather? I knit of course.
February, according to Elizabeth Zimmerman, is baby month. To begin with, she is not having any babies, nor am I, nor do I know anyone who has recently. So I am knitting for the sake of knitting, and honestly could there be a better reason to knit?
First she has a pattern for a double knit pot holder as the gauge swatch and a double knitted baby blanket as the actual project. I only knitted the pot holder, but may I say it was quite fun and fast and I rather like the finished pot holder. I made it out of left over Lions Brand chunky wool ease.

If I do knit it into a blanket any baby's bottom or knees would much appreciate it as the chunky yarn and double knitted factor make it supper plush.
Following this in the month of February is a square shawl. I am in the middle of that, more news to follow.
Along with the shawl I am now working on the Baby sweater. I have begun it but am only on the first set of increases to it. But, I can assure you that I am loving it because it is a top down little thing that's going to be adorable in a sky blue and pale pink.
Happy Knitting to All!

January Project: Complete

January has come and gone and so has the Aran sweater project. Now my sweater fell short because I ran out of yarn to make sleeves, so I made a sweater vest.
On a trip to visit friends in New York City, and to see Death Becomes Her at the Metropolitan Museum, I was knitting on the train. And somewhere between Albany and New York City I ran into problems; I realized I was running out of yarn. I already had finished knitting the back as a raglan but who ever heard of a raglan sweater vest, so I had to figure out how to make the front fit into the shoulders on the back. I pondered for some ways on the train and realized if I made the front a V neck and continued the decreases from the front then I could make the front follow over the shoulder and make a drop shoulder seam in the back; which I did. I'm rather happy with the results except for one thing...It's far too large for me. Luckily I know one person who would appreciate this fine knitted Aran V-neck sweater vest and he shall receive it when next our paths meet.

P.S. I would like to say this is an authentic Aran sweater because there are variations in the cables. To all those half empty glass people who will see them as mistakes I say "No, those are character traits, choices on behalf of the sweater!"

Sweaters

Good Morning All,
Last night I spent far too long attempting to put together my first sweater for The Elizabeth Zimmerman Challenge. I mean between 10 different gauge swatches, attempting patterns, planning patterns on graph paper, I must have spent 6 or 7 hours just on that.
So this morning I woke up early, (I have a rehearsal for a concert...did I mention I sing?) and I started back on the sweater. Luckily I had found some patterns that I liked. In my gathering of resources I had found a book I rather liked. Now it is not Elizabeth Zimmerman, but I think she would be proud of me either way. It is an Aran sweater, that I will be knitting and I feel she would be proud in just that.
Now in The Knitters Almanac, Ms. Zimmerman discusses how to knit, but more importantly how to make it your own art form!
Today, a lot of people knit but they use some one else's patterns. The tradition of Aran knitting, and really any traditional needlecraft, not just knitting, is not given to you in a pattern but rather self created. In Aran knitting the patterns were passed down within a family, Italians have a different dialect in each region, the Irish have a different stitch for every family. Knitting to the Aran people was a way to express something. It was just a mixture of knits and purls.
So what I am saying to you is, KNIT! but, make your knitting your own and change the stitch pattern up, or change the sleeve, or the neck line. Trust me, you can do it!
Happy Knitting,
Old Niagara Outfitters

Fashion Word of The Day: Bobbin Lace

Bobbin lace is a form of handmade lace using bobbins wound with thread and woven over a pillow. Pins are used to outline the pattern and threads are drawn and woven between them to create the grounds and motifs. Originally the fish bones were used in place of pins and that is why it is know also as bone lace. Another term for it is pillow lace.

These are all pictures of my own work. I made the bobbin lace pillow and the lace that's being worked on the pillow.

I use a crochet cotton thread or a pearl cotton in these early examples. But fine bobbin lace is worked in linen thread that is no bigger than sewing thread.

You can see the pins on the outside edges of the lace. The pattern or pricking is wrapped around the middle part of the pillow, called the bolster. The bolster is circular so you can work an edging for as long as you need to. The pricking is done on a heavy card stock or poster board. I used a dark color as so I can see the work better.

Finished example of bobbin lace edging.

This was a lace bookmark I made using colored pearl cotton.

First Etsy Listing

These are the picture to my first Etsy posting. This is a hand knit shawl that I made a few years ago.