Meet Tessie

I am proud to introduce to you, "Torpedo T*ts Tessie" heretofore know as "Tessie" She is a Uniquely You dressform that my darling boyfriend bought me for Christmas. There is a fitted dress that fits over the form, which is kind of a memory foam, that you sew to your exact size and then fit over the form. When I actually do that, I'll let you know how it goes.

Holy Torpedoes Batman!

I'm participation in the Historical Sew Fortnightly 2014 again this year, and the first challenge is 

#1: Make Do & Mend – due Wed 15 Jan. Let’s start of the year with a clean slate, and with a bit of a tidy up.  Use this challenge as an opportunity to get your historical wardrobe in order by fixing any little bits that have worn out and gone wrong.  Alternatively, you could focus on the historical precedent of making-do by re-making something into a historical garments, whether it be a bodice from a worn-out skirt, a chemise from old sheets, a bosom-friend from an old cardigan, or a new historical hat from an old modern one etc.  Finally, you could just those people who had to make-do by making something for a historical character who would have scrimped and saved and re-made and mended until the fabric entirely fell apart.

I have a pretty linen shirt that I bought at the thrift store. It is far too big, but I think I can make it into a nice victorian shirtwaist.

I took the whole blouse apart with a seam ripper, with the intention to then use the pattern pieces from the Folkwear Schoolmarm pattern shirtwaist, but of course the pattern pieces are way to big, so I'm going to have to get creative. Make it work! I put both the half finished walking skirt and the tucked in uncut shirt on the corseted Tessie, to do a little visual mockup of what it will look like. The picture isn't great, but you can get a bit of an idea. I have some other linen from some old pillow shams. If I tea dye the whole thing and those pieces, it may all look like it goes together.

The whole shirt will be reshaped.

More detail of the lace