a manteau de lit

I'm not really participating in the #fallforcostume challenge... or whatever it is. It just happened that I have a manteau de lit, or bed jacket (several, actually). I'm not overly fond of it. There just happened to be this beautiful celery green wool fabric, and it just happened to be two yards and 60" wide. 

And it just HAPPENED to pass the burn test.

18th century bed jacket it is. Yes, I could have made the JP Ryan jacket or a short cloak from Nora Waugh's clothes. There's other wool in the stash for the cloak, and I'm hoping that either the purple or the green will be enough for the JP jacket. The last time I made this garment, it came out wrong. 

Using the instruction's over at this fabulous website, the name of which I *think* is Marquis? I did a little digging and I'm not clear on that. All their measurements are in centimeters, so I stuck with that when I drafted my own scale pattern with graph paper, and assumed that one square measured 5 cm. 

I really needed to see this go together before I made it, and it helped confirm that the measurements I took were correct. 

*I did not look at the instructions when putting together the shawl collar neck, and with the lining, it came out a little wonky. But it still fits. I did it backwards from how you're supposed to do it, that's all I can remember because again, not looking at the instructions!

It's easier to see on the right side of the garment what the seams are doing. I'll probably pick the stitches out and hand stitch that spot. 

Malabar farms and an 18th century shift

Spent Memorial Day weekend in Ohio with some friends. We took in some local sites, had some good food, and enjoyed each other's company. 

I also finally finished this 18th century shift, which I may or may not have started during the pandemic, and also made the mistake of not recording the measurements of before I sewed the pieces together. The last one I made was a complete disaster - I was following the instructions from a reputable tutorial. Despite my measurements being the same as the person leading the tutorial, it did not fit. At all. This one, which a friend helped me measure out, actually fits my body appropriately.