1916 Sewing - Post 4 - Origins of the cross stitch design for my needle case

This beautiful pin keeper comes from the blog, Heart in Stitches.

I'm using the central portion of the design for my needle case.  So, far my purple portion is this one's blue portion.  And, I still have to decide what color to make my center.

Isn't the original stitcher just fabulous?  It makes me a tad embarrassed, but hey, I'm learning.

1916 Sewing. 3rd Post

The cross stitching begins on my sewing needle book.


But, I must have lost count somewhere because one of the "leaves" is a tad long. I was hoping it wouldn't be too noticeable, .... but...


it's lopsided. And, that's just one line too many. So, I'm going to have to figure out how to unpick it. The stitches aren't perfect either. Counting 3 lines up and across for each stitch is not easy. But, I'm pleased with the overall appearance, except for the "obvious" oops.

This would have come together an awful lot faster if I'd used aida fabric. So far, it takes one episode of Battlestar Galactica (40 minutes) to complete each of the four sections.

And, it's really amazing how my old skills at cross stitch are helping. It reminds me that this is why I'm doing this course. Some skills you learn by doing. And, once you've learned them, you have them for life.

Oh, And, I'm using a purple variegated embroidery floss. I'm pleased with the variation in color, and I'll just have to see how the oops repair affects the color.

My pattern calls for a contrast color in the center of the design. I still have to decide what color to use.

And, hmmmm did I post about where I found the design? I'll have to double check on that. I think I did not, so I will just have to do another post on that.

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1916 Sewing. 2nd post

And so begins my 1916 sewing project....

I've dilly dallied enough, so here goes....

First, I had to find some fabric, and a garage sale had what I wanted.


The blue marks are from my water soluble marker. This photo is pre-ironing. Sigh.. I hate ironing.



Now, I'm designing the decoration for the cover. I can't stand Aida fabric, so I'm trying to use an even weave fabric, but the weave may be too fine. We shall see.



The orange embroidery floss is just for testing. I haven't decided on a color other than for monochromatic. Maybe brown, purple, red, or black.

One of the odd things about this project are the anachronistic (if I'm using that word properly...) moments. When I was measuring with my quilting square, I was thinking how wonderful a product it is, and that in 1916, these didn't exist. I shall just skip mentioning water soluble pens.

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My New Big Sewing Project - 1916 Sewing Course

I've had an idea for awhile that my sewing skills would improve if I took a course. And, with my interest in vintage sewing machines, I've been looking at old sewing text books. I've been looking at a lot of old sewing text books.

Finally, I found one that I really liked. My wish list included

1. No need for buying additional patterns

2. Easily obtainable text - In this case, I downloaded it to my iPad via Kindle from the Internet Archive. FREE is awesome.

3. Most of the projects need to be machine sewed.

4. The projects, for the most part, needed to remain practical for the 21st century, and I had to want to do them.

School Sewing Based on Home Problems by Ida Robinson Burton B.S. and Myron G Burton A.B. This particular book met my requirements best, although it is somewhat lacking in the directions for specific hand stitches, but I have other books for that.









So, here's the first project of the book, and the first that I am going to do. I'm going to try to work through the book project by project.




One of the cool things about the book is that it includes several options for each project. For instance, instead of a needle book, I could make a book mark or a napkin ring, or a penwiper (whatever that is - Wouldn't it get dirty if you wiped a fountain pen on it?)

Well, I'm going to make the needle book. I think having a little container for my hand sewing needles will actually be quite convenient. It's such a pain to reinsert needles back into their original sleeve.

So, I scored some nice art canvas while garage saleing. I can't stand that thick, coarse Aida fabric, so I have some nice regular "thick"? weave fabric that should work.

Now, to design my decorative stitches. Oh, and I need to find out what outing flannel is. Otherwise, I will need to obtain some felt.

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