Autumn Zebra

Craft from Xmas 2015 I made this apron as a Christmas present for my sister in 2015. The blue flower fabric is linen, the pink is a linen-cotton blend. I quite like making aprons because they're fairly easy and you can use colours that people often wouldn't find acceptable for other types of clothing. I can't remember if I used a pattern - I might have got one from one of my "complete sewing guides" which often have instructions for basic household items at the back. I always find it hard to work out what measurements to use for aprons with top pieces - how wide and how tall?

A more recent craft, although from February 2017. I have a singlet I really like that I bought probably over 10 years ago and it is getting a bit faded and stuff now, so I decided to make a pattern off it and make my own. I have had trouble finding any in the right type of fabric anyway. I just traced round the existing one and added seam allowances where necessary. Both of these are from the same pattern. The black one is merino, and worked really well. Its a kind of rib knit. It stretches around you, then fits snugly. The camo-bug one is not very stretchy and is too small. I think its a type of non-stretchy jersey or something. The black one is bound with a strip of it's own fabric, with raw edges and a zig zag stitch. The camo-bug one is folded over to the inside and sewn down, for some reason.

I haven't written a blog post in a long time. During the holidays, I have been wearing mostly just tights with long t-shirts over them, which is very comfortable but not very practical for going places. I accidentally went to dinner at an Indian restaurant in green leggings, a "Lost World" t-shirt, an old loose cardigan and my Mum's too large ballet slipper-like shoes, but luckily it was in South Dunedin, where people regularly go to the supermarket in their pyjamas and being weird is normal, due to it's very low socio-economic status. Strangely, it's also pretty much the only area where you can get dinner or coffee after 9pm (and to a perfectly reasonable standard with good service and comfortable surroundings). So, anyway, I didn't have any sensible clothes, so just before the holidays are about to end, I made a long tunic top. It is made of 100% merino (10$/m, amazing!) and it is based on a Burda magazine pattern. I made the pattern bigger and lengthe...

I spent two hours in the last two days trying to buy a bra and came out with nothing. To start with I need a 16B. Less than half of styles seem to go up to a 16. Of those that do, 90% start at 16C. Then, 90% of those don't have long enough straps over the shoulders. In fact, they're also barely big enough in the band at size 16, although I normally wear size 12-14 tops. 95% of size 16 bras only come in black, white or beige, and not that much black actually either. So I found one style that came in black and white that had long enough straps and was just big enough in the band to be comfortable, but it unfortunately wasn't one of half a dozen styles that wouldn't drive me crazy in less than half an hour. If we say that a bra with the greatest amount of uncomfortable, itchy features* is at 100%, most t-shirt bras come in at about 20%. There was one really good one that probably would have been only 10% or less, but the straps over the shoulders were way too short. So the...

Primarily for 1820-1890. Books Everyday Dress 1650-1900 Elizabeth Ewing The Victorians and Edwardians at Work John Hannavy Fabric of Society - A Century of People and Their Clothes 1770-1870 Jane Tozer & Sarah Levitt Working Class Costume from Sketches of Characters William Johnstone White 1818 Working Dress: A History of Occupational Clothing Diana De Marly Museums with some relevant online stuff Manchester Galleries Collection search Manchester Galleries " Collection Themes " includes a "Clothes for Work" section The Museum of English Rural Life has a lot about smock-frocks, sun-bonnets and the Women's Land Army and a little about other things - Collection Search People's Collection Wales Collections (use "Discover" box to search or look through the pre-made collections) has a lot of prints of Welsh 19th Century people, and a few photos of extant clothing. They may or may not be working class, but they look like "normal people...