HSF - Challenge #13 Under $10

Challenge - Under $10

Fabric - 100% cotton reproduction fabric from Windham fabrics. Print is dated for 1845-1865

Pattern - Heavily modified Garibaldi Blouse (TV441) pattern from Truly Victorian

Year - 1850s-1870s, no specific year

Notions - Buttons and poly thread

Hours to complete - About 18

First Worn - Just for photos right now. Still have to make other things to go with it.

Total Cost - Only $0.75. Fabric was in my stash, and thread was leftover from another project. Buttons I found on clearance at the fabric store.

How accurate is it?
To be honest, not really sure. I scoured the internet trying to find photos of frontier style work blouses, but really couldn't come up with anything. As work blouses, these garments were usually worn until they were worn out then discarded, so there are few originals still in existence. Photos did not help either since most frontier/pioneer photos are of families in their Sunday best, not their work clothes. Using other existing reproductions, I heavily modified an existing pattern which is very historically accurate in design.

Lucky 13, I managed to get this challenge done on time! I've been wanting to do a dressed down outfit for a long time (hoop skirts, petticoats, and yards of material can be cumbersome sometimes). I bought this fabric about three years ago with the intention of using it for a bodice or blouse, but never had any firm plans until now. The outfit I finally put together in my brain consisted of a brown skirt to go over a corded petticoat with a simple cotton work blouse with roll-able sleeves.

Recollections

Recollections

Since it was in the stash, I started with the blouse. As mentioned above, there were very few original examples or photos to work from, so I looked at a few reproductions and just sort of started mashing designs together using the Garibaldi blouse pattern as a base. 

Garibaldi Blouse TV441

The first change I made was to the chest area. Smashing together different sizes and measurement adjustments, I took the chest in so it wouldn't be as loose fitting and shortened it about 2 inches.

I did the same with the sleeves, taking them in about four sizes so they wouldn't be as puffy, a characteristic of the Garibaldi blouse. The sleeves were also shortened about 4 inches not only to reduce more of the pouf, but due to material shortages.

Original sleeve pattern over the shortened fabric

When I bought my fabric eons ago, I only grabbed 3 yards of it, figuring there would be enough. Right... I used every inch along the length of the fabric with less than 1/4 inch between pieces to maximize space. I even had to piece together the neckband piece.

The other major change I made was to the cuffs. I widened them considerably and added 1" to the length so the ends would overlap. I also widened the placket which would allow me to roll the sleeves up when unbuttoned.

Finished sleeve cuff

After everything was sewn together and stitched down all the loose edges, I added my awesome clearance buttons. When shopping at the store, I had found one style that was okay, but then I found these in the clearance which went nicely. I went ALL of the clearance buttons to find more and lucked out, finding just enough for what I needed for this project.

Total cost came to $0.75. Yippee!

I opted for modern technology when putting in my buttonholes, using my handy dandy buttonhole foot on the sewing machine. I know I need to eventually look into making buttonholes by hand, but decided it wouldn't be on this project at this time.

Buttonholes on cuff

All the buttons are attached by hand though to ensure that they stay attached to the blouse and I finished off all my open edges with a small whipstitch to keep everything in place.

For starting without a mockup, the pattern size mashup turned out very well along with the fit. Although it's still not as fitted as I want through the waist area, I figure I could easily add in some darts if I find the extra material is bothering me too much. Yay for finishing though, since HSF challenges will have to be set aside for right now.