Casual and Comfy 1930's Corduroy Skirt

This piece of 100% cotton corduroy was an amazing thrift store acquisition. I'm not sure you can even find corduroy that's both sturdy and narrowly spaced like this anymore!

This skirt reminds me of the "golf" or "sport" skirts of the era, and I suddenly understand the appeal of a hefty weight material in a tailored skirt. It's incredibly practical and comfortable! I used the same skirt draft from the Brown 1930's Suit and Tigger Outfit, with just a bit more tailoring in cut for the stiffer fabric. I love how the weight of the corduroy holds the pleats.

 

 

I tried to be as strategic as I could with where the faded bit of the fabric landed, and since it's a "play" skirt, I didn't mind some defects of material... Plus the fabric cost less than $5 total, so how could I complain. 😉

I had SO much fun playing with the corduroy grain-lines for the pocket design and details of the skirt. The pointed tacking for the pleats even echos the angle of the pocket in reverse. 😊

The closure features several of my favorite techniques- a zipper put in with historically accurate hand picked stitching and hooks with thread eyes. Folks, thread eyes are the BEST! They stay hooked so much better than the metal bars or eyes, and they blend in really well to the garment!

I've had the skirt for over a year now, and it's been one of my favorite go-to, everyday skirts. It pairs perfectly with my linen blouse from the 1930's Linen Ensemble for warmer days, though the weight of the corduroy material makes it exceptionally well suited to chilly weather. Even my wool skirt, being a lighter-weight suiting is cooler. 😄

 

All things told, I think this is my favorite 1930's skirt to date, though it's really hard to decide between this and my brown wool one! Both are so comfortable to wear, but this one has pockets, so it noses ahead in the "favorite" race by just a hair. 😊😉

A Small Project for a New Little Person

After finding out we were expecting and getting through the first trimester, I finally sat down to start the somewhat overwhelming, but delightful and fun task of planning for all the things baby would be needing.

I finally decided after searching, and searching, and SEARCHING, that a co-sleeping baby nest would be the most practical baby bed for the first few months. He'll be snugly safe in his own little "nest", but close to me so I can tend him easily at all hours.

I really wanted a cotton nest, but since I couldn't find any with cotton batting and stuffing, I decided to go ahead and make my own. I had a bit of cotton batting already, so I ordered 3 lbs of natural cotton stuffing and searched through my stash for the perfect fabric.

I hemmed, and hawed, and hemmed some more... and finally decided to make the nest a little bigger than most of the baby ones I saw. Upon discovering a few toddler nests, I increased the measurements of the sleeping area to reflect those sizes more, that way the nest will be sure to work until baby is sleeping through the night on his own. 😊 Next up was drafting the pattern based off those measurements, and making the nest. The whole process actually went really smoothly! 😊

The main body of the nest is a heavy cotton twill material, perfect for a sturdy and durable base. 

I seriously miscalculated how much batting I would need, and despite piecing a couple narrower strips together, I ran out of the batting I had on hand after doing only the 2 layers for the base. With everything finished but the mattress, the project ground to a halt until I could make a run to the store for more batting. But hey, it probably saved me from staying up super late to finish the mattress and get the whole project done in one day. 😉

I really liked the v-shaped quilting on a couple nests I saw on Pinterest, and decided to go for that look with my own nest. I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

The sailboat mattress pad is made from a quilting-weight cotton fabric, with 3 layers of batting for softness. I'll be putting a thick piece of wool fabric between the mattress and nest for a water-resistant barrier to guard against the inevitable diaper and spit-up accidents. 😏 Since the mattress portion is completely separate, I can take it out and wash it without washing the whole nest... and trying to dry out nearly 3 pounds of cotton filling any time it needs a cleaning. 😨😊

It was such a joy to make a special nest for my own little one. 😊 Feeling my heart fill with love for the little person he is, his personality already showing in how he moves and the little things unique to the way God has knit him together to be. 💗

1930's Linen Ensemble/Disneybounding Tigger

With wedding prep and projects, the editing of photos taken LAST summer got pushed aside to a less busy time. I've finally gotten around to revisiting them, and I'm excited to finally share a few of my favorite outfits with you all!

This particular outfit was a last minute decision for a themed Ball... I've always loved Tigger rather a prodigious amount, and since the Ball was movie character themed, I decided I wanted to be Tigger and set to work designing a Tigger inspired, but historically accurate outfit for the event. Why am I crazy and try to plan an entire ensemble in a matter of weeks?

Tiger striped cat with a Tigger outfit... :D

I drafted every piece for this ensemble, which took extra time, but was worth it. :) The Jacket was the hardest and took the most time in mock-up phase. I still want to hone and perfect the draft for future projects, but I was pretty pleased with my first jacket project drafted from scratch.

 

The skirt was pretty easy to make with just a few adjustments to my original draft for my brown 1930's skirt.

I only ordered 2 yards of linen for both the skirt and jacket... it took a bit of finagling to fit it all on, but it just barely made it with a few small scraps left in corners.

The pockets were quite tricky, but I'm pleased with how they came out, and I think it was worth the agony I went through to perfect them. I even brought in my engineering minded brother to consult on the proper angle for these. 😉

The blouse went fairly smoothly, thanks to the absence of sleeves. 😉 Sleeve drafting is my current bane, which I will hopefully someday over-come and begin to feel comfortable whipping out whatever kind of sleeves I want.

I love the versatility of 1930's blouses. Unlike many other decades, they were often designed to be worn un-tucked as well as tucked.

For the ball I merely added a fabric headband with Tigger shaped ears, and used a permanent marker to add a few stripes, and colored more stripes on a pair of skin-tone stockings.

Unfortunately I managed to misplace my stockings and ears for the shoot, so I don't have a photo of the Tigger outfit. *facepalm*