Making Edwardian Drawers out of a Curtain
My mother found this white kitchen curtain when she was cleaning up a closet. Her taste has certainly evolved since the frilly curtain days, and so the curtain was gifted to my fabric stash--as all the abandoned linens in our house are!
I've been craving an Edwardian wardrobe for some years now, since I started a pintucked shirtwaist about 3 years ago. With my crazy school/work schedule, I figured that Edwardian drawers would be a simple and portable project.
The cotton curtain is decorated with a pleated cotton eyelet lace that seems marginally better than most store-bought qualities. I could easily envision the curtain as a pair of Edwardian drawers.
I began by slicing the trim off the bottom edge of the curtain, as well as removing the rod pocket from the top. I then cut the curtain in half, to form two rectangles decorated with the trim along the bottom.
I wanted to accentuate the eyelet with pintucks. I did two rows of narrow tucks which I am rather impressed with!
I knew that I didn't have a lot of material to work with. These drawers will not be wholly accurate--they will serve as a good practice pair so that I can learn the patterning and techniques for my future Edwardian wardrobe. The pattern is clobbered together from The Laced Angel's antique pair and her reproduction, Tanit-Isis Sew's version, Ella Rodman Church's The Home Needle from 1882 (pages 28-32) and personal guesses. By the way--The Home Needle encourages drawers as "more troublesome to cut than any other undergarment"...dun dun dun!
I tried to sew the leg seam with a flat felled seam, just as the The Home Needle suggests. However, I was sewing after a long day of classes and homework, and the next morning I realized I had actually made a sort of french seam...don't sew when exhausted. Just don't do it. I also could've made the inner leg seam much shorter, in order to give more floof to the seat...oh well.
Each leg piece is faced with a one inch strip of bias tape. The waistband has already been cut out; it will have a rounded "dip" in the front, on which I will embroider my initial surrounded by a wreath of flowers.
I'm hoping to complete these drawers for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge # 4 Under It All. I meant to make it for #3 Pink (because of the pink embroidery), but I just ran out of time! Stay tuned!
I've been craving an Edwardian wardrobe for some years now, since I started a pintucked shirtwaist about 3 years ago. With my crazy school/work schedule, I figured that Edwardian drawers would be a simple and portable project.
The cotton curtain is decorated with a pleated cotton eyelet lace that seems marginally better than most store-bought qualities. I could easily envision the curtain as a pair of Edwardian drawers.
I began by slicing the trim off the bottom edge of the curtain, as well as removing the rod pocket from the top. I then cut the curtain in half, to form two rectangles decorated with the trim along the bottom.
I wanted to accentuate the eyelet with pintucks. I did two rows of narrow tucks which I am rather impressed with!
I knew that I didn't have a lot of material to work with. These drawers will not be wholly accurate--they will serve as a good practice pair so that I can learn the patterning and techniques for my future Edwardian wardrobe. The pattern is clobbered together from The Laced Angel's antique pair and her reproduction, Tanit-Isis Sew's version, Ella Rodman Church's The Home Needle from 1882 (pages 28-32) and personal guesses. By the way--The Home Needle encourages drawers as "more troublesome to cut than any other undergarment"...dun dun dun!
I tried to sew the leg seam with a flat felled seam, just as the The Home Needle suggests. However, I was sewing after a long day of classes and homework, and the next morning I realized I had actually made a sort of french seam...don't sew when exhausted. Just don't do it. I also could've made the inner leg seam much shorter, in order to give more floof to the seat...oh well.
Each leg piece is faced with a one inch strip of bias tape. The waistband has already been cut out; it will have a rounded "dip" in the front, on which I will embroider my initial surrounded by a wreath of flowers.
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| The right leg...notice how the back is cut with more material. |
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| The leg opening facing...pretty well done I think! |
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| The crazy not-really-French seam! |
I'm hoping to complete these drawers for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge # 4 Under It All. I meant to make it for #3 Pink (because of the pink embroidery), but I just ran out of time! Stay tuned!
