Civil War era dress

 Most of this blog is about collecting Singer machines and accessories, but I actually use them, too!  I am not an accomplished seamstress, but such as it is here is my most recent project.

In order to do interpretations at local history venues, I made this "working" dress from the Civil War era.  I am kind of shooting blindly with this, because I don't have a direct source work with, but having found this silhouette to follow, I adapted a pattern to copy it pretty closely

I'll mention that my level of authenticity is probably about a 7/10.  I wanted the cut, style, fabric, and sewing techniques to be as close to the period as I could reasonably meet.  I intended it to be more of a reproduction garment than a costume - so no zippers, for example. (HERE is an example of a costume I was commissioned to make from their choice of pattern and fabric.)  At the same time,  it has to be feasible for me to produce this, so I'm going to take advantage of "shortcuts," with my handy Singer gadgets.

Here's one of them:  The ruffler on my 237 Fashion Mate which did a wonderful job of pleating the skirt.  In just a couple of minutes, nearly four yards of fabric were perfectly, and evenly pleated.

It was probably at least twenty years after the Civil War before anyone would have had a sewing machine at home (a treadle, of course) so this would have all been stitched by hand, including the buttonholes.  In Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder described how she made buttonholes by hand:  

It is not easy to space buttonholes exactly the same distance apart and it is very difficult to cut them precisely the right size...  When she had cut the buttonholes, Laura whipped the cut edges swiftly, and swiftly covered them with the small, knotted stitches, all precisely the same length and closely set together.  She so hated making buttonholes that she had learned to do them quickly and get it over with.  

When I considered making my buttonholes by hand - since the stitching would be visible on the garment - I remembered that passage, and I thought nah....  So my 237 cranked them out in a couple of minutes with the Singer Automatic Buttonholer:

And I did fabric covered buttons, which I think looked great with those machine-stitched buttonholes (still need to sew on two more.)

This dress was adapted from Butterick 5831, although I made lots of changes from a full-skirted evening dress in a sheer, drapey fabric to a more practical every day calico work dress with a more fitted bodice.

Don't know if this would pass muster with the most hard-core Civil War reenactors, but for my purposes it will do nicely.

Isn't She Lovely! Sky Blue Singer 338

This machine came along in a different way than most of the others.  I bought it to add a splash of color among my collection of black and beige machines.  Yes, I bought it because it's so PRETTY!

The 338 is a tank of a machine, much like its cousin the 328.  These aren't the sleeky sports cars of the Singer line, but this is your sturdy reliable machine that will do the job with a minimum of fuss.  

FEATURES:

Horizontal oscillating hook with Class 66 drop in bobbin

Three needle positions (you can make 4-step buttonholes)

Takes twin needles

Enclosed bobbin winder

Presser foot pressure adjustment

Easy snap off needle plate - you can use zigzag or straight stitch plates 

Cover plate to bypass feed dogs for darning and embroidery

Unlike the 328, the power cord plugs into the machine (a BIG improvement!)

These are the eight "fashion disc" stitches that originally came with this machine. 

 These are the same cams used on the "Swing Needle" machines like the 306 and 319 - but they are hidden under a cam cover on this machine.  This machine makes a very nice stitch!

And isn't the twin needle stitching pretty, too?

It's a good, solid machine and sews well - and the color is easy on the eyes!