ZWW In The Wardrobe

In her brilliant book,"The Tudor Tailor", Ninya Mikhaila explains that we have very few examples of the clothing of 'ordinary people' dating back to Tudor times - simply because they

wore their clothes for as long as they could. It was usual to leave garments in a will, because they were worth something. Grace Cockete of Newport in Essex bequeathed "To Margaret Coper, my best red petticoat, to Grace Rochelle my next red petticoat, and finally to Robert Jackson's wife my worst red petticoat" [clearly even Mistress Jackson was receiving a garment which was still wearable]

And once these had been patched and darned and repaired [fringes and 'dun guards' were often stitched on to hems, to take the dirt and wear, then be replaced] then the best parts of the fabric would be extracted to make smaller garments or childrenswear. And the remainder went to household rags.

Fabric was far too precious to waste! Of course it was all natural fibres, so totally compostable too. We need to reclaim our heritage here!

Liz presented me with two challenges over the summer. The first was relatively easy. A summer dress in loose weave cotton. Somehow this had caught in something sharp and an area about 2.5cm² was damaged. I found a length of broderie lace trim in the Great Stash [still great, despite pre-retirement cull!] and cut off one flower. I strengthened the back of the hole with iron on interfacing, and handstitched the trim in place. One little daisy makes all the difference.

The second garment was far more challenging. Liz had an old black cashmere Boden jumper [These currently retail at £115. I suspect got hers for far less than that, she is my thrifty daughter] It had a number of moth holes - 5 large ones on the front, 2 slightly smaller on the back. Could I remake it into a sweater dress for Rosie, please?

I loved this challenge! First I made a copy of the position of the moth holes, then stabilised them on the back with fine iron on interfacing. Then a I took a tracing of another dress to get an idea of hip size and length, and measured Rosie's sleeve length.

The scary bit was cutting into the jumper - no turning back now! I cut off the sleeves along the original seam line, and shortened them. 

All cut edges were finished on the overlocker. I resewed the sleeves and took in the sides. I darned the tiny holes on the back with plain back thread, but made a design to cover the larger front holes. Here's one happy little bee, flying away from the flower!

Before I began the embroidery, I used a piece of one shortened sleeve to practice stitches, and I used a hoop to keep the fabric taut. I used 2 strands DMC embroidery floss for bee and flower, three strands for the flight path. This will be a good little winter garment over leggings, loose enough for tee-shirt or vest underneath. [thank you for inspiration from the book Joyful Mending]

Two garments saved for another day!