Jamestown 400th Anniversary

I was asked to help with the costuming for a show that is being presented at Jamestown in May. I'm the assistant, definitely not the designer. All the designs have to be approved by this committee and that committee and authenticity is a huge part of it all. I am starting by making a dozen Tudor sailor shirts. Basically, this is what the sailors and some of the people in hulls of the ships wore on the way over to the US. They're not difficult - basically 40" square with rectangular sleeves, simple cuffs and a standup type collar, and two GUSSETS! - one under the sleeve and one at the collar end of each shoulder. Oh my, did that scare me. I've never made those before, but now I'm a semi-pro after doing four of them. I'll post a picture or two as I get them made. They'll be living in my house until the show.

This is a big, big project. I think I'll be working on it every day for sure. How much fun is this!

Things I ' m working on.

Using Cathedral Window instructions which I wrote while doing content work for Sewing.com, and which I used to make the wall hanging below, I've been making a recycled denim and black/white fabric Cathedral Window quilt for myself. On the left are squares with the denim pinned on, the middle is one that has some windows completed and the four in the middle to go, and the one on the right is completed. I'll make several groups of nine squares like this and stitch them together, making rows of five groups of nine. I'll continue until it's large enough to fit our queen sized bed.
Here's one I made a while back as a wall hanging:

The other thing I'm working on, in fact have almost finished, is a denim jacket with a sweatshirt lining. The jacket itself is totally recycled. It's a formerly gaudy Christmas sweatshirt (the tacky design is between the layers, never to be seen again), denim strips from junk jeans, and ribbon that was given to me. The only thing I bought was the thread to match the ribbon. I made lots and lots of Log Cabin blocks with the denim which I had added the ribbon to. Unfortunately, I ran out of ribbon, so I improvised and used plain strips along the sides and did a bit of a yoke without ribbon or Log Cabin on the back. My plan for the front is to make tabs with ribbon embellished denim and put them on the front after making buttonholes in them. Then, I'll put buttons on the other side in an area that will allow one side to overlap the other when closed. The self-facing is to be sewn in and I have two Log Cabin blocks left to make a diagonally placed pocket on either side. I put the cuffs on already, but not the collar or ribbing at the bottom, all of which were removed from and are being reused from the ugly Christmas sweatshirt.
I usually do have two or three projects going at once, but hey, that's sewing! Till next time.