Sunshine's Creations.Vintage Threads Inc.

touches of irish crochet

2013-04-17T07:48:00.001-06:00

My oldest,and middle daughters and myself are collaborating on this piece. They crocheted most of the pieces. I did the grapes and the cord around the edge. this is part of Amy's last costume and part of my middle daughters master project on Annie Sullivan for school. The opening on the neck was to low so this is how we are solving that.

little women play

2013-04-16T06:07:00.002-06:00

dale of norway mitts

2013-04-16T01:09:00.001-06:00

My oldest daughter is working on her first fair isle project. She is using acrylic and worsted weight yarn. The pattern of course asks for wool and sock weight. Because of these difference she is knitting super tight to stay on gauge. She has made one mitt thus far and it fits her perfectly. I have lots of acrylic yarn that people have given me over the years.

Amy underconstruction

2013-03-27T10:38:00.000-06:00

This is I think the last dress Amy wears in the play ( I still have a few others to make for her). This one is still under construction. This is the bodice piece it will have a skirt that uses this embroidered fabric and it will also have a flounce on the skirt in coral orange same fabric I used on Meg's last dress that I showed. It will also have a sort of gathered ruched bustle but not a true bustle. This dress has caused me issues in making it the patten did not come out as the manufacturer designed it to ie to big in the waist.
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2nd peplum for Jo

2013-03-23T06:57:00.001-06:00

The 2nd peplum jacket I am showing is the very last outfit Jo wears in the play. It is spring time so soft feminine colors. This is also when Mr. Bear proposes to her. So I wanted it to have a hint of girlishness with eyelet and pink skirt.
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1 of 2 peplums for Jo

2013-03-23T06:44:00.002-06:00

I have made two peplum jackets for the character Jo in the play with matching skirts these are for the final two scenes of the play.

The second to last one is the brown one it is more of a fall winter scene and I wanted the dress to carry that color them with it.
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Meg's dress

2013-03-22T06:18:00.002-06:00

This is the dress Meg is wearing right before she gets married in the play. The fabric is actually an ugly brown color that looked dirty and such to me. So what did I do
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Beth's sontag sweater

2013-03-21T10:09:00.005-06:00

This has been my carry around with me project for the last few weeks. It is a Sontag a type of sweater shawl worn during civil war colonial days. This one is for the character Beth in the play I started making it for Marme but changed my mind to Beth. It is all hand knit with 100%wool.

It has ties and buttons to hold it closed and on. Keeping the torso and shoulders warm but allowing for ease of movement in the arms.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bosom-friend-or-sontag-circa-1860

The rest of Hanna's wardrobe

2013-03-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

Warning this post is heavy with pictures . Up to this point you have seen four aprons for the character Hanna (servant) in the play Little Woman. Well I have been sewing like crazy the last few days and Hanna now has 2 jackets, 1 geribaldi shirt, 2 skirts, 1 petticoat and 1 set of bloomers to add to her costume attire. It also means that this character is now fully costumed and done. I still have 11 other players to finish costumes on but having 1 done is a good feeling. Because Hanna works for the March's sometimes with out pay she does not have much money so her cloths are simple with out much adornment and plain in patterning of fabric ( almost none) because she can only afford to but fabric that are like broadcloth or muslin. She does have little detail of lace here and there and cording and a few details as was the fashion then.

My dress form does not have an off set leg so the pantalets are just pinned to the front for the sake of taking a photo plain in general with a hint of pretty lace at the legs.

The petticoat is the same plain with a hint of lace at the hem.

The shirt for this character is a Geribaldi shirt. Made famous by a military person hwho came to much fame and this is the style of shirt his troops wore. The buttons on the shirt are true to period ie. The are antique jet buttons from the civil war to Victorian era. The lacy cord edge is from about 1920- 1950. The other trims are also vintage just don't know exactly there age the piping on the sleeves is I think the 1960-1970's. The soutoche braid I think is from about 1920 and the single fold seam binding used on the hem is from 1960's.
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Jo's writing cap

2013-03-05T10:35:00.002-07:00

Jo wears a writing cap up in the attic to keep herself warm in winter. I have made it in the style of a mans nightcap. With a few details for a girl like tassel and ribbon flowers. It was supposed to have a ribbon on it but I figured ribbon flowers was close enough for me. It is made from black velvet and a Christmas table cloth. I used cording between the velvet and the brim of the hat. No pattern just made it up as I went.

Jo's writing apron smock

2013-03-05T08:34:00.004-07:00

Jo is supposed to have a writing apron in the play. This is the item she wears to protect her clothes from ink spills when she is up in the attic writing it is supposed to keep her warm too when she is in the attic writing in the middle of winter.

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vintage new pj's

2013-03-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

My middle daughter ha been pestering me to make new pj's for her. She hates nightgowns and flannel pj bottoms end up too hot. so we came up with this. This is made from a vintage simplicity pattern 7841 from 1968. I found the pattern thrift shopping for $ 0.50. You can find it on line at etsy. We did not like the hat look eeeww so we did not make that but the rest was fine.

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meg's blue dress

2013-03-02T17:59:00.001-07:00

This is the dress that the character Amy remakes in the play. Which I have already posted on here the remake. Meg is modest shy and more motherly so this dress is supposed to show those types of details in her life.

Mr March's dressing gown

2013-03-02T16:50:00.001-07:00

So the Character Mr. March is supposed to wear a dressing robe/gown in a few scenes as he is recovering. I never knew how hard it would be to find a pattern like that. I dressing robe is sort of like a bath robe except youare usually fully dressed under it and it is more formal. it is meant to be used when relaxing or getting ready for the day so you do not get hair gel ( oils, mascar in those days) on your clothes. usually made of rich fabrics and velvets. The costuming said it needed to look old and worn. Because people do not wear this style of robe any more I had to improvise and modern bathrobes had a total wrong look. I happen to find a kimono costume pattern thrift shopping (.50 cents)that had not been cut yet. I figured with minor tweaking it would do ok.
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Capes for the play

2013-02-27T11:45:00.001-07:00

Because my brain is tired from sewing so much I decided I would go to an easy sewing project capes. There are about 5 capes in the play Aunt March has 2, Marmei 1, and Jo 2 can't think of others at the moment. So I think that is all of them I have to make. Which is not to say I have made all of them yet. I have made 3 have the fourth one cut out and still figuring out the 5th one what I want to do for it.... Oh yeah! just remembered 1 more, funny I already made it and I forgot that Meg has one too when she is a witch.

Hanna's last apron

2013-02-23T21:49:00.002-07:00

This is the last apron for the character Hanna. She still needs two dresses made for her. This apron was sort of a pain to make I think I have not had enough good sleep lately becasue of all the sewing. I tore out at least 10 different seams at least 3 to 5 times each. It was truly a simple pattern I just could not think straight while sewing. Once again I used a sheet I found thrift shopping to make the apron.

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Amy's blue apron...and petticoat

2013-02-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

This does not look like much by itself but with the blue dress that has a lot of details I thought it would be over the top to add a lot of detail to this apron.
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Amy's remake of Meg's dress

2013-02-21T05:55:00.001-07:00

In the play to show time passing there is a dress that both the characters Meg and Amy wear. Meg's dress has long sleeves and a high collar and a different belt I showed a little bit of it a few days ago with Mr. Laurence's scarf I will try and post the finished dress tomorrow. But Amy has her own style so when she gets the hand-me down she remakes the dress into this. A short sleeved fancy belted lower neckline dress. The dress does have a little too wide of a neckline so I am going to go back and rework that area by adding prairie points. Will make a post about that when it is redone. Which should make the area around the neck less wide by a few inches and more comfortable for the actress.

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The witch's gown...for the play within the play

2013-02-20T11:17:00.001-07:00

There is a play with in the play of little Women. In that scene Meg is a witch, Amy is a princess, and Jo is Rodrigo the hero. This is the outfit for Meg to wear in that part of the play. The costuming description for this out fit said " long black cambric witch's cloak with gold paper trimming -- black peaked hat of same". Very vague description so this is what I came up with.

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Assembly: Coptic Sampler Book

2013-02-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

A very long time ago i showed a sampler book I made I made this tutorial and put it in draft form and forgot it was here. Looked at all the drafts I had for my blog that I did long ago and realized this one was complete and never poster for the last 5 years. Not sure how that happened but enjoy this new but old post.

Bookbinding
Supplies for link stitch book (aka coptic book)

Finished covers:

wood :plained, sanded smooth, with holes drilled in them
davey board :covered in decorative paper
fabric : sewn

signatures :Pressed and punched pages (pages in a group are known as signatures)
Curved or straight needle
Bone folder or iron (if it is paper, use a bone folder; if it is fabric, you can use either a bone folder or iron)
Scissors
thread for sewing ( has to be strong can be waxed)
Teasing needle (or awl)

Picture 1

Shows how the first signature is sewn to the cover.
To tighten stitches use your needle to pull at the stitches.
Always make sure you have enough thread to sew on covers.
Never add thread when sewing on the covers, only add on the inside of a signature.

Mr laurence's scarf

2013-02-16T11:57:00.001-07:00

Been having lots of dental check ups for the family. So while waiting for each persons turn I worked on this scarf for the play. The color is copper worsted weight size 8 needles 4 blocks plus boarders wide and 85 blocks plus boarders long. Unblocked that works out to 6 inches by 6feet 6 inches. I do not know the blocked size as I have not done that yet to it.

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3 aprons for Hanna

2013-02-12T09:44:00.002-07:00

A lot of the characters in this play wear aprons. I think I will be making over nine aprons for the play some will be pinafore like. The three in this post are for Hanna the servant and family friend. She is supposed to have four aprons but I have not made the last one yet. These aprons I am purposely re-purposing old items as the March family and Hanna are not supposed to have money for new things. So these are made out of old faded bed sheets a few have little holes in them and so on.

The gray apron is the first one the character Hanna will wear. It is meant to be reminiscent of the military stripes the men wear. It is made from a gray sheet that had zero embellishments on it. The ribbon i used at the waist and hem was a piece of gross grain two toned ribbon I saved from a gift someone gave me. There is velvet ribbon on the pockets same ribbon used for Jo's red dress from Act 1. The black cord you see is southache braid again. The buttons on the collar are antique jet buttons and true to period. The flowers you see are made out of double sided satin ribbon with 7 bead centers.

I am giving each apron at least 1 pocket some two so that the actors have places to put props they will use on stage like unlit candles and handkerchiefs and things of that sort.
Usually in a play you do not put your backside to the audience,. But just in case that happens I wanted the back to be just as interesting as the front on the aprons sometimes more so.

Jo's dress and Aunt March's and Amy's pantalets

2013-02-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

I finished a dress for Jo this last week it is the dress she wears in act 1. Since the character Jo wants to be in the military. I tried to make this have a little bit of a military feel to the dress.

I used vintage military buttons as a pin at the neck and at the bottom of the collar and on the sleeves. The buttons come from a great aunt of mine and my Vavo both of which are in heaven. I am keeping the costumes after the play so I am not worried that I will not have them anymore. There is only one of the eagle one I used at the collar. The rest of the buttons all match each other and have anchors on them.

Mr. Laurence's brown basketweave scarf

2013-02-09T05:59:00.001-07:00

In the play Little woman" Mr. Laurence is supposed to have a long brown wool scarf. I started his scarf while waiting for another play to start that my youngest daughter was in this last week. Below is the pattern I came up with while standing in line pretty simple really just 3 different rows is all. Free pattern and supplies below.

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Finishing a few wip's

2013-02-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

I have had a few wip's for a while. So Sunday morning when i woke up i thought i would weave in their tails as that is all that needed to be done for months now but never got around to it.

wip's = works in progress

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