At some point, I was browsing Etsy for Edwardian type patterns and I found RepeatedOriginals. It’s a shop that sells digital patterns taken from old-timey magazines. There are several patterns there that really tickle my fancy but I ended up purchasing the 1906 Beach Suit in July 2021. I think I started with it pretty quickly after the purchase, but it took me a few goes to have the first part finished. The blouse was cut from some thin cotton-y type fabric with leaves on it that has been in the hoard for a while. I’d always had a hard time figuring out what I could make from this fabric, but with generally requiring more layers in an Edwardian suit, it seemed like the somewhat transparent nature wouldn’t pose too big of a problem.
I had to make some adjustments to the pattern, mainly thinning out the sleeves just a little bit because it wouldn’t fit the fabric otherwise. So once the pieces were cut, the limited instructions were perused and I got to work. If I remember correctly, I put most of it together (minus the collar) before putting the project away the first time. Some time later, I picked it back up, started finishing the seams by hand (there is so much hand stitching in this), and put it away again. Picked it back up, added the collar, put it back down. Got it out again, tried it on, felt like I was suffocated and lowered the height of the collar. Dropped it again, before grabbing it to figure out the back closure. Put it on the mannequin, had it sit there for weeks before I finally added the ribbons to the sleeve and the back.
This project had so many starts and stops, I just couldn’t really commit to it, I think. I also found it difficult to work with because the fabric was so thin. So for the back closure I opted not to actually sew buttonholes. The bottom few buttons are just sewn on through all layers and the top ones have a snap behind them. That seemed somewhat safer, maybe? Now that it’s finally done though, I really like the look of it on my mannequin. It’ll probably stay there on purpose for a while until I figure out the rest of the suit. The rest is cut out already, but the fabric was the wrong choice (dark but has discoloration on it), so I think I may end up just throwing that out and starting afresh.
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