Son of “Ugly Puffer”

The “completed” (read: wearable) Son of Ugly Puffer, Victorian quilted petticoat. There are some very beautiful historical quilted petticoats out there. This one will never be beautiful.

After deciding that I didn’t actually want to make 5 (6?) items for my not very historically accurate Dickens Fair costume, that I didn’t have acceptable yardage to spare for that flounce (or the desire to both hem and gather 7+ yards of fabric), I shifted to a Bumpad and Ugly Puffer, similar to what was made by American Duchess. But I didn’t have any pre-quilted fabric, as was suggested. I didn’t have any coupons for Beverly’s, wasn’t headed in the direction of JoAnn’s and ultimately couldn’t bring myself to buy the fabric online. Plus I wanted to get on with it already.

To the stash! What I already had were two huge pieces of batting and 10+ yards of raisin-colored cotton eyelet. I suddenly found myself going for a full quilted petticoat, which means no extra flounce on the tiered petticoat (yes!).

My entire plan was to sandwich those batting pieces between two pieces of fabric, quilt them just enough, stitch up the sides, hem, pleat the waist and do a split waistband. The size was dictated by the size of the batting being “long enough” and not “too much” to put in the waistband. That is to say, I didn’t really measure anything. Even the quilting lines are roughly measured / eyeballed (with moderate success).

Now, I’d never quilted anything at this point, so what was I getting myself into? In retrospect, I should have sucked it up and bought the pre-quilted fabric. I’m still quilting this damn thing.

Mistake 2, poly batting (mistake 1 was not buying pre-quilted fabric)

It took me all damn day to iron the fabric, cut things out, draw lines and quilt ONE SIDE. Oddly it took me 45 minutes to draw lines, pin and quilt the second side.

Here’s where the poly batting is really an issue. It’s too fluffed up / stiff. Particularly at the top. In the images below you can see that the lower two pics show fewer lines of quilting. The top set has more, allowing the shape to “break” vertically and more naturally. Ultimately, it really needs a ton more quilting, but at some point the quilting would stiffen the fabric… That means you want less quilting at the top, more in the bottom. Research on extant garments shows this is accurate. I think it would have been less of an issue with cotton batting, which is thinner and less stiff. With less quilting it would fall more gracefully at the top.

Only the waist is pinned right now. Top pics show quilting top to bottom every 3″. Bottom pics are from earlier, the top half is quilted in 6″ sections, the bottom at 3″.

I got as far as quilting the bottom, going around every 3″, then starting to go around at the 1 1/2″ points between. I can finish that after I do the hem and waist.

I hemmed the bottom by leveling things out and stitching on some good 1″ twill tape. It got folded up and stitched in place (I consider this a “free” line of quilting). I decided not to shape the hem for the added bumpad, meaning the hem will tilt up in the back. It will be hidden under my petticoat and skirt anyway and will be wearable without the bumpad for a different era (in that case the hem would fall level). Suddenly my Son of Ugly Puffer was looking almost wearable.

Yes, I used several random shades of purple thread. Don’t judge me.

The waist was pleated quickly and messily down to about 14″ per side and stitched to some wider twill tape. I folded it over and top stitched, creating a casing. I won’t be able to quit the top anymore, but I think it works out. Some grosgrain ribbon was threaded through the casing, one piece for the front and another for the back. This will allow me max adjustability and to access my pocket!

Pocket access!

Where are my feet? I’m going to feel huge!

Dressing Dummy. My goodness, there are a lot of ties going on.

Son of Ugly Puffer + Bum Pad = straining the top yoke of the petticoat (but pocket assess)

Project materials, all from the stash:

• 2 pieces poly quilt batting from (a donation), ~48″w x 35″h each
• 4-5 yards raisin colored cotton eyelet ($1/yard back in the day)
• ~96″ twill tape left over from another project (originally $0.25/y?)
• ~30″ wider twill tape from who knows where
• At least two full spools of thread, though I actually used about 4 different shades

Final cost = $0 (or maybe $11 originally)

Next posts:

• Who Wants to Wear a Fricking Bonnet?!
• One Fast Skirt (at least I hope so)

 

Quilts for Science!

I love when something considered women’s arts (for lack of a better term) is used to subvert those stereotypes in an unexpected way. It’s even better when the woman in question did so well over a hundred years ago!

Sarah Baker’s Solar System quilt, 1876 (image from Wikipedia)

This quilt really caught my fancy – and it’s for science! A teacher, Sarah Baker, completed it in 1876 to use as an Astronomy teaching aid. And it’s beautiful! The level of hand work is really stunning. I’m not a huge fan of quilts generally as physical objects (through the stories that go with some of them can definitely sway me), but this one is stunning on its own visual merit with it’s starting black background and delicate contrasting hand stitching. It even depicts, most likely, Halley’s Comet, which was a huge topic of conversation when I was a kid in 1986 (maybe around the same age as Sarah’s students) and could be visible a second time in my life (next sighting should be 2061).

The quilt is rather large at 89″ x 106″ and is made of a wool top section with appliques, silk and wool embroidery threads, wool braid and cotton back. It took 7 years to complete!

You can read more about Sarah and the quilt on Wikipedia. The quilt is currently in the Smithsonian collection.

If you’re interested in historic quilts for science, Sarah’s was not an anomaly. Such quilts were entered into country and state fair completions and likely adorned other classroom walls. Thought perhaps not with quite as much style! There are also modern art/science quilts.

 

Sugar Skull & Sea Creatures Fabrics!

Look what I just got!

Sugar Skulls for Ashley, Seahorses and Starfish, and Octopus and Sea Turtles

Seahorses and Starfish, Octopus and Sea Turtles and a cheater quilt with a third smaller scale fabric with seaweed

At some point I heard about Spoonflower and started occasionally designing my own fabric, mostly for holiday projects. Getting a Spoonflower package in the mail is always a great way to end the day! If you are unfamiliar, I suggest you check them out. They have thousands of unique designs available on a number of different fabrics and even wallpaper. Should you happen to purchase any of my designs I receive a designer percentage credit (and if you do, thank you!).

Sugar Skulls for Ashley is a variety of hot pinks and red on a pale pink background. I designed it for my friends Ashley, who is into dia de los muertos and loves pink. The face in the heart is basically her. Each framed face is about 2″ wide in this version, though I printed the sample at a smaller scale. This fabric will be a dirndil skirt.

There are three Sea Creatures fabrics designed to go together. They are intended for some baby items, so I wanted to keep them pale overall with the animals in navy blue. There are also pale blue, bright and pale green and a little bit of gray detail in the fabrics.

The main sea creatures item is a cheater quilt featuring groups of three to six continuous squares of each fabric. The back will be the version with the white background and I’ll be doing a wide boarder of the version with the sea stars, which is the brightest one. I’ve never made a quilt, so I figured a cheater version was the way to go, especially if I want to get it to my cousin before his son is no longer a baby!