totchipanda

Back in February, I was noodlin' around with

ktlovely about a project I wanted to do. Since I got the treadle table for my 1919 Singer 115, I thought it would be "fun" to make a wardrobe as a contemporary home seamstress might on her brand new sewing machine. Each piece would be made on the treadled machine or by hand, as needed. Since it was 2020, an extra layer of "1920 in 2020", with 20 pieces to be made, was going to be the whole of the project.

2020 had other plans, naturally. Even though I'm reasonably sure I thought this up after my apartment flood, I was not expecting for the apartment to take as long as it did, Nicole to be moving and therefore me, or Covid-19. I never got past the initial excitement of "20in20". But now that I've been home from work and my brain has had time to noodle a bit more, I've been working on it again.

I only had a few ideas, initially. 1: Treadle machine. 2: Stash only as much as possible. 3: 20 pieces over the year. I had downtime at work so I started looking through catalogues on Archive.org, primarily by Eaton's, a now-defunct Canadian retailer. It was so interesting looking through them, as they really were a powerhouse of modern shopping at the tiime. Stuff for your car! Stuff for your bicycle! Stuff for your horse! Farm equipment! Modern luxuries like state of the art stoves and ovens! And the descriptions are often HILARIOUS. Such an interesting look at the past.

Changes had to be made, though. The table and machine were minor casualties of the flood, and require some restoration work before I can use them. I don't have the right bobbin case for the machine; the one I have is a repro from a different machine that fits but doesn't work overly well. Instead, I am doing most of the sewing on a 1956 Singer 301A. Aside from being electric and the ability to go backwards, the two machines are very similar. I still need to use my modern Janome, however, as the 301A has a slanted shank and some of the accessories I have don't fit. I've used a modern ruffler and a late 40s buttonholer on the Janome, and I am NEVER going back to the built in buttonholes again, the buttonholer works BEAUTIFULLY.

I purchased a few patterns for the project but I'm also using some period sewing manuals and catalogues as inspiration. I started a spreadsheet to compare common themes over the several pages of catalogue that cover a certain item (so far, only skirts and petticoats), like what sizes and lengths were available. I was able to put together combos, a corset, corset cover and a petticoat from what I already have, but now that I'm gearing up for the other layers, it's time for more research!