Double Period Project 1812 / 1912 Shirtwaist

It is amazing how quickly the time has gone by.  There are only a few short weeks left before the competition is over and I will have to submit my entry for this year's contest.  I have so much left to do.  I have to finish the 1912 tailored suit and put the last minute details on some of the other items  from the 1812 suit, namely buttons.  I hate buttons and I tend to put them off as long as I can.

Moving along, it's time for me to finish the shirtwaist. 

This is the material that I have selected for the shirtwaist.  I am toying with the cream colored linen and the chocolate brown linen.

Well, I decided to go with the light cream colored linen.  It really is a bit  darker than this picture.  With camera flash, it appears almost white.  When in reality, it more a yellowish beige.

I really had the dickens of  a time trying to decide on the style of shirt waist that I wanted. By this time in the project, the dreaded "Project Scope Creep" started to rear its ugly head. Finally, I settled on a shirtwaist with tucks.

My brilliant idea, or so I thought was to use the pattern from the camisole and alter it to make a shirtwaist. It already had the pattern lines for tucks, they just needed to be extended.

When you do tucks, it is better to cut the shirt front after you have sewn the tucks, cutting it before the tucks never quite lay correctly.

I am pretty pleased with all of the tucks that I had to sew. I think that there were ten on the front and four tucks on the back.

Part of this challenge for me, was for me to "use what I have on hand".  I had these four placemats that had this really elaborate trim.  The mats, I had never used.  I think that they were given to me.  Anyway, I thought that the decorate edges of the mats would make a perfect edwardian trim for the shirtwaist.

The sleeves for the shirtwaist.