The Fabric of Time

I made this cap sometime earlier this year, and finally have pictures to share! It's a copy of an original that is pictured in the Confederate Echoes of Glory. I designed the pattern myself, just by looking at the picture. I could see that the original was crocheted in back loop only, so I simply started crocheting in the round and increasing evenly to form a circle. I had to unravel a few times as I was experimenting. I'm really happy with this hat, though it looks a little big. Perhaps it could be crocheted with a smaller hook, or I could change the pattern so that I do one more decrease row before the hat band and thus the band would be tighter. I started doing that at first, but it looked too small. Here's the pattern that I wrote, which I am sharing openly with the caveat that anyone who shares the pattern or makes the hat acknowledges the original source. Personal use only, please; this hat may not be sold.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I just realized that all of these pictures, e…

I've come a long way over the past several years in my sewing ability. One of my current projects is an 18th century man's shirt, so I'm looking back at other shirts that I've made and researching how to do a better job. This post is to review what I've done before for my own benefit as I prepare to make a new shirt and to organize the information that I want to consult while I sew, so it might be really boring unless you plan to make your own shirt.

For my first shirt endeavor, I helped work on shirts for Old Economy Village, a 19th century site in Western Pennsylvania, when I used to volunteer in their costuming department. Then, I made two shirts for my friend's and my St. Kateri costumes: http://fabricoftime.blogspot.com/2013/10/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html and http://fabricoftime.blogspot.com/2013/10/17th-century-trade-shirt-more-details_25.html. Those are really quite embarrassing, but we all have to start somewhere. I have since disassemb…