ADAM AT HOME UK

If you'd like to listen rather than read, then please do so HERE Sewing the silk outer layer of this project has been (well, still is!) an interesting journey... The fabric is incredibly slippery and I have to tack the relevant pieces together about 1.5" to 2" away from the edge before I can consider doing any proper tacking/sewing. The photo shows the outer tacking as well as a linen tape (part of an old sheet... tinted with tea, naturally!) tacked into place to enable the actual stitching.  Lovely silk thread from  De Vere Yarns , a real pleasure to use. I'm pleased to note (lower half of the photo) that I seem to stitch at eight stitches to the inch: in real terms, this means sixteen as it is a back stitch. Quite respectable! Whether this use of tape is historically accurate I'm not sure, but it makes for a stronger, straighter seam (in my view) and has the added bonus that the top edge can be sewn down to cover the raw, easily-frayed edge. Frankly, I was expec...

For the vocal version of this post, please click   HERE Oh the joys of modern technology... nicely into my blog and dear Blogger decides to hang and lose everything I've just written...Grrr... So... once more unto the breach, dear friends...! I'm starting this blog with a small proviso - that most of the photos in this instalment are garnered from the recesses of the worldwide web and often their provenance and copyright are lost along the way. So my apologies... Like much C18th clothing, for the banyan we have to rely on a few extant garments in collections dotted round the world and on painted images (usually portraits of intellectuals and thinkers). One thing that always comes across is that these were clearly comfortable, baggy garments. Some, like the first image, seem to have been somewhat structured and others, like the rather lovely yellow brocade one, are very simple 'T' shapes. There are one or two patterns out there in web-land and th...

For the spoken blog, click right   HERE I've been on a bit of a 'high' all this week as, finally, the really very lovely silk brocade I have chosen (well, I think it's silk weft on a cotton warp, but who's fussing?) arrived, all the way from China.   It's a rather narrow fabric, at 72cms (much as it would have been in the C18th) so there's quite a lot of it. The absolutely fabulous  lining material came last week; that's hand-printed cotton chintz, all the way from India and has a very C18th look to it. Being given the 'Benny' seal of approval:  I think I may have to do what my dear mama used to do and that is dip the lining fabric in dilute tea, just to knock back the whiteness. I think an experiment is called for... This is another 'time of plague' project, so there's no rush to get it done. To begin with Martin, who runs the local fabric shop and lets me use his cutting table, is away on holida...