18th Century Housewife

It's been rainy here in the the eastern part of the US for the past few weeks. The weather last weekend was downright terrible, so we stayed inside all day and sewed. I've wanted to make something more historically accurate for sewing at historic events, so I made this housewife from scrap fabric while watching movies and staying dry.

The whole thing is made from scrap fabric from other sewing projects. The body is 4" wide by 12" long with at 1.5" long triangle at the top for a total length of 13.5 inches. I made the body using two layers of linen buckram to give it extra strength and then piled on cotton and wool haphazardly with minimal seam allowances until I was done.

I wanted to make sure that it served not just as a kit for repairs, but as a convenient means of carry a full threshold of sewing supplies. I designed it to have two sets of pockets to carry thread and other items, a pin cushion, slots for scissors and a stilletto, and a needle wallet.

The problem I was running into was carrying thicker objects like wax cakes and thimbles the the thin, flat pockets.  Luckily, I stumbled across this sewing kit that was once owned by Martha Washington in CW's collection (see picture to the left) that has accordion pockets, and I based my design off of that. The pockets are made using scrap cotton fabric from a dress that I made my daughter.

To make the section for the scissors and stiletto, I used leftover wool from a waistcoat I made and sewed a series of eyelets to hold my tools. 

The pin cushion is made from the same wool and stuffed with cotton bunting. The stuffing loses all fluffiness the moment you roll up the housewife, but it still works like a charm.

 After putting all the pieces on the business side together, I covered the other side with more scrap cotton from another baby dress (dang kid needs to stop growing). Then I added 1/2" linen tape to the top to be able to tie the kit up and bound the edges using 3/4" linen tape to hide all of my stitches.                                                                                                                                               
Overall, it turned out great. I think that for the next one I make (of course the wife wants one now 😊), I will forgo the double-layered buckram and stick with one layer to save my fingers some wear and tear. I guess I could start sewing with a thimble, but then I wouldn't get the pleasure of occasionally poking holes in my finger.

Side note: this was also the first time, I'd sewn eyelets and done a binding. I will soon been in binding and eyelet purgatory helping my wife finish her stays, so I feel like this was a good easing in to that torment.