I have long aspired to make one of these and indeed, have just found a pattern of sorts at Sense and Sensibility though I would need to modify it a bit to resemble the above. Mind you, this is a winter project - I will settle for finishing my Devon Village x-stitch design for the moment, aas it is nearing completion.
Various butter-making and dairy-related items on display in one of the barns.
Various farming-related items in a corner of the barn.
This lamb was on his own next to a ewe with twins, so perhaps this is being bottle-reared. It was zzzzzzzzzzzzing in the sunshine . . .
A shelf inside the lambing caravan. If you enlarge this photo yoou will see a triumph in marketing - the packet of Viper powder . . .
Old blacksmith-made horse bits hanging on a beam. The take on the "twisted" snaffle on the left would have ripped a horse's mouth to shreds . . .
Acton Scott House.
A newly-calved Longhorn cow with her baby.More again tomorrow . . .
There is a book (booklet really) called
ReplyDeleteEnglish Smocks by Alice Armes
"English Smocks with directions and patterns for making them"
it's a Dryad Press book isbn 0-85219-657-1
that you might find interesting...it comes up on ebay uk see
http://cgi.ebay.ie/ENGLISH-SMOCKS-ALICE-ARMES-DIRECTIONS-PATTERNS-/290412537741
I will look forward to seeing the lovely smocked ensemble when you're finished. My daughter loves the fashions from the series Pride & Predjudice and Sense & Sensibility. One of these days, I'll have to make her one...
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Dianne
oh dear Val, it appears to have unaccountably fallen into my basket on Amazon for just £2.15!!! (One on eBay had sold, and only copy listed was over £20!!)
ReplyDeleteDianne - don't hold your breath, as I have never tried smocking before (though I have a couple of books on it, and I do do embroidery). I have always felt very linked to the Victorian period and my Ag. Lab. ancestors would surely have worn one of these. Now to find a pattern for a field worker's Bonnet - think Sunbonnet Sue here! - though I did do an earlier post about the different sorts of bonnets the Cornish bal maidens wore (on my old blog - see link to main blog on side bar). I am pretty sure there are quite a selection of Regency patterns you would find on-line as I was looking at some only this morning! In fact it's called Sense and Sensibility patterns!! http://www.habithatDOTcoDOTuk/product_info.php/products_id/8109 Replace the DOT bit with a .
Brilliant :0)
ReplyDeleteIt's a lovely little book with 12 pattern sheets for the smocking tucked inside the covers.
The actual smock itself is just an assortment of squares and rectangles of material as they say "In all cases the cut of smocks was of the utmost simplicity, the component parts were entirely squares and oblongs; curves were never introduced in cutting a smock, so they are a perfect example of simple construction and utility." extract from page 4
Val - the pattern sounds like it is "duffer-proof" which is what I need. I don't think I have made any clothing on the machine since my maternity nightgowns 25 years ago!!! What a shame we no longer have a Fabric Warehouse shop in town, as it will have to be Swansea to source the fabric now . . . Oooh no it won't - we're animal-and-house-sitting in the new Forest this summer, so I can go in the wonderful little fabric/sewing shop in Ringwood!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the stroll through the barn...love the one of the bits and that black lamb...I'd love a vest out of that wool
ReplyDelete