My Sewing Philosophy

I will confess it up front: I am not a sewing purist.

I use a machine on almost all my garments.

I make compromises. I take shortcuts. I have decided that this is OK.

Would I love hand sewing a period gown? Spending hours on delicate trim work or embroidery? Would I love having something 100% awesomely accurate (or at least as accurate as something made in this modern day and age can be. . .)? Sure. I would like that.

But my reasoning is thus:

Clothes need to be sturdy and cheap to clothe
these rowdy little fellas and their (not less rowdy) sister!

I am a wife and a mom before anything else. Sewing is fitted in where it can be. This is just a hobby. No one will die if my interior seams are sewn on the machine. Maybe, when my children are all grown up and I have more leisure time to devote to things like sewing, I can take the time to hand sew garments and make them properly.

In the meantime, my goal is to produce garments that are sturdy and wearable, fit nicely, and look accurate from the outside. Clothes I don't mind my children wearing when they wrestle in the grass or splash through mud puddles. Clothes that don't have so much time and effort put into them that I feel very bad if I have to actually discard them at some point - clothes meant to be used and worn and lived in.

For me, right now, this means machine sewing. For garments that pre-date the widespread adoption of the sewing machine (mid-19th century or thereabouts) this means that yes, I do machine sew almost all the interior seams. I do not use a zig zag or other modern stitch but yes, the stitches are done by machine. If they can't be seen from the outside, I do it by machine. I do, however, make sure that all seams that *can* be seen from the outside are sewn by hand. No one needs to know about the "cheating" that has gone on. ;)

For garments that post-date the adoption of the sewing machine? I feel no guilt in that case about machined work that can be seen - things like topstitching on a coat or felled seams on my husbands shirts. They did it then, and so can we!

What do I handsew? A lot of finishing work. Usual things include:

Hems.
Buttonholes.
Eyelets.
Attachment of facings to a lining.
Application of trim.
Attaching buttons.
Hand-gathering for the waist treatment of skirts and petticoats. (Sometimes. I do use machine gathering for the skirts of infant and childrens' dresses!)

Machine quilting of a frock coat lining, with
hand-attached sleeve linings. Whatever works!

For materials, I do try to stick with fabrics that would have been available to the common person then. These usually are limited to natural fibers, either cotton, linen, wool or silk. Sometimes I will make a compromise. But there has to be a good reason for it, if I do. For me, this usually has to do with cost or availability of a certain fabric. Some fabrics just are not made anymore, and one must choose an acceptable substitute. What is "acceptable" varies greatly from person to person. So I do what is best for me, and everyone ought to do what is best for themselves.

Standards vary. And that is OK.

In my opinion, material choice and sewing technique are equalled in importance by the cut of the garment and the way it is fitted. A well cut, well fitted gown made of a synthetic silk can still look wonderful and accurate for the time period, whereas a poorly cut, ill-fitted gown of a reproduction printed cotton can look terrible. There is a lot to take into account. Additionally, the use of proper foundation garments (corsets, skirt supports, etc.) play a very critical role in the overall look of the finished garment. So though it is certainly a vital part of creating a believable historic outfit, sewing is definitely not everything and certainly does not have to be perfect!