FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Nancy Blackett, Amazon Pirate
(click images to to enlarge)
Other Credits
Photographer: Bill Owens
Outline the story …
The character I chose is Nancy Blackett from Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series. I mostly used the first two books, Swallows and Amazons, and Swallowdale, which are set in 1929 and 1930/1931. Arthur Ransome gave a brief description of Nancy’s (and her sister Peggy’s) appearance: “both had red knitted caps, brown shirts, blue knickerbockers, and no stockings” (page 85). I took the flag design, stocking cap, and shoes from the illustrations, which are all black and white pen and ink drawings, with no real detail in the shirt or knickerbockers.
Nancy is twelve or fourteen years old in 1929 when the Swallows first show up at the lake for summer holidays. Since she is the self-proclaimed leader of the Amazon Pirates, consisting of herself and Peggy, she sets out to make friendly war with the Swallows over the Amazons’ island in the middle of the lake, where the Swallows have set up camp. She is fierce and fearless and an impressive sailor. She loves challenges and sometimes borrows trouble for the fun of it.
Beyond the general outline of the outfit from the books, I looked at adverts for knickerbockers from the mid-twenties, since play clothes for summer holidays aren’t likely to be the height of fashion. I have yet to find any adverts for girls’ knickerbockers, so I went for something between knickerbockers and the trousers of the gymnasium suits in the January 2021 FR workshop.
Citation: Ransome, Arthur. Swallows and Amazons. 1931. Godine, 2003, page 85.
Outline the construction…
The main parts of this project were the trousers and the cap. The cap was my first knitting project from a pattern. I adapted the pattern for my larger yarn and for a loom instead of needles. I learned how to do purl stitches and decreases and to make a tassel.
The trousers started with the drafting instructions for drawers in School Sewing Based on Home Problems from 1916, which is almost the twenties. All of the trouser materials are from my stash. I know nothing about the fabric, but it was suitably vintage and blue-ish. I learned how to fell seams from CosTube and did every seam except the inner legs, which I topstitched with my 1925 Singer 99-13. That machine was the main challenge of this project. My workhorse is my 1958 Singer 401A, but I wanted to use my twenties machine on my twenties project. The 99 has a tension issue that is only curable by resting my hand against the spool as I sew, which then requires one-handed sewing. Still, all the structural seams are machine sewn, except the cuff/leg seam, because pleats. Instead I learned a mostly even spaced backstitch from CosTube. The book said to elasticate the hems but my fabric was short, so I did knickerbocker-ish cuffs. Since I hate doing gathers, I pleated the legs. It should have a button fly, but I ran out of time to learn how, so it closes with two hooks and bars on the waistband.
Totally Nancy!
Thanks!
This is fab. I love it so much.
Thanks!
Wonderful choice. Start with a red knit cap and the rest looks perfectly period!!
Thanks!
That matching lines, the sewing, fantastic. But the photo in the boat in winter with snow? Hilarious.
It was that or the lake, and my oars were in the frozen-shut shed…
Your perfect lining up of the stripes to create chevrons brings me joy. Thank you!
That was actually accidental! But once I noticed, I made sure to keep it lined up.
Ah, there is something so satisfying about nice, neat pleats. This is so well interpreted, and I get a feel for the character without having read the books — nice! And thanks for sharing your sewing machine story; I definitely think the antique ones develop personalities 😉
I love this! It’s really very well done! Thank you!