When I went through my fabric stash at the end of 2020, I rediscovered two pieces of polyester brocade - one in a blue/brown pattern and one in red, both of which I've had since grade school. They're not large pieces, but I realized they'd be the perfect size to make reticules out of!
Up until now I've only had one reticule, which I embroidered and made a few years ago, but now I have three more!
"Reversible" Reticule
I made this reticule during a slump in February 2021 while working on my 1890s corset and procrastinating on two other projects. I was in desperate need of an immediate gratification project, so I dug out this poly brocade, grabbed some scrap cotton for the lining, and got to work.
My pattern was based mostly off this reticule from the Met, this bag from LACMA (whose dimensions I used as a starting point), and this fashion plate. The pattern is really just a rectangle with a triangle on one end, repeated four times. The dimensions of each panel are 4"x10", plus a 0.5" seam allowance on the sides and bottom and full 1" at the top for the drawstring casing.
Things went downhill basically as soon as I started cutting out the four panels - the back of the fabric was just as lovely as the front! I'd better make the reticule reversible! (And Instagram agreed.) So I decided to sew up the seams and then roll the seam allowances to look like piping. Easy, right?
Unfortunately, my fabric and thread disagreed, so I decided to do french seams. I trimmed down the seam allowances, turned the bag, and started sewing. But I didn't make those seam allowances wide enough, and the raw edges poked out of the seam. So I essentially re-did the french seam two more times (instead of just unpicking that seam) to get properly encased seams. That shaved off an extra half inch on each side of my panel, so the resulting panels were only 3" wide. It's still wide enough to be functional, but it throws off the proportions pretty significantly.
With that finally done, I could do the drawstring casing! I had, by this point given up on clean reversibility, and just did a normal drawstring channel, so the blue back of the fabric is visible on the more brown side of the reticule. Finally, I was able to thread a ribbon through for the handle (just some stash ribbon for now, but I may switch it out in the future) and the reversible reticule was done!
Now, one thing I did realize about my pattern was that having a 2" long triangle at the bottom of a 4" wide bag didn't give me the point I was looking for - it just created a flat bottom for the bag. It looks fine in use, but to get the point I wanted, I should have gone for a 3" or so long triangle. Basically, it needs to be more than half the width of the panel, and it should not come to a right angle.
All in all, this is an ugly, poorly constructed bag that will likely get little use. Oh well!
Red & Blue Brocade Reticules
The new year (and the fact that I was in quarantine and not working) gave me a new burst of motivation, so these two reticules were constructed at the same time - right at the beginning of January 2022.
This red reticule was another four-panel design, with each panel being 8" at the widest point and 9" tall (plus seam allowances), with the side points falling about 5" from the bottom. I cut four panels each from the brocade and some scrap muslin, and prepped some cream and gold cording (just shy of a yard?) for the drawstring.
The blue reticule, made from what was left of the brocade I made the reversible bag out of, is only two panels, 8" plus seam allowances in both directions. I chose to use the "wong" side of the brocade for the outer fabric, plus scrap muslin (this was from an old bodice mock-up) for the lining, and some silvery-grey cord for the drawstring (about 2/3 of a yard).
Both were constructed the same way.
I started by seaming the panels of the outer and lining fabric by machine. The outer fabrics were then turned right-side-out and the lining was placed inside, so that the wrong sides of the outer and lining fabrics were together.
I used a small running back stitch about an inch from the top of the reticules to hold the outer and linings together and form the bottom of the drawstring channel. After securing the ends of the cord together to form a loop, I sandwiched the cord between the fabric, turned the seam allowances in, and whip-stitched the fabric together to finish the drawstring casing. I was very careful to reinforce my stitches around the opening I left for the cord to form a handle since that area will get a lot of heavy wear.
As a bonus, I cut a length of the silvery cord and tied a knot in the middle, forming a sort of tassel which I then attached to the bottom point on the blue reticule.
The red reticule is VERY spacious, and might work well as a project bag for small sewing or crochet projects in the future!
I'm MUCH happier with the second two reticules than I am with the "reversible" one, and I'm sure they'll be very useful!
Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.
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