What is the history behind these clothes?

Sometimes, you find vintage clothes and just long to know more about them.  This is what happened when I found this great sailors shirt and trousers.  These obviously have some age to them, They are by Swears & Wells. The buttons of the trousers have Swears & Wells stamped onto them.  The collar of the shirt is detachable The second picture shows the label inside the sailor top and the third some old Swears and Wells labels I found on the internet.  Apparently according to these labels they were an outfitters who produced girls and boys school uniform.  I have been wondering if this is a school uniform, but have not been able to find anything out on the internet or maybe Sea Scouts.  

This second sailor top that has 4-6 hand written inside and has a label with a crest and the words Nelson, Portsmouth in it.  This is in the same colours as the Swears & Wells shirt, but the second top (see fourth photo) does not have a detatchable colour.  Nelson Portsmouth also does not bring up anything on an internet search.  If anyone knows anything or has any information that would be fantastic.  The Nelson Portsmouth label is in the last photo.

The stitching on both these look to have been done on a hand sewing machine and they have been hand finished as the trimming is hand sewn.

I would love to be able to trace the history of these 2 uniforms.

Snow Time

The snow is here and my home made designer winter coat is falling to pieces. This is not good timing. It will take a while to take it to pieces to repair the detail and put in a new lining, which is what it needs. The actual fabric of the the coat is fine. My solution is to create a new coat. I am using a 1940’s pattern and some home spun Scottish fabric in green and grey checks. It will look great. I only hope it is going to be big enough for me as although I have made it bigger than the original, it still looks like it may be a tad tight. I will use the new coat once it is finished whilst I will take my old coat to pieces and rebuild it. Once my old coat is finished; new ribbons are sewn up the seams and the new lining is put in, then the 1940’s repro coat can be sold on Etsy in my shop Pettycoatjane.

How It All Started...

With the prospect of going into hospital to have a major operation looming, I went to a leaving do for my colleague at Romany Theatre Company, Daniela.  As we all sat talking about the end of the project we were working on we all discussed what we would do next.  When it came to my turn, I said I would like to make my hobby of making retro clothes from vintage patterns into a business.  This is something that I had never really thought about seriously before, but often thought of in an 'Oh wouldn't it be nice if' sense.
I have no formal sewing or design training and felt this idea would always remain a pipe dream.

Daniela mentioned Etsy as a means of starting up a business and it got me thinking.  I decided that whilst recuperating I could start to set up a little business on Etsy and see where this takes me.

The Operation took place at the end of June and at the beginning of July I started to make my plans a reality and opened my Etsy Shop with just 4 items.  Over the next couple of weeks I researched shop policies and wrote my own.

Week 3 and I am now allowed to do more walking, so Hubby took me to a Carboot Sale where I purchased some vintage clothes for my shop.  I also found a great charity shop locally that had some nice vintage items including a tennis dress which I bought.  I cleaned the best bits that I bought and listed them.  As I listed, I discovered a tiny label in the tennis dress in the shoulder which said Teddy Tinling.  This became my first Etsy sale and it sold with 24 hours of being listed. Carboot Sales have proved a good place to find stock and I have been to a few more since then and got more stock

The idea for my shop was that I would make vintage clothes and sell these, but this has proved troublesome.  The problem is that everyone wants to use the dining room table.  So sewing time is limited.  Therefore my shop which is supposed to sell things I have made and a few genuine vintage items has become a shop selling vintage items with a few things I have made. Therefore my next job is to re-write my profile for my shop to reflect this.

To see my shop you can go to www.etsy.com/shop/pettycoatjane

Yes I know it is spelt wrong.  Spelling was never my strong point.  I have found that I cannot change the name though and I have started using this name on my Etsy shop. I am worried that I will have to start all over again if I change it. I can't decide what to do for the best.  My shop has now been open for 2 months.  The clothes I make are under the label of Petticoat Jane.  I would appreciate people's comments on what they think would be the best thing for me to do. To continue as I am with a shop called Pettycoatjane and a label called Petticoat Jane or to open a new shop called Petticoat Jane so it ties up with my Brand?