The Ali Baba Jar

From The Housewife, 1886

‘This name has been given to a giant jar or vase intended to serve as a receptacle for large untidy pieces of work, for waste paper, or even soiled lingerie. It is an American notion, and at present possesses the much desired merit of being quite novel. It would therefore be sure to command a good price at bazaars.’

Pattern:

PLP Ali Baba Jar Pattern.pdf

Download PDF • 2.53MB

Video:

Contents:

P.2      Materials List

P.3-4   Original Instructions

P.5-11 Ali Baba Jar Tutorial

You Will Need:

Card

300gsm works well, it’s sturdy but still malleable enough to be manipulated into a vase shape. Depending on the pattern you choose, you may need a larger size than A4.

1/2 Metre Top Fabric

Any fabric resembling china will work nicely. Advice from ‘The Housewife’:

‘there are many cretonnes and sateens that resemble porcelain so exactly that there can be no real difficulty in making a good selection.’

Recommended: brocade, tapestry fabric, upholstery fabric.

Or you can choose any fabric that you like the design of!

1/2 Metre Lining Fabric (satin)

‘The Housewife’ recommends sateen, but any shiny polyester or cotton fabric would work.

Needle and Thread

One thin needle and one slightly thicker needle for piercing through the cardboard.

Optional Bulldog Clips 

Transcript:

This name has been given to a giant jar or vase intended to serve as a receptacle for large untidy pieces of work, for waste paper, or even soiled lingerie. It is an American notion, and at present possesses the much desired merit of being quite novel. It would therefore be sure to command a good price at bazaars. The main object in making it, is of course to give it as china-like an appearance as possible, but now-a-days there are many cretonnes and sateens that resemble porcelain so exactly that there can be no real difficulty in making a good selection. A pattern book I have lately seen at Liberty’s art furniture fabrics contained several that would be suitable for the purpose, notably one in blue and white- a Renaissance design of scrolls, crowns and fabulous beasts. There is a considerable amount of exactitude required both in cutting out and covering, to say nothing of the patience and the number of stitches needed to carry it out successfully. The first thing to do is to cut six pieces of moderately firm card or mill-board in the shape of a large, but elongated vase, as shown in the accompanying illustration. The following a very good average measurements which I have myself tried with considerable success. Each of the six pieces should measure fourteen and a-half inches in length, five inches in width at the top, diminish to three and a-half inches a quarter of the way down, increase to five and a-half inches half the way down, diminish to five inches three parts of the way down and to three and a-half inches in width at the base. Great care must be taken to cut all these divisions exactly the same size. It sounds complicated and the figures are alarming, but if the measurements are marked out first with dots on a piece of paper, and the dots connected with lines, the shape will be easily obtained. The advantage of drawing it on paper first is, that the paper may be folded in half and both sides cut exactly alike. When the cardboard is shaped, the size modelled first should be kept, and marked as a pattern by which to cut out all the other divisions.

The cretonne with which the outside of the jar is to be covered must be cut a good half inch larger all round than the cardboard shape, and tacked very smoothly and tightly over it without any wrinkles. Several notches will have to be made in the sloping part or neck of the vase, so as to make it set well. If the pattern of the cretonne is a good and adaptable one, a yard of cretonne ought to be sufficient to cover the whole jar, otherwise more material will be required. Each division of the vase ought either to be alike or else the design of the cretonne should “run on” from side to side, as if there were no join in it. When all the six pieces are covered the lining must be prepared of plain blue, pink, or white sateen, according to fancy. This must be cut like the cretonne half an inch larger than the cardboard, and the raw edges turned in and secured with tacking threads till the lining is exactly the same as the outside. The notches will have to be made also in this sateen lining, or it will not set. It may be sewn down the sides and along the bottom of the jar, with very long stitches which just catch the two materials together, but at the top or mouth it must be sewn with invisible stitches about a quarter of an inch below the top, or quite at the edge of preferred.

This done, the six sides should be sewn together very carefully with as small stitches as possible. If the card is not too thick this may be contrived on the wrong side, the divisions being afterwards turned inside out. There is a knack about doing this which, unless exercised, will crease the card, and render it a bad shape. It will be found necessary to sew the two last together on the right side, but this cannot be done too neatly. The bottom of the vase must next be made of a sexagon, cut out in card, covered with cretonne and lined with sateen. Each side of this sexagon must measure three inches and a-half, that is, the width of each division of the jar at the base. This must be very neatly sewn to the bottom of the jar, and forms the finishing touch, with the small exception of taking out the tacking threads.

The size of this jar is a medium one; they look very well if the measurements are exactly doubled, and for small scraps and threads, or for toilet tidies, they may be made the same shape, but half the size of the measurements given, or even less. With a little practice, they may be contrived of different forms in various styles of colouring. It must be borne in mind that whatever be size of the jar, it must not be placed in a room too near to the eyes, or where it can be too readily handled, as this destroys the illusion at once.

Tutorial

1. Print the pattern.

Print the pattern, ensuring that it’s scaled correctly beforehand.

2. Trace the pattern.

Transfer the pattern onto card. Cut out using a sharp penknife or carefully with scissors. Use this as a pattern to trace the others; you need six sides and one base.

3. Cut out the top fabric.

Cut out the top fabric 1/2” bigger than the card.

*Watch point: if your fabric has a repeating design, make sure to cut each piece along the same point in the design, so when the vase is constructed the pattern looks seamless all the way around.

4. Tack the top fabric to the cardboard. 

To make things easier, you can iron the top fabric around the cardboard. Then use long tacking stitches through the card to secure it in place.

Clip the curves at the neck so it fits smoothly. If your fabric is very bulky, you may want to cut down the fabric where it overlaps at the corners. Bulldog clips at this stage also make things easier.

A tight, perfectly smooth fit is the desired outcome.

*Watch point: If you want a perfect finish, glue the fabric at the neck of the vase to the card. Don’t glue the whole thing down, but in making I’ve found that when the vase is stitched and then turned back, the fabric at the neck of the vase has a tendency to wobble. This is not a necessary step, and is not included in the Victorian instructions.

5. Cut lining fabric. 

The same as the top fabric, cut 1/2” larger than the pattern.

6. Prep lining fabric. 

Trace the original pattern onto the lining fabric (I like using a frixion pen) and then iron it slightly within those lines, so the lining is slightly smaller than the main piece. Clip the curves at the neck, and along the sides to avoid bulk. For the top, ’The Housewife’ recommends that the lining finishes a 1/4” below the rim, ‘or quite at the edge if preferred.’

7. Sew lining.

Bulldog clips are useful for this step. Alternatively, you can loosely tack the lining down. Using a simple whipstitch, sew the lining to the top fabric, not going through the cardboard. Use invisible slip stitches at the top, as they will be visible.

Both fabrics should be taut and flush against the cardboard.

8. Remove tacking stitches. 

And you should be left with six identical vase pieces!

9. Repeat with the base.

Cut out the top fabric and lining fabric and attach in exactly the same way as the other   pieces.

10. Start constructing the vase.

You may want to use a slightly stronger thread for this (e.g. button thread), or simply ensure your stitches are very close and secure.

With right sides together, whipstitch two panels together, going through only the top fabric. Make sure that the stitches are very close and tight, especially at the top and bottom.

11. The final seam. 

Before stitching the final seam, turn the six pieces you’ve attached together the right way out. You can now see your vase starting to take shape!

The final seam is sewn from the right side, so take extra time making sure that the stitches are neat and sturdy. If done well it should be indistinguishable from the other seams.

12. Attaching the bottom.

The same as the final seam, the base is attached from the right side. For ease, make a small tacking stitch at each point of the hexagon. This means that it’ll stay in place as you sew, and if any of the sides were measured slightly inaccurately you can account for this as you sew.

Voila!

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I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you would like it in PDF format (or would just like to support me!), you can also find it on my Patreon and Etsy.

Until next time,

Aisha x