June 2013 – Page 2 – Fashion Through Herstory

Skedevi national costume

Published on June 6, 2013 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

Being june 6th and the National day of Sweden it seems only fitting to tell you a bit about the fantastic display of national costumes that as a tradition are beeing worn today.

In the part of sweden where I come from (Östergötland) there are eight different folk costumes for women to wear (Gryt, Kinda, Nykil, Risinge, Skedevi, Svinhult, Vånga and Ydre). Which one you choose is based on where in the county you were born.

Being part of a folk dancing team I’ve been wearing variations of these costumes since I was about 6 years old.

The most common of all the national costumes from my county is “Skedevi”. It is the one commonly known as “Östgötadräkten” (the costume of Östergötland). If you don’t know which one you want or should wear as a woman you most certainly should go for Skedevi.

I want to show you some pictures of the beautiful and colorful variations of folk costumes in my county.

Skedevi

All the pieces of clothing for Skedevi

On grand rehersal for todays dance show

In action

Crazy Hedgehog wig

Published on June 4, 2013 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

It was about the same time as I started doing historical costuming, that I for some reason decided to cut my long hair off. It is not something I regret on a day to day basis but every once in a while (mostly when it comes to historic photoshoots) I would really like to have my long hair back.

Well not much to do but to buy myself a wig…

And penniless as I am, I settled for the not so perfect cheap stuff from an internet shop dealing in masquerade costumes.

I picked the pretty “Marie Antoinette” wig in golden (not wanting the white one), knowing very well that it would never look totally like a historic “pouf” – but It could hardly be worse than my own boyish looks…

It looked so pretty in the picture, but what I got was a horrible mess of plastic hair that would never ever pass for a historical hairdo. I even got so disappointed that I forgot to take a photo of it, but just threw it back in its bag and then into my costuming box – never wanting to see the horrid thing again.

But after a couple of days I took it out, thinking that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all, and maybe I could fix it up a little.
So I cut the silly pink bows off it, and tried to pin it to something slightly similar to a pouf. But no, it was no point in even trying – so down in the box it went again.

It wasn’t until I read the blogpost of the faboulus American Duchess and how she was making experiments on the exact same wig, that I finally got the courage to re-do my own once and for all.

I wouldn’t say that mine look exactly like the duchess’s wig (hrm). In fact it is not even close, but I think my wig does what I want, and for a first try it is acceptable, and after all I only paid about 11 euro (100 SEK).

Grass-green quilted petticoat

Published on June 2, 2013 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

For the 11th challenge on “The historical Sew Fortnightly” – Rectangels – I decided to make something quite simple. I’ve been so busy and stressed lately with my previous (over achieving) dresses, so I needed to take it a little easy this time.

So what will be more simple and fit the theme more then a quilted petticoat.

I bought some lovely green pre-quilted fabric from my nearest fabric store – I know it is kind of cheating to use pre-quilted fabric but I just didn’t have the time to hand-quilt (or even machine-quilt) a petticoat on my own this time.

I used “Costume Close-up” for directions on how to cut the fabric in a historic fashion. Staying true to the book I started with a rectangle, and sewed the back seam together almost to the top.

Then I hemed and faced the skirts inside with a plain green cotton weave. I took some basic measurments on the length and cut the excess off at the waist.

Then I did some math to calculate the depth of the pleating to fit the waistband. I pleated and sewed the waistband on to the skirt. Then I finished off with some hooks and eyes.

So simple and fast. It only took me one evening to make, and I immediately felt the need to make one for my sister.

I’m really proud of my time management this time since I made this petticoat the night before me and my sisters were supposed to have the photoshoot.

The petticoat is really comfortable to wear and works perfect both as a hidden petticoat under skirts for some extra fullnes, and as a skirt on its own. And I love that it matches both my new robe anglaise and a jacket I made a year ago. It makes me feel like I for once actually planned my historic wardrobe.

Here are some detail pictures of the skirt, and also a couple of pictures of the skirt in action paired both with the Anglaise of satin trouble and the flowery printed jacket I’ve told you about in previous posts.

Front and back of the pleating and waistband.