fashionthrougherstory

Allers Pattern Journal 20 okt 1907

Published on April 25, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory1 Comment

Last week my first real “ancent/vintage” items arrived in the mail. Three copies of “Allers pattern magazine” from early 20th century.

I must confess I’m in love with them all. And I think I might developed a crushing need to get my hands on lots (all) of these fashion magazines.

And today I will give you a closer look at one of them. Hopfully you will find them as wounderful and lovely as I do.

“Allers Mönster-tidning 20 ok 1907”Some lovely separates: skirts, shirtwaists and a fur jacket at the bottom.

Embrodery and home decor. Not my cup of tea, but pretty non the less.

Winter dresses to die for.Lookig at this pictures makes me dream of ice-skating and winter walks. Lets take a closer look.

I adore this whole outfit: the hat, the muff, the fur trimed skirt – I will definetly try to make this one someday.

Two beatiful gowns with lovely sleeves and decorations.

A mother and child (makes me want a litle one, just to dress in dresses like this.)

Elegance overload. I can’t decide which one I like the best, they are both so lovely. Perhaps will just have to make them both…

Some more formal gowns. Love the lace treatment on the light skirt.

Beautiful.

Looks warm and cosy. I do however think I would feel very old and shapeless in a cape like this.

This next page is full of sewing tips and instructions for the cape shown in the left corner. The headline on the page is “Husliga sysslor” (domestic chores).

A love this scheme of childrens clothes.

Pretty young ladies.

I adore the short knickers and long socks worn by the boys.

And the final page is also dedicated to childrens clothing.

Look at that lovely jacket and the kick as attitude on the girl. You wouldn’t mess with her would you.

Some essential night gowns and a cute litle nightcap.

And finaly two sweet school girls in striped dresses and hats.

sorting patterns & fabric

Published on April 21, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory3 Comments

I must confess I’m really bad at keeping order amongst my sewing stuff.

I know it is impotant to be organized if you want to be efficient in your sewing, but sometimes it is so much more tempting to start that new project, then to clean and categorize the previous ones.

This habbit of putting stuff in piles, make it inevitable to once in a while do some serious sorting and cleaning in my sewing room.

And so I have.

I started with my patterns. Since I drafted most of my patterns on my own, they don’t come nicely folded and paced in plastic bags. Instead I needed to do all this categorizing myself.

I putt the patterns in different piles (historic, to use again, trash ect.) and tried my best to mach up all those lose pattern pieces.

When finished I’ve tossed about half of them, and sorted the other ones in paper boxes and binders, nicely labeled with year, measurments, and a quick sketch.

Then it was time to deal with my somehow ever growing fabric stash.

I carried all the fabric boxes and bags into our living rom.

Then I started sorting the fabric in different piles (syntetic, linings, smal scraps, historic ect.)

Some of the piles got quite big. (You might recognize the pink cotton on top (HSF Pink), and the brown flowery cotton print (Sport Anglaise).)The pile for “to make historic costumes of”.

I also found some new fabrics that I’ve forgotten about.A golden patterned syntetic, the striped pistage green “leftover” from my regency gown, and a white striped curtain voile.

Then I packed all the fabrics in different boxes.This is the ones containing syntetics and are going down to the storage in our basement.

And my historic apropirate fabrics, got packed and stored close to hand in my sewing room wardrobe.

I also decided it was time to clean my iron.This cleaning method is the best I’ve ever tried (If you haven’t yet, you really should). You just rubb the white paste to the hot iron and then wipe it of with a cloth. The heat melts the paste and takes the burnt dirt from the iron with it when wiped clean.

How organized are you in your sewing?

Edwardian Layering

Published on April 19, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

I’ve been working a lot on my edwardian wordrobe latley. If you got tired of it, I can tell you this will be the last one in a while (I do whoever have some post on this era planed for later).

But before we skip backward a few centuries I want to show the complexity in which the edwardian lady dressed. When dressing for the recent photoshoot my sister/photagrapher exclaimed: Omg, and to think they wore all this every day.

She is not far from wrong. Acctually, the “finer” lady would change into several different dresses in one day (morning, walking, dinner ect.), something that would have taken both time and help from a handmaid/dresses. The women of lesser meens would have to settle for one dress a day (week, month…). And she would not have worn all the extra layers, accessories and padding except perhaps for sundays.

But enough about that. Here is my Edwardian Lady undressed.

As usual we start fully dressed, in: Gown and appropirate accessories like hat, belt/swiss waist, fan, glowes and juwelry.

Once the accessories are removed we find a much softer looking style, wearing only the gown – even though she would never have walked outside this “naked”. Lets do another layer.

Beneth we find the corset cover/brassiere who both keeps the sharp edges from the corset from showing through the dress, and helps create the fashionable “pigeon bust” of the period. We also find the petticoat, which in this period could be very decorative with lots of lace and ruching, but in this case is simply a white cotton one.

When we remove the brassiere, we can se parts of the corset.

And without the petticoat the bum-enhansor/bumpad is visible. I’ve haven’t had the time to make a proper edwardian one yet, but uses my 18th century purple one instead. The bumpads obvious purpose is to enhance the bum and to give a more distinkt S-bend shape.

And then we are down to the unmentionables: The corset with its garter and S-shape, the petticoat, stockings, separate under bodice and shoes. I wear an regular tank-top beneth he corset since I have’nt gotten around to make the proper edwardian combinations yet.

And that was all for this time.

Camille Photoshoot

Published on April 17, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory9 Comments

A couple of days ago me and my sister went outside to take some pictures of my re-modeled edwardian gown and hat.

I tried to capture some of the poses I’ve seen in old photographs but honestly, I both feelt and looked supid. Apperently I ended up touching my hat a lot, and looking very snooty at the same time. Saucy temptress may not be my strongest look. So I’ve mixed it up with some un-edwardian smiley pics as well.

Photo: Maria Petersson

Camilles Picture (Top) Hat

Published on April 15, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory5 Comments

I decide early that I was going to make an Edwardian hat for the HSF ?: Tops and Toes. My original plan was to make a matching hat to wear together with the prevoulsly made edwardian “Farytale”gown, to a upcoming event.

But as you can guess my planes changed a bit once I decided I hated it, and would never wear the “Ariel/Farytale” gown again.

The new plan is to make a hat be-fitting of the faboulus Camille Clifford. And since the dress is now re-styled after one of her dresses, what would be better then to also make the awsome, gigantic hat to match.

The only problem was – I’ve never made a hat from scratch before… Ok, I’ve made a 19th century bonnet, but nothing this complex, and huge.

I started searching for some pattern layouts on the internet, and was just about to start the drafting, when I stumbeled on this hat hanging in a store. Since it was both the perfect size and colour, I took the easy way out and bought it.

Since it was so big I decided it needed a bit of strenghtening to get the right shape. So I grabbed my metal wire and got to work, sewing it on to the brim. Bending the edges of the wire so not to poke through the straw.

Then I did the same thing two more times.

The high crown of the hat neded to be lovered to get the right look.But instead of cutting, I decided to just poke it down on itself.

A few stiches and the crown are now les the half its original hight.And since you will need a hatpin to keep it in place anyway, the low crown dosen’t bother me.

Time to deal with the dcorations. I strated by cuting shreads from some of my black fabric scraps.

Then I gathered them to litle “clusters”, and arranged them beneath the brim.

They look kind of strange sitting on the inside/underside of the hat, but I just follow my inspirtiona picture.Hm a litle weard…

Then it was time for some feathers.I used a feather “boa” I bought for this pourpose.

Triming of those ugly ends.

And carefully stiching the feathers on, cirkeling the crown.

I then realised I didn’t had enough feathers to fill the hole in the crown. So I found some black fabric scraps and made a quick litle bundle.

Which I putt in the crown and attached by a few stiches.

Then I could continue attaching the feathers on to the neewly created lower crown.

And Finished:

Sneak-a-peak of todays photoshoot…

Just the Facts:

Challenge: nr 7 – Tops and Toes.

What: An Edwardian “Picture hat” (ca 1905s).

Pattern: None

Fabric: Nope

Notions: a black straw hat, thread, steel wire, feathers 1,5m, fabric scraps and ribbons.

Historical accuracy: Not at all. Totaly modern construction. It may pas for edwardian but I doubt the laydy of the day would ever consider wearing it.

Time: 2 hours.

Cost: 150Sek (22Usd)

First worn: At easter for a photoshoot. Maybe I will wear it mid may for an event.

Final thougts: I’m pretty happy about it. And it looks even better since I pinned a satin ribbon and broch to it, to break up all those feathers. I just need to get my hands on some hatpins to keep it more firmly on my head.

“Ariel”, meet “Camille”

Published on April 13, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory7 Comments

From the moment I put the Ariel gown on, I’ve been thinking about ways to alter it to make it more flatterning, tous make me like it more.

I very seldom re-work and alter my costumes. If there is some item I don’t like, I usaly just putt it in the bottom of the costuming box and forget about it.

But this time I figured I give the re-working a try. And after reading all the tips and encuragment from all of you, I decided I was definetly going to try to make it into a more lovable gown.

But how?

After some image searcing, for edwardian dresses, on the internet I came across this pic. Camille21 It’s Camille Clifford in a white “pigeon bust” gown accessorized with black belt and hat.

I emmediately decided to try to re-style my Ariel gown into Camilles beautiful dress.

So, I needed to go from this…

…To this. b17-1 (the black line highlighting the low neckline is a later addition by who ever had the picture before me).

I realized at once I was not going to manadge the black colour fading on the skirt, simply because my fabric didn’t had the toning. Nor did it had the flowery design, and I did not had the time to cut and attach several hundreds of flowers to get the style completly right. Maybe that will be something to do later on, if I decides I like it this time around.

But on to what I could do.

I started by ripping my gown appart, separated the bodice and skirt.

Ripped out and re-cut the sleeves to get rid of some of that high pouf I prevously had.

And getting rid of the cuffs.

Then I started to assemble it again.

Attaching a black self made bias tape to the collar, to mimick the high sharp collar of Camilles gown.

Then I got on to the sleeves. Gattering the sleeve head, and changing the design of the sleeve-end from cuff to rusching.

I re-stiched the bodice to the skirt, rising the waist a bit in the process.

I also experemented a bit with the flowers from the previous design. Making them smaler and pinning them to the sleeves, bodice and skirt. But decided to pospone that project to the future.

The finished dress:

When the gown was finished it was time to start on the belt.

I did not had a pattern to use, so I decided to make my own.

I then brought out all the pieces of black fabric I owned to decide wich one/ones to use. I decided on the plain cotton fabric (center top) for the foundation, and the cotton voile/cheese-cloth (top left) for the draping.

I cut the foundation pieces and basted on a second layer as interlining.

Marked and stiched the boning chanels, and inserted the boning.

Then I started on the draping.Pinnig the cotton voile on the bias to the foundation piece while attached to the dressform.

Then I cut of the exess fabric and pinned the tucks in place.

I handstitched the tucks down, and folded the exess fabric around to be covered in cotton lining.

Then I set the gromets (something that caused more trouble then usual due to thick fabric).

And finishing of with some hooks and eyes at the front tabs.

I really like how the curve of the belt looks in this picture.

Finished:

Facts re-making:

What: Re-fashion of the edwardian “Ariel” gown into a new edwardian gown – “Camille”.

Fabric: Scraps of regular black cotton sheets (maybe a total of 30cm), and 30 cm black cotton voile.

Notions: 2x hooks and eyes, thread, 20 cm black bias tape, 1m of boning, 1,5 m black cord and 12 gromets.

Time: To long – ca 8 hours.

Cost: Maybe 20 Sek (3 Usd) worth of stash notions.

Result: I think it looks great (but so did “Ariel” on the dressform), I will have to wait and se how I feel about it until after the photoshoot next week.

Blog award

Published on April 4, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory7 Comments

I usualy never go along with the “chain letter” (kedjebrev) stuff, like “do this and invite 5 friends to do the same” kind of stupid spam. And those of my friends who haven’t figured that out yet should defenetly take it to heart, that I never return/or pass on anything of this sort. I would never herras my friends with spam like that.

But recently I got a “kedjebrev” which didn’t got me all up and iritated – I got an Award.

One of my blog followers, Nessa of “Sewingempire“, nominated me for “The Liebster Award”.(and yes I’m full aware that this is just another way to get you to “send this to 5 friends…”).

But this time I think it is for a good purpose – The aim is to promote blogs with fewer than 200 followers to a wider audience. And since I love the historical sewing comunity, and the way everyone helps and encourage eatchother, I would love to help promote others newbees in costume blogging.

So here we go. These are the things you need to do to claim your award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

Thank you Nessa for the nomination, and for all your positive feedback on all my projects – it really helps to know somebody likes what you do.

2. Nominate 10 other bloggers, and notify them of their award.

Ok, this is the worst part. So tricky, and to pick only those with less then 200 followers – how do you know for sure? (I’m so sorry if some of you do have more then 200 followers – I have no idea how to find that out).

As a statment to my sceptism for this kind of “kedjebrev”, I choose to only nominate 5 blogs instead of 10. (If thats mean I’m not worthy of any prize – so be it.)

The Shadow of my hand: Sutch beautiful creations, and such increadable attensin to details. And I love all her pretty pictures.
The Quintessential Clothes Pen: Quinns wounderfully detailed blog about her costuming adventures. Always a great inspiration.
Isis Wardrobe: A fellow Swede, who shares her detalied research of everything from 18th centurys hoods to how to make, and apply, your own historical makeup.
Needle, Threads, & Whims: A lovely blog with lots of great pictures and creative projects. A joy to read every time.
In the Long Run: Dresses, juwelry, costume parties and sewing – There are so much beauty created of this girl. I’m in ave.

3. Come up with 10 questions you want your nominees to answer.

When and how did you get into sewing?
What was your very first garment (historical or other)? And what did you learned from it?
Do you have a dream project? And what it is? (Picture?)
Which of your costumes are your favorite and why? (Picture?)
What will be your next big project?
What part of costuming do you enjoy the most (the planing, patternmaking, sewing, details ect.)?
And what part would you rather not do?
Do you have a costuming rolmodel or muse (historical, fellow blogger or other)?
Whats the reason you decided to start your costuming blog?
What are your best advise for anyone wanting to get into historical costuming?

4. And lastly: Answer the questions you recived from the one who nominated you.

What is your favorite historical period?

Do you have to pic just one?

I’ve have a very sweet spot for early to mid 16th century english fashion – since this period was what first got me into historical costuming. I just adore the sharp but feminine silhouette of the stylish Tudor lady.Princess Elizabeth.

But then you have to love the late 18th century with all those beautiful fabrics worked into such wounderful creations.

Then again, who can resist the awsome shape of the bustle period and the elegant line of the late edwardian.

Oh my, I’m getting a “must sew everything” overload here…

How long have you been sewing, and how did you get into it?

Iv’ been sewing regularly since I started fashion school at age 16. But I’ve recently found evidence I started way before that (making litle clothing for my barbie dolls).

I acctualy hated the sewing lessons in elementery school, instead I wanted to be an actor and study performance. But after wisiting the theatre high schools “open house” I was horrorstruck – There was NO WAY I was going to do that. But my parents got me looking at the other classes the school provided, and after just one look at the sewing/fashion class I was hooked. I knew right then and there, this was the place for me. And I never looked back. (The fact that I now work with theater from the costuming point of view, may be a sigh I picked it right).

Historical sewing however is quite new to me. I didn’t really start until I joined “The Historical Sew Fortnightly” in jan 2013. And (as usual) I’m now obsesed with it.

Which historical person would you like to meet and why?

I think I would have liked to meet Anne Boleyn. She must have been such a intriging women. Strong and independent, yet stuck in a mans brutal world.Anne Boleyn – Holbein jr.

Do you have a favorite kind of fabric you enjoy working with?

Not really.

I do like working with cotton. It is so easy to adapt in whatever way you whant, and it look so elegant, simple and classy even if it may not always be rich and glamorous.

Twills and Jeans-fabric are also great, and so easy to work with. But then again, It is really satisfying to get those chiffong hemes perfect to.

What will be your next project?

I’m currently in the planing stage of making the green and white gown from this lovely painting (which I was sure was made by Vige Lebrun, but now can’t find on google…)I’m also working on a brown flowery Robe Anglaise (1780s), 1770s light green skirt for my sister, a re-styling of my new “Edwardian Ariel” dress, a huge Edwardian hat and some pieces for an upcoming steampunk outfit.

Which place, in space and/or time, would you love to travel to?

I think I would love to visit 18th century france, and get to seen Rose Bertin (Marie Antoinettes fashion mogul) perform her magic. She must have been so creative to style the queen, and other high born ladies, in new fashions each and every day. Even though her pride got the best of her in the end.Joseph Roques – Madame Rose Bertin.

Where do you wear your sewing creations? Are you a regular at historical events or do you sew it just for yourself?

I’m sorry to say, most of my costumes have never had a proper outing. I do try to take some nice pictures of everything I make, but alas there are few opurtunetis to wear my creations where I live.

I have attended a few events, and hopefully this summer will ad to that experience. I’m currently plan to attend one 1900s dinner, one huge cross period picknic, one steampunk fair, one medieval fair, one regency bal and hopefully some dance shows and lighter festivetis this year.

I would like to say I make my costumes for myself, but the truth is I’m totaly addicted to the reactions my creationd get from other people. Maybe someday I get confident enough to make my own thing, without needing to prove myself to everyone around. But right now I really enjoy being known for my habit “to whip up a new gown every forthnight”.

Do you have a favorite clothing item, historical or modern?

I love my spring/fall jacket. It’s dark blue, straight and have a slight of the shoulder straight sleeve. Wearing it I always feel like a cool “cultural lady” (kulturtant).

When it comes to my historical favorites, I have to confess it’s my brown cotton stockings. I bought them on sale from a regular clothing store about a year ago, and they work perfect for most of my historical outfits. They are just high enough to stay up on their own or to fit into the suspenders, and the soft brown colour makes them sutable for everything from medieval to edwardian – and everything in between. Sadly they are now falling apart – the toes are poking through. I think I will have to try to mend them, since I’m not ready to part from them just yet.

What is your favorite book?

I love Antonia Fraisers “Queen of Fashion – What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution”. It captures me every time (I’m currently on my third reading), and there are always some new things to learn. A young, but fashion forward Marie Antoinette.

What are your other hobbies?

I don’t have time for other hobbies…

No, I’m kidding, but there is a bit truth in it.

I used to dance “folk dance”, but since most of my dancing team moved away, we only get togeter once or twice a year. But when we do, I love to dance all those lovely walzes, hambos and polskas once more.

I also like to exercise (Ok, not always). I tries to run 3 times a week, and do some strenght like weightlifting, boxercise and core 2 times a week.

And I’m of course obsessed with watching costume movies and series. Movie Still “Gladiator”

Ariel goes Edwardian – Photoshoot

Published on April 1, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory5 Comments

When me and my sister got together this weekend to do the photoshoot of my new “Edwardian Ariel” gown, we were happy to discover that the recent snow had melted and turned into perfect sunny spring weather.

So I put on my akvardly red syntetic wig and my new gown. Then we spent an hour outside by the chanal, playing and taking pictures.

Photo: Elin Petersson

Ariel goes Edwardian

Published on March 30, 2014March 30, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

For the HSF challenge 6 – Farytale, I’ve been working on an Edwardian dress for “The litle mermaid” Ariel. (If you wonder how the heck that works, take a look at my previous post.)

The girl on the left is my main inspiration.

A quick design sketch.

As usual, I started with the draping of the pattern. I pinned the fabric to my dressform (on top of the corset and brassiere) and draped a tight fitting lining.

And a larger outer layer.

Then cut and made a quick mock-up. First I tried on the lining.

And then I pinned on the draping outer layer.

After some minor changes to the pattern, I cut all the pieces. Using a striped cotton voile (same as for my “Chemise a la Reine“) for the bodice, sleeves and skirt. And a dotted polyester organdy for the neck insertion, and decoration.

I cut the skirt as two lenghts of fabric, sewed them together and pleated the wasit to the right measurments.

I made the pin-tucks from a long piece of the organdy, only cuting the front insertion when the piece was finished.

I interlined the bodice and stitched it togehter, then I put it on to determen the placing of the pin-tucked front piece.

And pinned the front draping fabric to the waist.

It does look pretty good ( the skirt and leeve ae just pined on at this stage).

But I do have some minor problems at the back and side, which fortanly can both be fixed by shortening the waist a few cm.

Then it was time to stich on the front piece, collar, sleeves and skirt. Putt in the hooks and eyes, and finishing the whole thing of with some flowers.

The Finished Gown:

Just the Facts:

Challenge: 6 – Farytale

What: An Edwardian (1901s) gown for “The little Mermaid”.

Pattern: Drafted my own, using a picture for reference.

Fabric: 3m of striped white cotton voile, 0,5 m of white dotted polyester organza and 0,5 m regular white cotton sheets for interlining.

Notions: Thread, hooks and eyes and about 80 cm syntetic whalebone.

How historical accurate: Not much, the cotton content is ok, and the colour would suffice for a “nice dress”. But I don’t think I quite got the shape/look right.

Time: About 10 hours – on and of for two weeks.

Cost: About 100Sek (16Usd), everything from stash (bought on sale about a year ago).

First worn: 30th of mars, for the “farytale” photoshoot.

Final thoughts: Sadly I did’t enjoy making this dress.

I was way to tired after work, and to occupied on weekends, to take the time to do the dress right.

Instead I forced myself to make some “baby-step” progress on it for about two weeks, and then pulling myself up and stressing like crazy to get it finished before the photoshoot on sunday 30s.

All that stress would have been worth it, if I at least would have liked the dress.

But No, when I putt it on for the first time (at the photoshoot) I really hated it.

I feelt fat, ugly and ridicoulus in it, and was more then a bit ashamed to go outside for the photo session.

But now, when I’ve been going through the pictures we took, I think I do like it a bit more.

Because I can tell you – we got some awsome looking photos, which I’m dying to show you. (As soon as I can get this damn blog to stop deciding over my picture sizes).

Re-working the Edwardian Brassiere

Published on March 24, 2014April 15, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

Lateley I’ve been bothered by the ill-fitting brassiere I made last week for the HSF 5 challenge (bodice).

And since I’m curently working on a dress to be worn over the brassiere, I figured I needed to take the time to re-work it.

Before

The brassiere needed to be let out a couple of cm in the sides, shortened at the waist and lowered both at the armcykles and neckline.

So this weekend I grabbed the seam ripper and got to work.

I started by removing most of the bias tape, and the boning.

Then I cut the new neckline, armholes and waistline.

The side seams was being let out a bit, and I needed to make some additional bias tape to cover for the new and longer edges.

Then I shortened the boning and finishing of by sewing the bias-tape back on.

But it does look very nice. There are to much fabric at the top neckline.

So I tried it on.And pined away the exess fabric.

The shoulder straps need to be adjusted – re-shaped and shortened.

There was noting to do but to start ripping out the bias tape once more.

Finished:

It is defenetly not my best work, but at least it does what it is supposed to.

The whole procedure took about two-three hours, but together with lots of over time at work, it unfortanly left me with only one week to start and finish my entry for the next challenge…