19th century Victorian – Page 3 – Fashion Through Herstory

2015 – A year in rerview

Published on February 13, 2016 by fashionthrougherstory3 Comments

I’m a bit behind in posting, but here are a summary of the items I made last year.

January:

I started the year with grand planes (pun intended) and made pannier for the first HSM challenge of the year – Foundation

And one snowy evening I cobbled together a fake fur hat to match my neck-stole

February:

For Februarys challenge – blue, I continued with the winter theme and finished my Redingote which I´ve started in the fall.

I also had the time to (start) and finish a 18th century maids outfit for the 3rd challenge – Stashbusting.

Mars:

And while I was in the mood to clear out some stash I also made a “Little red riding hood” 18th century cape

and a brown wool skirt for my sister.

April:

April came with spring, and I made a summery outfit for “Lady Mary” and the – War and Peace challenge

I also made a 1860s blouse and 1850s silk bonnet for a summer event.

May:

In May I made a cotton blouse for the – Practicality challenge and then a skirt, hat and belt to go with it.

June:

In June I scrambled to finish my 1850s plaid summer dress in time for an event.

Then I had some fun designing and making a crazy 18th(ish) century masquarde costume.

July:

Almost all of July was spent on making this 17th century bodice (and skirt and accessories) for Isis wardrobes “Sew 17th century challenge”

August:

August is medieval month in our part of town so I made an 15th century Burgundian dress for my sister

And used an old thrift store find to complete the -Heirlome challenge with a 1850s farmers dress.

September:

September, with its magical colors and a drawing to the forest, made me want to make an “Outlander” inspired outfit.
And to make a stylish (yet autumn inspired) 1900s day dress for the Brown Challenge.

October:

For the Sewing secrets Challenge, I made a new skirt to my 17th century bodice (not yet blogged about)

It was around this time my head finally caught up with my body and realized I was pregnant, and needed to slow the heck down.
And that´s exactly what I did – I closed the door to my sewing room, and have just now started to once again peak through the key hole.

And so my sewing year of 2015 ends in October.

I´t will be some time before I´m back to more regular posting and sewing (but I finally starting to dream of pretty dresses again) so hopefully I can show you some new stuff in not so long.

*For more pictures and construction of the pieces take a look at the “Portfolio” page.

Past Brown Creations

Published on September 27, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

This months theme for HSM/15 is “Brown”.

The Dreamstress whites:
it’s not the most exciting colour by modern standards, but brown has been one of the most common, and popular, colours throughout history. Make something brown.

I actually like brown.
It’s a great color that (in my opinion) accentuates almost any other color. Its softer then black and cooler then white when making color combinations. Brown also comes in a lot of different shades from dark chocolate to golden and soft nougat. It’s also been a (more or les=) popular color throughout history.

Here are some of my brown pieces I’ve added t my historical wardrobe theses past years:

One of my favorite dresses is this 1780s robe a la Anglaise in a lovely flowery cotton matched with a golden petticoat and brown stockings.

1850s lend itself great to the brown color pallet.
This walking dress in printed cotton makes an impact on everyone around.

The dress also comes with an evening bodice.

A photo from 1929 inspired this simple cotton dress, the brown boots and white collar ads perfectly to the authenticity.

Who knew a 1880s evening gown in brown could be so glamours. The light teal skirt, white gloves and the dark brown fringe perfectly sets of the nougat in the gown.

The same 1880s trained bodice, paired with leather pants and heavy duty boots, also works for a softer Steampunk style.

Simple rural 18th century woolen bodice in light nougat/dark beige perfectly matches the plaid in the skirt and the softness in the nature all around.

IMG_1115-ok 18th century menswear in a wide spectrum of brown hues, with the coat as the obvious focal point, matched with golden/brown waistcoat and beige/brown suede breeches.

A simple white shirt made fabulous with the help of a nice brown 1990s woolen skirt and cola colored belt.

This dark chocolate 18th century skirt reads as black, but makes a softer contrast to the white apron and stockings then black. The bodice is actually yellow with purple stripes, but can very well be read as brown.

Dark wine paired with chocolate brown makes for a serene medieval picture.

Golden poly knit makes for a nice Egyptian masquerade costume.

I’ve also made several accessories to my costumes:
Brown fake fur hat, matched with bought fake fur muff and fox stole, worn with my 1900s walking outfit.

A 1660s (or any period really) fake fur stole/shawl.

Chocolate velvet sleeveless spencer, made to go with my yellow regency gown.

Velvet cape trimmed with fake fur and 1840s velvet bonnet, make for some pretty Dickensien winter picture..

Sometimes the simplest of items make a huge different, This 1550s outfit wouldn’t be complete without the brown apron.

What do you think of the color brown?

Heirlome dress – Photoshoot

Published on September 15, 2015September 15, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

Only minutes after finishing my new peasant dress, I packed it and left for my sisters house (and her birthday celebration), where we took a few moments to take some photos around the yard – which was the perfect setting for this dress.

I’m wearing: My new Heirloom dress paired with apron and head-cloth/shawl from my National costume, beige woolen shawl, knitted mittens, chemise, petticoat, bloomers and lace up boots.

Photo: Elin Evaldsdottra

1850s Swedish Heirlome Farm-dress

Published on September 13, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

Last months HSM15 Challenge was “Heirlome”, and as never inherited anything suitable and knew nothing about my ancestors I had some trouble deciding what to make for this one.

Basically, I could make whatever I liked as long as it heirs from Sweden.
Initially I thought about making another piece for my national costume – like the jacket, embroidered shawl or headpiece, but since time was short (starting 1 week after deadline) I decided to go with a more classic (and fast) alternative.
The 19th century farm girl.

I love this pic of a girl in her finest clothes in front of her home. So refreshing an “real” from all the fancy dresses you see in fashion plates and preserved garments.

Since almost everybody in Sweden heirs from farmers, it seemed logical to assume that so did me and my ancestors.

I found this fabric, 3 m blue plaid cotton flannel, at an online auction site for a real steal of a price.

I used my 1840s fan-front dress pattern and cut the fabric down to scraps, carefully matching the plaids.

Then I sewed the dress together.
I made it all in three nights, altering between the sewing machine and hand stitching before the TV, and unfortunately “forgot” to take pictures. The sewing was pretty straight forward, so really noting to write in dept about (read about my last dress like this here)

I did however change a few things, from the original green dress, like:
Using darts to shape the front bodice, instead of fixed gathers. Adding the bodice to the skirt as to make a “whole” dress, and switching the buttons for hooks and eyes.

The finished dress:

Just the facts:

Challenge: nr 8/2015 – Heirlome

What: A 1850s working woman’s dress – As my ancestors might have worn.

Pattern: Self drafted about 2 years ago.

Fabric: 2,6 m of plaid cotton flanell, 0,5 m of white cotton lining.

Notions: Thread, hook & eyes, 2 m bias tape.

How historical accurate: So so, the look and fabric is plausible, but I sewed most of it on machine and put in some modern techniques. Maybe 6/10

Time: About 10-15 hours

Cost: About 150 Sek (22 Usd)

First worn: For photos September 12.

Final thoughts: Unfortunately I do not love this dress. I like the idea of it much better then the dress itself.
I’t came out a bit to big for me, and being made to work without a corset I feel a bit frumpy wearing it.

Accessorized with apron and head-cloth from my national costume

“America day – Those who Stayed Behind”

Published on July 22, 2015July 22, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

This weekend I attended the “American day” in a small village called Kisa.
The theme for the day was the Swedish emigration to America during the later half of 19th century, with a closer look at the Swedish society, clothing and food for all those who choose to stay behind (mainly the rich).

The old In (Wärdshus) in Kisa hosted the day, and me and a group of volunteer ladies held the costume and fashion “show” including a presentation of 1850-1900s fashion.

The first thing we did after arriving was to set up our dress forms with fashions from 1850-1900s.
Unfortunately we ended up with way to many bustle dresses and lacked both 1850s and 1900s dresses.
We also totally lacked mens fashion.
Lesson learnt for next time I guess.

Our “Showroom” – you can see my 1900s S-shaped corset to the left and my 1850s corset, crinoline and bonnet to the right.

Accessorizes

After the “showroom” was set, and we all gotten into our chosen garb, it was time to meet the guests.Group pic (missing two of the ladies who came a bit later)

We were supposed to walk around chatting with the guest, but since everyone was seated listening to the orchestra playing we didn’t had the chance to present ourself, but just stayed in the background as to not disturb the musicians.

Sara is wearing her fabulous military inspired 1880s bustle dress.

Helena in yet another lovely bustle dress.

I went a bit outside the box and wore my Downton Abby 1914s dress.

Gossiping 1850s ladies…

When the music was over, Sara got to show the resemblance between the orchestras uniform and her dress.Twins?

Then we all went inside for our costume presentation.

Helena held a great presentation, illustration the past fashions using both the dressforms and us as mannequins.

Then it was time to get seated for the 1870s style dinner, made by the Ins own chef from an old recipe.Salue! Cheers! Skål!

This pic cracks me up – just look at Mauds face watching me play with my food…

After dinner the guests had a little bit of time to ask us questions and take our photos.Susanna posing for a guest.

Before it was time to head home we all decided to take the time to get some nice photos
(my sister joined us the whole day as a photographer)

Group-pic

The obligatory crazy group pic

Sara and Helena in beautiful blue bustles

Barbro in lovely 1870s dress – I love the stripe work

Maud and Marie just cant stop laughing in their 1850s garb

Josefine, Susanna and me chatting about some scandalous things.

“No way! I’t was you…”

Lovely Edwardian elegance

Then it was time to pack up and go home…

I’m not super impressed with the arrangement of the event (no PR, no schedule and strange activity clashes),
but I’m definitely happy and thankful for all the lovely ladies who turned up in costume and high spirit to make the day a success.

That pretty much sums it up…
All photos by: Elin Evaldsdottra

The Day of the Big Crinolines (part 2)

Published on June 26, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

Here comes the rest of the pictures from “The Day of the Big Crinolines” (part 1).

As the day progressed we walked round the old town of Gamla Linköping, visiting small shops and gardens, taking lots of photos and buying some new stuff.

IMG_6950_zpsylgylebb Maud, in the sun with her new umbrella/parasol.

Maria, with her Southern American flair.

Fan fighting!

Ladies walking of to the distance…

Sara of “A costuming Engineer” in her stunning new 1860s gown.

Clara reading “the bible” in the shadows.

I love the color and shape of Claras bonnet, and she matched it perfectly with the lilac in her dress.

IMG_7007_zpsmror4nbk One giant skirt on the bench…
…four giant skirts on the bench.

Oh naughty!

Love this flimsy, of focus photo – that’s what the whole day felt like.

Pernilla and Denise in their lovely new cotton dresses.

Pernilla (in red) was my co-arranger to his event, and an angel at making everything work out perfectly.

Such a great color on Denise.

I love the sheer fabric on Pernillas bonnet.

On the town square we ran into the patrolling policeman, and convinced him to join in some photos.

20150613_154632_resized “Hm, you are very strange madam…”

When the shops closed (and the tourist headed home), we all went to the old times skittle-alley for some resting and playing in the shadows.

20150613_160802_resized

IMG_7185_zpsfjtvuw9h Barbaras jacket are made out of a tablecloth, can you believe it.
The whole outfit looks so smashing.

Helena’s playing ball…

Strike! Eh, No…

IMG_7259_zpspmzu8ppr Just general fooling around.

Some of the guest devoted them self to reading “the bible” – Not really
(they’r watching the live streaming from the royal wedding).

Group-pic – with some added and some lost through out the day.

Newlyweds – Congratulations again!

We ended the day with a nice dinner at an beautiful old restaurant next to were we sat.
The food and the company was great, but we were all a bit exhausted by the long and hot day.
Then it was time to say goodbye.

Hopefully we’ll be able to do this again next year.

Just awesome!

***

I probably should have stopped at the crazy group picture, but since this is my blog/account of the day, I will also show you the les glorious pics from after we said our goodbyes.

At the buss ride home, hot, tired and sweaty, I encounter my other sister – all fresh and styled for a night on the town.
I just had to do a un-glamours bus-selfie. 20150613_203506_resized After a long day of costuming in the sun…

Once home I finally got to take the boots of, and take a look at my sad feet and socks – the blisters will stay for quite some time I’d wold think, but mu bellowed stockings are lost to all hope of saving.
Goodbye my friends, We had some good times together.
You could make any historical costume look better and would always stay in place (above the knee) even without garters.
I will miss you, and have a really hard time replacing you.

The Day of the Big Crinolines (Part 1)

Published on June 24, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory6 Comments

So, it finally came – “The Day of the Big Crinolines”, that I’ve been preparing for all spring.

Stora krinolindagen The Event poster made by Helena, using one of the pictures of my paisley gown.

The day was a collaboration with “Gamla Linköping” and “Svenska 1800-tals sällskapet”.

As a one of the hosts for this event I’ve put quite some work into getting it perfect.
Together with Pernilla from “Fashion of the days gone by” I talked to “Gamla Linköping” (the outdoors museum where the event was to be held) about help with publicity, booking the outdoors dance-floor and using their dressing-room among other things.
We had discussions with the historic dance team (to make hem do a dance show and a short dance course), with the “Historic costume group” for a fashion show and with several well read historic re-enactors for a small lecture on the fashion of the day.

At the end we only managed to get the dance team – who did a great job and was really appreciated by the participants of the day.
(Maybe next year we will be able to book some more entertainment and lectures…)

Besides planing the event itself, I’d worked on getting both me and my sister properly dresses.
Something I finished with just in time. My sister is wearing her new 1860s ensemble including her blue Skirt, white Shirt, blue Hat and black Swiss-Waist, paired with a bridal petticoat, bloomers, stockings, lace up shoes, and black lace mitts.
I’m wearing my new 1850s ensemble of plaid Dress, green silk bonnet, cage Crinoline, Corset, petticoats, bloomers, lace up boots and a clock in a chain at the waist.

The event was a big hit and lots of lovely people from different parts of Sweden joined in.
We even got our own full page in the local newspaper.
Yes, it’s me in the big picture – the reporters caught me of guard, and convinced me to both answer some questions and to pose for them. They even caught some of it on tape – read the whole article and watch the interview (in Swedish) here.

Enough talking, on to the pictures…

We started the day by gathering all the attendant at the town square.awaiting some more people…

Perfect lilac picture dream

IMG_6860_zpsrcjtpnod Staying cool in the sun

A bustle at the Crinoline day was of course also welcome

Coming back from the interview (with the two reporters trailing behind).

Then we went to the outside dance-floor to talk a bit and to get to know each-other, since there was a lot new faces for all of us. You can see the reporters lurking in the background

IMG_6867_zpsvgjv4sh2 Clara, Maria and Engla in three quite different styles of 1850-1860s dresses.

Then we went for a short walk to some greenery, to have our picnic lunch. Eva, with her super modern fruit – the pineapple

Then we headed back to the dance-floor to watch “Folkungagillets historic dance team” perform.
And for some of us – join in the performance…

IMG_6893_zps6b1zzuac

Here’s a short film of one of the dances:

Then everyone was invited to join for a a few group-dances and some polka.

Afterwards, one of the dancers helped me take some pictures of my dress in the nice light of the dance-floor.

One of the people who came to watch the public dance show was my friend Annica (who is an expert dancer) and I got to dance some polka with her. Yay!

IMG_6892_zps8zpctidw Bustle glory.

After the dancing some of us headed of to get some cofee, or “Fika” as we say in Sweden.

And asked one of the photographing tourists to take our picture.

My (quite dramatic) shadow

Visiting some shops

IMG_6937_zpspua5czdr

To be continued…

1850s Plaid Summer Dress – Photoshoot

Published on June 22, 2015June 22, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory8 Comments

Since I didn’t finish the dress until the night before the event, me and my sister took a few minutes away from the others to document my dress at the day itself.

I’m wearing: My new Plaid 1850s Summer dress (part 1, 2 & 3), green silk Bonnet (part 1 & 2), my cage Crinoline, 1880s corset together with chemise, petticoats, bloomers, stockings, lace up boots and a clock on a chain at the belt.

Photo: Maria Petersson

1850s Summer dress (part 3 – Bodice/finished)

Published on June 21, 2015June 20, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

Before I could continue on my 1850s dress bodice, I needed to decide on weather or not to do the gathers (part 1 & 2).

To help decide I posted the question n my facebook wall, and in my historic sewing class, and the answer was unanimous – Do the gathers.

With no time to argue, I got to work, testing the draping on my dressform.

Using three gathering threads to test the draping on the dressform.

The shoulders being tamed and arranged by two treads of gathering stitches that later is to be hidden in the shoulder seam.

I was not totally happy with the first try at waist gathers (using three threads) so I decided to re-do it using threads every 1-1,5 cm or so.
Testing the gathers.

Once I was happy with the technique I pinned and basted the lose front piece to the bodice, carefully matching the tightness of the gathers to hide the darts.

Then I pulled all the treads through and secured them on the back side, before I stitched the whole piece down using hidden slip stitches. You can see the right side being finished while the left still have all the threads hanging lose.

And then I left it for a few a few weeks, fully occupied by working on my sisters 1860s outfit, training for my big running competition and preparing for vacation on work.

Once I finished all the other things and finally gotten my (well deserved) vacation I once more took on the task of finishing the bodice.

With only one day left to work on the dress before it was to be used, I need to hurry.

This is how I found the bodice once more the day before the event – When I decided to give it a try, and finish it.

With no time to lose, I pinned and sewed the sleeves together and added them to the bodice using gathering threads at the sleeve head, before turning under 1 cm and hemming them at the wristPattern matching the sleeves

Then I hand stitched the boning channels to the sides, back and darts, and inserted cable tie bones cut to the right length.

I added a placket to the front edge for the clouser, and pined bias-tape to the neck and bottom edge.

Turning the bias tape at the neck down and securing it at shoulder and back.

I stitched and turned over the bias-tape at the waist, and slip-stitched it to the inside lining to make a smooth and clean finish.

late at night I marked the placement for the hooks and eyes, but I never had the time to finish them before I needed to hurry to catch the buss to the event.(Instead I pinned it shut)

I also added bias binding to the sleeve edges

Outside and inside of the “finished” bodice:

I didn’t had time to ad the clouser to the front (Edit: Now it’s done).

The finished dress:

The Facts – Bodice & skirt:

What: A 1850s summer daydress

Pattern: I drafted my own using Janet Arnolds ” Pattern of Fashion” and Nora Waughs “Cut of Womens Clothes”.

Fabric & Notions: Thread, 5 m of light weight plaid cotton, 0,5 of regular white cotton, 1 m cotton tape for waistband, bias tape for boning channels & neck/sleeves/bottom edge binding, Boning, hooks and eyes.

Time: About 10-15 hours – I made most of the dress by machine.

Cost: 300 Sek – the fabric was on Sale and everything else came from stash.

Final Thought: I really love this dress!
I feel so pretty yet comfortable in it. I can move, dance and breath on it and even though it’s long sleeved it’s not hot at all, just perfect for summer.
And I did get lots of compliments at its first outing :-).

All that’s need to be fixed for next time is, adding hooks and eyes for clouser and attachment bodice to skirt.
I also really need to re-set the sleeves. Well nothing is ever perfect 😉
(I’ve now re- set the sleeves, added the hooks and eyes needed at the front and made the bodice and skirt sit firmly together)

1850s Plaid Summer Dress (Part 2 – bodice)

Published on June 20, 2015June 20, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

After finishing the skirt (and the Lady Mary dress) I continued on to the bodice on my 1850s summer dress.

Using some green cotton from my stash I draped a pattern on my dress-form trying to get as close to the original shape as possible.

Then I cut it out, stitched it together and tried it on.
bodice with pinned darts on one side.

I pinned the darts while wearing the mock-up. Then I took it of, marked and stitched them shut.

And put it on again for one more try to see if i got it right.Looks pretty good I think.

Then I altered the pattern, taking out a few millimeters at every seam to make it a tad smaller, and shortened the back bodice about a cm to make it end at the waist.

And on to cutting out the pattern.The pattern matching took a while, but whit lots of patients and pinning, I did get it right in the end.

Then I basted the bodice pieces to the interlining (who also served as lining).center back being basted.

I stitched the center back seam,but was not happy with the bad matching of the pattern.
So I ripped out the seam and used three times as many pins as usual to really get the fabric to lay still while sewing (I could just have basted, but was to lazy at that point).

The result was much better, still not perfect, but I figured it wouldn’t show that much once worn.

Then I marked, pinned and stitched the darts on the bodice front piece copying the markings from the mock-up.

Then it was once more time to lace o the corset to check the fit.

Looks good. the only thing I needed to change was to shorten the back length some more. The vertical crease at the shoulder blades is a consequence of my corset, and will disappear as soon as I get the back boning in.

I really love the look of the bodice at this stage.

Trying it out with the right underwear…

Now it’s time for the front draping.

I used the pattern piece from my pattern draping, now cut in the plaid cotton, and pinned it to the dressform.My only problem now was to decide if I really wanted the draping or not.

I loved the clean look of the un-draped bodice (and it would be so much easier and faster to finish), but my I think it was the draping who made me love the inspiration dress so much.

What to do?

To be continued….