The Historical Sew Monthly – Page 4 – 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.

1900s Autumn Suit – Photoshoot

Published on October 9, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory10 Comments

To get some photos of my new Edwardian wool dress, I took the opportunity to use my fiancees workplace as settings and my sister as photograph.

I’m wearing: The brown/plaid wool skirt, lacy shirtwaist, wool bolero and my Titanic hat (with a quick fix-up) Underneath I have my S-shaped corset, petticoat, chemise, corset cover, stockings and black “American Duchess” Gibson shoes.

Photo: Maria Petersson

1900s Brown Bolero Jacket

Published on October 7, 2015October 9, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

The night before the photoshoot of my new Edwardian shirtwaist and skirt, I decided I also needed a jacket
(I know – Crazy!).

So while adding buttons to the blouse, I also drafted a quick pattern from “The Edwardian Modiste” by Frances Grimble, which I’ve been eyeing for quite a while.
Such a cute jacket/bolero.
Then I grabbed a piece of soft wool, which of course matched the beige in the plaid skirt perfectly, from my stash and begun cutting and sewing.

It all went so fast and within, half an hour I had a functional bolero.

Then all I needed to do was to hem the sleeves and bodice and to decorate it.
I altered between some dark pom-pom trim and the simpler soutage ribbon in soft nougat. The later won the fight, and my only regret is that I didn’t had enough to also trim the sleeves.

The bolero from the inside – all edges left raw.

I also added a hook and bar to wear it close if I want to.

The finished bolero:

Just the facts:

Challenge: HSM/15 nr 9 – Brown

What: a 1900s bolero jacket

Pattern: I drafted my own using “The Edwardian Modiste” by Frances Grimble as a guide (basically a front + back bodice and a wide sleeve cut apart at the top)

Fabric & Notions: 0.5 of soft light brown wool, thread, hook and eye and 2 m soutage ribbon for decoration.

Time: 3 hours! Such a fun and quick project.

Cost: 45 Sek (6 Usd) – a leftover scrap, to small for anything really, I bought on sale a year ago.

How historical accurate: Not sure. The pattern is based on a actual pattern, but I might have modernized both it and the construction techniques. The internal seams are machined and all the finishing are done by hand – like in the period. The fabric is plausible and the silhouette are about right so I would guess about 7/10.

Final Thoughts: I love it so much! I could wear it to the office right now (I might have to reduce the sleeves a bit first though). The fabrics so soft and the shape is just lovely. The only thing i ca think of that’s not perfect is that I didn’t considered the stiffness of the wool when drafting the sleeves – thous making them a bit to wide. They will probably look better in a more drapery fabric.
I might also add some more trim later on when I find something I like.

The whole outfit:

And since you always need something on your head I draped some leftover fabric on an modern straw hat, to get that big Edwardian hat shape.

Next up: The photoshoot

1900s Brown Plaid Skirt

Published on October 1, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory9 Comments

As soon as I laid eyes on this fashion plate I knew I wanted it
(and of course the costume ;-))

Jen at Festive Attyre made the most fabulous recreation of it a while back.And even though I knew I could never match her skill or perfect Edwardian look, I really wanted a similar look.

So when the HSM challenge 9 – “Brown” approached I scouted out my stash for the perfect brown and plaid wool fabric, and got to work.

I drafted the pattern using Nora Waughs “The cut of women’s clothes”

I cut the pieces on the bias, carefully matched the plaid to meet at an angel at the seams.
Matching the plaid

I used some white cotton for the foundation and stitched bias-tape to make boning channels to get that nice body-hugging look of the corseted skirt of this era.

The skirt closes at the front with hooks and eyes, over a placket and secured with another pair of bones.

I finished by hemming the skirt using a 10 cm wide strip of beige cotton for hem-facing.

And that’s it.The skirt from the inside

The finished Skirt:

Just the facts:

Challenge: HSM15 nr 9 – Brown

What: A 1900s brown/plaid walking skirt.

Pattern: I drafted my own using Nora Waugh’s “The cut of women’s clothes”

Fabric: 3 m of plaid wool an bits and scraps of cotton for interlining and hem-facing.

Notions: Thread, 2 m of bias-tape, 2m of boning, and hooks and eyes for clouser.

Time: About 10 hours – the fabric matching and hand stitched hem took more time then usual.

Cost: About 200 Sek (32Usd) – all material came from stash but I bought this fabric on sale about a year a ago with a similar project in mind.

How historical accurate: Pretty good. The fabric and pattern are all good. Even though most of the skirt is made by machine the finishing are hand-stitched, as it should be fr this period. I did use some modern techniques on the foundation piece. I’d give it a 7/10.

First worn: Will be worn for photos on October 4th.

Final thoughts: I like how it came out, both the sweep of the skirt and the pattern matching looks really nice, but I’m not completely happy with the raised waistline and I might go back to tweak it a bit later on. But a ll in all it’s a nice piece to have in the costume wardrobe.

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

“Sew 17th century Challenge” – Photoshoot

Published on August 15, 2015August 14, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory11 Comments

For the photoshoot I got some help from my friend, modelling my new 17th century outfit.

She wore the 17th century bodice, skirt, coif and fur over my quilted petticoat, accessoriced with a string of pearls and a Violine.
Here are the result:

Model: Annika Siljat

“Sew 17th century Challenge” – The Bodice (part 3 – Finishing)

Published on August 12, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory10 Comments

And here comes the final part of the making of my new 17th century bodice. (Part 1 & 2)

Once the outer fabric, lining and sleeves where set it was time to deal with the tabs.
(Every stay makers dread)

I started by cutting them open and then I pinned the three layers together, and basted

I ran into some problems when turning the front edges under, and no matter what I did they came out awfulThis is seriously my third re-do, and unfortunately the best of my tries.

I had no idea how to fix i and the problem caused me to loose steam (and love) for the project.

After some nights to cool of and think, I figured to just hide it.
So I went trough my stash and found some lovely golden lace, to see if that would do the trick.
In the end I decided not to use the lace, even though I still think it looks stunning (maybe something for a later date).

Once I excepted the less then perfect front, it was time to start covering the tabs.

I used red cotton bias-tape cut to a smaller size.

Starting to look like something….
But a lot of work remained.

The last thing to do on the bodice was to make all the lacing holes.I use pins to mark the distance before I use my chalk-pen
Practice makes perfect.
Ok, not yet perfect but pretty decent looking eyelets if I may say so myself.

Then the only thing left to do was to try it on a last time… Crap…

Yup, that’s the sad truth – the bodice I to small, and not “If I lace a bit harder it might work” to small, but “There is no way in hell I can close this sucker” to small.

Luckily my inspiration painting’s only shows the back of the bodice, so hypothetical there is a chance the girls wear a open laced bodice over a stomacher – far fetched I know, but at his point there was no way I would redo it or try to ad to the sides. And logically they must have size shifting back then too, right?

So I will make a stomacher for this bodice before the next wearing, but for now I’m considering it done.

The finished bodice:

Just the facts:

Challenge: nr 6/HSM15 – Out of your comfort zone

What: A 1660s bodice

How it fit the challenge: This is my first venture into 17th century, and even though I made both bodices and stays before the way this garment combines the two was a new experience for me.

Pattern: “1660s bodice lining” from Waugh’s “Corset and Crinolines”, with some alterations.

Fabric: 1,5 m red polyester “silk”, 1,5m white cotton/linen blend for lining and 1 m un-bleached sturdy linen for interning and foundation.

Notions: Thread, button-hole thread, 15m plastic whalebone for boning, 5m cord for lacing, 60cm white bias-tape for edging the sleeves and 3 m red bias-tape for binding the tabs.

How historical accurate: So so, the bodice is made 50% on machine with all the outside seams made by hand. The fabric is modern but the shape and look of the garment is good for the time period. About 7/10

Time: A lot! probably about 60 hours – I worked on this for most of the summer.

Cost: About 300Sek (45Usd)

First worn: At old town beginning of August for photos, and I’m thinking on using it next weekend for a “all times” dance recital.

Final Thoughts: I’m so happy with the look and feel of it. My only concern is the size – Why do I keep making things to small? And no, I have not gained weight – I’m just constantly over estimate my “squeeze factor”, and underestimate the difference boning and extra fabric layers make to the size.
And if it ever is to be worn again I might have to redo the front, or just slap some trim over it…

“Sew 17th century Challenge” – The Bodice (part 2 – foundation)

Published on August 10, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory6 Comments

Lets continue on with the bodice:
(read the previous posts in this series here: costume analysis, skirt, coif, fur shawl, bodice part 1)

The first thing to do (once I had a working pattern) was to make the foundation for the bodice.So I cut two of every piece in a sturdy unbleached linen, and basted them togeter.

Then I penned the boning channels (using some of my books as guides).

I stitched all the channels and then attached the pieces to each-other.

Then it was time to ad the boning.I used synthetic whalebone, and cut each piece to match the channels.
The whalebone itself is not as strong as metal or reed, but it is lightweight and in a fully boned bodice like this the thin quality is to prefer (in my opinion)

The one thing that worried me most was the “shrinkage” almost always caused by adding boning.
The thinness of the whalebone was really necessary to keep the difference in size as small as possible (the thicker the bones the bigger the size difference).You can clearly see the difference from left side (boned) to right side (un-boned) in this picture.

Once all the bones was inserted, I put it on for a try.

It looks awesome, and with some minor adjustments (like adding a few more bones to the front and back) I was good to go.

I love how beautiful the interior is before being covered up.

Then it was time to start on the exterior fabric.

After keeping my eyes open in my local fabric store since January, in June, I finally decided to take the 1 hour trip to the next towns fabric store (which is awesome by the way).
And I did not regret it.

Not only did I find lots of delicious taffeta’s and viscose, I also found this perfect dark red synthetic silk. It’s a bit darker in real life

Since the fabric was a bit slippery and thin, I decided to stitch it together using my sewing machine before adding the strengthening and decoration hand finishing on top.

Then it was time to cover the foundation in red faux silk.

I’d accidentally made the outer layer a bit to big at the side seam, and tried to pin it down to fit.

After some fiddling I decided to let it be for now, and to take the excess in later if needs be – better to big then to small.
(a very wise choice as it proves later on)

The linen lining was a bit easier to fit into the bodice.

Once the main bodice pieces was basted down I started working on the sleeves.
Drafting the pattern using my books as a guide.

Then I just basted the red fabric to the interning (aka lining), stitched the seam together and pinned the pleats.

I pleated the sleeves by hand, and sewed chains of thread to keep the pleats in place.
And finished them of by folding some self fabric trim round the lower edge. The sleeves ready to be set.

Then I set the sleeves to the bodice and finished by binding the arm holes using bias tape.

Next up – the finishing touches

“Sew 17th century Challenge” – The Bodice (part 1 – The pattern)

Published on August 9, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

The last piece I needed to complete the “Sew 17th century challenge” was also the main piece – the bodice.
Read about the other garments here: Skirt, Cufs,Coif, Fur Shawl
And to make this post a bit lighter I’ve cut it up in a few manageable pieces.
First up – The Pattern

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When researching the bodice I found several different patterns*, and after some narrowing things down, I ended up with two finalists to make into mock-ups. Both from Waughs “Corset and Crinolines”

The first pattern I picked was “1660s bodice lining”
It has the perfect neck scope and shoulders, and the much need lacing down the front.
The only thing I’m missing is the tabs down the hips.

I scanned the pattern, opened it in Paint and changed the printer settings to 400%

Then I cut all the pieces and taped them together.

I traced the pieces and made some alteration to my measurements.

Then it was time to bring out the cotton sheeting to cut the mock-ups.

I added boning at some vital places, and my pre-made lacing strip to the font, to get a more accurate fitting.

I really liked how the pattern fitted my body – both comfortable and strong.
I also like the look of the off-the-shoulder sleeves, even though I can hardly lift my arms.

The next pattern to try was the “1680s court bodice”.

I printed, attached and sewed the pieces in the same way as before.

I love the shape it gives me, but It’s not nearly as comfortable as the previous one.
I’ll have to move the lacing to the front on this one, and to do some serious editing to the sleeves and neckline.

Hm, which one to choose…

In the end I opted for the “1660s bodice lining.

Creative mess, right?

So then it was back to the drawing table to ad some tabs to the otherwise perfect pattern.
I even tried it on with my (at the time) almost finished skirt.
Pretty rough, but you get the idea if the shape.

*I found patterns for 17th century stays and bodices in almost every book covering this period: Waugh’s “Cut of Womens Clothes”, Arnold’s “Pattern of fashion” and “Seventeen-Century Women’s Dress Patterns” by North & Tiramani.

Next up – making the foundation…