Did I have the time to thrown in a random project last month? No. Could I stop myself when Leimomi Oakes of TheDreamstress and Scroop Patterns asked for pattern testers for a mid-1910s skirt? Also no. I already have the Scroop Patterns corset, petticoat and blouse for the time period and this would be perfect to get a whole outfit finished. The fashion 1915-1917 with the crinoline revival and swishy skirts is probably my absolute favorite historical era, after all it's no coincidence that I modelled my wedding gown after it.
Friday 25 October 2024
The Seatoun 1916 skirt
Sunday 20 October 2024
A 1520s master miner/burgher couple
Since I first started to make 16th century clothing I have wanted to make clothes that could have been worn by the master miners in Falun. Master miners were part owners of the mine and owned their own smelting furnaces where they produced copper, they then sold it. There was a wide variety of economical rank and they can be compared to landed gentry, with some being very rich and some just scraping buy. Over all they can be compared in wealth to the burghers of the towns around the Baltic sea.
My impression of a master miner's daughter back in 2018 |
Sunday 29 September 2024
A fun and different Star Wars troop
This year the Swedish garrison was invited to Gothenburg Book Fair, which is northern Europe's largest book fair and a huge cultural event. The theme for this year was "space", so we were invited to hang around and spread some space fun, especially in the area designated for children's literature and the like.
We had a small booth but most of it was mingling around with visitors, and unlike a comic con and other kinds of science fiction convention I thought this was even more fun, because the visitors were really surprised and it was something fresh, unlike when people are more or less expecting us to be around and show off our costumes.
Since Gothenburg means a long journey by train I wanted to pack light, so I brought admiral Daala. Here I am in the Elsa Beskow diorama, Elsa Beskow is a classic 19th century children's author where the images are as important as the text in a way I guess she can be compared to Beatrix Potter.Sunday 22 September 2024
Scroop patterns summit dress
I rarely make clothes for everyday wear. I simply think that my finishes aren't good enough. But when Scroop patterns released the "Summit dress" I felt that this was a pattern that I really wanted to make.
With my changing body after my gastric bypass last year I need some new clothes. I wanted a new autumn/winter dress. I have also wanted a dress that is nice and neutral, but gives an air of historical fashion when doing lectures. The pattern is based ont he 14th century Herjolfsnes finds, but with modern construction methods and an option between modern lantern sleeves and historical sleeves, and different skirt lengths. I have made a simple medieval gown by measuring and cutting rectangular and godet pieces, with this pattern I also got a medieval pattern that I can use if I want to make another one, I only need to replace the machine sewing with handsewing and lengthen the 3/4 length historical sleeves.
The basic pattern is a very loose fitting dress. The size chart contains both your body measurements and the measurement sof the finished garments. I was exactly on the size 44, but having seen the tester makes I went down a full size to 42, and it is still very loose. I could probably have gone down another size on the main gown, but then the arms would have been on the small side. If I make this as an historical pattern one day I will probably go down to 40.The finished sleeves |
The pattern for the bottom of the sleeve |
The sleeve right side out |
The sleeve wrong side out, with the facing |
If you are curious about the pattern Leimomi/the Dreamstress and creator of Scroop patterns has one post about the pattern and two full posts about tester makes, here and here.
And for full disclosure I have been a pattern tester for Scroop patterns and it is probably my favorite pattern makers out there, I bought this pattern with a discount code that I got from answering a customer survey earlier in the summer. This was the first time I made something from its range of modern patterns rather than historical patterns.
Sunday 15 September 2024
Learning whitework embroidery
After coming home from Visby I have been a bit both worn out from sewing, and restless from not having something to do. All the work I put in with making David's landsknecht meant that I got used to sewing a couple of hours every day, at the same time I don't know what to do right now. I don't need any historical clothing, and also don't have the inspiration to make something that I will just put in my storage, and I don't have a huge inspiration for a cosplay project either. I have made some progress with my female tusken, but when it was clear that I am going to miss the remaining conventions in the autumn I don't feel like putting on some extra drive into it.
So I decided to learn how to do whitework embroidery, and started with drawn work. Now I am not a person to make a sample, I am too impatient and wanted to make something I could use. Since I don't have a fine, white 16th century apron I decided to take the apron that I whipped together last year, but didn't have time to do anything with and add embroidery to it.
I started with drawing away threads, and this was the most fiddly bit.Now I am unto separating bars of the remaining thread and this is slow, but fairly simple work. Quite nice to do while watching tv.
To help me learn the teqhnique I am using some of the books I have at home, but I am also very happy for the Royal School of Needlework's stitchbank with their clear instructions and images.
Friday 23 August 2024
laundry day
After the summer it is time for a big costuming laundry day. That means washing a lot of historical costumes and prewashing the fabrics that I have bought during the summer. In my apartment building with have a laundry room in the basement, and the best thing is the room for drying clothes, with an electric fan and heater.
kirtle, shift, wams/doublet and several meters of fabrics in the drying room |
The shirts, shift, aprons and everything that is done in linen, cotton and hemp goes in the washing machine. That includes my blackwork shift. It is so old now that I don't consider it a "fine" shirt anymore. I wash them on a regular setting, but I hang them to dry instead of going into the tumbler. My experience is that the linen only gets softer with every wash. For my large apron, that had quite a few soot stains after cooking in Visby, I first sprayed it the stains with stain remover and that worked fine. The same goes for my wulsthaube that takes up red dye from my hair. For the wulsthaube I remove the wulst before washing, it is only tacked on in a few places, so I can simply wash the cap part of it.
Wool clothes are best taken care of by simply airing them. I live in an apartment without balcony though. I used to bring them home to my mother and hand them in her garden, but she is getting old and her short time memory is lapsing. That means that I am still missing some of my linen stuff from last year's airing that I had in her garden, I am pretty sure that some time in the future I will find them among her handkerchiefs or bedlinen, so I don't dare to do it any more. After shorter events I leave the clothes hanging in my living room, but now after the summer and a long event where I've been sweating and standing in smoke it is time to clean them. I simply use the wool setting on the washing machine together with a wool/silk detergent. I also only wash one item at the time. So far I have not had anything happen to the clothes.
For David's landsknecht outfit I was worried, the red fabric was bleeding a lot. His shirt that he had worn under it when it was raining had a lot of pink stains. That shirt was his cheap cotton shirt and it worked fine with stain remover and then a wash in the washing machine on the cotton setting. I was worried that the red would bleed and stain the pink part though. I did an experiment where I started with his socks, since one is red and one is pink. I threw them in the washing machine together with colour cather paper.
When the socks came out fine, except for a slight stain on the heel, I decided to try the hose. For the hose I put stain remover on the pink stains on the lining and then I added three colour catcher papers to the wasching machine. I also removed all the loose ribbons and ties. When that worked fine I dared to do the same with the doublet/wams as well, adding four colour catcher papers.
The colour catcher paper after the doublet/wams washing |
I was happy that I could wash the landsknecht outfit, and that means that I will probably do it at least once a year, after single day events I am happy with just airing the clothes. A reason why I dare use the washing machine is also that I have prewashed all fabrics, and if they survive the prewash they should survive washing as well. So during this washing day I also washed the wool that I bought at Medeltidsveckan and the fabrics that I am going to use for my female Tusken, so that they are ready to get some dye.
Tuesday 20 August 2024
HSM24: stripes and dots - the landsknecht hose
What the item is: a pair of landsknecht hose
How it fits the challenge: They are made from stripes of red and pink sewn together
Material: 1,5 m red wool, 1,5 m pink wool, 0,5 linen for lining
Pattern: my own with inspiration from the Alpirsbach hose
Year: 1520s
Notions: linen thread and silk ribbons to tie everything together
How historically accurate is it? 60%
Hours to complete: 1,5 months
First worn: at medieval week in Visby
Total cost: $150