The finished bodice

Ok, I was bad and I didn't take many photos of the process of attaching the velvet outer layer to the lining of the bodice. I had volunteered to make a quick tutorial for a Rebel Legion thing on how to sew silk velvet, so I filmed more than I took stills. I will of course post the tutorial here when it goes up on the Rebel Legion site.

After some discussion over at the Historical Sew Fortnightly group, which is te group I know that gathers people from most different historical eras, I decided to use the 18th century way of constructing the bodice. It is a method that is not really found in 16th century clothing, so not the most historically accurate, but I still decided that the finished result would be so much better so it was worth going away from totall accuray. Here I also had my experiences with the first bodice to fall back to, and I wanted this to simply be better.

I mounted the velvet unto the lining, starting with the backpiece. I sewed it down over the side seam, and then I sewed the front piece on over both the seams, and when the front piece was turned to the front it looks like a normal seam.

The back looks a lot better when I'm wearing it, it's not crooked like on my mannequin. There was a bit of a challenge since I had cut out the back piece in the velvet as one piece, before I had to switch lining fabric and cut the back in two pieces instead.

The lacing strip for closure is attached to the inside of the lining.

The raw edge of the lining and the velvet is hemmed, and I have sewn the outer layers to the lacing strips inbetween the lacing holes. It is a bit fiddly but I can put the lacing cord through the lacing holes and in the opening between the fabric. For the finished piece I'm going to use a lucet cord that is thinner than the lacing I've used to test it with.

The finished result is that the cord disappears into the fabric and makes an invisible closure. If I want to open up the bodice it would still be correct to let some of the lacing show though, but my goal is to have it as invisible as possible.

Now it's on to the skirt, and thats a challenge on how I'm going to cut out the giant pieces that I need for a full circle skirt, when I only have a very limited floor to work on.  I also need to sew the lining of the skirt together, after I tried to make it smaller to fit with fabric I had for my first version.

16th century bodice foundation

Over Easters I started over on the bodice for my 1520's court gown. I wanted to be thrifty so I went to my stash and found this linen table cloth/curtain.

The fabric has a beautiful weave, but some stains that are impossible to remove. The letters AJ means that this is from my paternal great grandmother, and I wouldn't be suprised if she has woven the fabric herself. I have used fabrics from her before, and have had to give up because the 100+ year old fabric hasn't been able to handle the strain and it has ripped. I tested it carefully by tugging on it, and it had some weak spots, but with careful placement of my pattern pieces I could avoid them.

I used my basid pattern, which is very general and then it depends on doing a lot of tweaking when  I fit the pieces on myself. With my first try with the bodice I had had big problems trying to hold the bodice closed and deciding if it fit allright or not. This time I decided to start with making lacing strips so that I could actually close the bodice properly, before doing the final fittng with the back, shoulder and side seams.

I made the lacing strips out of a sturdy linen canvas, I have probably used it for 18th century stays. The lacing holes are staggered for spiral lacing and handworked with buttonhole stitch in silk buttonhole twist. I do get better in doing lacing holes, but I am happy that these will be on the inside and not visible. It took me two days to make the lacing holes.

To get the final fit of the bodice I actually sewed all pieces together on my machine. It's a lot quicker than handbasting, and since it's going to be removed later I don't care that it's not historically accurate. Doing it on my machine allowed me to just change the seams a couple of mm at the time until I was happy.

My major issue was to get it tight enough, and that it was gaping in the neck. I am very wide over the ribs/back, and when I make a backpiece that fits comortable over the midbust line (but in the back) I get a lot of excess fabric higher up around the neck.

I solved the problem by taking in the back neckline with a dart and then after the dart finished I continued the seam just a mm in from the center back line all the way down the backpiece so that it looks like its a two piece backpiece.

I then tried the bodice in again for a final decision, and when I put it on I heard the fabric rip. I took it off and found a tear in the shoulder strap. Turns out the antique fabric was too fragile after all. There wasn't much to do except marking all the seam lines with a pen, but it up and use it as a patern.

When I cut out the silk velvet pieces for the bodice I was generous with the seam allowance to get some extra abric to work with when it's time to attach the velvet to the lining.

With that Easter was over. This weekend I started over by using the first bodice as a pattern to cut out a new lining in new linen fabric. I had thought about the fitting during the weekday break, and one thing I wasn't happy about was that the tightfitting bodice showed off all my fat rolls. This is usually not a problem for 18th century clothing, where I'm wearing stays that smootsh everything out, but for this dress I'm just going to wear an unboned underkirtle. The solution for me was to add 1 cm extra ease onto the side seam, 1 cm on each back side seam, nothing extra ont he front side seam. I didn't do any other extra fitting, but simply sewed the lining together, and added the lacing strips, using backstitches in waxed linen thread.

The extra easy in the side did wonders to let the bocide have a much smoother shape. When I'm trying on the bodice I am not using my kirtle, it's up in my storage, but I am using a long sleeved t-shirt, with no bra, and a wide skirt with an elastic waist. The skirt is important, since it has an elastic waist it automatically sits at my natural waist, and then I can draw the waistline onto the lining. It's too long right now, but I have done so many examples where I cut the bodice too short during the fitting tat now I'm going to keep those extra centimeters until the skirt is attached where it should.

There are some gaping issues at the neckline, but they disappear when I fold the edge down to where I have marked the seamline, so I think it will look good when I have added the outer layer and finished the edge. It definitely feels like a very deep neckline though, I have a lot to think about when it comes to what kind of shift I'm going to wear under it. I am planning a new one, but since I can use my old shifts it's not on my top list of priorities for the project.

A late evening Roman treat

Ok, I might not be totally sober, but what I just did has sparked quite a big discussion on my personal facebook page, so I figured it might be a good to save it for the future.

In these corona times I'm sitting at home on a Friday evening, drinking a glass of wine (or two) and feel a sudden urge for something sweet. I don't have anything sweet at home, but I can always bake something...I was thinking about donuts, but they involve yeast and proving, so then I started thinking about historical recipes for fried stuff, since they didn't have the same access to leavening as we have today. I checked one of my historical cookbooks, and found a recipe from De re coquinaria by Apicius. I also found a version of Apicius translated into English at Project Gutenberg.

This is Apicius recipe from book VII, or recipe 299:

TAKE A PREPARATION SIMILAR [1] [to the above] AND IN THE HOT WATER [bath or double boiler] MAKE A VERY HARD PORRIDGE OF IT. THEREUPON SPREAD IT OUT ON A PAN AND WHEN COOL CUT IT INTO HANDY PIECES LIKE SMALL COOKIES. FRY THESE IN THE BEST OIL, TAKE THEM OUT, DIP INTO [hot] HONEY, SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER [2] AND SERVE.

My version

1 cup of milk (or water)
3/4 cup of flour
oil for cooking (for an authentic Roman taste use olive oil)
honey
black pepper

Bring the milk to a boil. Stir in the flour and keep stirring over the heat for a minut or so, or until th dough don't stick to the sides o the pot. (think a choux pastry but without eggs)

Pour it onto a plate spread it out until it's 3-4 mm thick. Let it cool completely. The dough should be firm but still a bit sticky. Cut out whatever shapes you would like, I simply used my knife and made squares.

Heat the oil and fry a couple of pieces at a time. Place them on a paper towel to dry off the excess oil, and then on a plate. When all pieces are fried drizzle honey over them and finish with a sprinkle of black pepper.

They were soooooo yummy, this is absolutely a recipe that I will try in the future, and possible on a medieval event when I'm doing historical cooking.

A quick face mask, or two

At the moment I see a lot of posts from my friends all over the world where they are making face masks. Face masks are not mandatory, and I have seen very few in use around here, but when an online friend in another European country kept talking about him being unable to find face masks to buy and having to make do with a tea towel bandana I reached out and offered to make one and post it to him. I made the masks some time ago, but I didn't want to post about them until I got confirmation that they had arrived, and it's obvious that with so much of the air traffic down the mail services are slower than usual.

I used the patterns and instructions that are available here.

I made two. They take quite a small amount of fabric, costwise it was more expensive to buy premade bias tape and cotton tape for ties.

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There are two layers of fabric, an outer good looking fabric and a plain lining. All the fabrics and tapes are made of 100% cotton, and before I started working on them I actually boiled them in a pot on the stove to make sure that they can be washed on high heat.

In hindsight it would have looked so much better if I had bothered to switch to white sewing thead

I used the male sized pattern, but when I tried it on myself I think it would be fine for me as well, so I think the pattern run a bit small.

The pattern calls for elastic to keep the mask on, but my friend wanted ties that he could tie around the head instead. They are attached like the elastics in the pattern, with one long piece of tape on each side, going out on the bottom and the top of the mask. There is a pocket for inserting a piece wire over the nose, to help with the shape, but I didn't add one since it would be easier to send them ifthey were totally flat.

All it all I could help a friend with 30 minutes of work. (I'm not going to start producing them in any way though, but if it's needed I know how to make one for myself in the future).

Easter weekend is costuming weekend

Looking back the last few years Easter has been one of my most productive days of the year. The reason is pretty simple. The rest of the family has gone up to our mountain cabin, while I have been taking care of my mother's cats in her house. That means that I have had four days on my own in a house, with a big dining table and lot of floor space compared to my apartment, and with just limited internet access. This year though for obvious reasons we are staying at home, so I dont have access to the space, and we are also planning a lunch on Saturday, where the younger part of the family is outside on the veranda while my mother stays inside so we can keep the distance.

Still I want to do something, and I have decided that it's time to do take two on my 16th century court gown. That means that I will put away Daisy for a while, until I find inspiration to finish her. We will see how far I have come when it's time to go back to work on Tuesday.

And for a look back here are my last Easter projects.

2019 - Restarted Lady Poe by making the petticoat and draping the robe.
2018 - A gollar with a fur edge
2017 - I was at Star Wars Celebration in Orlando
2016 - I painted my X-wing helmet
2015 - I was cramming my Gold Handmaiden to have it finished before Celebration Anaheim

HSM2020: Challenge 4 - Local, an 1890s blouse

The theme for the HSM challenge in April is local

Support your local industry and your local history by making something that (as much as possible) uses materials made locally, or purchased from local suppliers, or that features a garment specific to your part of the world.

For that reason I decided to go to the only local fabric store in the area, the one in my neighbouring town, yes I live in a town with any craft stores. So I went to Rosa Huset in Borlänge. I usually don't go there, since I don't have a car, but at the moment I'm taking care of my mother's car. Once at the store I realized that it would be a bit difficult to find good fabrics for historical costumes, it mostly had knitted fabrics and very modern prints, great selections but not what I was after. In the end I found this floralr print in cotton, and since I have been thinkging a lot about 1890s clothing I decided to buy 2 meters and make a blouse or shirtwaist out of it. Now floral prints were not common in shirtwaists, but they do exist, it was a lot more common with white or other solid colours for the shirtwaists. Still I liked the print and wanted to use it.

For the pattern I used my basic bodice that I did for a shirtwaist back in 2015. Since then I have gained quite a lot of weight, but since the pattern was meant to be poufy it still fit, I did add a few centimeters to the center back, but didn't do anything to the front. I also want to be able to wear this blouse without a corset, since I'm planning on using it at work in or 1897 cottage.

I cut out the bodice, and realized that there was one big issue, the neck opening was quite large, and I wanted it to be snug with a high collar. I did add a dart in the center back to see what difference it would make.

The dart was good for shaping, but I woud need to take in a lot more. Since there would be a lot of fiddling with the neck I decided to finish the rest of the bodice first, so I would be able to close the blouse.

The front sides where turned in twice and then I sewed the buttonholes, by machine, and the buttons. Now it was time see what I could do with the neck opening. I started with taking in quite a bit at the shoulder seam, thus raising the whole bodice upwards. I then cut out a collar piece from my TV493 pattern and tested how tight I wanted it to be. When I had a good fit for the collar it was time to match the collar to the neck opening. In the end I added four darts, two at the back and one on each front and that gave me the fit I wanted.

 This is the pattern for the collar, I had to tweak the TV493 pattern, so that there was a bigger difference between the bottom and top of the collar, that was also done with two darts. That way the collar naturally curves out towards the neck, and that helped mas that the neck opening should probably have been even tighter. The collar is quite soft since I didn't use any interfacing, just two layers of the cotton fabric.

 This was the bodice with the collar. Unfortunately the work with the neckline, and the raising of the shoulder seam had shortened the bodice. I might have to add a peplum to it, to keep it from riding up over the waistband of the skirt when I'm wearing it, but I will see if this is ok first.

For the sleeves I started with a sleeve pattern that I had started to workon for my Daisy dress. It's based on my standard short 18th century sleeve, but I had made it bigger to get a puffy sleeve. This was a good test to see if I need to make it even bigger for Daisy (yes, she needs really big puffy sleeves). For the lower sleeve I used the sleeves from TV493. I really like that two piece sleeve that is slightly shaped.

The upper part of the sleeve

I sewed the upper and bottom part of the sleeves and then attached them together before adding them to the bodice.

The final thing was to hem the sleeves and the bottom of the blouse.

The HSM facts

What the item is: An 1890s blouse
How it fits the challenge: The fabric, thread and buttons were all bought in the only fairly local fabric store I have access to
Material: 2m cotton, 11 wood buttons
Pattern: It's Frankenpatterned from the 1911 Dressmakers guide and TV493
Year: 1890s
Notions: thread, buttons
How historically accurate is it? The pattern and shape is accrate. I have used modern sewing thread and it's all sewn on my modern machine. Floral blouses were around, but monochrome was more common. All in all around 50%
Hours to complete: one day
First worn: Not yet, since all events are cancelled for the near future
Total cost: $20 (the fabric was 50% off)

1890's summer photos in the snow

Today my work had decided to do our photos for the upcoming summer and the 1897 miner's home that we are going to have open for the visitors. There were some challenges, like the house not being finished and the clothes not having arrived, and last but not least the fact that the winter decided to make a comeback and there was a layer of snow in the ground.

The lack of clothes was fixed by me bringing my own 1890s clothes, I am planning to wear them in this setting as well. I wasn't wearing the clothes, I'm simply used too much when it comes to publicity and it would be more about me than the character. Also my hair is stil bright pink and red, something that I will change before the summer but not yet. Thankfully we had the great Tilda who came, fitted in the clothes and was a real champion in the quite cold weather, it was also really windy.

She is wearing my Edwardian shirtwaist, a generic skirt  made from a pair of curtains and my timeless linen apron (that I'm using for everything from the Middle Ages until today).

It looks so fun pretending to have a nice and warm summer day, while the crew is wearing winter clothes and there is snow on the ground.