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
Saturday, 17 August 2024
HSM24: Up your sleeve - the landsknecht wams/doublet
What the item is: A landsknecht doublet with huge sleeves
How it fits the challenge: The sleeves took the most time and fabric to make
Material: 2,5 m red wool, 2,5 pink wool, 0,2 m grey wool, 2,5 linen
Pattern: My own
Year: 1520s
Notions: line thread, braided ribbons with aiglets for closure
How historically accurate is it? 85%
Hours to complete: 1,5 months
First worn: at medieval week in Visby
Total cost: $150
Thursday, 15 August 2024
HSM24 - all natural - a pair of socks
I have thought for a long time about making a pair of socks, what is normally called "trossfrau socks" if you google them. They are low cut socks made in linen and worn by women in the tross in the 16th century. There are several tutorials out there, I just haven't taken the time to make my own pattern. When I bought the docken barret pattern from Thimble&Plume I saw that they had a pattern for socks so I bought it.
They had a size guide, but since I bought it at work I couldn't measure my feet. I have quite normal feet (size 38) so I bought the medium pattern, but that was a mistake. Apparently I have small feet and should have gone with the pattern in small.
A mistake that I made was that when I took the seam in of course made the opening smaller, and I didn't adjust that or make the slashes longer. Now they fit very well still, but I had to wiggle in the feet when I put them in. I also learnt that I had to be careful when putting the shoes on, if I just slid the feet with socks into the shoes the excess fabric bunched up at the heel and they felt tight at the toes. If I unlaced the shoes and put the feet down straight into the shoes they were really comfortable.
How it fits the challenge: made from unbleached linen
Material: 20 cm of unbleached linen
Pattern: Thimble&Plume trossfrau sock
Year: early 16th century
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? 95%
Hours to complete: 5
First worn: at Medieval Week
Total cost: $5
Tuesday, 13 August 2024
HSM24: new clothes from old - the pink gown
Back in 2022 I made a post proudly claiming that I would finally finished my pink trossfrau gown. Well that never ended well. I got it into a wearable state, but I never finished the closure, instead I just pinned it together and I was so dissatisfied with it that I can't find a single photo of myself in it. It went into a bag to saved sometimes in the future.
With my weight loss journey the last year I decided that it was time to see if I could salvage it. I started with simply ripping off the bodice and the skirt. The bodice had always been a finished piece and the skirt were two lengths of fabric gathered together and whip stitched to the bodice. I also decided to see if I could change the cut of the skirt. I have more and more come to the conclusion that even if it's easier to just gather square pieces of fabric together, the more historically accurate way of making 16th century skirts is to make them as circle skirts. The two old pieces were enough to piece together an almost full circle, made up from gores. The end result is a skirt that is quite slim at the waist, but with a larger circumference at the hem compared to the first version. If I made a new skirt I would do gores, but I would like to make the skirt something like a 1,5 circle skirt and pleat in the excess at the waist. With the gores I had to cut the skirt shorter to fit them, so I haven't hemmed the skirt, just relying on the wool to not unravel to save a few cm in length.
The bodice was taken in quite a lot at the sides. For the sleeves I had to redo the upper part of the sleeve, thankfully the old parts were so big that I could cut the new part from them. They were to short though, but I added an extra strip of fabric to lenghten it, and then I added a decorative border over the seam to hide it. The lower parts could probably have been saved from the original, but I had lost one of them while they were in the stash, and there were enough fabric left from the recut skirt that I could make two new ones.
I also recut the neckline of the bodice, that was gaping on several places, but making it lower it fit much better. Finally the original gown had never gotten a finished closure so I made lacing holes to be able to close it at the front, and then I added more guards in a darker fabric at the neckline and sleeves.
I wore the gown like this at Leksands medieval fair in May, and realised it was still way to big and bunching up a lot in the bodice.The new version worn without the lower sleeves. |
How it fits the challenge: The bodice was taken in and altered, the sleeves and skirt are totally recut from an older version of this gown that doesn't fit any more.
Material: and old pink wool gown
Pattern: my own
Year: 1510-1530
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? I actually think the cut of this version is more accurate, with a gored skirt instead of just gathered rectangles of fabric. I had to put some decorative bands on it to hide seams where I had pieced the sleeves together and that I haven't seen in sources, but somewhere around 75%.
Hours to complete: it's been on and off during the last few months but probably around 20
First worn: Visby medieval week
Total cost: everything was made from the original gown, which probably cost around $150 for the fabrics originally
Sunday, 11 August 2024
The HSM portrait
I'm going to share my favorite photo from Visby, and also explain why I love the HSM, or Historical Sew Monthly, challenges.
I joined the HSF, or Historical Sew Forthnightly, as it was called then back in 2014. My first entry on this blog is from the 13th of January 2014. The challenge was "make do and mend" and I fixed the fraying edges of my 18th century Snow White. Back then there were 24 challenges to a year, but it was later changed into a more easily managed Monthly challenge with 12 challenges to year. Some time later it was also changed so that you didn't have to finish the challenges in the corresponding month but could do them any time of the year.
The HSM is great because it keeps med going all year with sewing projects, instead of just trying to finish something for an event. They have challenged me to both do more accurate things, and to do things that I wouldn't have done otherwise. I would definitely not have made as many accessories if it hadn't been for the HSM, especially in the end of the year when I try to challenge myself to finish more challenges I usually go for using scraps and left over fabrics to make something.
The HSM is a Facebook group, and it's also a great community to post about progress and comment on each other's projects.
HSM 24: April - all natural - the linen socks
Medieval week in Visby 2024
So I have just come home from Medieval week, and as usual, it has been a wonderful time. There were two things that made this week different though. The main thing was that for the first time I was there with my husband, David, and sharing it with him made it so much better. Since he refused to live in the camp we stayed in a cute 18th century loft in the town century instead. I forgot to take photos of it, but it was basically a small and cute wooden house, complete with a hedgehog in the bushes outside the door, and even if we had to walk to the neighbouring building to have access to the bathroom, since the 18th century building didn't have any running water, it was very private and cozy.
Here are an assortment of my favorite photos of the week.Most of our time were spent in the camp, even if we didn't live there |
On Friday David's niece was visiting and she could borrow my yellow kirtle and helped out in the camp |
I spend most of my time cooking and preparing food |
My new huge apron was so good in that I didn't have to worry about my gowns under it |
My favorite photo of us by the wall |
Once again the apron really covered my wool clothes |
The pink ladies of Stockholmsfänikan |
I was mostly wearing my pink gown, but two of the days I simply wore the yellow kirtle |
Saturday, 10 August 2024
HSM24: just peachy - a new gollar
The backside was a bit more uneven.
I lined the gollar with a grey finer wool, to make sure that it was warm and nice, and to be able to make turn it inside out and wear it with my more simple clothes.
With the fur on it's now quite as good looking on the inside to make it reversible, but it is really comfortable to have that feeling of fur around the neck on chilly nights.
How it fits the challenge: the base fabric is pink
Material: 0,5 pink wool, 0,5 grey wool, 10 cm of red wool, scraps of wool
Pattern: draped by me
Year: 1520s
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? around 75%
Hours to complete: 2 days
First worn: at medieval week in August
Total cost: $20