Planning ahead for 2016

So with all the looking back on 2015 posts done it's time to lock ahead to 2016 and what I'm planning to do.

The main costume event that I'm planning for, and might have a deadline for, is Star Wars Celebration in London in July. For that I would like to have an easy to pack and comfortable costume and my goal is to have finished an X-wing pilot costume until then. I picked up a helmet and chestbox in Anaheim last year so I have started to get stuff together for the costume. Most of the costume will be bought, I guess that's why I don't really feel a lot of inspiration, it feels so simple just being able to order things and then wait for delivery. Still the shopping list for the costume is fairly long, so I need to spread out the expenses over a few months.

Other Star Wars costumes I might do...I need to decide if I want to make a proper General Leia from TFA, or if I want to make the blue dress from TFA. This might have to do be decided by trooping opportunities ahead. There is also the Star Wars Rogue One film coming in December, but so far I haven't seen any photos that make me want to make a costume from it, but you never know.

For historical costumes I'm starting to feel that I'm getting the 18th century wardrobe that I want to have. I am still missing a pair of pocket hoops and a pet en l'air or robe à la francaise. I have the fabric for the pet already, and if I first make a pet I can then use my experiences to make a francaise later on.

Over the last few months I've started to seriously think about making an early 16th century German gown. I've loved this fashion for a long time, and I think the velvet that I dyed, but wasn't happy with the colour, for the gold handmaiden would be perfect for a Cranach gown. I need to see how much velvet there is, but I'm hoping it will be enough for a gown. There is a big medieval fair at the end of May in Leksand, so I'm thinking that would be a good deadline for that project.

And then there are the Historical Sew Monthly challenges for 2016,

• January –  Procrastination – finish a garment you have been putting off finishing (a UFO or PHD) or make something you have been avoiding starting

I have some linen in the stash, and I really need at least one new 18th century chemise, but I've put off doing it since, well the ones I have make do, and it's boring to make chemises. So a chemise it is.

• February – Tucks & Pleating – make a garment that features tucks and pleating for the shape or decoration

To start the 16th century gown I need a shift, and I want to make a smocked shift, meaning that I need to learn how to smock.

• March – Protection – make something to protect yourself (from weather or injury) or your clothes (from soiling etc.)

No idea, but maybe an apron or a pair of mittens?

• April – Gender-Bender – make an item for the opposite gender, or make an item with elements inspired by the fashions of the opposite gender

No idea here either.

• May – Holes – sometimes the spaces between stuff are what makes a garment special.  Make a garment that is about holes, whether it is lace, slashing, eyelets, etc.

I want to finish the 16th century gown here, and go all in for slashed sleeves.

• June – Travel – make a garment for travelling, or inspired by travel.

I'm thinking that maybe learn how to make a pair of gloves would fit with this.

• July – Monochrome – make a garment in black, white, or any shade of grey in between.

No idea.

• August – Pattern – make something in pattern, the bolder and wilder the better.

The fabric that I have for the pet en l'air is patterned, but it's not exactly bold or wild.

• September – Historicism – Make a historical garment that was itself inspired by the fashions of another historical period.

No set plans.

• October – Heroes – Make a garment inspired by your historical hero, or your historical costuming hero.

I would like to do a headwear for the 16th century gown for this, since I'm drawing inspiration for the whole project from an actual historical person.

• November – Red – Make something in any shade of red.

Red is not my colour, I don't have anything red in my stash so I will need to buy some fabric for it.

• December – Special Occasion: make something for a special event or a specific occasion, or that would have been worn to special event of specific occasion historically.

No idea

So by seeing this list it's pretty clear that I don't have much inspiration for the challenges this year, it was easier last year. I'm very happy that I did the full set of challenges in 2015, but I think in 2016 I won't stress about meeting them. I'm hoping to do as many as possible though, and I like how I've used the challenges to create smaller things and accessories and finishing touches. Those don't need to be planned far in advance either.

So to summarize here is my planned costume list of the year:

Star Wars

X-wing pilot

TFA Leia

16th century

16th century gown including underwear

18th century

chemise

pocket hoops

pet en l'air

HSM 2015 recap

Even if we are into 2016 I'm not quite done with the 2015 recap yet. Now it's time to go through what I did for the HSM challenges.

I'm proud to say that I finished all the challenges, and in time as well. I even made one extra thing, so I did 13 HSM challenges. Going through my projects I can see that I haven't done much of really big projects that have fitted with the HSM challenges, but HSM is important for me to take the time and do those little extra things and accessories that are needed to complete a wardrobe, after all a costume is more than a bodice and petticoat. Not making a lot of big things also meant that I didn't stress too much about them, since I was sure that I could come up with something to do. HSM is also good for my stash, since I've mostly worked with stash material, and it's always good to make room for new fabrics. Right...

Going into 2015 here were my plans for the HSM:

#1 foundations - make a pair of 18th century stays
#2 blue - a muff
#3 stashbusting - ?
#4 war and peace - ?
#5 practicality - a petticoat or a shortgown
#6 out of your comfort zone - draping and making a pet en l'air
#7 accessorize - a fichu
#8 heirlooms and heritage - refit my folk costume
#9 brown - a pierrot jacket
#10 sewing secrets - ?
#11 silver screen - finish Queen Elsa
#12 re-do - ?

And here is what I did:

January - #1 foundations - The Desert Rose Stays

outside

lining

Even if they ended up a bit big in the bust, I still love the silhouette I get from them and will rely on them as my main 18th century stays.

February - #2 blue - the Blueberry muff

March - #3 stashbusting - The handmaiden cloche hat

I love this cloche. This is my most worn piece that I've made this year, and I've used it for everyday wear throughout the autumn.

April - #4 war and peace - the three quarter tricorne

If hat nr1 (the cloche) was my favorite project, this is probably my least favorite project. I was never happy with the result, and I'm definitely wondering if I'm ever going to wear it. Maybe it's salvageable with some trim.

May - #5 practicality - the Edwardian corset cover and shirtwaist

The hat I'm wearing was my third hat of the year, if you keep count.

June - #6 out of your comfort zone - a late 18th century bodice pattern

I didn't get time, or energy, to make the pet en l'air that I had planned, but I did take my time to draft a bodice pattern from scratch, so that I had something I could use for future 18th century garments.

July - #7 accessorize - The Daisy hat

I didn't make a fichu as planned instead for hat nr 4 of the year I remade the Edwardian hat into a big, really big, maybe too big, 18th century silk covered bergére hat.

August - #8 heirlooms and heritage - refitting my folk costume

I'm so happy that I now have a folk costume that actually fits, so I don't feel like a big cow wearing it.

September - #9 brown - the pierrot jacket

If the cloche hat was my most worn thing, this is probably my favorite of the year, even if I haven't worn it yet. I'm so happy with how it looks and fits.

October - #10 sewing secrets - the Dalecarlian pocket

I took the chance to hide some dye stains, hide a simpler and coarser fabric and embellish the pocket with some Dalecarlian runes, that most people today can't read. A lot of secrets in such a small little pocket.

November - #11 silver screen - the Demelza cap

Hat, or rather headwear, nr 5 was a small little practical but still stylish cap. Taking inspiration from the fact that you hardly ever see proper headwear in historical films or TV productions.

December - #12 re-do - a cap and the blueberry cape

The cap was headwear nr 5 and a well needed addition, so I can cover my hair instead of making a big hairdo when dressing in 18th century clothing, and the cap was a fun little project making use of the very last remnants of the cotton velvet that I had used for both the muff and tricorne earlier in the year.

So to summarize my HSM  year was a year of small projects, but I did finish them all. Now it's time to start planning what to do in 2016.

HSM Challenge 12 - Redo: Part two the blueberry cape

Yesterday when I had finished the cap I felt so in the mood, so I decided to make another thing for the challenge.

Back when I did the blueberry muff, for Challenge 2 - blue, I had plans to make a little cape to go with it from the rest of the fabric, a blue cotton velvet, I was unsure if there was enough fabric to make a cape, and also I ran out of time so I didn't. Then I used some of the same blue fabric to make the tricorne for the War and Peace challenge, and then I thought I had really used up too much fabric to be able to make something of the scrap that was left.

Yesterday I took the scrap out of my stash, and after I had cut off all the uneven bits I had a piece of 110 cm x 80 cm. That turned out to be just about right to get a small cape out of it. I checked the Costume Close up cape for inspiration, but it was clear that I couldn't make a hood or that elegant snibs on it. In the end I just cut an elongated semi-circle out of the fabric, giving me just enough fabric on the side left to make a small collar.

I lined it with a piece of gray cotton satin. I had bought it to make a petticoat one day, but I think I can still make a petticoat from it, just without ruffles. In order to close it I had used some silver/gray poly satin ribbon that I had at home.

The cape is handsewn, but more because I have my sewing area packed away over Christmas than wanting to be really accurate. I also don't really have a set time period for it, since this kind of capes were worn both in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The challenges that are redone with this one are: Blue - due to the colour, stash-busting - it all comes from my stash, accessorize - a cape is great add on to any costume in the colder months and sewing secrets.

The sewing secret with this one is that blue and silver/grey are the colours of the student nation that I belonged to at university. Blue stands for the county of Dalarna and silver/grey for the county of Västmanland. If you give the blue colour more prominence than the silver/grey, what is usually called (the blue side up) you show that feel closer to Dalarna. And of course I live in Dalarna and has always worn the blue side up. The student nations have been around since the 17th century, but I'm not sure how old this colour code is, it might even be a modern thing, but it is still a code.

What the item is: An 18th/19th century cape/mantelet

The Challenge: 12 - Re-do

What Challange/s are you re-doing?: Blue, stashbusting, accessorize, sewing secrets

Fabric: 80 cm blue cotton velvet, 80 cm grey cotton satin

Pattern: Inspired by the cape in Costume Close up

Year: 18th/19th century

Notions: regular sewing thread, 1 m poly satin ribbon

How historically accurate is it? It's probably around 40%. The poly satin ribbon drags it down, and even if cotton was around at the time proper velvet and linen would have been more probable fabrics. At least it's handsewn.

Hours to complete: 5

First worn: Not yet, it's was a spur of the moment thing to make it so we'll see when I get the chance to wear it.

Total cost: All from the stash, but the fabric is around $11/meter if I would buy it all new, so around $5.

HSM15 - Challenge 12: Re-do

Last challenge of the year, and with this I've managed to do the full HSM marathon this year. Go me!

For the last challenge I made another 18th century cap, and this time in linen. It actually started when I cut out the lining for the Demelza cap, but managed to cut it from another pattern so I made the main cap too big. I put it aside, but still saved it. Then there were two craft cafés left of the year, and since I needed something small I could make by hand I took the cap with me and worked on it there. Due to a lot of talking going on at the craft cafés it took a bit longer than if I had just been at home to make it.

The pattern I used was from the same Duràn newsletter as the Demelza cap. Since there aren't many directions I first just gathered the main cap to the band and pleated the back of the cap to make it fit the head. This was the result

 I felt that it looked too much like the Demelza cap, I wanted something lighter and more froofy for this cap. I noticed that on some reference pictures the band itself also looked like a flounce, so ran a quick gathering stitch along it, and that made a lot of difference. The cap was too smal though, so I undid the pleats in the back and instead gathered the band. I only made a very smal boxpleat in the back to take in some of the extra width there.

The result was a lot more like I wanted it to be.

I will need to make a bun in the back to keep the cap on, but this is a cap that I've made so that I don't need to make complicated hairstyles, I will be able to hide all the hair under the cap.

I consider this a re-do of these challenges:
Stash-busting - it all came from my stash
Practicality - it's made in order to hide my hair and still be historically correct
Accessorize

What the item is: A late 18th century cap

The Challenge: 12 - Re-do

What Challange/s are you re-doing?: Stashbusting, practicality, accessorize

Fabric: 0,5 m linen

Pattern: Duran textiles newsletter

Year: Late 18th century

Notions: white cotton thread

How historically accurate is it? I would say this is pretty spot on, it's all handsewn. Linen thread would have been even better, but I'd say 90% for this one.

Hours to complete: 4

First worn: Not yet

Total cost: All from the stash, but the fabric is around $11/meter if I would buy it all new, so around $5.

HSM 15: Challenge 11 - Silver Screen, or the Demelza cap

This autumn I've been glued to Poldark. There's just so much to love in it, 18th century, romance, intrigues, copper mining, the clothes and Aidan Turner isn't too shabby either. I really wanted to do something from Poldark for the silver screen challenge, but just as with the sewing secrets challenge I'm trying to keep my historical sewing projects down, so I wanted something small. As much as I'd love to recreate one of Demelza's full outfits that was simply out of my league for this month. There is one thing that I've been thinking about when looking at this series, and most historical series actually, and that is the lack of caps. If you see someone wearing a cap it's usually an old woman, or a servant. And if you see a poor woman wearing a cap it's almost always over loose hair that is all over the place. Frock Flicks have gone through the hairstyles of Poldark, and you can read their opinions here.

Definitely no cap taming those curls

So I decided to make a cap, a cap that could cover the hair and make sure that it not flies around but is neatly stuck in place.

As for caps, I've always been partial to the big poofy caps, but I also really like the cap in Liotard's painting La Belle Chocolatiere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chocolate_Girl

Now I know that there are debates around on the issue of coloured bonnets and how common they were. It is clear that they were very popular in Sweden, where it's explicitly noted that even women from lower classes were allowed to were silk caps. I don't know if this was the case in Cornwall, but if Demelza had lived in the same area as I do, also based on copper mining, then I'm quite certain that she would have made herself a silk cap to show her new position in life, already when she got hired by Poldark to be a maid.

Looking at Demelza's choice of colour for her clothes she seems to really like yellows, especially warm mustardy tones. That is really clear when she gets the chance to go to a ball, and matches her gold silk gown with gold ribbons in her hair.

Off to my stash I went, and I found a small remnant of warm, yellow silk taffeta. It's the last piece that I have from a test piece I bought for the gold handmaiden.Yellow isn't my go to colour usually, but since I'm also a (fake) redhead I thought it looked quite nice to my hair.

For pattern I used the pattern available at Duran textiles. I felt that the silk was a bit flimsy though, and I also didn't want it to rub directly on my hair. So I cut out the pattern and interlined the pieces with linen from my stash.

The cap is made up from a round cap part and a band. I turned the raw edges of the linen and silk towards each other and sewed them together at the outer edge of the band, and at the back of the cap. I then gathered the cap and sandwiched it between the two layers of the band. To finish I made some gathering stitches at the back of the cap to make the cap keep its shape better and hold the hair in.

The finished cap.

The cap holds all the hair neatly tucked inside, and it keeps its shape and position with me having to pin it to the hair or anything. Very practical when you are working as a maid, and still want to look your best to your handsome employer. When it's time to wear it I should probably add a smaller cap to wear underneath, or just a piece of white fabric to imitate a cap, that development happened in Sweden and still today the bonnet for my folk costume has a loose piece of fabric that is just stuck under the edge of the bonnet to simulate a cap being worn under it.

What the item is: An 18th century silk bonnet
The Challenge: 11 Silver Screen
What's your onscreen inspiration?: Demelza Poldark, from Poldark (2015)
Fabric: 0,5 m yellow silk taffeta, 0,5 m natural linen
Pattern: Duran textiles
Year: Second half of the 18th century
Notions: regular Güterman sewing thread
How historically accurate is it? Except for the sewing thread I've just material and constructions that are plausible for the time so 90%
Hours to complete: 5
First worn: I've just tried it on so far
Total cost: It was all from my stash, but if I had bought the fabrics new they would have cost $15

HSM Challenge 10: Sewing secrets

I made a pocket, after inspiration from the examples I had posted about in my inspiration post.

In addition to the pocket itself being a garment that's supposed to be unseen and secret it hides three different secrets.

First off for the fabric I had gotten a bunch of stuff from my sister earlier, among others some curtains and a table cloth. The table cloth had some stains on it that just wouldn't go away, so I had planned to give it away. The town has a collection where you can leave fabric pieces and remnants so that they can be used by in creative projects in preschools. I hadn't had time to do that though, and looking through pictures of surviving garments it was clear that brocades and coloured fabrics so I figured it would be a nice fabric for that, if I dyed it..

This is the original table cloth. I cut out two pieces for the pocket, and tried to find an ornament that could be contained in the pocket.

The size of the pocket was decided by the very non historical measurment of "my mobile phone + credit card holder". I then used some of the leftovers from my dye projects in the spring. I started off with about 2/3 of Dylon goldfish yellow and 1/3 terracotta brown. As soon as I put the fabric in the pot on the stove it was clear that it was going to be too orange so I added more brown straight into the water.

The result was a gorgeous golden orange colour, that really made the pattern on the fabric pop. Unfortunately me adding some extra brown straight into the dye bath meant that it hadn't quite dissolved and I had some brown spots on the fabric. The first secret of the pocket is that I've hidden those spots under the blue embroidery.

The second secret is that I only used the nice orange silk for the front and a piece of the back. This is the inside of the pocket, where I used a piece of that old curtain my sister had given me. The pocket may look fancy, but most of it is a sturdy cotton/linen blend.

This is the backside, the blue cotton tape that I used to bind the edges make sure that nothing of the simple fabric is seen when it's worn.

The third secret is the embroidery. Looking at extant examples of pockets from the late 18th early 19th century quite a few of them had initials embroidered on them. I embroidered my initials on it, including my middle names so the embroidery says "I M K N". If you can't read those letters it's because they are not in the latin alphabet, they are written in Dalecarlian runes.

Many people know that the vikings used runes for writing. The usage of runes didn't end with the vikings though, quite a few examples of writing with runes have survived from the Middle Ages in Norway and Sweden, in most parts of Scandinavia they disappear in the 15th century though. In Dalarna, the region where I live, the runes didn't only survive, but took on a development of their own. Instead of giving up on the runes when the latin alphabet got more widespread they people around northern Lake Siljan and Älvdalen started to invent runes of their own. The vikings only used 16 runes, but in order to make the writing of runes follow the spelling with the latin alphabet quite a few new runes were created. This is the alphabet that is today called "Dalecarlian runes". The usage of runes around Lake Siljan ended some time in the 17th century, but they survived in the parish of Älvdalen. With time more and more of the runes where switched in favor of latin letters, so that by the end of the 19th century it was more a case of a mixed alphabet. It's generally considered that the last genuine inscription with Dalecarlian runes was written in 1900.

The inscriptions that have survived are inscriptions on wood and stone, I don't know of any embroidered runes. The inscriptions are so diverse though, including psalms and communications between villages, that the knowledge of runes must have been fairly widespread. I don't think it's unlikely that some girl in Älvdalen would have written her initials on a pocket using the familiar runes rather than the latin alphabet.

The facts

What the item is: A pocket
The Challenge: 10 Sewing secrets
What's the Secret?: 1. Only the visible parts are of a nice fabric, the unseen parts are of a simpler fabric. 2. I hid some dye stains with embroidery. 3. I embroidered my initials in Dalecarlian runes, an alphabet that was used at the time but is secret to most people today.
Fabric: 30 cm of a cotton/linen curtain, 30 cm of a damast table cloth
Pattern: My own after extant pockets
Year: 1795 (the specific versions of runes that I used are found on an inscription dated to 1795.
Notions: 2,5 m cotton tape, sewing thread
How historically accurate is it? I would say that it looks like and original but the fabric was dyed with modern methods and I haven't seen any extant textiles with runes on them, so 20% maybe?
Hours to complete: 4
First worn: Not yet

Total cost: All from my stash, and the fabric was gifted to me so really nothing.

HSM Challenge 10: Sewing secrets - inspiration

I'm aiming to have a new costume for Stockholm Comic-Con at the end of October, that means that I can only make a small thing for the HSM challenge 10, especially since three of the weekends in October will be spent like this.

That's me at the K90-ski jumping hill in Örnsköldsvik where I spent Saturday as a distance measurer and Sunday as a jumping judge, next weekend I'm organizing the 90th anniversary for the ski jumping club in Falun, and the weekend after that I'm off to Stockholm to judge a ski jumping competition there.

But back to sewing, and finding a small project that fits the challenge. The challenge is "sewing secrets" - hide something in your sewing, whether it is an almost invisible mend, a secret pocket, a false fastening or front, or a concealed message (such as a political or moral allegiance).

My plan is to make an 18th century pocket. The one I have is a nice one that I've embroidered. When I use it I'm a bit worried that it won't hold up for a totally incorrect phone, or that the embroidery will fray.  I want a pocket that's a bit more plain, but also sturdier. Pockets were supposed to be worn under  your clothes, so in that way they are secret, but I'm hoping to add something more that won't be obvious even for the people that I might show the pocket to, a proper sewing secret.

With that in mind I dived into Digitalt Museum - which is a great database of digitzed collections from Swedish museums. Of course that means that you have to search in Swedish, and there is no really set terminology, it's just what happened to be written either by the person who collected the object into the collection, or the person putting it up in the database.

A lot of the pockets that have been saved are fancy with beautiful applications, but there are a couple of ones that I feel are closer to what I would like.

Foto: Eriksson, Elisabeth / Nordiska museet

This pocket (kjolväska is the search word in digitalt museum) is dated to the late 18th century and it's from Älvdalen in northern Dalarna, the region I'm living in. I like that it doesn't have too much trim, I've seen these kinds of pockets that are totally covered with applications, and I really like that it's made up of several different fabrics that have been pieced together. I would not be able to make the metal hanger though. The fact that it comes from Älvdalen has also given me an idea on what kind of secret I could hide in it.

Eriksson, Elisabeth / Nordiska museet

This is another pocket of fabric that's been pieced together. The shape looks more like the shape of pocket in Costume close-up. I guess that shows that this kind of pocket was simply quite a universal thing in the western world. This one is from Småland, so not from Dalarna.

The third pocket is from Värmland, and as you can see it's rectangular and not rounded like the other two. This pocket is made out of leather, but what I like about it is the letters, they are probably the initials of the owner, and date.

With that in mind my general idea is to make a pocket out of some scraps that I have. There is a craft café next Monday, and since my other major projects is all about machine sewing this could be a nice thing to work with.

HSM 15 Challenge 9: Brown - The pierrot

I'm finally done with this project. It was supposed to be a quick project, but it's taken me most of the month. The main reason for that is that I decided to do it all by hand, I stalled when I couldn't decide on certain design choices, and I find it too cumbersome to get in and out of the stays when I wanted to test something.

For those who haven't seen the previous posts of the project here is part 1: Start; and part 2: bodice and sleeves. By then it was mostly finishing touches left, but those are always the things that take more time than planned. First I had to decide on how to close the jacket. In the end I decided to close it with pins, hoping that will make it more flexible in adjusting after my body compared to hooks and eyes. Then I had to decide on trimming. I love the look of ruffles and all other 18th century trimmings, but looking at original pieces I felt that those kinds of trims were a bit earlier than my late 1780's aim. Most jackets seemed to have been pretty plain, that made me also decide on not making any cuffs for the sleeves. I'm also thinking that it's easier to add trim and cuffs at a later stage, if I feel that the jacket is too boring.

Now on to the pictures, and as usual I'm sorry for the blur.

Me in the jacket, from the front.

And from the side, showing the peplum.

I then took off the jacket to get some better pictures, but my dressform is too big and curvy compared to me in my stays, so instead I got a lot more wrinkles. So disregard the wrinkles, the fit is a lot better on me than on the dressform.

There are a couple of things that I'm extra satisfied with and those are the sleeves and the fit of the bodice. The sleeves aren't optimal yet, but they fit well in the armscye and there is no poofiness. I think in order to refine the fit of the sleeves it's more about rotating them in the armscye, rather than changing them, they do pull a bit towards the back now. The fit is really nice, I haven't added any boning to it, and it still sits really snug and doesn't move around the boy. I'm hoping that pinning it together will help with that as well.

This is the first tightfitting garmet that I've sewn totally by hand, my Edwardian blouse didn't have nearly the same strain on the seams. I'm hoping this will prove that my handsewing is good enough to stand up to the wear. Still if I do a jacket like this again I'm not sure that I would totally handsew it. I want the visible seams to be handmade, but there are a lot of seams that aren't visible and there is also the lining.

So just the HSM facts:

What the item is: A pierrot jacket

The Challenge: Brown

Fabric: 1,75 m of brown quilting cotton, 1,75 m of unbleached linen

Pattern: My own, from the basic bodice pattern I made in challenge 6

Year: 1780s

Notions: Sewing thread in brown and white, white cotton bias tape to cover the raw edges on the inside

How historically accurate is it? It's my most accurate 18th century thing so far. I did cover the raw edges with modern bias tape, since I hate raw edgest. The fabric is an 18th century reproduction quilting cotton, so it doesn't have quite the same drape as cotton in the 18th century, still I would say 90%

Hours to complete: Hard to say but around 30-40

First worn: Not yet, all my 18th century stuff has been packed away for the winter so I have nothing to wear it with.

Total cost: $50, the cotton was $30 and the linen $20

HSM Challenge 8: Heirlooms and heritage

Wow, I've finished a challenge with several days to spare. In June you might remember that I posted about my traditional costume, or you can read it here. For the heirlooms and heritage challenge it was a pretty easy decision for me to try and finally adjust my costume so that it actually fits.

This was the fit before the alteration. Now it's not meant to be a tight laced bodice or so, but you can see that it was way too big, especially at the bust. With some help from my sister, who is the one who actually sewed the gown originally, I ripped up one of the side seams. She then pinned the bodice closer to the body. I then handsewed the side seams and attached the skirt again.

Here you can see how much fabric I could remove. It's uneven because I wanted the stripes in the fabric to still match, even with a tigher fit, so I had to take more from one side than another. Also I didn't want to cut away the excess fabric, maybe someone in the future will want to make it bigger, so I just folded and pressed the extra fabric down. I sewed the pieces together by sewing the two outer layers and one of the linings together, and then covering the raw edges with the other piece of lining.

It's a bad picture, but you can see that the fit at the bust is a lot better now.

Here is the gown on my dressform, and eventhough it's not usable for my corseted measurements it's very cose to my natural measurements.

Now this project was taught me quite a few things. It was the first time I used waxed linen thread, and sewing with nice but not too fine linen fabric. I was surprised to see that I could make stitches that were basically invisible against the fabric. I actually enjoyed the handsewing, and now I'm looking forward to doing more of it.

What the item is: a refitted traditional costume from Vika parish, Dalarna, Sweden.

The Challenge: 8 Heirlooms and Heritage

Fabric: Linen

Pattern: none

Year: This is a hard one. The costume was reconstructed in the 1920's, but is supposedly reconstructed from older fabrics and dress pieces found in the parish, but it's still very much used today.

Notions: Black and white linen thread, bees wax.

How historically accurate is it? It's accurate to how the traditional costumes were done in the 1920's. Over the years they have been made in different ways, this is more old fashioned since it's completely handsewn.

Hours to complete: 3, including the fitting.

First worn: Not yet.

Total cost:

HSM 15: Challenge 7 - accessorise, or the daisy hat

For the accessorise challenge I decided to make a hat. I've also decided that I need to stop, I don't need more than four 18th century hats. Well I started off with my Edwardian hat from May.

It worked quite well from a distance, but I was never happy with it on close up. So I removed everything from it and was back at the base hat, which is a straw hat that I've shortened the side of the crown and added two rows of millinery wire along the brim for stability.

Then it was time to find some fabric to cover it with, and I found a last remnant of the silk from my sister's wedding gown.

Since this was a scrap piece I needed to be a bit creative with how to get the pieces big enough to cover that hat. For the top I pieced two pieces together, hoping that the edge wouldn't be too visible when I added trim.

For the underside of the hat I cut the longest piece that I could get out and pleated it into shape.

Since the fabric is a silk charmeuse, and very soft, the pleats didn't get as crisp as I would have liked. If I ever cover a straw hat again I would also add a layer of fabric between the top fabric and the straw base, to hide more of the straw structure from showing through.  Here is the hat covered in fabric.

Then it was time for the trim. I have a piece of very bright yellow silk. I bought it as a test swatch when looking for fabric for the golden handmaiden, but it was too yellow. I had to buy a yard, but at the same time a yard isn't really enough to make anything out of. Now I cut it up into strips, a narrow strip for the crown and a wider for the brim. I didn't want to hem the strips, both because I hate hemming and the fact that it would look to bulky. So I brushed the edges of the strips with watered down wood glue, which also has the benefit of making the edges a bit stiffer and holding the pleats better. Then I box pleated the trims and tacked them down to the hat.

With its pleats, and its bright white and yellow colours I definitely thought of a daisy when looking at it, so from now on this will be called my daisy hat. If I fnd a suitable fabric or ribbon I might like to add some white trim on top of the yellow, but for now it's done.

What the item is: An 18th century bergére hat
The Challenge: 7 accessorise
Fabric: 0,5 m white silk charmeuse, 0,5 m yellow silk taffeta
Pattern: none
Year: ca 1780
Notions: A straw hat, millinery wire, regular sewing thread for the fabric, buttonhole twist for attaching the millinery wire.
How historically accurate is it? The final look is, but the assembly isn't, so maybe 20%.
Hours to complete: 4-5 days
First worn: Not yet
Total cost: Even if all was from the stash the cost of the hat, the millinery wire and the fabric when bought new would have put it at around $40