My 2024 costuming year in review

 So it's time to look back on the year and see what I have made. When I think back to this year it feels as if I didn't do a lot of things for myself, since my main focus was on my husband's landsknecht costume, then I realise that I still got quite a lot of things done.

This is my favorite photo of us from Medieval week in Visby, which was my main costume even this year. I made all the clothes that my husband is wearing, I remade my pink gown totally and I am wearing a new hat and new socks.

This was another of our events, a 1524 evening feast, and here I am wearing my blackwork cap that I finally finished and a whitework apron that was also totally new, and my husband got a new pair of hose more fitting for a burgher.

When it came to my cosplay, rather than 16th century, projects I did make my winter version of Princess Daisy from Supermario.

It was a fun and cozy costume, but my computer was dead when I made it so I never got to post any in progress posts about it.

With my changing body after my gastric bypass I could make a comeback with a lot of my older costumes.

In May I once again wore TFA General Leia at ComicCon Summer in Stockholm

And both at NärCon and Bokmässan I wore my admiral Daala

Bokmässan, which is the biggest literature event in Northern Europe was a new experience, and the most fun part was that I could share it with my husband, who was there as a writer.

Then, as is quite usual I think, in the autumn some new unplanned projects came along. I got the chance to patten test the new 1916 Seatoun skirt from Scroop patterns.

It was fun to dress up in 1910s fashion again, it is one of my favorite fashion eras but I simply don't get the chance to dress in it enough.

I also started to make everyday clothes, something I haven't done a lot of previously, but I started with the Summit dress from Scroop Patterns

And after the Seatoun I also made both modern versions of the skirt pattern, the Tara with and without pinafore.

I also made some small things for the HSM 24 challenges, that I have posted about in a previous post. So all in all it was a pretty productive year, even if I am missing the big impactful costumes for myself, the landsknecht was pretty impressive though.

The HSM 2024 recap

 This year I managed to finish all the challenges for the Historical Sew Monthly. Of course it helped that I had a big project, my husband's landsknecht, that I could use for many of the challenges, but it was still fun.

Here are links to this year's challenges

January - Just peachy

A new gollar

February - Seasons of fashion

A quilted petticoat

March - Made to move

A generous apron

April - Colours of nature

A pair of trossfrau socks

May - New Clothes from old

The pink trossfrau gown

June - Up your sleeve

A landsknecht doublet

July - Always in style

A pair of 19th century mittens

August - stripes and dots

A pair of landsknecht hose

September - New stitch in town

A docken barret

Oktober - UFO spotter

a blackwork cap

November - worn by all

A pair of short hose

December - That's a wrap

a whitework apron

All in all the HSM challenges have been firmly planted in my 16th century wardrobe, and even more in my husband's wardrobe, and the theme has really been pink and red. One thing I have learnt over the years with the HSM though is to not plan too much, if I have projects that fit with a challenge that's fine but I don't really go out to find projects in order to fit them with the challenges, well maybe the mittens this year was a case of what can I do that will fit the 12th and final challenge. 

The Historical Sew Monthly is a great community and I am happy to be part of it. 

#10-year challenge costume edition

The 10-year challenge is going around on Facebook, where you post either your first profile pic or a profile pic from 10 years ago side by side with your current one. I figured I could do one for my costumes and see what I came up with.

In 2008 I made the first version of my A-wing pilot.

2008

Compare that to my current pilot costume, which is the X-wing pilot.

2018

I hadn't really started with serious historical costuming in 2008, I have some costumes from 2009 though.

From the16th century there was this ballgown inspired by Maria von Habsburgs wedding gown. It's all machine sewn and made in a poly brocade from a modern princess-seamed dress. Still the quality of the sewing isn't too bad and I actually have this gown around when I need something shiny and more fairytale-like than historical.

2009

It's quite far off from my handmade wool outfit that I finished last year though.

2018

In 2009 I made one of the worst costumes I've ever made, my 1860s ballgown. It shows that I could follow pattern directions, but I couldn't adjust a pattern to actually make it look good on me.

2009

Compare that to my pet en l'air that I draped and combined different patterns with to get a good fit. I'm also a lot more careful with hair, makeup and accessories compared to 2009.

2018

Fun fact though. The grey skirt that I'm wearing was my first 18th century skirt, and it was made to be worn with a jacket that was made from the skirt fabric of the 1860's ballgown.

Looking back I definitely see how my skills have improved. It's not so much the skills themselves though, but the fact that I try to take time and be more careful, and not just throw fabric together and hoping that it should end up as something wearable. It's my eye and inner quality consultant that have developed in these 10 years more than anything else. I would also say that I look more comfortable wearing my costumes than I did 10 years ago. It shows that body language is something that can really transform a costume, and body language is something to learn. It didn't come natural for me when I started, but now I feel much more relaxed in costume and it shows.

Finally done with my one UFO in the stash

I'm not the kind of person that gets a lot of UFO:s (unfinsihed objects). I am more of a single project at a time person, so I work on a project and make sure to finish it before starting on a new one. There is one exception though, and it's not a costume piece, but I'm just so happy that I've finally finished with it. The reason why I set down to finish it today is that the HSF challenge for May 1t is "UFOs and PHDs", I can't add this to the challenge, since it not an historical piece, but it still gave me a kick in the back to finish it.

Yes, it is a simple kneelength shirt for everyday wear. Why has it taken so long, and how long did it take. I'm going to tell the story about this garment, because it's also the story of me as a seamstress.

The fabric for this skirt was bought in 2005, I think I started to cut out the pieces in the winter 2006. The pattern was a skirt with two big pleats in front and two in the back, and a very wide yoke from the waist. I think I might have come so far as to sew the skirt together and cutting out the yoke. I know I fiddled a lot with getting the pleats correct, according to the pattern, and I was quite proud that I had added two pockets to it as well. I wasn't so bad when it came to constructing garments, the boring part about drawing the pattern and cutting them out though. It must have been evident when I cut out the yoke that it didn't match the skirt itself.

A couple of years later I dug out the pieces, from what I rememberd it wasn't much left to do, just add a zipper and then I would have a skirt. So I had to attache one layer of the yoke as well, but since it didn't fit I tried to gather all the extra material of it around the side seam. The problem was though that at that time I had gained a lot of weight and the skirt simply didn't fit anymore.

Today I took out the skirt again. It was actually too big now, but I was so annoyed with the ugle wrinkles and strange gathers at the side seams of the yoke. I ripped the the yoke off thinking I had to redo it. Then I realised that I would never be comfortable with the big yoke, and if I had ripped it off I could change it a lot anyway. Also the skirt was too big at the waist, so I ripped up the two back pleats and made four new ones. The first time I had thought it was really fiddly to get a nice pleat, now I can make an inverted boxpleat just using my eyes and hands. I cut a stripe of the yoke and turned it into a narrow waistband instead, added a zipper, and now I have a skirt.

One thing that has changed since I started to make this skirt is my sense of what's flattering for my body. Today I wouldn't do this kind of skirt, it feels a bit too bulky over the stomack and hips, I prefer a more narrows silhouette. Still I'm really happy that it's done and I'm planning on using it for everyday wear, which isn't exactly common when it comes to my creations.

Me and my sister have had a whole sewing day today, so even if this was  my main project I have also sewn the sleeves for my gaulle, by hand, and read up a lot on how to make my hat, so I'm itching to get started on that one properly. My sister has finally, after 7 or so years, started to make her TV110 corset.

2013 in review

It's time for my traditional look back on my costuming achievements of the year. I must say that I am very happy with this year, I feel that I've taken a step forward when it comes to skills, and I finished all the costumes that I had set out to do. The costume list was posted on my old LJ, one of the last post there in early 2013.

Looking back at my project list for 2013 theser were my projects:

 Endor Rebel Trooper - I was actually ahead of Leia with this one, but decided to finish Leia instead. I need to buy boots, gloves and a longsleeved t-shirt, then it's doing the camo painting and I should be done. I want to take this one to Finland on the last of April. Status: Finished in March







 18th century stays and evening jacket - I'm going to go to the 18th century weekend in early June again, my 18th century stays have been worn out though so I need to make a new pair, and a better jacket. I also need to stabilize my pocket hoops, they collapsed all the time from the weight of the skirts. Status - stays were done in April, jacket was changed to two Robe Anglaises, and the pocket hoops were discarded in favour of a bumroll.

stays

Robe 1

Robe2

 Aunt Beru from ROTS - I really want to have both an AOTC costume and an ROTS costume for the 3D premieres. With the 18th century projects I don't have the time or money to make the picnic gown, so it will have to wait another year, but I have the tusken for AOTC. After looking around for ROTS costumes I decided that Aunt Beru should be both quite easy and comfortable. The jacket has a tricky fabric, but the construction is straight forward. I just need to remember to stay blonde for another year or so. Status - discarded. No 3D premiere = no ROTS costumes



 
 Also I have promised my nephew to make a costume for him for the 3d premieres. I have promised a jawa and/or young Luke so I will need to make those in the summer as well. Status - jawa finished in August




I'm also planning on updating all the hard parts and the pouch for my tusken female before the AOTC 3d premiere. Status - I have a new mask kit, but never assembled it. Pouch is done except for the bones in the front



My main project of the year was the 1780's Snow White, and she wasn't even on my list when 2013 started. The Snow White also included some other things like shoes and a wig that were done in 2013

Other small things that were made was my conversion of an 1880's travel bustle into a 1780's bumroll, a couple of simple petticoats, a new thinner 18th century chemise and I finally finished the hanging pocket I had started in 2012.

My main remaining UFO from the year is the female tusken mask, she will have to go into the 2014 plans as well, but they will come in another post.

Favorite costume photos of 2013

When you are finished with your costume, a lot of costuming is about posing for pictures and having fun with your friends. This is simply a collection of my favorite photos of me in costume 2013, I'm not going to wear any more costumes this year, but I'm really looking forward to 2014..

10. Me as a female Santa during the traditional Christmas market at work

9. Trying to go bowling in costume had its challenges, but nothing that couldn't be helped with some help from a friend

8. The first ever photo of two A-wing pilots, with A-wing helmets, together.

7. Snow White reading a book about occultism

6. Come taste a sweet Gingerbread jawa

5. It's important to match the colour of the robe with the surroundings

4. A (speeder) bike babe is both hot and cool

d

3. The fun you can have with friends in costume

d

2. Drama in blue and silver underground

d

1. Bringing joy to the children

The last picture isn't the best of my costume, but whenever people wonder why I spend a lot of money on going to places and dressing up, then I can just show this picture and the smile of that girl when she got to meet a real space princess and hero.

cheap 18th century shoes

When doing historical costuming, it's always so hard to find shoes. There are quite a few wonderful shoemakers out there, but the prices are what you can expect from artisans doing a specialized craft. I plan on buying a pair of shoes from American Duchess one day, those shoes aren't too expensive, but the freight and customs double the final price. For my first events I used the pair of shoes I wear with my folk costume, but this summer I got to know all the things that are wrong with them. They are also a bit clumsy. Throughout the summer and autumn I was on the lookout for a suitable pair of shoes, whenever I visited the local second hand store. I wanted a pair of black or red shoes, and I mostly looked at the shape of the heel, I wanted something at least close to a classic pompadour heel.

original shoe

One day I stumbled upon these for 125 SEK.They had an ugly plastic buckle, but I started with removing that one. Then I discovered that the straps were asymmetric, one long and one short.

Straps folded

I cut off a piece of the too long strap, and simply used superglue to attach it to the shorter one. Then I folded both straps into the shoe and attached them to the side with more superglue.

 I threaded some nice ribbon in the loops that were formed from the straps, and voilà a pair of decent 18th century shoes. I can also change the ribbons whenever I want to match whatever I'm wearing.

There are no pics of the heels, and I like them because of the shape, but it's visible that they are built up from several layers of plastic. Still I don't think anyone is going to crawl on their knees and judge the shoes that closely. They still look better than my folk costume shoes toegether with my historical gowns.

Snow White III - accessories and final gown

In order to finish the Snow White look I needed to add some details. I decided to add her standing white collar and a red cape. I also wanted to make her sleeves a bit more closer to the original slashed sleeves, so I added red cuffs to them.

 The sleeve was probably not very historically accurate, but it still looked good. I started with a half circle and added three darts to give it some shape.

The base layer was heavy cotton canvas, and on both sides of each dart I added boning tape and put short pieces of synthetic whale bone in.

The outer layers were heavy poly satin. I had planned to actually use some nice silk for it, but it was too flimsy. Instead I found this heavy poly satin in my stash and decided to use it. I also

added some iron on interfacing to them. Then I sewed the two outer pieces together, so that they formed a pocket, I kept the lower, straight edge open. I then slid the canvas layer, with the boning, into the pocket and closed it with a piece of cotton bias tape. 

The cape was a rectangular piece of silk charmeuse that I hand hemmed. The top of it was gathered into a piece of red cotton bias tape. I sewed the cape on to the dress by folding it over the neckline and tacking the bias tape to the lining. The reason why I had used biast tape was simply because I didn't want to to stitch through the silk, since this is a cape that is going to be taken on and off.




At this stage I also realized that Snow White's cape is tied in front, so I had to make two ribbons and attach them. This turned out really well though since the red ribbons gave a nice frame to the front neckline. After the cape was sewn on I also attached the collar by tacking it to the lining.

I don't have any pictures of the cuffs, but they were basically just tubes that I sewed on to the hem of the sleeve, folded up and attached to the sleeve. I also added some small flounces of silk chiffon to the sleeves.

Here you can see the dress from the back/side. Together with a gorgeous Little Red Riding Hood. One thing I hadn't calculated was that my hair was actually so big that it pushed the collar more backwards than I had planned.

Here's the dress from the front/side. Quite late at night in a hot room, so excuse the glazed and seaty face.

My plan for the future of this gown is to turn it into a more historical costume. I still have some of the blue taffeta left and I want to make a lot more trims for it. I had planned to make some bows for the skirt from the red cape fabric, but simply ran out. I also want to make bigger flounces. This was to try to make the flounces from the RH822 pattern, but I'm more happy with the ones I've made from tutorials on the internet.