Historical Sew Fortnightly

I've mentioned it a couple of times, so I thought it might be a good idea to talk more about Historical Sew Fortnightly, or HSF as I will probably use most of the time.

The HSF was created last year by Leimomi Oakes of The Dreamstress. She posts challenges that you are suppposed to compete and show to others, either in a blog post or at the Facebook group. Every fortnight there is a new challenge, hence the name. The challenges have a theme, but are quite wide open, as long as they are withing the fold of "historical costuming" for HSF13 this was any era up until around 1920, for HSF14 it's been extended to up until WWII.

I was added to the FB group in the beginning of the year, but didn't really notice it. If I someone else adds me to a group I tend to ignore it, I also felt that I wouldn't be able to participate. Then when I was working on my Snow White costume I found The Dreamstress blog and read it all, and then I understood more about what HSF was all about. I started reading the FB group more regularly. I only posted a petticoat and my Snow White gown as finished challenges though. For HSF14 I'm hoping to do a lot more.

Here are the first 7 challenges, the rest are waiting to be announced.

1. Make do and Mend (15th of January) - I'm hoping to add some trims for my 18th century gowns for this.

2. Innovation (1st of February) - No idea for this at the moment

3. Pink (15th of February) - No idea for this at the moment

4. Under it all (1st of March) - new 18th century stays

5. Bodice (15th of March) - possibly a vest

6. Fairytale (1st of April) - no idea for this at the moment

7. Tops and Toes (15th of April) - 18th century hat

Finally a workspace dedicated to sewing

In my dreams I have a big apartment/house where I can have a whole room just for sewing and crafting. Well I don't see that happening in a forseeable future, so when I decided to put up new wallpaper in my living room, I also decided that it was time to create a functioning workspace. I have had a sewing space, and I managed to find a picture of it, except for the helmets this is what it looked like when I started.

The old work station wasn't too bad, but it didn't provide enough storage for all the small things that accumulate, like threads, buttons, decorations. I also had all my patterns stashed in a bin behind one of the doors, total chaos.

For my new working area I partitioned off a part of the living room with a shelf. This shelf has swallowed all my sewing equipment, my craft stuff that I've had spread out all over my apartment and attic, and even if I have a strict "don't drink and sew"-policy I even managed to empty my liquor cabinet into it. (This means that I could get rid of one of the worst pieces of furniture in the living room).

 This is my new sewing space. I even got all my sewing/fashion books into one of the shelves. I have also taken the time to sort through my stashes and thrown away stuff. Now I have everything in dedicated drawers or boxes, in fact I even have enough space so that I haven't even filled all the boxes yet. I've made sure to leave plenty of room so that there will be space for adding stuff. The light comes from two sources, one standing lamp for general light and then I have an extra work lamp as well. The standing lamp also has a smaller reading lamp that I can use.

This is my new combined drink and craft cabinet from the other side.

For my patterns I have another low shelf. I've also decided that as a long time project I'm going to go through all my old patterns. When I started sewing I wasn't really careful, and I lived in a cramped student room. Most of my old patterns are just crumpled pieces that have been at the bottom of a wardrobe for a long time. If I went through them all and ironed the pattern pieces, I only use pattern fabric, they would get new life and would also take up a lot less space.

One thing that I also bought for my sewing area, but in the end it couldn't fit, is a standing mirror with clothes hangers on the backside. It's easily moveable though so I will have it in my bedroom and when it's time for a sewing project it can stand in the living room.

Costume plans 2014

The new year is here and it's time to announce my costume plans for the coming year. I've been thinking about these ones for quite some time, but now it's time to finally make them public and start some serious planning. Basically I can say that my costuming year for the last years have been divided into two parts. The first six months are dedicated to 18th century, due to the fact that I know that there is an 18th century even at the end of June, and the rest of the year is Star Wars, so that I can have something finished for the sci-fi con in December. This year a lot of my planning will also take Star Wars Celebration Anaheim into account. It's going to be in Anaheim in April 2015, but I don't want to stress to have my costumes finished for it. I've also tried to be quite restrictive in my plans, I rather finishe fewer but better projects than doing a long list and not be happy about the quality of my work. The list is divided into major projects, UFO:s and maybes.

First of all though. My biggest project when it comes to sewing will be to complete my sewing section in my living room. My apartment isn't big enough that I can have a dedicated sewing room, and up until now I've just had a working desk in my living room. In November I packed away all my sewing stuff, and other things, put up new wall papers, and now I'm going to buy furniture so that I can have a proper work space. Part of creating this space is also to get a proper dress form in the beginning of the new year.

Major projects

My biggest project of the year will be to reproduce this Parisian fashion plate from 1787. I've loved it
ever since I stumbled upon it. The simple white dress, that's not quite a chemise à la reine, the shortsleeved military style jacket, and not the least the gigantic hat above her enormous hedgehog.

For this project I will need to learn how to draft both the gown and jacket basically from scratch, I will need to learn millinery for the hat, and style a wig. I will also need to make a new pair of stays, since my 18th century stays would be visible if I only wore the gown and they are also earlier in style.

If I hadn't been so happy about the Snow White costume I did, I would not have dared to go into a project like this, but now I'm quite excited.

I want to have the whole project finished by the end of June.

I will tag this project "Revolutionary"

Star Wars Episode I - The Golden Handmaiden gown.

I've loved this costume for a really long time, but I haven't thought that it would be worth the time and money to actually make it. This is going to be my main costume for Star Wars Celebration, and I want to enter it into the costume contest there. It's also a challenge because in all my years of involvement in Star Wars costuming I've never seen a proper version of this gown. I've seen simplified versions, but a fully pleated gown has never been made.

Challenges involves pleating the fabric of the gown, smocking the obi belt, and not the least finding fabrics in the right colours. I'm also lucky in that this costume was at Star Wars: The Exhibition in 2008, and I took a lot of detailed photos of it. I'd say that there are a couple of details that I myself didn't catch until after several years of looking at pictures of it.
The time frame for this is to have it finished by the end of the year.
This project will be tagged "gold handmaiden".

UFO (unfinished objects)
My only major UFO is my female tusken. I have a new mask that I need to assemble, and a leather pouch that I need to put the finishing touches on. The reason why it's an UFO is that I'm waiting for an armor party so that I can get help by guys who are a lot better than me when it comes to working with hard materials.


Maybes
This is Winter Celchu from the book Star Wars: Scoundrels. I've been thinking about a comfy costume that I could run around in at cons, and still being in costume. It's a basic costume of a leotard and a tunic with a belt. The main challenge would be to replicate the trim. This costume might have to wait until 2015, so that I can just have it done for Star Wars Celebration in April.

When I was in London I bought that lovely wool that would make a really nice 18th century jacket, and I have the book "Costume Close-Up", with a nice chapter on a jacket from the Williamsburg collections. I could very well see myself starting on that as well.

Touch ups
I also have a couple of costumes that needs some serious overhaul. First in line for that is my classic Princess Leia. The white gown is starting to look like it's coming straight from the trash compactor, so I've said to myself that I will not use it again. I need to make a new one before being Leia again.

The Can Can trooper needs a new corset, but I think that is going to be pushed back to 2015 as well, and it depends if I'm going to bring it to Celebration or not.

I want to trim the Snow White gown to make it less of a fairytale costume and more proper 18th century. I will try to make that right at the start and finish it for the first challenge of the Historical Sew Fortnightly 2014.

Historical Sew fortnightly
As you can see on the bade on my sidebar I've also signed up for the Historical Sew fortnightly 2014. I completed a few challenges for the HSF2013, and I'm hoping to do more in 2014. I will try to plan my revolutionary gown so that I can use as many challenges as possible for that, but I might also get inspiration to do more historical gowns. Since the Gold handmaiden gown is clearly modeled on a fortuny gown from the early 20th century I might be able to use it as well. It's a bit hard to have fixed plans though since it's only the first six challenges that have been posted.

So that's it for my plans this year, now it's only to start gathering material, patterns and start sewing.

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.

Merry (and costumey) Christmas

Since we celebrate Christmas Eve as the main day of the holidays I want to just say a big and warm "Merry Christmas" to you all in preparation for the coming days.

This is my holiday-themed costume from the year. For the Sci-Fi con in Stockholm in early december I turned my jawa costume into a gingerbread jawa and ran around and gave people gingerbread cookies. The white trims are simply pieces of an old bedsheet that I pinned onto the costume.