All posts filed under: Learn

Making your own fitted sheets thedreamstress.com

Re-make & re-use: how to turn old flat sheets into fitted sheets

Has anyone else noticed that you just can’t buy good quality cotton sheets anymore? Sheets I bought when I first moved to NZ 15 years ago are still going strong, but anything I’ve bought in the last five years (when we upgraded our bed size) lasts less than three years, even when it’s the same brand. And that’s an issue. Cotton (even organic) is not great for the environment, and the best way to lower its impact is to get as much use as possible out of anything cotton that you buy. Three years for sheets = not good. To get a little more use out of the extremely disappointing sheets I’ve purchased in the last 5 years, I’ve been recycling the sheets that have worn out. I turn the fabric around the edges of worn out fitted sheets into pillowcases, and do the same with flat sheets that are very thin, or where there are tears in the middle. If there is enough robust fabric left in a flat sheet, I turn it into …

My historical costuming people thedreamstress.com

So you’ve made a historical costume: where do you wear it?

Published by The Dreamstress

In my last post, I discussed some ways to get started in historical costuming: different strategies for tackling your first makes, and where to get help with making. But once you make a thing, you need a place to wear it! And that can be hard – especially if you don’t live somewhere with a lot of historical costume themed events. (I know all about this – NZ is fancy dress party central, but historical costume events are thin on the ground…) A lot of people get started making historical costumes because they have a specific event to go to, and want to be dressed up. If that’s you: you’re sorted! Just talk to other people at the event, and you’ll probably learn about more events to wear your historic costume to. A costume event is how I really got started in historical costuming: I made outfits for myself and a friend to wear to the SF Bay Area Renaissance Faire. However, I went for 5 years between my 16th c Flemish outfit for a …

Historical Costuming - jump right in! thedreamstress.com

How to get started in historical costuming

Published by The Dreamstress

True story: quite a few of my closest friends became my friends because they heard I do historical costuming and said “Oh, I’ve always dreamed of making X kind of dress.” And I said “Really? Well, I can help with that! Let me tempt you to the dark and full of handsewing side…” And then 300 hours of pattern choosing and handsewing later we’re sending each other terrible memes at 3am, and crying on each others shoulder when things are hard. I can’t promise you a costuming friend for life, but I can give you some of the tips that I give friends when they start on this journey. Hopefully they will help you achieve your costuming dreams. First, choose what you want to make: That’s pretty obvious! But it can be a bit overwhelming. The three main strategies that people use to get started are: Pick an era, and make a complete outfit for that era, from the inside out. Pick a simple item that can be used for multiple eras, and …