All posts filed under: 20th Century

A little embellishment and some red lips

After fixing up my Little Bit of Red dress in September, of course I had to actually wear it at Art Deco Weekend this year, despite a few moments of wailing “but I’ve already worn it….” To doll it up a little, I added a quick, fun, embellished accessory, which is my ‘easy’ entry for the HSF Embellish challenge: a trimmed 1930s hat (I’m working on a more elaborate Embellish item too). My hat started life as a woven fedora a bit like these. I damped my hat, reshaped the crown and brim, and pinned up the back of the brim so the hat could fit down snuggly over my hair pinned up in a chignon. Re-shaped, it looks like this: Even a minimalist like myself thought that was a bit plain, so embellishment time. I found some midnight blue and red velvet ribbon at an op shop, and had a bag of buttons on me. A bit of winding, pleating, and sewing later, I had a trimmed hat. Just what the hat and dress …

Napier’s Art Deco Weekend ’13

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s that time of year again: Napier’s annual Art Deco Weekend was last weekend, and I went, and I had lots of fun and took 642 photos and edited them down to 469 keepers and then edited those down to 26 I want to show you today, and a few more I’ll show you for specific costume posts. It was interesting to go back to Art Deco Weekend a second time: to review my first impressions, and get another look. It was even more interesting to go back and read my write-up of last year’s weekend, and my impression of the event. I can’t say my overall view has changed much, but this year was inevitably a bit different. I described it to Rachel (my weekend partner) as both better and worse than last year – as a returnee, I didn’t get lost walking around, knew where to park and where the good restaurants were, and when all the events were. But this year also had less highlights: the op-shopping wasn’t as good, I missed …

Theresa’s ca. 1915 dress

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s been a long time since I did a Textile on Thursday post, and I thought it was high time I resurrected the practice and showed you a few bits more from my collection (also, you are probably well tired of posts about paniers and want something different!). This item began with a totally unexpected parcel, and what may be my favourite-ever opening paragraph to a letter: “Dear Leimomi, You know when you inherit a period piece of clothing and don’t know what to do with it? And then you recall you have a pal who is a fashion historian? Exactly.” It was from the wonderful Theresa, model and friend. She went on to explain that the dress had belonged to her aunt’s husband’s family in Winnebago County, Illinois. She had no personal connection to it, could I do something with it? For a few months my ‘something’ was just hoarding it and petting it and drooling over how pretty it is, but now it’s …