All posts filed under: Sewing

Things I sew – historical and modern

1911-12 Miss Muffet dress thedreamstress.com

A photoshoot in the 1911-12 Little Miss Muffet at the Village Fête frock

Some time ago  Regional News Wellington contacted me to see if I wanted to be interviewed (of course I did! – read the resulting interview on page 9). Naturally, they asked if I had any pictures of myself in historical dress to include with the article, and, as it turned out, none of the stuff I had was suitable, so they offered to have their photographer take pictures.  Oooh, fun! For my outfit, I chose the 1911-12 ‘Little Miss Muffet at the Village Fête’ frock, because I’d never had the chance to wear it, whatever I chose needed to be something I could put on without any assistance and drive from my house to the studio in, and (for a reason I can’t remember) I thought I was being photographed against a dark ground – so light colours seemed a good idea. As it turned out, the studio backdrop was white.  If I could choose again I’d probably have gone with something dark, like the 1813 Kashmiri dress, or my 1914-16 Cobwebs gown. Still, I’m …

Elephants & Kangaroos thedreamstress.com

Kangaroos & Elephants Oh My! – (almost) first me-made dress

In the sewing community May is Me-Made-May – a month of trying to wear more of the things you’ve made, using them to get out of wardrobe ruts, and setting yourself personal challenges around them. I’ve never officially participated, in part because wearing stuff I’ve made every day is pretty much an obligation of my work, and what I wear cycles in response to what classes I’m teaching at the moment, what patterns I’m working on for Scroop  Patterns, and the weather (which currently includes the first snow of the winter – yay (note sarcasm)).  In bigger part, I’ve always been too busy with either the Sew Weekly, or the Historical Sew Fortnightly. Between sewing-teaching work, history-lecturing work, pattern-making work, running the HSF, and life, I’m one additional thing  away from dropping all my balls – and I’m pretty sure that what I’m juggling is a mix of ostrich eggs in extremely  fragile shells (some of which are well past their best-by date), newborn  dragons (a la McKinley, where dragons are marsupials, so newborns are …

How to add pockets to the Scroop Modern Fantail skirt thedreamstress.com

How to add pockets to the Scroop Modern Fantail skirt

A lot of people have asked about pockets for the Scroop Modern Fantail skirt. I really wanted to include pockets in the pattern.  As I developed the pattern I tested  multiple styles of pockets on the skirt: welt, in-seam, in-seam with standing welt, horizontal, back angled, front angled, patch.  Unfortunately none of them fit my requirements for being sympathetic to the aesthetic of the skirt, flattering on most body types, successful in all the fabrics that the skirt could be made out of, large enough to make the aesthetic and difficulty compromises worthwhile, and within the difficulty  range of the pattern.  I didn’t want to include a pocket that compromised my vision for the pattern, just for the sake of having one.  So, the pattern is pocket-less. Of all the ways I tried to include pockets, by far the most successful was the back-angled drop pocket set into the side panel.  They weren’t perfect: they do make the skirt a bit more casual, and you can’t put bulky things in them, so they didn’t quite …