All posts filed under: Sewing

Things I sew – historical and modern

Embarking on Elizabethan

Remember last year when I made a late Elizabethan pair of bodies? And a farthingale? Now I’m finally tackling a dress to go over them! The dress is more of my ‘dabbling’ in Elizabethan, so it’s testing concepts rather than being 100% period accurate, and it’s also meant to be all from stash. Thanks to the fabulous Lynne, I had two huge curtains in red velvet, so that decided the dress fabric. With red velvet in mind, I went looking for inspiration. The obvious place to start for construction is Janet Arnold, and for inspiration, (since it is Elizabethan), portraits of Queen Elizabeth I. I quite like van der Meulens’ 1560s portrait: I particularly like the more restrained ruff, and the open effect of the neckline. And the fact that it’s in red velvet is an added perk! This portrait by an unknown artist has many of the same general design elements: I like the idea of separate rather than matching sleeves, a look that is also repeated in the Pelican Portrait: I am madly …

Making my own camisoles

Published by The Dreamstress

UPDATE: Want to make your own singlet camisoles from my pattern? You can now buy the Wonder Unders Pattern (which includes knickers & slip) through my pattern line: Scroop Patterns. Get it here! The empire of things that I am making for myself because trying to buy them makes me too grumpy is expanding… I’ve already developed a pattern to make my own sewn-not-knitted socks/stockings (OK, so I still buy most of my everyday pairs, but the idea is sound!). And I make my own knickers. And now, camisoles (or as they say in NZ, singlets): Actually, come to think of it, I’ve been doing this one longer than either of those. It’s just that my first three years worth of singlets were boring black or boring white, so not really worth showing! Buying singlets drives me absolutely batty. In Wellington your singlet choices are pretty much Glassons (but I hate the way theirs fit), Bendon (ditto), Kirkaldies (too expensive), Cotton On (OK, but rather poorly made and even though they get pretty good …

Bluebell trousers and adventures with swans

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve been holding off on showing you photos of these trousers because all the photos I have of them are rubbish. But they’ve been done for almost three months now, and I do have some photos of them, and even if the photos are rubbish, at least there is a fun story attached! I started these trousers last autumn (so yes, well over six months ago!) along with a class who were making them: These are made from the same altered version of Wearing History’s Chic Ahoy trousers as my Pants that Never End. The fabric is an absolutely delicious lightweight worsted wool that I was given by the wonderful Lynne. It’s a fabulous colour: grey in some lights, purple in others. The fabric isn’t quite as successful as the linen was, simply because it is so light and clinging that I feel the need to wear smoother pants underneath, which is more effort than I can usually be bothered with (tap pants are easy and wonderful, smoothers are a hassle. I’m very specific!). It …