All posts filed under: Sewing

Things I sew – historical and modern

Fittings, lacings, and gores: progress on the medieval gown

There has been a bit of blog silence on it for the last few months, but I have been plugging away on the 1370ish dress, but there has been an awful lot of effort on it that doesn’t look like anything, because it was just unpicking and re-doing. I got it all sewn together, did an initial fit, and it just didn’t feel quite right, which prompted a LOT more research. Based on the research, I decided that lining 14th century gowns with linen is almost certainly not accurate, and gives a fit that doesn’t match the fits shown on effigies of the period. This is what the dress looked like with a linen lining: It looks really good, but it’s very constricting. It just didn’t feel right. So I sucked it up and unpicked the lining. And all my gores. And then I re-sewed the entire gown without a lining, and with the gores placed almost at my waist. As soon as I tried on gown 2.0 I knew two things. First, the fit …

Wonder Unders

Published by The Dreamstress

UPDATE: Want to make your own Wonder Unders? You can now buy the knickers pattern (along with a singlet camisole and slip pattern) through my pattern line: Scroop Patterns. Get it here! Superheroes are awesome. Is there anyone ever who hasn’t wanted to be a superhero? Or played at being a superhero? I know I have and this is despite the fact that I made it to adulthood without ever having read a single superhero comic,* seen a single episode of a superhero TV show, or watched a single superhero movie. Despite this, I somehow knew about superheros, and, of course, their costumes. The salient points being they wear 1) capes, and 2) underwear on the outside. As a kid I was extremely envious of my older sister, because someone had made her a red superhero cape with her initial on it, and I didn’t have a cape. Much later, she made me a cape…out of crazy cat lady fabric (it had photorealistic cat heads completely covering it). Not quite the same… (but I …

Review: Wearing History’s 1910s Camisole & Corset Cover pattern

Published by The Dreamstress

Wearing History has an fabulous new pattern out and I am extremely excited about it 1) because it’s a kind of pattern that I’ve really wanted for a long time, and that is going to make my life a lot easier, and 2) I got to be a pattern tester! (yay!). Wearing History’s 1910s Camisole & Corset Cover pattern has a low scooped neck back and front, slight fullness at the front and is suitable for wearing under or over a corset for all 1910s styles. It can be made with or without sleeves, and with or without a peplum. I’ve really been getting into 1910s fashion, but my 1900s and 1910s camisole pattern (taken from an extent garment) is really skimpy, with tiny straps. It doesn’t provide enough coverage to wear under the sheer blouses that were fashionable in the 1910s (yes, really!), is too delicate to be made into a 1900s ruffle-fronted camisole, and can be a bit revealing for models in 1910s underwear when I do talks. So a 1910s corset cover …