All posts filed under: Historical Sew Fortnightly

The HSF ’14: Challenge #20: Alternative Universe

Gosh, time flies! It does not seem a fortnight since I wrote the last inspiration post for the HSF! Things come around quickly! This particular challenge, #20: Alternative Universe (due Sat 1 Nov, because hey, Halloween is the day before and look, sometimes I can plan!) is quite exciting, because it’s the one challenge of the year where doesn’t require you to be properly historical. The brief is simple: make something from an alternative universe, that shows elements of costume history within our universe. With the Alternative Universe challenge we’re exploring all the ways in which history has influenced fantasy, and all the ways in which we’ve imagined the world would look if events had gone differently, or all the ways in which we would dress if we simply lived in another world, with another set of rules and history and species. There are so many choices to pick from. There are realms from literature: Middle Earth, Narnia, Westeros & Essos, Damar, Hogwarts, Diskworld, Oz, Barsoom, Dinotopia, Earthsea, and Neverland, to name just a few! …

The HSF ’14: Challenge #19: Historical Sew Fortnightly Inspiration

Published by The Dreamstress

Wooohooo! The challenge that, of all the challenges in the Historical Sew Fortnightly 2014, I am most excited about is coming up. It’s Challenge #19, due Wednesday 15 October, and the theme is HSF Inspiration: be inspired by something another Historical Sew Fortnightlier has submitted for a challenge to make your own creation for this challenge. Obviously I’m super excited about this challenge because seeing what everyone else creates, learning from their creations and research, being introduced to new patterns, tutorials, and garments is one of the best things about the Historical Sew Fortnightly. You can use anything from the HSF ’13, or anything that has been submitted for Challenges 1-18 in the HSF ’14. The only thing you have to do (other than stick to the general HSF guidelines, of course), is to acknowledge your source (or sources) of inspiration! So where to begin? There are blog posts linked through each challenge page on the Historical Sew Fortnightly 2013 page. And blog posts linked through each challenge page on the Historical Sew Fortnightly 2014 …

The HSF ’14 – Favourites for Challenges 9-12

Published by The Dreamstress

Halfway through! (OK, more than halfway through, as I’m well late on this post: we’re already almost done with Challenge #14, and I’m only just posting about Challenge #12!) Here are some of the many fantastic items created over the last four (and a bit!) challenge of the Historical Sew Fortnightly. It was, as always, a huge struggle to narrow all the things I love down to just a few. There has been a slight dip in the number of submissions just as people loose a little steam at the halfway point, but there are still SO MANY amazing creations. The ones I’ve chosen are interesting, thoughtful, beautiful, and best demonstrate the goals of the Historical Sew Fortnightly; the quest to explore history, raise our skill levels and standard, stretch ourselves (and actually finish items); and the spirit of the individual challenge. Entries without photos link to blog posts, and entries with photos come from Facebook. I really encourage you to follow the links to the blog posts, as the stories behind each item are …