All posts filed under: Historical Sew Fortnightly

The 1930s Bad Plaid Celebration Dress

Published by The Dreamstress

Hurrah!  I have made it through the Historical Sew Fortnightly!  I’ve managed to make at least one item for all 26 challenges! Some were late, some took some time, but I did it! And here, of course, is my item for Challenge #26: Celebration: I’m calling it the ‘Bad Plaid’ dress, because the fabric is so awful it’s awesome, and because, well… I whinged about the pattern a lot as I sewed it up. The pattern is Decades of Style #3007: The 1930s Button Dress. Now, I’ll admit right away that half of the problems with the dress were my fault, at least in that I knew going in that the pattern wasn’t the most flattering style for my shape, and that I wasn’t using the best fabric for the pattern. I’m small busted, with a largish-rectangular ribcage, a sway back, and a full bottom.  I look great in empire waistlines, regular waistlines, and dropped waist – but the 1930s halfway-down-the-ribcage waistline?  Not my friend.  So that was the pattern problem. And this dress needs …

Historical Sew Fortnightly ’14 Challenge #5: Bodice (and What is a Bodice?)

Published by The Dreamstress

The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #5 for 2014, due March 15,  is Bodice. It’s pretty simple.  Make a bodice – a garment that covers the upper body.  You can either abide by the strictest historical sense, and make a ‘pair o bodies’ for earlier periods, or a matching but separate upper half, in later periods, or can explore the idea of bodices in a more general sense. I’ll leave the ‘more general sense’ interpretation of bodice up to your judgement, but will explore the more historical sense, and how the definition and style of bodices have changed over time to give context and inspiration. The word ‘bodice’ dates back to the mid 16th century, and comes from the term ‘pair of bodies‘ (or ‘pair o bodies’).  The ‘pair’ was referring to the two sides of the stiffened garment which laced together. In the 16th century a bodice could refer either to the boned under-stays, or to the boned and stiffened garment that went over it.  Ben Johnson conveys a sense of how the word arose …