All posts filed under: Historical Sew Fortnightly

The Black & White 1916 corset

Published by The Dreamstress

On Monday I’m going to start living as close as I can to a 1916 lifestyle for two weeks. Naturally, this means I need a wardrobe.  A whole wardrobe post is coming, but for now, let’s start with the item everyone is really interested in: corsets. Based on my research, the average middle-class NZ housewife in 1916 had between 1 & 3 corsets at any given time: 1 or 2 for everyday wear, and possibly a fancier, more constricting one for dressing up.  Two corsets is ideal for everyday wear, because it means one can be airing while you wear the other. I’ve decided on two corsets for my experiment.  One, based on a slightly earlier cut, that Leimomi circa 1916 might have had in her wardrobe from before the war, and this one,  reflecting the more recent mid-teens cut: Previously all of my 1910s corsets have been based on my personally fitted draft of the 1911 corset in Janet Arnold’s book.   However, very few women in NZ would have had personally fitted corsets. …

The HSM 2016: Challenge #4: Gender-Bender

Published by The Dreamstress

The fourth Historical Sew Monthly challenge of 2016, due by the end of April, is Gender-Bender.  In this challenge you should make an item for the opposite gender, or make an item with elements inspired by the fashions of the opposite gender. The first option in the challenge is easy: if you have someone of the opposite gender to sew for, or an excuse to make something historical that was traditionally worn by the opposite gender for yourself. Personally, I’ve always hankered for my own pair of 18th c breeches.  Maybe even in leopard skin print… The second option is significantly more complicated.  On the surface, it seems simple.  There are dozens of instances of clothing inspired by the fashions of the opposite gender. The  fashion for slashing that emerged in the  later  15th century and lasted into the first few decades of the 17th, is generally attributed to the actions of the Swiss army in the aftermath of the Battle of Grandson in 1476.  The Swiss supposedly celebrated their victory over one of the …

Rate the Dress: green on green on green in the 1860s

Published by The Dreamstress

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: Please feel free to not like today’s selection, or any other garment that I present, but make sure that expressing your dislike doesn’t become an excuse to insult other people.  You can  tear it to shreds sartorially speaking, but please take care  that your comments do not  attack any of the other commenters, and do not cast aspersions on any group that may choose such garments.  It’s fine to not like something, but make sure that you respect other people’s choice to feel differently. We’ve had some very amusing take-downs of garments over the years, and that’s not an issue  (and even better, hilarious – the “I’m pretty sure that Worth’s cat stepped in a puddle of ink and walked across  this sketch and then the seamstresses did their best to interpret those splodges as an actual design” is still my favourite), but lately there have been a lot of “Ugh, what sort of colour-blind cretin would like that?” comments (which you haven’t seen, because I’ve deleted them), and that is NOT …