All posts filed under: Learn

A sewing machine for 1916: meet my new (very old) Singer 27 series, VS-3

Among the many questions I’ve been asked about the Fortnight in 1916 project is ‘Are you going to be sewing like you would in 1916’? Why yes, yes I am! My goal is to make a blouse entirely as it would have been made at home in 1916, and to cut and start one of my outfits for Costume College (obviously, one that is 1916 themed!) To do this, I need an era-correct sewing machine. Meet my new, very old, hand-crank Singer Model 27: She dates from 1893, and is version 3 of the 27 model. Singer launched the 27 series in the mid 1880s, as the first of their machines to use the new vibrating shuttle technology. A vibrating shuttle is a different kind of bobbin which swings back and forth inside the machine, instead of having the threads carried around the machine, like a modern bobbin. So the inside of the machine looks like this: That point silver bullet looking thing is the bobbin, and the arm that is carrying it swings back …

A fortnight in 1916: guidelines for the project

Published by The Dreamstress

In creating the ‘Fortnight in 1916’ project, I’ve developed a set of general guidelines and rules for how historically accurate it should be. First, the two most important rules: #1 – I’m not allowed to do anything that will endanger my health. This one is pretty obvious. I’ve run the project by my doctor, I’ll have a checkup before I do it, and if anything seems to be going wrong, I have to modify or pull the plug on it. I don’t handle winter very well. I get really terrible chillblains, so my clothing and our house heating has to do as much as possible to alleviate them, 1916 or otherwise. I also had a really serious lung infection this autumn, and while 4 weeks in Hawaii seems to have effected a complete recovery, I can’t afford another bout of it. I’ve chosen to live circa 1916 in the middle of winter because winter is already miserable, so it can’t be any worse in wool stockings and a corset, and I already spend 6 months …

Introducing the 1916 project

Published by The Dreamstress

In April of 2015 I made a full mid-1910s outfit. I found it so comfortable to wear for the Anzac Day photoshoot that I left it on for the rest of the day, and quite spontaneously, did a bit of living history research by cleaning my house while wearing it. The mid-1910s outfit was just as comfortable for housecleaning as it was for the photoshoot, and I gained some really interesting insights into what it’s like to live in a longline corset and stockings and a full skirt and blouse, plus heels. Based on that day, I began thinking about the idea of doing a longer, more involved mid-1910s living history research project. The more I looked into it, the more I realised that there is a huge gap in non-combat focused WWI living history, especially from a female perspective. There are WWI reenactment groups, mainly based around men as soldiers, but some of which include women as nurses etc., but almost no-one has done WWI home-front living history. There are people living in the …