All posts filed under: Learn

A corset-themed tale of hubris and irony

As a blogger, it’s tempting to only show you my successes: things that turn out perfectly, and look beautiful.* But that’s not fair to you, or me: it creates an unrealistic expectation of life, and how well you think you should do at any given project. As a reader, I get frustrated with blogs that are only about perfection and glamour: I find myself comparing myself, and feeling insufficient, but I also find myself bored, because while you can definitely learn from seeing other people’s amazing successes, I think you often learn a lot more from seeing their mistakes (for one thing, you learn how to avoid them!). So this, dear readers, is a post about a sewing project for my Fortnight in 1916 that has most definitely not been a success – but which I have learned a great deal from, and which you may also learn something from! I’ve showed you my black and white 1916 longline corset, and mentioned that it was made directly from a pattern, without being altered to fit …

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

Published by The Dreamstress

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 …