All posts filed under: Learn

The Victorian Era: a timeline of world history, and how it intersects with fashion history

When I teach costume and fashion history one of my primary goals is to show that fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Clothing is changed by what’s going on in the world, and what people wear can also change politics, trade, and world events. So I start every lecture with a timeline of major world events in the era I’m discussing, and reference back to those events as I lecture. I’m teaching Costume History for the Costume Construction Course at Toi Whakaari online for the next wee bit, and I’m trying not to make my students have to sit through hours of camera lectures a day – so I’m mixing up lectures, blog posts, quizzes, and other formats. I’m also trying to take advantage of the benefits of online teaching, rather than using it as a poor substitute for in-person. One place where a blog post is better than a lecture is links. And timelines with lots of links are the perfect thing to put online. The Victorian Era: Choosing themes for lectures is always …

Pictoral Review, April 1916 thedreamstress.com

Fashions for Staying at Home, 1916 Style

Published by The Dreamstress

Today was the first day of New Zealand’s lockdown. It will go on for at least 28 days. I work from home a lot, so other than Mr D being there, it wasn’t much different from many days: except I knew it was. It’s night now, and I’m feeling a little melancholy. Mr D is out taking groceries to someone who can’t go out at all, and the stress of the last few weeks has gotten to me. I’ll get past it. I know how incredibly privileged I am: we’re financially stable, we have a lovely warm house, a yard big enough to hang out it, and the lockdown rules allow us to go for walks in our neighbourhood. And it’s a pretty neighbourhood (pretty much all neighbourhoods in Wellington are pretty. It’s a very pretty city). But, like so many other people, I’m worried about family and friends, and grieving for those already lost. For now, I’m going to keep doing what I do: working on ways to help practically, just working (because I’m …

Making your own fitted sheets thedreamstress.com

Re-make & re-use: how to turn old flat sheets into fitted sheets

Published by The Dreamstress

Has anyone else noticed that you just can’t buy good quality cotton sheets anymore? Sheets I bought when I first moved to NZ 15 years ago are still going strong, but anything I’ve bought in the last five years (when we upgraded our bed size) lasts less than three years, even when it’s the same brand. And that’s an issue. Cotton (even organic) is not great for the environment, and the best way to lower its impact is to get as much use as possible out of anything cotton that you buy. Three years for sheets = not good. To get a little more use out of the extremely disappointing sheets I’ve purchased in the last 5 years, I’ve been recycling the sheets that have worn out. I turn the fabric around the edges of worn out fitted sheets into pillowcases, and do the same with flat sheets that are very thin, or where there are tears in the middle. If there is enough robust fabric left in a flat sheet, I turn it into …