All posts filed under: Miscellenia

What makes a garment historically accurate?

One of the questions I ask people to answer with each Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge is how historically accurate their submission is, and the answers have revealed an interesting range of interpretations of what makes a garment historically accurate. I put the question in the facts list because I think it reveals a lot about the intent of a garment, and I hoped it would encourage people to think about historical accuracy and what really is accurate. I don’t actually think all garments need to be historically accurate – there is a time and place for accuracy in a garment. For some of us accuracy is our ultimate goal, others just want to create pretty frocks. For me, as a researcher, sometimes sewing a garment that you know is inaccurate in certain respects can reveal almost as much about a period as sewing a perfectly accurate one would, and so is worthwhile in its own right. I do think it is important to consider what aspects of your item are accurate, and what aren’t, to …

The HSF Challenge #16: Separates

Published by The Dreamstress

Working in museums, one of the things we often talk about is the disparity in what ends up in a museum costume collection compared to what people actually wear. Collections are full of wedding gowns and ballgowns: memories of the grandest moments of our lives. On a day to day basis though, people wear much simpler clothes: practical, interchangeable items. Today this is jeans and t-shirts, but throughout history even the wealthiest have worn simple separates for the less momentous occasions. The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #16 is all about Separates: items that can be paired with other pieces in your wardrobe to extend a look. My favourite anecdote about separates involves Queen Victoria and her future daughter-in-law Alexandra. On being introduced the Alexandra, the Queen noticed that she wore a skirt with one jacket one day, and the same skirt, with a different jacket, the next day. Victoria was delighted. To her, this indicated a frugal and practical nature: just the thing to balance the son that she and Albert had viewed as overly …

Things that you can make with squares and rectangles and triangles

Published by The Dreamstress

People often say to me “Oh, I can’t believe you do historic sewing. That must be so complicated!”. It really isn’t! Partly this is because it’s just a different skill set, but not a harder one, but partly because the shapes used for a lot of historic garments are actually pretty basic. So what can you make with squares and rectangles and triangles? The oldest extent garment is all squares and rectangles: As is pretty much every tunic and chemise since then, from the middle ages to the early 19th century: Most petticoats are just rectangles of fabric pleated into waistbands: As are mid-19th century skirts, for all their tiers of rectangular ruffles: Fichus and handkerchiefs and buffons and neckerchiefs and pocket handkerchiefs (what’s the difference? I’ll be discussing them in an upcoming terminology post.) are all made of squares or rectangles or triangles: Muffs are essentially just layers of rectangles: Many aprons are rectangles: As are many reticules, purses and variants thereof: Plus, there are all the ethnic costumes based on basic shapes …