All posts filed under: Miscellenia

I feel like the old lady who swallowed a fly…

I need to finish the corset I am working on (and which I am so over) so that I can… …Make the shorts I really want to have done by Monday, so I can… …Make the panniers I need done by Thur, so that I can… …Add a little more trim to the Lady Anne Darcy dress and petticoat which go over the panniers, because until that is done I can’t… …Fix all the bits I wasn’t happy with with my Art Deco Wardrobe, which I really should get done before I… …Start working on 1911 evening gowns, which is what I really want to be working on! And that’s not even counting the stuff I’m working on for clients! Sigh. I love my job so much I hate it at times!

Tutorial: How to make the ‘Deco Echo’ blouse

Published by The Dreamstress

As promised, and per popular demand, a tutorial on my Deco Echo blouse! First, a caveat. This blouse best suits a figure with a small bust and less than 10″ bust/waist difference. If you have larger bust, you could try adding length and side-bust darts. It would also help to taper the side panels in at the bottom, and to add a opening (either buttons up the CB, or a side fastening with snaps or hooks). Fabric: I used the panels of silk crepe from the susomawashi (the lower lining) of a kimono for my blouse. I recommend lightweight silk or cotton fabrics. Silk crepes are particularly nice because of their drape. The blouse is made from 5 rectangles – two large ones, two narrow ones, and one really long and narrow one for the waist tie. To make a blouse to fit a 34″ bust you will need: 2x 21″ x 13.5″ (l x w) rectangles – these will be your front and back panels. 2x 10.75″ x 6.5″ (l x w) rectangles – …

Waitangi Day

Published by The Dreamstress

Today is Waitangi Day – New Zealand’s version of Nation Day or the 4th of July. As an outsider, I find Waitangi Day a most peculiar holiday, because it isn’t a celebration. It is, at best, a sort of uneasy acknowledgement of the beginnings of New Zealand as a nation. This is my understanding of Waitangi Day: Waitangi Day specifically commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands on 6 Feb 1840. The Treaty of Waitangi is to New Zealand what the Magna Carta is to the UK, or the Declaration of Independence is the US: it’s our founding document. In some ways, it’s a good founding document. It’s short, and simple. It did three basic things: it establishes a British governorship over NZ (the NZ government essentially inherited this governorship), recognised that the Maori owned NZ, and had a right to their land and properties, and, finally, gave Maori the rights of British citizens. Well, sort of. At the same time, it’s a terrible founding document. You …