All posts filed under: Textiles & Costume

A ca. 1920 sinamay sunhat (and what is sinamay)

Published by The Dreamstress

You may have noticed that I made a number of hats for the Mansfield Garden party, so it’s probably no surprise that some of them are showing up as entries for  the Historical Sew Fortnighly ‘Protection’ challenge. Hats were essential fashion items throughout the first half of the 20th century, but they were also important for protection.  Sunglasses were extremely uncommon, and the wide brims of summer hats helped to protect the eyes from the sun’s glare, and also to protect the skin and preserve the pale, untanned complexions that were considered fashionable. They work extremely well for both functions: I get terrible headaches if I don’t wear a hat or sunglasses, but with one or the other, I’m fine.  And New Zealand’s sun is notoriously harsh, but my models and I stayed happily un-sunscreened and un-sunburnt for a whole day out in the blaze courtesy of our hats (and parasols). This particular hat represents the styles of hats worn in the very late 1910s and early 1920s.  It was also an experiment in some …

The 1910 Little Miss Muffet at the Village Fête frock

Published by The Dreamstress

Remember when Felicity was extremely helpful with my sewing?  What she was mainly helping me with was this dress, which I am calling the ‘Little Miss Muffet at the Village Fete’ frock. First, the name of the dress.  I’m sure you’re wondering.  I have an elaborate and complicated mind, but this one isn’t too odd once I explain.  I first fell in love with the lace for this dress, because each little circle reminded me of a spiders web.  I like spiders!  The obvious person to wear a dress covered in sweet spider-web lace would be Little Miss Muffet, all grown up and over her fears.  I first sewed the lace as a straight line, but it was boring and lacked dimensionality, so I cut it in dags, which remind me of the bunting you see at summer fêtes.  So it’s a dress for Miss Muffet to wear to the fair! The dress was inspired by ca. 1910s ‘lingerie’ frocks and linen dresses such as this one from FIDM, and this one and this one …

A slightly weird attempt at a 1920s slip

Published by The Dreamstress

This weekend seems to be the time to write not-super-exciting catch-up posts that no-one is going to comment on, but that might be useful to someone later. As you can see, not-super-exciting, and kinda weird: This is a silk slip to go under the Summer of 1921 yellow dress.  It’s the product of desperation and curiosity.  Desperation, because my attempts to find a suitable yellow silk (or cotton, or viscose) for a proper ’20s slip  in Wellington had proved fruitless, and curiosity, because I wondered if I could make one out of kimono silk. So this is made from lengths of 34cm wide vintage blonde silk habotai, originally intended for kimono linings, seamed together to be wide enough. In my first attempt I used one length just long enough to wrap around my bust and give it a bit of compression support, and four lengths sewn together to form a wide tube: I sewed big box pleats into the side seams, to shape the tube to my body, but give it enough volume to walk …