All posts filed under: Textiles & Costume

Fabrications: Mark your calenders!

Published by The Dreamstress

Do you like textiles and fabric? Of course you like textile and fabric!  That’s why you read this blog! Are you going to be in Wellington on Sat the 19th of November? If so, mark your calendars for Fabrications, an expo celebrating all things textile and fabric related. And I’m going to be there doing something new and exciting. I’ll be hosting a Antiques Roadshow type event, where you bring me a textile object of any type that you want to know more about, and for a gold coin I’ll tell you everything I know about the textile, except the valuation. What, what’s that!?!  Isn’t that the whole Antiques Roadshow thing?  It’s all about what an object is worth? Well, yes, kinda. I don’t particularly like the value-focused approach to antiques in the first place, and it works particularly badly when applied to textiles, which are the most intimate form of antiques: worn on our bodies, carried with us, the mementoes of births and marriages, celebrations and survival.  What a textile is worth is so …

Historical costuming monkey business

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve been watching White Zombie, the original ‘living dead’ film. Made in 1932 on a shoestring budget, it starred the newly famous Bela Lugosi as the zombie master and Madge Bellamy as the titular ‘white zombie’ who “filled his every desire” according to the movie tagline. Yes, this was definitely a pre-code film! Madge wears a series of fabulous ensembles: a tropical appropriate traveling outfit, a to-die-for wedding dress (pun intended), a quaintly old-fashioned frock, and a trailing 1930s does medieval shroud. The quaintly old-fashioned frock caught my attention. It looked so 17th century. I loved the idea of a 17th century inspired early 1930s dress. So I went looking for images of it. I found these: Isn’t that very 1920s does mid 17th century?  The sleeves, the bows, the metal lace trim?  I wonder what the full view looks like? How charming!  How quaint!  I had no idea that the 17th century was such a big influence in the 1920s! But wait…what’s this? That’s Madge Bellamy all right.  And that’s definitely the same dress, …

A make-do-and-mend granny square throw

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s been a while since I did a proper ‘Textiles on Thursday’ with something from my collection, but I’m trying to go back to that. This week I have a piece of real kiwiana, but also something that people all over the world may recognise with nostalgia: a throw of crocheted wool granny squares. My throw consists of 24 large granny squares: 6 one way, 4 the other, in shades of aqua, forest green, grey, lavender, periwinkle, heathered gold, yellow gold, white, ocean blue, brick red, pale blue, royal blue, peach, magenta, grape, cream and black.  Lots of colours!  The throw is lined in three cotton flour sacks which have been machine sewn together, and machine sewn to the crocheted throw around the edges. Most of you will recognise granny squares from the 1970s, but the technique dates back to at least the 19th century.  Weldon and Company published a crochet  pattern for what they call ‘patchwork squares’ in 1895, and extolled the ease with which they could be made, and how frugal they were. …