All posts filed under: Textiles & Costume

The Quest for Regency Uplift: 1790s Achievement Unlocked

Published by The Dreamstress

One of my goals for 2018 was to make two pairs of Regency stays that worked on me: one for the 1790s, and one for the 1810s. I did not achieve this goal. I made The J.S Berhnhardt 1810s Stays, View C (and took them in and altered them so they have a better, if not great, fit), and another pair that I was equally unenthused about, but my year got rather taken over by settling in to teaching at Toi Whakaari, so personal sewing took a back seat. I’m determined to get back on track with this goal in 2019, and so far I’m halfway there: I have 1790s jumps that are super comfortable, give me lots of support, and actually create lift! I used the 1790s jumps pattern given on pages 102-107 in Salen’s Corsets: Historical Patterns and Techniques. The pattern as given in the book fits about a 40″ bust (and bigger if you want space in your front lacing) I drew it out and graded it up and down last year …

1760s stays with theatrical construction thedreamstress.com

Stay with me (for over a year, because that’s how long these 1760’s stays took to finish)

Published by The Dreamstress

When I started teaching costume construction at Toi Whakaari: the New Zealand Drama School last year, I decided I should do some of the projects that the costuming students do as part of their coursework, so I knew how the garments were taught and constructed in the course. It was also a good way to familiarise myself with ‘my’ industrial machine. Every costume shop has its own ‘house rules’, and, while there are general method groupings, there are literally an infinite number of ways to make any specific costume item. Every year the first year costumers build a theatrical version of a historical style from the foundations out: boned undergarment, petticoat and skirt supports, dress, accessories, hat. Last year the theme was 1780s, this year the students are doing 1570s Elizabethan. I chose to make the 1760s stays the students make some years, as they have elements common to a lot of the different eras of boned bodices. Since we’re teaching costuming for stage & film, not historical costuming, they are machine sewn and use …

Theresa in the 1910-11 inspired Little Miss Muffet dress thedreamstress.com

The Little Miss Muffet Dress: Construction Details + Theresa Wearing it Gorgeousness*

Published by The Dreamstress

I went to write a post about how fabulous Theresa looked in the Little Miss Muffet 1910-11 inspired dress at our photoshoot at Otari Wilton’s Bush, and realised that I’ve never done a post about the dresses construction details. So here is a dual-purpose, word-and-image heavy, post of Miss Muffet dress awesomeness! The dress pattern is based on a number of sources: a couple of pattern diagrams published in NZ newspapers in the early 1910s, as well as one in Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion. It has a back fastening, the cut-on sleeves that had just become popular in Western fashion, and a two layers skirt. The cut and construction are fairly straightforward**: typical of simpler styles of 1910s lingerie dresses For the back fastening, I used lingerie buttons that face inwards, so no buttons are seen on the outside. A lighter fastening finish, with little hooks and domes/snaps, would have been a more accurate choice of finish. The under-layer of the skirt does fasten with domes/snaps: There is no fastening to the over-layer, though …