All posts filed under: Tutorial

Tutorial: How to make a 1930s style handkerchief halter top

There was a fad in the 1930s for turning scarves of all sorts, but particularly souvenir scarves, into simple resort-wear halter tops Inspired by this fashion, I made myself a quick and easy scarf halter to wear at Napier’s Art Deco Weekend. Photographs of 1930s scarf tops show a whole range of scarf shirt styles, but I made mine with a gathered top and a fair amount of back overlap, for maximum skin coverage, and so it can be worn over a bra. It was super easy, and very satisfying. Here’s how to make one for yourself. You will need: – A scarf where the length of a side is at least as long as your waist measurement (or, in a pinch, a square of hemmed fabric with this measurement, with edges finished). – Thread – A meter of ribbon or cord for your neck tie. Start with your scarf: Fold it in half diagonally, right sides together: Draw a line across the corner, 20cm/8″ down each edge from the corner. Pin: And sew: Turn …

Tutorial & Pattern: Making your own seamed stockings

Published by The Dreamstress

I don’t know how to knit, and sadly I don’t have enough money to purchase endless pairs of gorgeous American Duchess stockings, so having beautiful period looking stockings to go with my outfits has always seemed an unattainable dream. Instead I made do by layering coloured nylon stockings until they were thick enough to look period, or using modern silk blend socks, but I’ve always wanted to come up with a solution that was closer to a period stockings. After a bit of trial and error, I’ve developed a pattern and method for making a reasonable facsimile of period stockings. It’s not entirely period accurate, but it gives a very plausible effect for 18th-early 20th c wear. For the pattern, I was inspired by stockings like these: My pattern has a back seam, a pointed back heel detail, darts to shape around the heel and ankle, and seams running around the side of the feet. I chose the pointed back heel detail, rather than the seam that runs all the way down the ankle and …

Mariana Victoria: Dyeing to show you

Published by The Dreamstress

One of my big projects this year will be a 1720s robe de cour for Demode’s 18th century Court Gowns project based on Alexis Simon Belle’s portrait-within-a-portrait of Mariana Victoria of Spain (and of course the various bits of it will also qualify for Historical Sew Fortnightly challenges). The first thing to do was to dye my fabric. When I signed up for the project the deal I made with myself was that I could only do it if I could do it from my stash. Because of this, I’m going to have to compromise a tiny bit on historical accuracy. For my fabric I’m using two 2.7m lengths of vintage mercerised cotton damask curtains (yes, I really am trying to do a court dress out of 5.4m of fabric!) in dull beige-gold, and one smaller scrap: Sadly, not silk, but the pattern isn’t too bad of a match for what you can see of MV’s dress, and the colour can be improved on. So, to dye the curtains. First I washed them thoroughly, to …