I came across this tutorial for making a hat from an old silk stocking in my Feb 1928 issue of The Women’s Magazine, and I thought it was rather fabulous and something that you might enjoy. What a great re-use idea! It’s also a great insight into the colours and aesthetics that were en vogue on the eve of the Great Depression.
Now, if only I had any old silk stockings to re-use 😉
Last week I showed you a late 17th century ‘seamstress’ in pink petticoat and golden brown mantua, her dress covered by her sewing apron. Her sewing apron received a lot of flack for being so little, which I didn’t understand – it’s not like you really get dirty sewing! You just want something big enough to have a few pockets to hold things and a place to catch any little threads you cut off!
In addition to the apron, very few of you liked the colours, or the overall proportions, or the headgear, dragging the score down to 6.4 out of 10
One of the criticisms about the fashion plate was that you can’t see the details, so this week we’re looking at a dress that while simple in silhouette, is all about the details. This dress from the Victoria & Albert Museum features black embroidery with geometric and floral motifs, highlighted with steel beading, and is further trimmed with black silk and steel beading.
The silhouette of the dress is very typical of the mid 1860s, as is the teal green and black colour combination. Though achievable with natural dyes, the teal green is quite possible a new aniline dye, and may have faded with time.
Though much of the dress is quite standard for its timeperiod, there are a few unusual elements. The floral embroidery, though not unknown, is fairly uncommon in the 1860s, when dress patterning tended to be either woven in or printed on, while applied decorations were confined to more bold, geometric shapes, such as the twisted ribbon patterning the florals are paired with.
The sleeves of the dress are also rather unique, pairing the standard 1860s curved sleeves with a touch of Renaissance inspired slashing in the upper sleeves – a bit of historicism rarely seen in the 1860s.
What do you think? Does the combination of unexpected and unusual elements elevate the dress from a standard 1860s gown, or just create a weird mish-mash of disparate elements?
Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10
I first wore my ca. 1369 medieval dress to a historical banquet, so I felt it needed fancier, glitzier accessories than I will usually wear it with.
Enter the silk veil, gold circlet, and embellished gold leather belt:
My belt was primarily inspired by the effigy of Katherine, Countess of Warwick. Her narrow belt sits at the hips, fastens at the front with a small buckle, features raised floral motifs, and has no hanging end.
Effigy of Katherine, Countess of Warwick, died 1369
The belt I ended up with isn’t historically accurate, but it’s attractive, gives the effect, and was quick, cheap, easy and fun to make!
To make my costume take on Katherine’s belt, I started with a cheap belt with an embossed floral pattern:
Using an Elmers Painters Metallic pen, I coloured it gold. The TRG the One Colour Dye & Preparer I recommend for my dyeing leather shoes and bags tutorial comes in gold and works even better, but I didn’t have the right shade on hand when I did this belt. I didn’t worry too much about getting my colour even, because I just wanted a hint of gold.
Then I measured the belt holes that were already punched in the belt, and marked spots for holes the same distance apart (it happened to be 1″, which is standard for belts) along the whole length of the belt.
I decided on a embellishment pattern of one gold bead, one pearl:
I poked a hole in my first mark on the belt using an awl.
Using strong linen thread in the smallest needle that would carry it, I tied a large knot in one end, and threaded the needle through the first hole, and then through a pearl bead, and then back down through the hole
Up through the next hole and a gold bead, back down again, and so forth, until my thread got short-ish, or I reached the end of my marks, and needed to tie off my thread.
To do this I carried the thread back to the last hole, and through it:
Then I poked my needle through the bead at that hole, and back through to the wrong side of my belt:
I carried the thread under and through the thread:
Forming a knot, which I pulled tight to secure the thread:
Simple, basic, easy, not period, but effective!
For a more elaborate effect, and to be even closer to Katherine’s belt, you could even sew in a rosette pattern, which is what I did for my circlet. The circlet is made from a strip of soft leather, coloured gold with the TRG leather dye, and decorated using the same technique.
Enjoy!
