40 Search Results for: 1916 fortnight

1913-1916 Sunshine & Roses corset thedreamstress.com

A 1913-1916 Sunshine & Roses corset

Thanks to the total and abject failure of my 1910s non-travelling corset, and the super-comfortable but slightly too big-ness of my 1916 black and white corset, I decided I needed to make a new 1910s corset to go under my 1914-15 spiderweb evening gown for Costume College. This may not have been my brightest idea ever, as I was already pushing it to get the evening gown itself finished in time, but 1910s corsets are pretty easy, so… I used the same 1916 corset pattern from Salen’s corset book as I’d used for the black and white corset, only this time I adapted the pattern pieces slightly for an earlier ‘teens silhouette: reducing the waist to hip ratio, and cutting the front into a lower dip. I kept the higher scoop of the lower back edge of the corset as it is, although it’s an unusual feature on corsets before 1914, because it’s so comfortable, especially for sitting. Because the black and white corset was as big as it could be while still fitting me …

Sewing with a Singer 27 for the Fortnight in 1916 thedreamstress.com

Sewing in 1916

Published by The Dreamstress

As part of my Fortnight in 1916 project, one of my goals was to make a garment using period techniques and my Singer 27 machine, just as a woman would have done in 1916. As you can see, I succeeded! It was quite an interesting experience, and I did learn quite a bit about sewing in the period. For the blouse pattern, I took a pattern from an original 1914-16 blouse in my collection: When I purchased the original blouse it was unfinished – the vestee part in front was only loosely basted in, and there was no front fastenings. I secured the vestee, and added hooks as a less invasive alternative to buttons and buttonholes. I’ve worn it once, as it’s extremely robust, and I really wanted to understand the fit. As my original was unfinished, it made it easy to study the construction. I’ll do a full post on the original shortly, rather than focusing on that now, but will note two of the interesting clues that it did yield. First, it was …

Eating in 1916 – a dinner

Published by The Dreamstress

Thank you all for your comments and support following my last post! You’ve given me a lot of ideas, and I really appreciate knowing that so many people are reading and being part of this community. I’ve felt much perkier today, and mostly the fortnight isn’t too bad, and some things are really lovely. Food has been one of the nice surprises. There are numerous recipes in NZ newspapers of the time, and daily menus given in lots of newspapers, so it was pretty easy to do my food research. I was a bit dubious about the menus (So much meat! So many brassicas! So few spices!), but, by picking ones that sounded a little more interesting and appealing, even within the constrains of the time, and winter food, I’ve actually been very pleasantly surprised. One of the happiest finds was the amount of vegetarian menus and vegetarian recipes available in New Zealand newspapers of the 1910s. Vegetarianism was quite a popular fad, and was sometimes recommended for invalids. I haven’t relied too heavily on …