Ergh.  It’s only three months into the Historical Sew Monthly 2015, and already I’m two months behind in favourite’s posts! On the bright side, that’s partly because there are so many people participating, and so many fabulous entries, that going through them and whittling it down to just a few takes forever! Because there were so many amazing things for Challenge #1: Foundations, I’ve picked five favourites, instead of the three I did for each challenge last year!  (I hope this keeps up all year long!) So, without further ado, five things that I thought were beautifully made, well thought out and researched, interesting takes on the challenge theme, and best represented the goals of the HSM: to push our boundaries as creators and as historians. Wicked Stepmother’s 3rd quarter of the 19th c corded corset.  Not only is her corset awesome, but it’s based on a period original from the museum she works with, and she took the pattern from the original, made it available to other seamstresses and led a sew-along to make …

The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #18 is Poetry in Motion: bring to life a garment inspired by a song or poem. Here are few of my favourite poems and songs, and the garments they always make me think of: The Elizabethan ‘Greensleeves‘ is simply dripping with clothes references, from the titular sleeves (which may have indicated a lack of virtue on the part of the wearer), to the many verses about the gifts that her unlucky suitor brought her: I bought three kerchers to thy head, that were wrought fine and gallantly: I kept thee both boord and bed, Which cost my purse wel fauouredly. I bought thee peticotes of the best, the cloth so fine as might be: I gaue thee iewels for thy chest, and all this cost I spent on thee. Thy smock of silk, both faire and white, with gold embrodered gorgeously: Thy peticote of Sendall right: and thus I bought thee gladly. Thy smock of gold so crimson red, with pearles bedecked sumptuously: The like no other lasses had, and …