All posts tagged: 1700s

Celebrating the common man (and what he and she wore)

Published by The Dreamstress

Next fortnight’s challenge in the Historical Sew Fortnightly is Peasants and Pioneers.  It’s all about making clothes for the lower classes – the most common group, but also the ones whose clothes were the least documented, and the least likely to to have survived. I’ve got a serious soft spot for the clothing of the lower classes across almost all periods.  They may not be as bright or sparkly as the clothing of the upper classes, but they often managed a restraint and elegance that the fancier clothes of the wealthy and fashionable of certain periods (*cough* *cough* *Elizabethan*) were sorely lacking in.  Their practical nature quickly weeded out any cumbersome additions which made work difficult. I think my favourite peasant outfits and images are those from medieval manuscripts and Books of Hours from the 15th century.  The details are just so clear (look at the beautiful torn and ragged sleeves on the white tunic in the first image below), and the colours so vivid, though the clothes probably weren’t so bright in real life. …

Inspirational embellishments

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s embellishment time on the Historical Sew Fortnightly.  Time to trim, ornament, adorn, frill, bedeck, garnish, festoon, and gild to your hearts content. It’s also time for a confession.  I have trouble with embellishment.  I like the idea of embellishment, I like it when I see it on historical gowns, but when I get a gown finished, but un-trimmed, I love the silhouette and simplicity so much I just can’t make myself finish the trim and change the clarity of line. So I’m hoping to use this challenge to finally make myself trim some of the un-embellished items I have sitting around.  And I’m hoping all these pretty embellished pieces reconcile me to some historical maximalism! Like Elisabeth’s fabulous lace trimmed ruff, bejewelled headdress, and garnished partlet and dress.  I’m not usually a fan of late 16th century fashions, but the ornamentation of her dress is so perfectly balanced with the simplicity of her face, and with all the other embellishments. Late 17th century fashion can also be a bit hit-or-miss, but this frock marries …

Striped Inspiration

Published by The Dreamstress

I was planning to do inspiration posts for each Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge in the fortnight running up to the challenge, but I realise that defeats the whole purpose of posting the challenges weeks ahead and giving people time to plan for the challenge.  Instead I’ve decided to do inspiration posts when I announce the next challenge (a full 16 weeks ahead). Of course, first I have to catch up on all the challenges that are already up! So, over the next few weeks expect lots of pretty, pretty historical eye candy inspiration posts. Today I’m starting with some gorgeous stripes to get you inspired for the upcoming Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge: Stripes (#6),  mostly because I already had the post written! I think the important thing to remember about the Stripes challenge is that there are many ways to interpret stripes.  Some people have bowed out of the challenge because they don’t like stripes, but I think that’s just silly.  Stripes don’t need to be bold, big, black and white stripes.  They can be …