All posts tagged: 1890s

An 1890s corset

There are historical costumers who like making corsets, and there are those who don’t. I am definitely in the ‘likes making corsets’ group. I love making corsets – I love the fitting, I love the precision, I love the scope for playing with really lux fabrics that you couldn’t afford for a full garment. I love that they don’t have sleeves, and I love that even the fanciest corset is usually pretty minimalist – the trim on finished garments is really where I get bogged down. Most of all, I love them for what they do to your overall look. A corset is a foundation garment; it is the foundation to your outfit. Without the right corset, your outfit just won’t look right. I’ve made many corsets over the years, mostly from my tried and true personal corset pattern, which does 1870s-1890s well. However, I always love trying new patterns, and there is one pattern I’ve long meant to try. Well, not one pattern, one specific style of corset. There are a whole swathe of …

Rate the Dress: A member of the wedding, 1896

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week the reaction to Madame Bergeret’s pretty princess playing at peasant dress was generally enthusiastic, with most of you liking it for the sake of how much your 6 year old self would have loved it. Some were uncomfortable with the idea of all that luxury pretending to be simplicity, especially considering the eventual consequences of that sort of deliberate blindness, bringing the rating down a notch to a rounded 8 out of 10. This week I’m leaving the Historical Sew Fortnightly behind as inspiration, and taking inspiration from my own life. Mr D and I spent the weekend at a wedding. He was actually in the wedding party, and my job was to make sure the men looked perfect. In between adjusting collars, putting in cufflinks (awesome cufflinks btw), and stabbing myself with buttonhole pins I thought about wedding fashions, and the whole tradition of wedding parties. So, in the best tradition of wedding clothes, here is the most dreaded of wedding garments: the bridesmaid dress. They never fit right, they never look …

Rate the Dress: 1890s gym suit

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I presented a very yellow, very young, very sweet 1830sish dress. As always, there were a range of opinions, but I think Daniel’s summation of the dress as “Charming and very pretty, but not really holding more than passing interest/attention” best encompasses the overall view, and the resulting rating of 6.7 out of 10. This week, in honour of the Olympics, and in honour of the only part of the Olympics I am interested in (what the athletes are wearing), I present an athletics themed garment: a ladies gym suit from the 1890s. Women’s athletics were just becoming popular in the 1890s (having spent the previous 30 years simply gaining acceptance), but women’s bodies were still considered much weaker and more fragile than men’s, so the athletics they participated in were comparatively sedate. No women were allowed to compete in the first modern Olympics in 1896 (though one did insist on running the marathon on her own the day after the men ran). Instead, women walked, rode, and did a range of gymnastics …