All posts tagged: Edwardian

Rate the Dress: a ca 1900 day dress gets the blues

Last week’s 1750s Robe a la Francaise was far better received than I had anticipated. I thought the muddy colours and square shape would put people off. If they weren’t enough, there was the lacklustre presentation and dreadful wig. Despite all those, you found the back pleating sufficiently swooshy, and the fabric sufficiently luxurious, to keep all your ratings at 6 and above. The ratings averaged out at 8.3 out of 10. 8 (or 8.5) was the most commonly rated # for the dress, so for once the ratings reflect the general reaction. This week: A ca. 1900 day dress This week I’ve chosen something in a nice bright, bold colour: a ca 1900 day dress in deep blue printed silk: The silhouette of this dress, with its drooping bell sleeves, not-yet-excessive pigeon breast, and gored skirt with ruffled hem, is absolutely typical of fashionable 1900s dress. The S-curve has yet to reach its most outrageous proportions, but is definitely in evidence. The only throw-back is the sleeve heads, which retain a slight fullness. The …

Ladies Home Journal, June 1910 thedreamstress.com

Some social commentary on corsets, 1910

Published by The Dreamstress

I bought the June 1910 issue of the Ladies Home Journal (it was the American Fashion Number!) when I was in the US, and thought I should share this fascinating piece of corset related social commentary from it with you: And if you can’t quite read that one: So many layers! The anti-tightlacing message, right as longline corsets came into fashion. The message that corsets should be looser, without even a hint of a suggestion that they should be left off. The weird overtones about fertility. The use of ‘man’ and ‘girl’. The idea that women dress for men. The mansplaining…

A sewing secrets lace 1900s blouse

Published by The Dreamstress

This is a the tale of a serendipitous sewing secret… When we’d decided on an ‘Anne of Green Gables’ theme for our Pukekura Park dress ups and photoshoot, I knew costuming ‘Priscilla’ was going to be a bit tricky. She’s petite, and I’m tall, and most of my outfits are made to fit me. I was super busy the whole week before the our trip, but figured I had plenty of white voile, and could make a simple white voile Wearing History Edwardian blouse in an evening. And then, late Thursday, I popped into an op-shop while waiting on a print job, and got lucky: I found an amazing lace tablecloth that I thought would be perfect for a blouse. It had flowers, and scallops, and greek key meanders, and was simply marvellous. However it was stained, and they wanted $3 which I thought was pricey for a small, stained, tablecloth, and it was a cash-only op-shop, and I had only $3 in cash, and they had a couple of sewing patterns I also wanted… …