All posts tagged: Fortnight in 1916

The Designer, August 1916 thedreamstress.com

Building Your Own 1910s & WWI Wardrobe: Dresses, Coats & Jackets

Continuing on my series on making your own 1910s & WWI era wardrobe (with a focus on 1914-19), here are patterns for making dresses, coats & jackets! The patterns I’ve included here are from pattern companies I’ve made items from, or have helped students or friends make items from, and can recommend on that basis. I have not included pattern companies that I do not recommend or cannot support on an ethical basis, or pattern companies I haven’t seen or tested in any way. I also do not include patterns that are essentially modern blocks updated with a period aesthetic: I find that they rarely give the correct look. Other posts in the series include: Undergarments Blouses, Skirts & Suits Hope you find it helpful! Dresses: Vintage Pattern Lending Library: 1918 Dinner dress with optional tunic (36” bust only): Vintage Pattern Lending Library: 1915 Dress with ruffled lapels (36” bust only): Wearing History: 1910s WWI Era Canteen Uniform (or utility dress) Coats & Jackets: Vintage Pattern Lending Library: 1914 Ladies Kimono Coat with …

1917 combinations and petti-slips thedreamstress.com

Combination-a-thon, or how I came to have more wearable combinations than anyone else alive in 2017…

Published by The Dreamstress

When I was planning my wardrobe for the Fortnight in 1916 I knew I needed lots of combinations to wear under corsets: enough to have a reasonable week’s wearing before I did laundry. I was using Wearing History’s fantastic 1917 combination pattern. Mid-1910s combinations are serious fabric hogs, so I rummaged around in my stack of vintage sheets, and unearthed half-a-dozen of the thinnest and most seamed. On my first round of cutting I cut out three, carefully folded them all in one parcel, and set them aside for sewing. (who can guess where this is going?) The next night I cut out another 4, which would give me 8 in total (I already had a completed one): near the upper end of what my research suggested was a normal amount of first-layer undergarments for a middle class woman to have in any single season. A few days later I sat down to sew all the combinations. My first three? Nowhere to be found! Determined searching and re-organising failed to unearth them, so I persevered …

Come and hear about the Fortnight in 1916!

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve blogged about the Fortnight in 1916 a great deal, but haven’t yet spoken about it publicly yet in Wellington. Time to remedy that! Join me at the Petone Settlers Museum next Saturday, the 24th of September, at 11 am, to hear me talk about my experiences in the Fortnight in person, see me in a typical outfit from 1916, and handle some of the items I wore and used. The talk will be followed by morning tea. And I have no objection whatsoever if anyone wants to come along in their own 1910s outfit, so we can all pretend it’s 1916!