All posts tagged: Historical Sew-Fortnightly

HSF Challenge 2: UFO – three ways to interpret it

Published by The Dreamstress

The first proper Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge is done – some amazing things were created, it’s so exciting!  Mine is done but not quite photographed, so I’ll do that tomorrow and post about it Wednesday after the Rate the Dress. And then it’s time to work on the next one… The next challenge is UFO – Un-Finished Object.  Use this opportunity to finish off something that’s never quite gotten done, or stalled halfway through. I’m finishing the Luna Moth frock: I thought this would be super easy, because I have so, so many UFOs to tackle.  I assumed everyone else would have the same problem.  I didn’t count on two things. To my absolute delight, there are a lot of seamstresses doing the HSF as their first introduction to historical sewing, so they don’t have any historical UFOs, and; Some of you are ridiculously organised and have no UFOs.  I am so envious! If you fall into one of these two categories, fear not, I have a solution.  There are three ways to interpret this …

1813 Kashmiri dress: Progress and a mostly done photoshoot

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve been sewing like mad on the 1813 Kashmiri dress that I am making for the Historical Sew Fortnightly  Bi/Tri/Quadri/Quin/Sex/Septi/Octo/Nona/Centennial  Challenge. I’ve based my pattern on the 1805-9 dress in Janet Arnold with reference to patterns from other slightly later extent garments, and my inspiration fashion plate and extent garment, to bring it up to date for a dress that would be the latest fashion in January 1813. The bodice will be fully lined with white linen, so I started with that, sewing the linen together, and then sewing the wool pieces to the support lining, using careful little 14 stitches to the inch (OK, sometimes it was only 12 or 13). The side-back panels went first, followed by the back panels: There was no ideal layout for the paisley border print, so I just did my best.  I quite like the way the pattern meets at the centre back. I originally considered having the centre back fasten with buttons like the 1805-9 dress in JA, but I didn’t have any suitable buttons in stash, …

Starting the 1813 Kashmiri dress: fabric and skirts

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m making an 1813 dress for the challenge mainly because I found this amazing wool twill at Global a few years ago and knew the pattern was taken directly from early 19th century paisley shawls.  I immediately thought of the Regency dresses made from paisley shawls, and snapped up the fabric, and then waited for an excuse to make it up. When this challenge came up I did a quick inventory of my stash, and realised how perfect this fabric and project would be for the challenge.  Well, almost perfect.  The fabric isn’t exactly like a paisley shawl, which means that making it up is always going to entail a compromise between the fabric and what would have been done historically.  It is, however, as close as I am ever likely to be able to find to an early 19th century paisley shawl, so for that reason I’m happy with it. What are the compromises?  For starters, the fabric comes in 1.5m panels, with a wide border along one selvedge, and a narrow border separating …