All posts tagged: how-to

Tutorial: How to unpick and wash a vintage kimono

Published by The Dreamstress

I love re-using vintage kimono silk for new garments.  I’ve used it for the Vionnet dress, my Deco Echo top, the jacket and over-skirt of my Japonisme dress, the Carte Blanche gown, the lining of my 1770s Lady Anne Darcy dress, my (as yet unfinished) 1770s jacket, the sash of my chemise a la reine, and a few other garments.  Yep.  I really love re-using kimono silk! Here is how to unpick and prep a silk kimono for re-use. This time I’m working with a silk crepe under-kimono.  You can tell it is meant to be worn as an under-layer because of the white collar cover.  It is unlined, and calf length, but the process for pulling it apart is the same as for any kimono. First, some basic things about kimono. Kimono fabric is a special fabric woven to a narrow width, between 13.5″ & 16″.  Kimono are constructed entirely of rectangular shapes, mainly in full widths of the fabric.  In places where the kimono uses narrower widths, the extra fabric is just folded …

What to wear under a quilted petticoat?

Published by The Dreamstress

A reader has just finished her own hand-quilted 18th century petticoat (massive kudos and envy here!) and wants to know what to wear under it. Based on my research: anything from large formal hoops to nothing but a shift and perhaps another petticoat, but bumrolls and small panniers were probably the most common, at least for the relatively well-to-do in the later 18th century. When I get around to making a proper silk hand-quilted one myself I plan to pleat my petticoat with an even hem, but extra pleating at the sides, so it could be worn with small panniers and a bumroll, or without, as we see in this petticoat: Quilted petticoats were informal winter (well, cold-weather) wear ubiquitous across England, and common in France and America as well.  Buck calls them “the undress of the country gentlewoman” (p. 72), though some extent petticoats seem to have been worn with more formal gowns. As they were generally informal, I found few mentions of quilted petticoats over wide hoops in the later 18th century, though …