All posts tagged: Theresa

A dress made from a 1919 pattern, thedreamstress.com

A 1918-1919 Day Dress: or ‘The Dreamstress Makes Yet Another Blue Dress’

Colour-wise, I may be most famous for my love of yellow, but if you actually look at my sewing, blue is by far the most common colour in my historical and modern sewing wardrobe (unless you count historical undergarments, in which case white is winning!). One of my historical wardrobe sewing goals is to make more things that are not in blue, white, & black. I’ve got the most stunning persimmon orange silk taffeta calling my name, and a deep purple, and a vivid golden yellow PHd, and I’d really, really like to find an excuse to make something green, because it’s a colour I adore, and yet somehow I never end up sewing with it! So far I am totally failing at diversifying my colour palette, because my first make of 2019 is…darkest blue, so dark it reads black in photos. (faceplosh) In my semi-defence, this dress was intended as a wearable toile, because I really wasn’t sure the pattern would work, and I was specifically looking for a fabric in my stash that …

The 1910 Little Miss Muffet at the Village Fete Dress thedreamstress.com

Magic in them thar hills: an Edwardian photoshoot at Otari Wilton’s Bush

Remember my yellow 1920s dress, and how I said it was magic? Now I think maybe the magic is in Otari Wilton’s Bush instead. I’ve never done a photoshoot at Otari Wilton’s that hasn’t looked beautiful: there is something about the trees and the angle of the light that is just perfection. Case in point: Theresa was in town last weekend, and, as we do, we had a dress-up photoshoot. I picked Otari Wilton’s Bush as our location, because Theresa had never been there. Theresa wore the 1910 Miss Muffet at the Village Fete dress, and I wore a brand-new just-finished dress from an original 1919 pattern, and my tricorne revival hat. I actually made the dress as a wearable toile, because I wasn’t sure about the pattern. And… We love it all. Out of 760 photos, at least 500 of them are good enough that I’d be proud to show you! (which is actually a problem, because I’m pretty sure you don’t want to see 500 photos!) So here is a quick look at …

Theresa with a Fichu at Old Government House Parramatta, thedreamstress.com

A new 18th century fichu – HSM 2018 #5

I always try to have a bit of handsewing on the go, so I have something to work on while sitting in a waiting room, or whenever else I have a tiny bit of down-time (an all too rare occurrence in my life at the moment, sadly). My last handsewing project was another 18th c fichu – a twin to the one I made back in December, because it’s easier to cut a square and divide it into two triangles than to cut an individual triangle, so you might as well make fichu in pairs! I finished my fichu on the flight to Sydney, just in time for Theresa to wear it for my talk and our photoshoot at Old Government House in Parramatta, Sydney. There isn’t a great deal to say about the fichu’s construction.*  I cut it at 80cm/31.5″ along the straight edges, which creates a 132cm/52″ angled edge.  The little slit in it is 12cm/4.5″ long. The slit allows it to sit nicely and snugly against the back of the neck. The …