Last month I analyzed the skirt of a lingerie dress. This month I'll be looking at the associated blouse. In the Belle Époque literature the garment we're discussing goes by many names: waist, shirt-waist, lingerie waist, and lingerie blouse. I've chosen the term "lingerie blouse" because "blouse" is the only one of those terms that's still in use now for a vaguely similar garment.
Last month I showed you how to draft the front, back and side back of the Seaside Jacket. This month, I show you how to true up the pattern, fit the jacket, draft the sleeves and construct the jacket.
I'll also share some key lessons I learned in this whole process, including a classic mistake.
We give here, the front and back view of a Lady's Sea-side Jacket. It is made of light cloth or flannel, and braided as seen in the design. The diagram on the next page, which represents the front and back, will enable any lady to cut it out, fit it correctly and make it up at very little expense. It cannot fail to please. Peterson's Magazine, August 1873
This month Marion discusses the issues she ran into in using the straight Peterson's patterns, how to overcome it, and pattern the jacket.
Next month, she'll walk through the truing up the pattern, fitting, drafting the sleeves and making up the jacket.
When is a flat pattern not a flat pattern? When is a Hatter sane?
The answer to the second question is rarely: we’re all mad.
The answer to the first is: when you can use a flat pattern to create a hat that looks like it couldn’t have been made with a flat pattern but really was by joining flat shapes together to construct a three dimensional shape.
With a new Hatter due to hit cinema screens soon, we thought we'd ask Lynn how to create his signature topper!
If you’re used to the modern approach to sewing, then the Victorians' methods might seem a little strange at first. Once you’re used to them, however, they truly make sense and help to make your clothing look authentic.
This pink satin evening bodice gives a good overview of late Victorian construction techniques. Katherine shares her observations as well as fifty photos of the detail of the inside and outside.
Originally published as part of our 2009 Single Pattern Project, this extract from our lengthy article on recreating 1860s underthings focusses on that most intimidating of engineered supports: the cage crinoline.
Sunny Buchler talks you through the history, the practicalities of moving in such a contraption, patterns and book references.
A common design element in the 16th & 17th centuries, Strap-work is an interesting and rich-looking textural technique that can enhance your garment without the need to spend a lot of money.
Alyxx takes us through a wealth of inspirational portraits and then shows us step-by-step how to reproduce the look.
In our recent survey you told us that you'd like to see more how-tos involving costume accessories.
Loren Dearborn shares with us two easy techniques, using polymer clay, to create beautiful and convincing portrait and mourning jewelry appropriate for the 18th and 19th centuries.
The bustle was allegedly invented in the mid-1860's when a society hostess's crinoline collapsed and her maid re-pinned the excess fabric to the back of the gown.
This story, while entertaining, is almost certainly apocryphal, and the design probably came about much more naturally as the train on a crinoline took on larger, more sweeping proportions.
Let me show you how to create a small boned cage, based very loosely on Hunnisett's 18th century pocket hoop pattern in Period Costume for Stage & Screen: Patterns for Women's Dress 1500-1800. This is not a totally historically accurate reproduction but it creates an exceptionally easy-to-wear support that gives a lovely period silhouette.
The widespread use of French Hoods amongst the middle and upper classes of 16th century England is a surprisingly static phenomenon.
Even as clothing styles changed with relative fluidity throughout the century, the constant favor that the French Hood had found allows us to examine its progression of style in a much more comprehensive manner.
I offer my theories in addition to positing new ideas as to how French Hoods were likely constructed between the years of 1530 and 1560, as well as how they evolved after their heyday had passed.
Feathers have been used on hats for centuries not just for their intrinsic beauty, but when you add feathers to a hat they retain a flow and bounce that makes them look almost alive.
In this article I'm going to cover several things that you can do to turn feathers into hat ornaments: burning, dyeing, stripping, shaping and clipping. These can result in some really eye-popping effects, from multi-coloured plumes to reconstructing the whole wings that Edwardian women so loved!
My passion for Ostrich plumes started when I saw the opening credits of the 1997 movie Wings of the Dove.
Where do such plumes come from?
How do milliners fabricate them and can I create such confections?
These are all questions I asked myself then, and they led me on a course of study and experimentation. In this article I will share some of what I have learned along the way.
or My hat looks like it has a dead fish on top because the bow just lies there! How can I fix that?
One of the most often used decorative elements on late Victorian and Edwardian hats were bows and ribbon loops.
To a non-milliner, trying to recreate some of these fantastic hats may seem a daunting task. Here are some tricks that simplify things.
This month Lynn shows us how to add large areas of silk flowers or ribbon decorations to a hat, without using glue and without sewing each one on individually.
Why would you want to add decorations to a hat in this way?
There are several reasons, but the most important would be to save the base hat from being damaged, either because it is vintage or because you might want to redress it in the future and anything you do now will have to be undone.
Vicky Clarke has a mission: to bring back historical fashion that flattered curvy women so well in the past, and make it practical and wearable for our 21st century lifestyles.
The skirt we'll be making in this article is a hybrid of original 1910s design, 1970s revival and design simply intended to flatter the body as it is.
We'll start by drafting a custom skirt block, which we'll then slash and spread to get the pattern we want. There are also instructions for an optional applique panel to accentuate the waist: another nod to the original Edwardian style.
I hear, frequently, “My husband wants me to make him a tailored 1880's coat, uhm... perhaps one day!” or simply “Tailoring is hard, why try?” This seems to be the natural response for people when they hear the word “tailoring”.
So begins our fascinating new series on historical tailoring, starting with the complete basics and working through to advanced techniques to construct a late Victorian lounge (informal) jacket. As well as allowing you to stop avoiding your husband's requests for something for him to wear, the dressmaker can learn an enormous amount from the genteel rules and precise approach of the historical tailor, giving her a great deal of tips and techniques to take back into ladieswear!
This month Marion McNealy shares with you some of the vintage corset making and fitting books that are online.
The books range from patterning and making an 1857 corset (perfect for the Single Pattern Project!) to
1920's and 30's corsets, corselettes, brassieres, bandeaux and girdles.
We've even got an excellent book from the 1950's for corset saleswomen
on fitting a customer and making her feel at ease during the fitting
process, still applicable to customers today!
Have you ever walked into a large craft or fabric store to purchase the things you need to decorate that fantastic hat you're making, and been totally overwhelmed by the possibilities?
Should your hat be simple and elegant, or should it be a liberally decorated, multi-coloured feast of delights?
Professional period milliner Lynn McMasters shares her secrets with us in this new series on millinery design.
There is no right way to make a sixteenth century corset. In
period, each garment was made for a specific woman with specific wants
and needs.
That means that those of us who want to recreate the
clothing of the period have a bit of a mystery to unravel. Luckily, two
pairs of bodies from the period have survived to help give us a clearer
picture of what those corsets looked like and how they functioned.
Lindsey Eastman has tested each of these period patterns, plus one modern
interpretation and one “hybrid” style, in order to compare them and determine
the advantages and disadvantages for herself - and for us!
To ensure your 1860's day dress is always smooth and perfect, you really need the extra layer that a petticoat provides. Nothing can ruin the line of a beautiful gown faster than the tell-tale lines of a hoop skirt showing on the outside! But where do you find the time for all this underwear?
Ginger Breo shows you the fastest way to rustle up a great 1860s petticoat. It's easy, it's lightning fast - you can have a new petticoat in just a few hours - and it'll work equally well for all petticoats that are worn over a hoop skirt of some kind. Ladies and gentlemen, start your sewing machines!
Where would you start with an 1860s day dress, as in the 2009 YWU Single Pattern Project? With the underpinnings, of course!
Sunny Buchler talks you through every single item that our Victorian lady might have worn under her gown, with references to appropriate patterns from all sources - the big pattern companies, the small historical pattern companies and from books.
If you're into historical accuracy and you want to go the whole hog, here's your starting point!
Wearing stripes makes a statement, although exactly what that statement means changes according to period and context. When you use stripes in a historical costume, you might want to consider what message you're sending. If you're dressing a character in stripes, make sure that this person fits the historical associations with the pattern.
Kendra and Trystan show you what stripes can mean, when they're appropriate and for whom.
Then they'll share all the secrets to choosing, using, cutting and matching striped fabric in your outfit.
This month, Loren Dearborn takes us aside and whispers in our ears about how to fake an 18th century quilted petticoat convincingly.
When I set out to learn more about European women’s turbans, I assumed this would be a fairly narrow subject. I had a few preconceptions shared by many costumers: namely, that turbans were limited to Regency period evening wear; that they looked much like the classic African, Middle Eastern and Asian wrapped headdresses on which the European fashion turban was based; and that a turban was always a turban. The reality turned out to be more complex.
In this article I'll discuss the evidence, show you lots of examples from various periods and then discuss in detail many ways to reproduce authentic looking turban headdresses - as well as how to recreate the beautiful ornamental pins that were used to secure and decorate them.
Here at YWU we understand first-hand how difficult it can be to bind corsets, stays and bodies neatly. After all those hours of careful work, fitting, boning and stitching, the £$!*?& binding lets you down!
Even if you're otherwise a great costumer, the frustration of binding can inspire the most experienced needleperson to throw things. So in the interests of your inner calm, "Doctor" Cathy offers the cure… find out once and for all how to perfect your stays and corsets with Part One of our indispensible guide!
Loren Dearborn takes us step by step and teaches us how to re-style modern shoes into 18th century shoes. She shares the best places online to look for the most inspirational originals and what type of modern shoes will work, and then shows us how to gradually take them apart and re-assemble them into sturdy, beautiful, convincing historical footwear - perhaps even making them fit better too!
Our newest writer Loren Dearborn has a particular interest in the 18th century, and living in Virginia, USA she has a great resource on hand to study it in the shape of Colonial Williamsburg.
On a recent visit she was lucky enough to meet author and curator of Colonial Williamsburg's textiles and costumes Linda Baumgarten, who's written a number of well-known books on the subject, to see, photograph and study some surviving examples of Marseilles cloth that aren't on display to the public and find out more about the quilted clothing of the period. Lucky for us, she's been able to secure permission to reproduce her photographs and findings for us here at YWU!
Last year I made a red and gold Pirate Dress of the type worn by Keira Knightley in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
More historically accurate than the Disney version, yet far enough from accurate to be quick, easy and inexpensive, it has advantages for the lucky owner too.
It was designed for maximum wearability in a dizzying array of ways. It has detachable sleeves, an overskirt that can be hooked or gathered up or discarded completely, and separate pieces that can begin to form a versatile mix-and-match costume collection.
It was so much fun and so popular that I did it all again a few months later, this time in black and ivory. The “Black Pearl” gown is to be one lucky bride's wedding gown in 2009.
Just for fun, I gave some details of how the dresses were made at the time on my blog, as well as a few teaser making-of photos.
But as a special treat for readers of Your Wardrobe Unlock’d I’ll reveal, for the first time anywhere, the complete details of how to make your very own Caribbean Pirate Gown!
When you’re learning to sew, it’s awfully easy to get discouraged. You have wonderful ideas, but in the execution something is lost and the result is shoved in the back of a cupboard.
It doesn't have to be that way, though. Here I'm going to give you three of the best and quickest techniques I know, three big head starts that’ll attract the maximum number of compliments with the minimum of blood, sweat and tears.
This, in short, is the best and simplest of what I’ve learnt in my fifteen years of sewing historical costumes and wedding gowns. Click the photo to see what's possible!
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