#project: historical sewing

[poetryincostume]

The Saddest Girl In The World

Edwardian-ish ribbon corset with beading, 2023

Silk ribbon, cotton taffeta ribbon, Czech glass beads

[spectre-ship]

finished my new shirt a week or two ago but didn't have an opportunity to take good pictures till just now! (don't mind the modern pants lol)

the design is quite close to the specifications of the same book I used for the last couple (The Workwoman's Guide, published 1838), but for a formal/"gentleman's" shirt instead. the main differences lie in how much fabric is used and, of course, the frills/ruffles. I did leave out the bib or front that the book directs you to let into the chest; I couldn't find any reference examples online of a shirt with both frills and a let-in front, so I just did the frills.

very happy with how this one turned out--I have some quibbles with the collar, which I think could stand to be taller/fuller, but I have other things I wanna get to so I'm leaving it as is. for now I have a fancy shirt suitable for wearing in any situation where I want to look poetic and/or fancy. ideal wear for drowning during an ill-advised Italian boating trip

also depicted in the first image is my new cravat that I made the other night--an 18 x 18 right triangle of red muslin, folded up and tied. I fancy it is rather grand, if you will

next time i might have a waistcoat to show? maybe?

[milkywayan]

Had to take pictures of my things for an event this summer that I applied for, so here, finally a nice compilation of the things I have made these past two years. I documented all in seperate posts you can find in my pinned post if you like!

[sleebyfrogs]

The shirt for my historically accurate Toy Soldier cosplay is done!!!!!

[Image: two photos, both taken in a mirror, of a young, transmasc person in their bedroom, wearing a reconstructed, white Victorian dress shirt. It has a shield-shaped bib area and a tab below the placket, with a detachable rounded collar and cuffs. The front placket and collar have a narrow black edge, and everything is fastened together with pearlescent shirt studs and cuff links. In the first image their face is blurred out, with comically simple eyes and a moustache doodled on top. In the second it is obscured by the body of a mandolin, held by its neck in one hand. Their short, dark hair is visible under an antique black-and-red military cap. End ID.]

(*almost historically accurate, and almost done)

After all this time!!!!! I started in September(?) and it’s now May but a lot of that was just putting off starting the twenty eight hand-done gimped and tailored buttonholes this ended up requiring because I can’t do anything by halves

If you’re wondering, I used this pattern, which worked wonderfully for me (special thanks to this tutorial too for demonstrating some of the more difficult parts), but I spent a long time trying to alter it to fit me, and to fit flatteringly, as I have never made a garment this complex before and I do not have the body an average men’s pattern expects. I had to do a lot of things multiple times over, but I’m really glad I did, because it’s definitely the most effort I’ve ever put into anything like this, and the finest sewing work I’ve ever done. I feel very dapper and handsome.

I did machine-stitch most of it because I knew, knowing me, that I could either end up with an ahistorically-sewn shirt or no shirt at all as I would procrastinate sewing all of that by hand just. Forever. I did hand-stitch a lot of it though, mostly the felled seams and fiddly collar bits. And the buttonholes. God so many buttonholes. The black edge is bias tape that I folded in half and ladder-stitched to itself through the shirt/collar fabric. (Also the horizontal seam you can see near the bottom in the lower picture exists solely because I didn’t have the fabric to cut the front out in one, and that part gets tucked into the pants anyway. Piecing is period.)

I’m still working on combining my various incomplete bits of antique cuff link and stud sets in the least-mismatched way, and the shirt itself is definitely not perfect (and there are still some minor adjustments I want to make), but all this to say I’m delighted with my work and excited to move onto the next item, which will probably be either the trousers or waistcoat, and I intend on documenting those too! I learnt so much from this experience and one day I’ll likely make another shirt much like it.

(Also, I’m happy to answer any questions about it!!! I know I could have used footsteps to follow in when I started this project)

They/them

[gailyinthedark]

When you're going in for minor surgery for the second time this month because the gods hate you BUT you have a daggy tunic so you'll be okay

[thiefbird]

Hey friends!

When I start Project Regency Gentleman, should I dedicate a blog/twitter/instagram/*shudder* tiktok to the process? Is that something people would be interested in, or should I just leave it on this blog?

I'm planning to make relatively detailed posts about the step by step process of making the clothes, including making muslins of things to check fit

[badassindistress]

My breeches are so close to done!

[sewfastdyeyoung]

SewFast Dye Young YouTube

This year I really want to get my channel to 1000 followers.

I am at 676. (nice palindrome!)

I know I need to do more regular content, which has been hard with work. (I love my day job, but I am also exhausted by it...)

I am also trying to produce some tiktok content alongside to help bolster the channel and find a following...

I don't 100% know where I want to go with this. I keep thinking about writing sewing/craft books or other ways I can make this something that could be a career... And maybe it will only ever be a side project, that's okay too, but sometimes I just really want to work for myself or go back to designing costumes and I need a steady but flexible thing to balance that...

Done rambling. Go follow my channel please!

[lebedame-wegelagerin]

Sewing is Magic.

— What? Oh no, not like Fantasy-Magic, where you do some Movements and Vocations and wonderful Things happen. I mean the Cthulhu-Mythos Kind of Magic, where you have to study barely comprehensible Scripts for Hours, draw arcane Graphics and then end up eroding your Mind trying to grasp what you've done.

[haledamage]

you know, when I clicked on a video called “Making a Historically Accurate Gonzo Cosplay from The Muppet Christmas Carol” I wasn’t expecting a history lesson about Victorian labor conditions, or gendered buttons, or the usage of mercury in Victorian hat-making

but I am riveted

[poetryincostume]

The Madwoman

Aesthetic wrapper, 2020

Upholstery damask, silk ribbon, petersham, steel spun silk

[spectre-ship]

the waistcoat I mentioned in my last sewing projects post! since this has a lot more moving parts and involved some more complex work than the shirts, this was something of a practice exercise, so I did it with a kinda cheap print from a quilting fabrics store. since I had a lot of fun with this I plan to make more in blue and red/gold fabrics that I have, which will hopefully, unlike the print, not leave little white marks everywhere a needle pokes through.

big note for next time is to try and pay more attention to the pocket welts (the little strips that cover the opening), since the pattern doesn't quite match up on either of them & the attachment is a bit shoddy.

...but a very exciting note for next time, or the time after, whenever I use the red/gold fabric, is that I will be using these:

these brass buttons were dated to the late 1830s by the antiques store I bought them at (a cursory Google suggests that button enthusiasts concur.) there are seven in total, which is a couple more than I need for the front closure, so I might see about making that one double-breasted and keep the seventh around for a spare or memento or what have you. hang it off my watch chain maybe.

also, it's a bit too dark to get a good image of it right now, but soon I'll have a picture to share of my "new" sewing machine! I mostly plan to use it for seams and other concealable structural elements--hand finishing is too much fun & provides too neat of a finish for me to give it up.

[milkywayan]

As promised, a post about my new project!

This one is again a kirtle, which I am modelling after the one seen in the picture above. the painting is from the Schottenaltar in Vienna, painted around 1470, which is the exact time and place I am aiming to recreate.

The differences to my other ones can be summed up as:

wide, unlined sleeves that can be rolled up

higher neckline

hooks instead of lacing (which makes it quicker to put on)

I also aim to have this finished before 19/07, it is now the 21/06 (glædelig midsommer!) . so i habe less than a month, wish me luck

As always I started out with the pattern

using my standard kirtle pattern as a guide, i made changes to the armhole and the neckline, and drafted a new, wider sleeve (this will need a lot of fitting when i put it in)

Then I cut out the main fabric

then i basted all the seam lines, and then cut out the lining from an old linne shirt from my dad

i basted the lining to the top fabric and then pinned the pieces together to try it on

it fits! now to the sewing :) this was all done in one evening, so i am quite optimistic to be done in time!

[samwisethestitch]

I made Tudor shapewear out of fabric scraps!

This is part of my ongoing project to make a Tudor French gown for the ren faire. While I'm not super concerned with historical accuracy for things like fabric fiber content and dyes, I *am* trying to be as accurate as possible with the silhouette, and that classic Tudor noblewoman silhouette requires some very specific undergarments.

This garment was commonly called a "bum roll" and was worn around the hips to add width. Sort of like 16th century butt pads.

I used this pattern from The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies, which I resized to fit my hip measurements. This was my first time resizing a pattern!

(Ignore the Magic: The Gathering playmat, my sewing table is also our card game table.)

Since this is essentially underwear, I decided to make it as cheaply as possible by using scrap fabric. The roll itself is made of leftover muslin from an embroidery project, the ties are made with fabric leftover from a quilt, and the roll is stuffed with scraps from various projects!

The next step of this project is to make a farthingale (similar to a hoop skirt), which will be worn on top of the roll to complete the silhouette.

[janerhoadesart]

making my own wedding dress might have been a bad idea because of how tempted i am to make a medici collar………….

[antiqueartist]

Overcome by the need to sew an ancient Greek Ionic chiton.... I know very little about ancient dress history but it's so fascinating and a chiton would be ideal for summer.....