Two New 18th Century Day Dresses

My sister in law and I went to Fort Frederick Market Faire in Big Pool Maryland today. We met up with a bunch of other lovely people to include Stephanie, Maggie, and Jess. Since all my old outfits are now too small and my sister in law didn't have any day dresses, I had to create two new ones!

My sister in law is wearing what was a quilt and is now a petticoat as well as what was a tablecloth, we think, and is now a dress. :-) I got both the quilt and the tablecloth at a thrift store I go to all the time. I made the petticoat years ago - it's mine but it was cool and wet in the morning which is a no go for white linen/cotton petticoats. The dress I made last night. It's machine sewn but the lines are correct for the later half of the 18th century. It's a linen blend - we think. I probably should burn test the scraps....Just did! It's linen and poly mix. The dress is lined in what I'm pretty sure is a linen rayon (but one of the old more rayon than linen mixes). All thrift store finds and they all look good enough to use. Of course, I'll need to make her a different outfit for when it's not 72F and lovely, which it ended up being.

My dress is out of the Williamsburg cotton I know everyone has. At least five other ladies were wearing the same print! Mine is entirely handsewn and lined in cotton and linen (the sleeves). The sleeves are pieced. The upper part of one of the sleeves is pieced on. I had forgotten to cut out sleeves for my dress and, by the time I remembered, it was almost too late! I only had enough left over for a stomacher - I thought- but I managed to get enough out for two short sleeves. I then added linen cuffs, going for a 1770's look:

See?  White cuffs!

We both has a great time as did Abigail the pup. The pup was a huge people magnet and loved the attention. :-) Of course, she always tried to get either myself or my sister in law to pick her up when the pressures of instant celebrity got to her.

Historical Food Fortnightly: Pretty As A Picture

I'm a day late, again, and I missed last fortnight because of Easter. Whoops! This time, I decided to do something I've been craving for a while now and I love to eat: Medieval Gingerbread. I've made it several times before and I love, love, LOVE this stuff. It's just yummy. It tastes like bread at first but then the spices and honey hit and it really is a medieval fireball. It's got that right amount of spice and sweet. I have yet to find anyone that doesn't love medieval gingerbread.

The Challenge:  7. Pretty As A Picture (March 25 - April 7) If you’re a fan of cooking competition shows (like I am!), you know how the saying goes: we eat first with our eyes. Make a dish that looks just as spectacular as it tastes. Extra points for historically accurate plating - and don’t forget to post pictures!
The Recipe: (where did you find it, link to it if possible)  My original write up along with the 15th century recipes and sources is here.

The Date/Year and Region:  England, 15th Century

How Did You Make It: (a brief synopsis of the process of creation)
I changed up the recipe a bit this time.  I used an entire bottle of  Orange Blossom honey (16 oz) and an entire box of panko bread crumbs.  I did use stick cinnamon and long pepper - which I promptly crushed in the very medieval blender.  :-D   The blender makes far less of a mess than I do.  I also crushed the bread crumbs and the sandlewood in the blender.  

I boiled the honey and added a mix of saffron and ginger.  I then added a mix of half the breadcrumbs, the cinnamon, and long pepper.   Once that was throughly mixed, I slowly mixed in the rest of the crushed breadcrumbs.  

When the gingerbread was cool enough to touch, I plopped it out on a piece of tinfoil, put some plastic wrap over it, and rolled it out as flat as I could.  I then started with my pie cutters for nice leaf shapes but those weren't working very well.  The cookie cutters ended up working much better so I stuck with the castle and the crown/tiara cookie cutters.   Once they were all cut out, I added some cloves to the tops of one of the crowns and to the castle.  

Time to Complete:  20 minutes
Total Cost:  I had everything in the house already.  I doubt the bread crumbs were very much and honey is normally about $8.

How Successful Was It?: (How did it taste? How did it look? Did it turn out like you thought it would?)  I'll put it this way, it will wreck my diet.  :-)  It's delicious!

How Accurate Is It?: (fess up to your modifications and make-dos here)  Well, cooked over a modern oven and I did use the blender so...that's out.  But all the ingredients are pretty much exactly what they would have used in period.  

Each piece of gingerbread (minus the castle which I'm counting as four!) is about 100 calories each.  At least the tiaras are.  

Modern Sewing

The pictures aren't the best but this is my latest creation. I worked with McCalls M7187 and went with view C:

https://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m7187

There were a few directions I just completely skipped because the pattern called for you to do things like baste down the pleats. It looked off on this material, so I just pleated the skirt to the sides and called it a day. The material is a wool blend knit I picked up at the thrift store near me for $1.90. The pattern I picked up at Hancock Fabrics for $1 and the buttons are part of a very large stash I bought many years ago for $3. Even with the zipper and thread, this entire dress was under $4 to make. I bought both of those at the thrift store as well.

It fits. I'm not completely happy with the neckline still and I need to iron it again but it's a dress. It's hemmed, it's wearable, and that's good! I cut out a size 10 this time, knowing my mistake from last time I cut out a McCall pattern. The 10 fits well.

The biggest issue with this pattern I've had is with the neck and armhole facing. Normally, I'd either flip the edges over and stitch them down or use some sort of hem tape. However, I tried the facing and...it just will not lie flat. This is a huge problem at the neckline as you don't want the facing to suddenly pop up from the inside. I've stitched it down some and that seems to help but it involved a bit of handsewing and a lot of guessing on how the fabric stretched.

Oh well, one dress down.  Two more to go!

15th Century Red Wool Dress

I made most of this last year and realized it was too small for me when I made it. Now that I've lost 30 pounds, it fits perfectly! I finished the eyelets and tried it on a few days ago over my modern clothing. It's perfectly snug, like it should be. I still need to hem it but that, for me at least, is the easy part. Once that's done, I'll take better pictures and post them here. :-)

Detail the Massacre of the Innocents Hugo van der Goes, c. 1470

I'm going for a dress similar to the above.  I wanted something that I can easily layer for colder events and also look nice as just a dress at the Spring and Fall events.  This is not a summer dress as the wool is a medium weight wool.  But for right now?  This dress is great for this time of year.
It's lined in red linen and it's a mix of machine and hand sewing.  If you can see it, it's handsewn.  If not, it's machine sewn.  I used regular triangle gores at the sides to widen the skirt.  I really used a pattern very similar to my Turkish coat one.  The front opening is curved at the bust line.  

Modern Easter Dress

I used Simplicity Pattern 1623, a pattern size 12 and it was way too big. I doubt the pattern size 10 would have been much of a better fit. The dress form is a "jeans" size 8 or my size right now. You can see it's just hanging off the dress form. I did wear it but I think I'm going to have to sell it. It would fit a person who is a "jeans" size 12 much better.

For those that are confused about "jeans" size versus pattern size - patterns still follow the old school system of sizing on their labels. A size 10, for example, should have a 32.5" bust and a 25" waist. In clothing sizes, a size 10 has 38" bust and a 30" waist. It's a huge difference in sizes. However, as many other seamstresses and sewers have discovered, what the pattern says about each size and what the size really is are two different things. According to the chart on the back of the pattern, I should cut out a size 14. However, I know from experience that you typically want to go down a size or two from what the pattern claims - which would mean a 12 or 10 for me.

The pattern is cute and it would look lovely if it fit right but, after wearing it on Easter, I just don't think it will work.

Historical Sew Monthly: Protection

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 Protection – make something to protect yourself (from weather or injury) or your clothes (from soiling etc.)

For this challenge, I decided to work rework a pair of modern platforms into something resembling the chopines of the 16th century. They aren't super high, but they are enough to keep the hem of my skirts out of the muck (or Pennsic dust!). Although most people are familiar with the ridiculous chopines that required a lady to have servants help her stand upright, many were much more practical - only a few inches above the ground.

The original thrift store buy are the left and the recover is on the right. The original thrift store buy was a little under $4 USD. I took off the red "linen" pieces and left the rope because it was easy to sew through and it is period correct for the 16th century.

First, in the inspirations:

Late 16th Century Spanish Chopines at the V&A

Close up of Susannah and the Elders (Lorenzo Lotto) - 1517

16th Century Italian

If you would like to see more of the range of styles, please check out my pinterest board. There are also several more illustrations from 16th century or early 17th century sources on this page. Chopines could be open or closed toe. They could be only an inch or two off the ground or a couple of feet. The most common was the most practical - just a couple of inches or slightly more. The chopine is well known to have kept the wearer from having to drag her skirts through the mud and ick of the streets. Anyone who has been to a place like Williamsburg or other living history village/town knows how horrible and smelly the streets can get. With the normal debris you'll find in any street, add in horses plus people throwing out their chamber pots out into the street? You really didn't want to walk through that! I just want something to walk through the Pennsic mud.

The base of the shoes without the red "linen" tops

The core turned out to be a foam - which is great.  It's very similar in wear to cork, which is what would have been used in the 16th Century.   I used the modern red pieces that I took off the shoe to help create the pattern I needed.  The insole didn't need any drastic changes.  I drew around it on a scrap piece of leather I had to create two new insoles.   The bridge strap, I made a bit wider to make it look more like the original chopines.

Sewing the straps on to the leather took a bit.  I kept confusing the left and the right and which edges to sew!  Reminder, never, ever sew after 10 pm and if something is confusing, double check it in the morning.  ...Okay, so I never pay attention to the first part of that reminder.  ;-D

Close up of the stitches on the back side of the insole.

Sewing the fashion fabric to cover most of the rope around the edge of the insole

Pulled over the platform

From the top

Once the edge was folded under, I pinned it to the base before sewing it all around.

My feet!  They fit!

The finished shoes

To show the height.  They aren't super high at all but they will help with hems!

The Challenge:  Protection

Material:  Silk ribbon, foam core, rope, cotton damask

Pattern:   Just what was the modern pieces that I redid to look more 16th century

Year:   I was going for about 1516 or so

Notions:  Thread

How historically accurate is it?  Although everything I did was hand sewn, it's still a modern platform.  It's enough though that it won't cause anyone's eyes to bleed.   :-)  They get about a 4 out of 5 on the visually accurate scale - you'd have to be close enough for me to kick you in the nose before you realized what was "wrong" with them.  

Hours to complete:  If I hadn't made it much more complicated than it needed to be, 6 hours.  Since I did, it was more like 9.   There was one side strap I had to take apart twice...

First worn:  I sort of wore them today but probably not until my next SCA event

Total cost:  The silk ribbon was stash I got at Fort Fred a couple of years ago.  The shoes were under $4 usd.  The cotton damask was a half yard piece of a bolt that I bought for $5 at the thrift store  last year - it had about 18 yards on it so...a few cents there?  The leather was scrap that I bought years ago for various projects.  I think I paid $20 for the box and I'm still using pieces five years later so...another few cents?  Really, this was a pretty inexpensive project for a new pair of chopines.   

Isabella's Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs redskin potatoes
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 1/4 cup of butter - melted
• Salt to taste
• 1 lb ground beef 
• 1 package of mushrooms
• 1/2 an onion, minced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tbs rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic or to taste
• pepper to taste

This is more time consuming than it is difficult.  Particularly if you have a cranky oven like mine.   First, start a pot of boiling water.   There should be enough water to cover the potatoes but don't put them in yet.  Wait until the water is boiling and then put the potatoes in.  Leave them to boil until they are soft (is it easy to pass a fork through them?  Then they are done.).

In a frying pan, put in the olive oil (any oil will do really but I loved the wild mushroom and rosemary infused olive oil with this recipe).  Once it's heated up a bit, put in the minced onion and chopped up mushrooms.   Let them cook until they are browned.  Once they are browned, put in the ground beef.  Let that cook all the way through.

In another bowl, melt some butter (I cheated and did this in the microwave).  Add the butter and milk to a mixing bowl.  Once the potatoes are done, mash them up with a fork (or a masher), in the mixing bowl.  Add some salt and get your mixer to finish blending everything together.  You'll have some very creamy mashed potatoes.

While the meat is cooking, preheat the oven to 400F.  Once the meat is cooked, add the rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic to the meat, mushrooms, and onions.  Put the meat, mushrooms, and onions in the bottom of a deep, oven safe dish.  On top of that, put the mashed potatoes.  Cook this until the mashed potatoes turn a golden yellow - about 20 more minutes.

The serving size is 4 and it's about 350 calories per a serving.  I might add carrots next time but it was delicious this way as well.  I wanted something with potatoes for Saint Patrick's Day.  :-D