1920's Halloween

First, the inspiration:

I've been on a 1920's kick lately.   All I've wanted to do is make a 1920's style dress.  I was supposed to go to a party where the theme was fancy dress in monochrome but my truck decided to break down.  Instead, I finished the dress for Halloween.

1922 Halloween Costumes

From this catalog page above, I really liked the idea of having just Halloween shapes cut out and adding them to the hem of a normal 1920's dress.  I took the crescent moon idea from the lady in the bottom left and the stars from the guy in the upper right.

1920's Celestial Fancy Dress

I couldn't track this one down to the source but I wanted to show another example of stars being used in Halloween costumes in the 1920's.

This was not the original inspiration for the owl cut outs but I can't find the dress I saw that originally inspired it.  All I recall is that the dress was in the lower left hand side of the catalog page and had owls around the hem similar to the owls on the lower part of the upper right hand guy's tabard.  For a better idea:

1920's Owl Decoration

The cut outs for the hem of the dress are very similar to the head of the paper owl here. The eyebrows don't meet because these are fabric cut outs (black velvet) and the eyes also have to be somewhat more restrained.


Since I wanted to make a new dress for the 1920's, I had to make new undies as well.  Although my original 1920's bra was serviceable, I wanted something cuter and more attuned to my skills now.

1927 Bra

1927 undies

1920's Bra off of Etsy

Second,  making the outfit:

I don't have any pictures of making the bra and panties.  Basically, the underwear itself was pretty simple.  For the undies, I took two rectangles for the front and back, a small rectangle for the crotch out of both silk and cotton, and gores out of both the silk and lace for the sides.  Once I sewed it up, I added elastic to the waistband.

For the bra, it wasn't much more difficult.  I started with a band that was 3" bigger than my bust measurement at it's fullest by about 7".   I marked out where the darts should go - one bust dart on either side, darts for across the bust but under the arms, and one dart on either side directly under the arms.  The dart under the arms  is to straighten the band once you make the bust dart so the silk band will go around your back in a straight line.   I also added straps and lace to the front to make it pretty.

The hooks and eyes on the back of the bra are actually hook and eye tape.  I used that by folding the silk over the tape to hide it and add strength to the hooks and eyes.  This is also partly why I made the bad bigger - you'll lose a lot of fabric by folding the eyes into the fabric.

The dress - the dress is my own pattern as well.

I drew out each of these designs on just plain computer printer paper.  Using a box cutter, I cut four of each design from the scrap black velvet.  I glued each design exactly one foot apart on the hem of the dress - the skirt was made out of two 2 yard panels of silk.

Once the designs were glued on, I let them dry overnight.  This meant laying the entire four yards across my living room.  I had newspaper underneath to prevent the glue getting to the hardwood floors.

The tunic part of the dress was pretty simple.  I drew it out, cut it out, sewed the shoulders and sides, tried it on, and redrew where I wanted the neckline and underarms to be.   I then cut those pieces out better, and sewed down the rolled edges.

I realized I had cut the tunic a bit too short so I added a belt of black velvet.  I think it actually helps the dress a lot.

Third, the actual dress:

Materials: Silk, velvet, rayon lace, and a small amount of cotton
Notions: Thread, Glue
Cost: The white silk was $3 a yard at a closeout sale. The velvet and orange silk were stash as was the cotton. The was a Joann's remnant for $3, I think.  The pink silk was a joann's remnant that I bought years ago - I have no idea how much but I'm guessing $5 for the pink silk.   Since I only used under 3 yards for the dress, I don't think the dress cost much more than $20 to make.

Fourth, the critique:

My biggest complaints are as follows: I made the undies too short and the skirt of the dress too long.  The dress is pretty easy to fix - rip the skirt off the dress, chop six inches off from the waist,  and resew.  There isn't any help for the undies other than to make the rectangles more square like next time.

The coat I'm wearing in the photo is one I made a couple of years ago that works well for late teens and into the 1920's.

Lavender and Pink 1520's Dress

I took the photo with my cell phone so the color is a bit off. I'll post pictures of me wearing the dress later this week, hopefully.

The dress is out of what was a blue cotton brocade I bought at the thrift store - 15 yard bolt for $5- that I dyed with Scarlet rit to get it to a lovely grayish lavender. It reads gray in certain lights and almost bright purple in others. I really love the way it came out.

To pull out the more purple tones, I added pink silk velvet sleeves and pink glass pearls. The glass pearls were a great find at Pennsic - $3 a strand and they are so realistic looking, even the lady who sold them had trouble telling them from the real thing! You really have to inspect them to see that they are glass - luckily glass pearls are quite period correct.

The dress is a mix of handsewn and machine sewn. The neckline is hand sewn - whipstiched. The hem is machine sewn.

The lining is linen that I dyed using the last of the indigo dye.

The dress is very comfy to wear. The cotton brocade is just thick enough to wear in a range of temperatures without getting too hot or too cold. The silk velvet sleeves are a dream when it does get cooler. The sleeves are lined in silk to help keep my arms warm this fall and going into the winter months!

I was going for the early 1520's Venetian look, similar to this:

Modern Dress: Boho styled tunic dress from an old sari

Hello all!  I've been bad lately at keeping up with the blog and I apologize for that.  I have been sewing a bit - mostly fabric hoarding really because there have been amazing sales lately- but I'm being bad abut taking pictures of my creations.  So, with that, I present to you my modern knee length boho dress.

The front of the dress

Close up of the trim around the bottom edge

Close up of the neckline

The dress needs side ties so I can tie it in the back. I swear, it looks pretty cute on but I need to make a slip for it because it is very sheer. You can tell that in the last photo. I cut up the pallu of the sari years ago and what was left of that is now the pink ruffle.

I've been on a Bob Ross kick the past few days so I've been hearing a lot about "happy accidents". With that in mind, I did accidentally sew the bottom ruffle so that the seam was on the front rather than the back like it should be. So, thinking in the "happy accidents" mindset, I added the sari trim to cover the seam on the outside of the dress. Honestly, I think it looks better this way. I really love the bit of *something* that the trim adds to the hem and it also helps to match the bit of trim I added to the neckline.

I still have some of the sari left - I'm thinking handkerchief skirt but we'll see. For the slip, I keep going back and forth between simple a-line out of cotton or a more fitted late Victorian-esque princess line slip. I can't decide on a color for the slip either. Lilac? Teal? Pink? White? There is a lot of yellow in the pattern so even that might look neat. I think I need to take a couple of scraps to Joanns and buy some cotton then decide on the shape for the slip.

Pennsic Recap

I should probably start with the fact Abigail was "dognapped" a week before Pennsic.  My Dad came over, checked out the tires on my trailer, confirmed I was good to go, and took the dog with him.  :-)   Abigail apparently greatly enjoyed her near month away on vacation.  She got to go to the beach with her very best friend Dusty (Mom's dog), my nephews, and my parents.  ...Although, after a week, she began to paw at the truck and even convinced Mom's dog to hop in with her as an indication they were tried of the beach....

Anyway, Pennsic!    I got there around 1 pm or so on the 29th.  I immediately saw one of my fellow N24-ers (Pennsic is laid out in a series of blocks.  Each block has a letter and a number.  Each block can have multiple encampments on it.  In my case we have 2 1/2 - two actual land agents but three households).  He said he wasn't stalking me but he wanted to see if I had arrived yet.  Given the giant blue house I was pulling, I'm pretty easy to spot.  :-)


We got all the paperwork done in about five minutes and I went up to the space, parked, put out the shepherd's hooks, lanterns, and the shower tent and then - done.  Honestly, most of peace week I slept.  I really needed to catch up on sleep after working 10 hour shifts, sewing the moment I got home until 11 at night, and then getting back up at 5:30 to start over.  So peace week was more sleep than it was anything else.

I did go out and take pictures, play Pokemon, and at least look at the shopping but that was about it.  I also wore garb every day like you are supposed to.  This is a HUGE gripe with me and Pennsic over the past couple of years - I saw way too many people just hanging out in their gym shorts, wearing a vintage 1960's dress, or a sundress that I honestly would wear to Church.  I even saw one woman wearing biker shorts and a flannel top - how on Earth is that even an outfit let alone garb?  Pennsic looked more like People of Walmart than it did an SCA event at some points.  It was horrible, it was distracting, and it was disgusting.  Sorry guys, I know I'm not the only one who has zero desire to see how far over your waistband your naked stomach can go.   Women?  Bras.  If you aren't wearing a self supporting dress, wear a bra.  Wrapping a scarf around you is not supportive and it looks painful.  Wearing your beach coverup is not garb either.

I'm thinking of starting some sort of fashion police for Pennsic next year.  If you are not in garb, cannot provide evidence that you just got to Pennsic in the past two hours (I'm okay if you are just hanging out at the food court after going through troll. I'm not okay if you are going to classes and not in garb), you will be forcibly returned to your camp until you put on something that is garb.  If you are forced to return three times, you get kicked out of Pennsic.  Sorry, but Pennsic has rules and wearing garb is one of them.  Yeah, I need to contact the mayor about this before I do anything too rash but this total and lack of respect for what the event is needs to stop - now.

/rant

Anyway, by Friday of peace week, I had gotten little done and all the rest of my camp showed up.  From there on in, it got crazy, of course.   (I probably should add that during Peace Week, the group that camp's next to me has another household that camps with them.  The other household tried, once again, to take over my space despite both my and the other land agents agreement.   The other household is one we ALL have issues with every single year.  This year, one of the individuals kept going off site and would knock into my shepherd's hooks with his car almost every single time.   There were other issues as well but, considering we never see that one household even attempt garb -the things you wore to Woodstock aren't garb-and only saw them down in the merchant area once during all of Pennsic, we aren't sure why they even bother to come.)

Okay, back to War Week.

Between the Disney Party, classes, and general frivolity of war week, it was crazy.   Here are some of the pictures:


My A&S contribution. I didn't pre-register and a lot of people showed up so I ended up with just a bench and a chair - which was fine! My dress is 100% handsewn wool that I dyed using indigo dye. The embroidery around the neckline is out of silk cord. The chemise is also 100% handsewn. It's all done in the style of the early 16th Century Venetian dress. The outfit is very comfortable as I wore it a couple of days later. The wool is extremely lightweight.




Pennsic at night.



Sartor.cz came and had a booth at Pennsic. I LOVED being able to see the fibers in person and handle them. I now know exactly what I need to order from them.



GLOW STICK WAR!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it's blurry, but it's glow sticks being thrown at night. :-)



Although this photo was taken during Peace Week, it needs to be shared as well. The weather won this Pennsic - no one denies that. The problem was the humidity. The temperature rarely got out of the 80's but the humidity made the "real feel" around 105F every day. This caused a lot of people to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, the more advanced we get technology wise, the stupider we get regarding our own environment. If you go from your air conditioned car, to your air conditioned office, back to your air conditioned home later in the day, your body will have huge issues adjusting to Pennsic. Your body needs to acclimate to the weather. This means spending time actually outdoors. Drive around without the a/c on. If you spend at least an hour each day for a couple of weeks before Pennsic outside without the a/c, you'll probably do a lot better overall.

Also, at Pennsic, wear loose, long sleeved but lightweight clothing. A hankyweight linen tunic/chemise/smock is a dream in the heat. Not only does it give a barrier between you and the sun (something a lot of people needed!), but it also helps to get the sweat away from you as well. You don't want anything fitted on your arms, just a nice, loose sleeve.

The third thing is to drink water. Not Gatorade. Not soda. Not Pennsic crack. You want a lot of water to help function in the heat.

As for the actual rain and thunderstorms - first thing, look at where you want to pitch your tent. Is there a gully nearby? Is the land sloped down? Ask people who have camped there before where the problem spots are. My group had to stop a family from camping a)in our space but more importantly b) right at the mouth of a huge gully. A couple of days later, a large amount of debris appeared after a rainstorm right where the family wanted to camp. We had to explain to them that the gully turns into a river and exits right where they wanted to pitch a tent. They ended up camping across the street on a plateau - way better idea.

Pallets make excellent raised flooring if you are using a tent. Get about four, throw down a couple of boards on top of them, and instant raised floor! This will help with a lot of flooding issues. Also, you can tent up your tarp to help prevent flooding as well but I always tripped over the tarp getting into my tent when I had one. Therefore, the pallets were an excellent upgrade.

Get a rubbermaid container to put an extra set of garb, muggle clothing, and undies in. This way, if you do get flooded, you will still have dry clothing.

Pennsic is a camping trip but it's also an SCA event - people need to be prepared for both. More pictures here.

Sling for a little boy

One of my co-workers was telling me today about how her five year old boy fell and broke his arm in two places. Eck! Poor baby got out of surgery around 3 am, woke up around noon, and was asking for his Mom (her sister was with him), so she left work to go see him. He's more upset that he might not be able to play sports than he is about the break itself.

My co-worker told us (myself and a few other co-workers) that her son loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or anything with Ninjas. So, I decided to make him a simple sling for his arm. It's just a 12" square with a slight curve for the elbow. It's a very simple pattern that, I hope, will fit him. If not, I have a lot of fabric left over. The strap is adjustable with the buckle towards the front.

Pennsic Dresses!

I've now finished my 1500's orange linen Venetian.  I've posted about the 1570's green linen and I've also finished my own 1570's purple linen that is similar to my sister in laws.   These are the photos my brother took for me of each of the dresses.  Unfortunately, I didn't lace the purple linen one correctly and didn't realize it until I took the dress off.  It is the only one that is 100% hand sewn.  The other two are a mix of hand sewing and machine sewing.

The green one is really a linen cotton blend.  The purple is purple linen that I made into a bias tape to use as trim.  This dress was very pieced as I only had a little over three yards to deal with.

I'm not completely happy with the purple linen one - the back came out a bit wonky.   However, it fits and it is hand sewn.  Even the lining is linen.  

I know, I have my eyes closed in the first photo.  :-)  I love, love this style because it's so comfortable and easy to make.  The trim is one I've had in my stash for years.  This only took me a day to make - I machine sewed the seams for the sides of the bodice, the sides of the skirt, the hem of the skirt, and attaching the hand gathered skirt to the bodice.  The skirt was hand gathered, the neckline was whip stitched closed, and the trim was hand sewn on.  Of course, the inside of the bodice and the eyelets were hand sewn as well.  

Right now, I'm working on another Italian dress - 1490's this time- which I hope to share by the end of the week.  

Medieval Apple Pie Perfected!

Long time readers will know that for years, I've tried to work on making a good, yummy, apple pie that was also period correct for the SCA. My favorite recipe is a 16th c one. And while the filling is delicious, the crust always left something to be desired. Until now.

Earlier this year, I tried a new way to make a 15th C pie crust but it wasn't quite there. However, I knew I was finally on the right track. This is what I did this time.

First, the recipe for documentation purposes:

then make a dough of sugar, flour, oil, water and salt, mix them together to make the dough, spread it over the bottom of a low pan, and put the mixture in so that it is no more than a finger deep; cook it in the oven or on the fire as is directed for the other tortes; when almost cooked, get wafers, crumble them over the Tart - those wafers should be made with good sugar; when cooked, garnish with sugar and rosewater. (Italy, 15th C)

Then, what I used:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/2 cup ice cold water

Basically, I cut the oil down from last time and dramatically increased the sugar in the crust. I also kneaded in more flour than is shown here before rolling it out. After mixing everything together and rolling out the dough, I put half the dough in the pie pan and baked it for about 12 min at 375F. The other half I cut into strips to add as the cover for the pie.

The filling was the same as always, sugar and cinnamon on top of the boiled apples. It's simple, it's period, and it's delicious.

The nice thing about this crust is it's thin, it's flaky, and it's pretty good on it's own - basically, everything you want in a crust. Also, it's period correct for the 15c and it's correct for Lent. Yay!