Category Archives: Edwardian

1890´s Fan-Skirt Tutorial

The Fan-Skirt pattern (#0414) still is my best selling pattern, so I´ll show you how I made my new skirt with that sewing pattern.

But what happened to the old one, why do I need a new one, or what´s the difference? I made my old skirt a few years ago from a single layer of a midweight dark brown woolen fabric, the sewing pattern was one of the first I published under my pattern label. I have worn this skirt frequently for cycling and winter activities like walking and skating. After all this years, the skirt looks well-worn, with several marks of a bicycle chain and srubbed up at the hem.

Plannig my first visit at the Wave Gothic Festival 2019 in Leipzig, I decided to make a new skirt and jacket, inspired by the motion picture Crimson Peak. As the skirt was thought to be worn on a festival I choosed a polyester taffeta, lined with glazed cotton. (That was a wise decision, as my husband emptied a glass of prosecco all over my skirt).

You´ll see pictures of two different skirts, made from different fabrics in this blogpost, as I forgot to take all pictures needed for this tutorial while sewing the Fan-Skirt.

After cutting all pattern pieces from fashion and lining fabric, I prepared the hem interfacing, cutting about 8″ (20cm) wide hem-shaped strips from a stiff, but lightweight canvas. For a hemline of several meters , I needed to piece the strips of interfacing, joining them with a simple overlapping seam.

Placing the lining pieces on top of a table with the wrong side up, I marked the hem line and lined up the interfacing with this line.

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A Muff Tutorial (Georgian, Regency, Victorian….)

I muff is an accessory which you never should omit wearing an historical fall/winter costume. The advantages are obvious. You´ll never get cold hands and you can hide all that things a modern women needs, like your car keys and of course your cell phone! With a cord or a loop attached to secure the muff around your neck or wrist you get your hands free.

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Tutorial: How to sew bloomers Part1

Klick here for a free sewing pattern

 

Days are becoming shorter, and the high summer temperatures of this year passed. Yes, it became October. Nevertheless, a little ride with my old bicycle was planned. The costume is nearly complete with a skirt, blouse, jacket, gaiters and hat, just fitting bloomers are missing.
Here comes a little tutorial for bloomers, loosely based on an original from the Metropolitan Museum: http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ci/web-large/CI55.41.5b_F.jpg
The bloomers have a closed crotch seam, they will be closed with buttons at the waistband. The knee straps are closed with buttons too.

Prepare button stays: Fold straps for the button stay lengthwise, right sides together. Sew along one of the short edges. Trim seam allowance, turn inside out, and press. Open the strap again and pin it to the back trouser, just with one layer, and sew. Clip seam allowance of back trousers at the end of the seam.
Fold inside the loose SM, fold the button stay over the seam, and pin it to the trouser so that the edge will overlap the seam a little bit. Sew from the right side exactly along the seam.

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Prepare straps for buttonhole facing: fold up seam allowance of the lower edge and sew to front trouser.
Close side seams respecting marks. Fold in the seam allowance of the buttonhole facing, fold over the edge and stitch down.
Perform the side seam as a flat felled seam. Trim back the seam allowance of the front trouser, fold over the seam allowance of the back trouser and stitch down. Line up button stays and buttonhole facing and stitch together at the end of the fly.
Sew the inner seams of the bloomers. Sew seam either as a flat felled seam or as a French seam.

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