Author Archives: Rotraut

My Romantic Era Bonnet

I finished my Romantic Era dress already two years ago, but there was still something missing: a bonnet.

For the construction of the pattern take a wig head and build the form of the bonnet with paper. Then trim the paper where needed or ad paper with adhesive tape. If the bonnet has the desired shape, copy the pattern and adjust asymmetries. Build the bonnet once again from paper or board and do last adjustments if needed.

Now cut the pieces from buckram. I use round reed instead of wire to strengthen the seams because I think it keeps the shape better.
Sew the reed with a zigzag stitch at the edges, the brim is reinforced with additional bars of reed.
Now join all pieces by hand.

Cover the bonnet with flannel fabric, so later you won´t see the raw buckram through your top cloth.
Cover the hat with your desired top cloth e.g. Silk taffeta, and decorate as desired.

Do you think constructing the pattern by yourself is quite complicated? Visit my Etsy-Shop, there you will find the pattern with detailed and illustrated sewing instructions. A pelerine collar which was popular during the Romantic era is included.

PDF Pattern #0615 Romantic Era Bonnet and Pelerine

Patch pocket for a bustle dress

In this tutorial, I want to show you, how to sew a patch pocket for a Victorian bustle dress. You can see these pockets on several extant dresses, house dresses, as well as walking dresses, and of course on fashion plates. But what were these pockets for? Years ago, when I started my sewing pattern business I thought to hold a parasol. But that seems to be wrong. They maybe were meant to hold a handkerchief, a fan or just for decoration, as there are now visible signs of wear inside and outside the pockets on extant dresses. Visit this great article for more details. https://brokecostumer.blogspot.com/2016/02/that-mysterious-pocket.html?fbclid=IwAR1jeTo3wuViCpFIlyFCTMpjn-ph8oKwpQ2yoI_BS6Pv1xu1iKfA3_HBPdA

Draft the pattern on a piece of paper, ad seam allowance just at the sides.

Cut from upper fabric and lining. The two layers will be treated as one. Lower the tension of your upper thread and sew with a long running stitch along the horizontal lines and along the top and bottom edges. Shirr fabric, at the bottom from 20cm to 12cm, at the top from 32cm to 24cm, and along the horizontal stitching too.
I decided to add a lace trim before shirring the fabric.

Cut a strip of fabric on the straight grain, fold like you would fold a bias tape, and cut to parts with a length of 15cm, 19cm, 23cm and 27cm. I added more trimmings first.
Open your folded strips of fabric and pin them in place. Sew along the fold line. Fold your strip again and sew the open edge with invisible stitches to the pocket. At the top and bottom fold the strip over the edge and sew to the back side.

If desired trim with lace all around the edges.

Sew pocket to your overskirt. The first edge you can do with your sewing machine, the bottom, and the second side sew by hand.

How to make a piping tape

Making a piping tape is easy. You can make it out of nearly any fabric and color desired for your project. Depending on the diameter and rigidity of the cord you become piping tapes for different uses.
Take a stripe of fabric on the bias, about 4cm wide. Lay your cord on top of the left side and fold it. Pin the cord in place and sew with the zipper foot tightly along the cord. Ready!

Thread bar

A nearly invisible way to close a garment is to use a thread bar instead of a metal eyelet.

Double up your thread, begin from the back to hide the knot, make a stitch in the desired width of your bar. Repeat till you have four threads, loose the threads a little bit to get a nice result.
Overcast the threads with a narrow buttonhole stitch, at the end stitch through to the back side and secure your thread with some stitches.