Historical Sew Monthly 2015 - the plan

Well this is my plan for what I want to make...although its inclined to change.

January – Foundations: make something that is the foundation of a period outfit.
1930s/40s bra

February – Colour Challenge Blue: Make an item that features blue, in any shade from azure to zaffre.
1940s peasant style top

March – Stashbusting: Make something using only fabric, patterns, trims & notions that you already have in stash.
Purple late 1870s bodice inspired by the little mermaid

April – War & Peace: the extremes of conflict and long periods of peacetime both influence what people wear.  Make something that shows the effects of war, or of extended peace.


Not sure...something regency I think.

May – Practicality:  Fancy party frocks are all very well, but everyone, even princesses, sometimes needs a practical garment that you can DO things in.  Create the jeans-and-T-Shirt-get-the-house-clean-and-garden-sorted outfit of your chosen period.
1920s housedress for sewing in.

June – Out of Your Comfort Zone: Create a garment from a time period you haven’t done before, or that uses a new skill or technique that you’ve never tried before. 
Sewing velvet.

July – Accessorize: The final touch of the right accessory creates the perfect period look.  Bring an outfit together by creating an accessory to go with your historical wardrobe.
A purse or chatelaine or maybe something hatwise for my bustle dress or shoes for my 1830s dress I plan to make later.

August – Heirlooms & Heritage: Re-create a garment one of your ancestors wore or would have worn, or use an heirloom sewing supply to create a new heirloom to pass down to the next generations.
Still thinking this one up.

September – Colour Challenge Brown: it’s not the most exciting colour by modern standards, but brown has been one of the most common, and popular, colours throughout history. Make something brown.
Ooh, tricky as I don't have any brown in my stash.

October – Sewing Secrets: Hide something in your sewing, whether it is an almost invisible mend, a secret pocket, a false fastening or front, or a concealed message (such as a political or moral allegiance).
I think I'll keep this as a surprise.

November – Silver Screen: Be inspired by period fashions as shown onscreen (film or TV), and recreate your favourite historical costume as a historically accurate period piece.
Les Miserables 1830s dress.

December – Re-Do:  It’s the last challenge of the year, so let’s keep things simple by re-doing any of the previous 11 challenges.
Decide later

HSF 2015 - Challenge #2 - Blue

The Challenge: #2 Blue
Fabric: Polycotton
Pattern: Used Butterick pattern.
Year: 1930s-40s
Notions: elastic, ribbon, rikrack
How historically accurate is it? Well I hope it is accurate as I can get it.
Hours to complete: Took me two days but then I handsewed some of it. If I'd used the machine it would have been done in a day.
First worn: 15/1/15 for photo's.
Total cost: £5 Because I only had to buy the fabric everything else was gifted to me.

Couldn't resist a little nod to Snow White. The skirt is one I made in 2012! Can't belive its fits me again now...I nearly took it to the charity shop.

HSF 2015 - Challenge #1 - Foundations

After building up an extensive back catalogue of foundations dureing the past HSF years I erm....struggled to find something that wasn't a duplicate to make.

The Challenge: #1 foundations
Fabric: Cotton
Pattern: Used a combination of 30's and 40s bra patterns in 'vintage lingerie' by jill salen as reference draping it on the dress form. Unfortunately somewhere between draping and sewing the bra up I must have made an error. As although it fits in circumference, the cup size was too small.
Year: 1930s-40s
Notions: hook n eye, elastic, ribbon, bias binding.
How historically accurate is it? Well I hope it is accurate as I can get it.
Hours to complete: Took me a day and an evening if you don't count the time taken draping.
First worn: N/A as it didn't fit.
Total cost: Practically free as material was donated and the rest were from my long term stash.

Jumpsuit Upcycle

The tail is because its for rescue rangers costume (only pinned on)

So I started with a jumpsuit 1 size too small that was in a sale for £7...love a good bargain. I was able to get the jumpsuit on but not...erm....move. After asking advice in various places I decided to cut some of the length down as it was too long, then unpicked the side seams up to the waistband.

Then got some left over green cord I had and cut a strip long enough to reach from waist to hem. It started as 4inch wide tapering to 6inches wide at the hem. I then wrestled it into place as I sewed it on the machine. Hand stitching the hem.

Steampunk Wings

So what does every steampunk fairy need...wings of course. Now I couldn't create elaborate wood and steal wings like others had....it needed to be doable without wings.

Its amazing what you can do with some junk. My core is going to be a pringles tub (I aught to get sponsership the amount of things I use them for). I also had top of a water bottle and two 'paint youor own' fans.

Lots of glueing and spray painting....cut the straps of an old bag to make the straps to hold on wings.

It even folds up for easy storage.

HSF 2014 - Challenge #24 - All that glitters (Dancing Shoes)

The Challenge: #24 All that glitters

Fabric: Shiny lining material, faux leather

Pattern: N/a
Year: 1920's was my target era.

Notions: Modge Podge, Plasti-kote Brass Spray enamel, stick on 'gems'.

How historically accurate is it? Well this is more 'inspired by' than a HA copy.
Hours to complete: Took me two days.
First worn: To test nothing fell off.

Total cost: The shoes I got from primark ages ago so probably not more than £5, Spray paint £3.90 (but only used small amount), gems (pack of lots for 99p). Faux leather is cut out of a jacket given me for free. So approx £10 total.

I wanted some jazz era shoes for dancing in. I prefer doing charleston in flats so HA heels wasn't an option. So I started with a pair of ballet pumps. They had floral pattern and a heel with a straw texture, which meant they didn't go with any of my outfits. So I used modge podge and pining material to cover the shoes especially the straw bit. I then cut out a new 'sole' out of faux leather and glued to the bottom. This was when I decided I didn't like the look of the green.

So I then decided to spray paint them.

Once that had dried I got out some sticky gems, that are meant for deocrating your mobile phone. I stuck them down with pva glue rather than the weak sticky backing they came with.

Ready for dancing!