OMG, have y’all seen this!?
I just stumbled upon this pink beauty on Tumblr. It’s from Nordiska museet!
It’s late 18th century, made in silk “atlas”? I have no idea what that is – anyone?
Imma go look through Nordiska Museets collections, because clearly it must have been updated! See ya!
I was just cleaning up my favourites and I found this Swedish shop selling stuff for the medieval reenactor – Medeltidsmode. I had a look through the shop to see if I should save the link. I am interested in medieval reenacting, but right not I have only the 18th century on my mind – so my radar is set on that period. When looking through the goods I found myself thinking: “Ooh, that fabric would do nicely for shifts” a.s.o.
They also have these old-fashioned pins, said to be perfect for fine fabrics:
So go have a look through the shop! Or go have a look in other medieval or maybe renaissance reenacting shops. Everything wasn’t new and novel in the 18th century – still today we use techniques and materials with roots waaaaay back in the history of fashion. ;D
So, now I’ve got a serious case of pms-mood… I feel like sewing, but I’m sooo tired of pinning the trim, or emroidering buttons… Gotta start something new!
I started looking trough my stuff and said to myself – why not start with the petticoat!? I’m gonna use this method, kindy described by Katherine (Thank you!).
I’m thinking I shouldn’t start with the one I’m actually gonna use for the pet-en-l’air. So I’m starting with a fabric I’m not too careful of, but still can use as an under petticoat or simple womans petticoat – like the old light green linen sheet I used for the lining of the pet-en-l’air. There’s still enough for a petticoat see. ;D
Shouldn’t be too hard, right? ;P
Totally making this one by machine btw! It’s just a kind of toille that I might wear later anyway so… ;P
A fellow larp:er and costumer, Adam Norman, has just finished a paper on textiles in Swedish supplementary law between 1644 and 1794. I am sooo excited to start reading it!
Unfortunatley it’s in Swedish, but this is the abstract:
The purpose for this paper has been to study the clothing as it appears in Swedish supplementary law between the years 1644-1794. The author have been studying the original documents and comparing laws from different years with each other. Old names of textiles have been explained, as far as have been possible. Through the study we can see how the laws first regulated the nobility, but quite quickly spread to burgess, the priesthood as well as the common people. There are some great differences in what the different classes were allowed to wear. The supplementary law both deals with the fabrics , the decorations and the cut and construction of clothing. In the laws we can see that the Swedish state introduced exact models of how the people should dress in the mid-18th century. The laws shows us what the government wished for, and not the absolute reality. In order to see how the laws were followed we must examine court orders and perhaps even art.
As soon as I’ve read it I’ll try to write a little summary, or something like it! ;D
For you Swedes, you can download the paper from Adams blog, here.
Adam in his 17th century garb
Indeed I finished the hemming that last time, and I even managed to trim one arm!
Whaddaya think? =D
And here’s some inspiration: My cousins “in-law” are renovating a house and found this wonderful wallpaper under a few layers of newer wallpaper. It’s probably a 50’s-60’s wallpaper, but it clearly has 18th century inspiration. They also found these huge hand made nails. I arranged it a little and took a still life photo:
It just struck me that I forgot to post the promised photos of that yellow silk I’m aiming to use for a pair of mitts. So here they come! ;D
This is the box I found it in, it says “Yellow silk for table cloth” in my grandmother’s writing. I’m guessing it’s left-overs from the making of the table cloth, saved in case the table cloth would be damaged.
And the silk:
And for my fellow Swedish-speaking 18th century-philes… This morning my favourite morning radio show, Morgonpasset i P3, had a guest – Sara Lodin. She’s an 18th century freak and anwsered questions about the 18th century in the show this morning. Listen to the show here. And here’s a pic of Sara in full gear in the studio (from the site):
Well, now I’m off for sewing! ;D
First of all I want to shout out my deepest thanks to everybody for your heartwarming support! Without exaggerating – it has truly helped me in these challenging times! I am lost for words, but I hope you all will accept these few lines and take them to your heart. You are all such good people and I wish this kind of kindness and thoughtfulness could exist between all!
I am slowly taking control of my life again, I don’t know if it’s been a good or a bad thing that I’m currently unemployed and not studying. I have done some random painting and crochet. I have tried to clean the appartment, do the dishes and such, but I seem to forget all those need-to-do’s (more than usual that is), so I made a to-do-list. I am forming into a list-person, like my mother. I have allways figured it’s her way of keeping some control in her life, and now I see that it must be so and how useful it is. ^^ No 18th century costume sewing though, I should make a detailed to-do-list on that too.
In an attempt to build up the inspiration for more 18th century sewing, I am now posting a bunch of old and new photos, starting with the last progress I made on this project:
This is the lace trimming of the shifts. I know it’s not as fine as what was usually used at the time, but I think it looks great with the pet-en-l’air fabric, a whiter and finer lace might look out of place and synthetic against it. An alternative could be a ruffled trim of offwhite plain fine fabric, and I might consider that later on, but this is what it looks like now and I like it. =)
These next two photos are of something very special to me. It’s two pictures, printed on a silk-like fabric. The motifs are 18th century, you might recognize them. ; ) (Click on them for bigger view.)
I got these on separate occasions, in different flea markets – like 6 or 7 years ago. I was so excited about the first one, it was cheap, small and romanticly kitschy and I had to take it home! It was double the excitement for the second one – now I had a pair! Now I know these are in fact not from the 18th century (duh!), but they have been a great inspiration to me through the years and I flet I must share them. As you might notice they are lying on the floor, we’ve lived in this appartment for about 4 years and they have yet to find a good place to hang. XD
Some recent inspiration actually appeared after my fathers funeral ceremony. I don’t know what you call those “after parties” in English, but it was held at Solnadals Värdshus (Solnadals Inn). I’s an old inn from the 17th century and it’s very charming! But the most charming and inspirational thing about this house, I actually found at the loo:
I didn’t have much time for photographing the whole thing, so this is actually the two most interesting parts of two pictures, each with a row of about 4 illustrations. Please click the images for a bigger and more detailed view. It didn’t say much, no date, no artist, so I’m not sure if these are actually 18th century illustrations – but they’re evidently made to illustrate persons from that time. If they are in fact from the 18th century they are indeed very interesting in terms of Swedish 18th century fashion. Does anyone out there have more information in the matter?
If you can read Swedish and want to know a little more about the history of Solnadals Värdshus, go here.
I have this old piece of yellow silk (yes yes, pics coming! ;P) that I’ve kinda inherited. I’ve been a little scared of using it if I’d mess up. But I figured I’d have to get over it and soon I was thinking of what I might be able to do with such a small piece (or rather pieces, haven’t measured them yet either). Soon it came to me – mitts! And as far as I know silk actually was used for mitts – the MET has a few examples…
I was thinking something in the line of these:
18th century mitts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
So a few days ago I inquired after a free simple pattern on the Historical Sewing Forum, the results weren’t as great as I had wished, so I started thinking of making an own pattern.
However, today I came upon a more modern pattern, all by chance! Have a glance at these:
By yoshimi @ BurdaStyle. Now I know that these propably are made for stretchy fabrics and son’t have the right cut aso. aso. aso. But It’s hell of a good start! ;D Go check out BurdaStyle! You have to be a member to get free patterns and stuff, but signing up is free too so it’s totally worth it! ^^
Since the last post I’ve been busy busy busy with school. But I’ve made some progress – sporadicly. =) Sleeves are now longer, I have meters and meters of trimming, and both sides of the pet-en-l’air is gathered! I have also been working on the chemise/shift… Well, just have a look at the pics! =)
A hip:
One shoulder of the shift:
A heap of trimming:
Maria
Fuchsia's 18th century dress 
