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Cording by Machine
If you’re working on a corded corset, or a corded petticoat for pre-hoop-era use, you might be wondering if there’s a quick way to get those cords snuggled into their casings, without losing your mind...
View ArticleTop 10 Reasons You Need to Make a Petticoat (or Three)
Petticoats are indisputably important to mid-century fashion! Here are the top reasons you may want to consider adding one or more to your list this year: 10: If you like to walk easily, petticoats...
View ArticleShifty
What’s the best way to stay comfortable and confident in period clothing? Have an adequate supply of chemises (or shifts) and switch to a fresh one as needed during your living history activities!...
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Getting Snoody
If you’ve been involved in living history for any length of time, you’ll have run across The Dreaded Snood (often in chubby rayon crochet iterations), and the Dreaded Snood Question (should I be...
View ArticlePre-Teens and Stays
From the Sewing Academy @ Home Forum, here’s an excellent topic: Help! My oldest, almost 12, needs new everything. We haven’t made her stays of any kind yet but I am sure it is time. She is starting...
View ArticleSomething For The Gents
I was tickled to read this very concise look at how gentlemen can improve their mid-19th century impression… you’ll want to visit and read it, too! With the expansion of citizen living history, more...
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Great Expectations
If you’ve been having a hard time reconciling a burgeoning pregnant figure with historic clothing, there are some snazzy tricks the Original Cast used, and you can use them, too! Yes, wearing a wrapper...
View ArticleSynchronized Stitching
When it comes to mid-century sewing, there are so many new terms to learn! It gets even more challenging when multiple techniques all use one basic stitch foundation. Here’s a quick look at some of the...
View ArticleThe Little Black Dress, Mid-Century Style!
Here’s a fun historical snippet, found and transcribed by the Sewing Academy’s Heidi Hollister: from The Philosophy of Housekeeping Joseph Bardwell Lyman, 1869 If a lady can have but one silk dress in...
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Pluperfect Pockets
In Making It Work, I mentioned pockets, properly constructed, as a fantastic period option for carrying all the small bits we often need through the day. Rather than leave you entirely hanging as to...
View ArticleA Quick Tufted Hood Project
Rather than a formal tutorial with process pictures and illustrations, I’m sending this quick set of notes up for those who’ve wanted to know more about using the free basic sunbonnet pattern from the...
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Rumptious Doings
The variety of the human form is one of its chief delights and wonders, but occasionally, that form does not meet with the historic aesthetic. Such is the sad, sad case for many in my family: we lack...
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Roomy, Bloomy, and Historically Awesome
Yes, you do use geometry in real life. The usefulness of calculus was still a lie, though. I got an email from a living history enthusiast struggling with one of the most common historic clothing woes:...
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Quick and Warm
Here in the foothills of the Rockies, the weather is changing; most of the leaves are down from the trees (and our hens are enjoying the addition to their cozy bedding!), and mornings are often...
View ArticleSwing Yer Dartner!
Yes. I know. That was a bit of a groaner for a title. This little article is excerpted from The Dressmaker’s Guide–if you don’t have your copy, you can find it here. Darts are a way to mold fabric to...
View ArticleAdventures In Women’s Underwear
Or: What a Man Needs to Know about Dressing a Woman It is a typical scenario: a man comfortable in military impressions meets a nice woman. They fall in love, or at least deep like. He wishes to...
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Hand Sewn Buttonholes
Hooks and eyes (or eyelets) can be a great way to fasten a lot of mid-century clothing, but for some applications, you just can’t beat a button and buttonhole. Chemises, drawers, petticoats,...
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Working With Patterns: What Should You Expect?
Library of Congress, Augusta Field. Augusta is an Original. So are you. So should your pattern be. Well-made historic patterns can be a big help in getting dressed for the mid-century. They can offer...
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Tips for Dressing Daughters
We’re about to start dressing our own little girls for a new interpretive season, and we thought it might be fun and useful and instructional to do a quick series on Dressing Girls… you’re welcome to...
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Dressing Girls Sew-Along: Planning
Good planning makes for far less craziness in life, and I’m very fond of a quiet, pleasant time, personally. Here’s a quick look at some of the planning that’s going into my own process of re-dressing...
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