Sewing: How I got into historical clothing- Part three
A big piece of my style for most of my life is to incorporate menswear into my wardrobe as I find the structure creates visual interest and balances the energy of my feminine curves.
I found myself really loving how the costume designer for Outlander would put the main character, Claire, in some menswear of the 18th century as well.
Around the same time as my reading the novels and watching the show, I came across some historical clothing enthusiasts on Youtube and found myself mesmerized by watching the methodical hand sewing of 18th and 19th century garments. It piqued my interest in sewing again in a new way and I started to dream of incorporating hand sewn 18th century items into my wardrobe along with the knitted ones I had come to love so much.
The first thing I attempted was a pocket which is a huge pocket sewn to a waist tape and worn under petticoats.
The second thing I attempted was a petticoat which I ended up having to take apart and redo more recently. I also did my first mockup of a shift which I love and still wear quite often as sleepwear.
For both of these mockups, I did a combo of machine sewing the long seams and hand sewing the more intricate seams and finishing seams. Since these though, I have gone to all hand sewing as I find I have more control over how pieces come together and I feel an even greater sense of pride in my work when I can say it was entirely sewn by hand.
As of today, I have sewn one more shift mockup, a men's shirt mockup in blue and a petticoat made from a gorgeous cotton flannel plaid. In future posts, I will show more detail work and how I came up with the patterns or if patterns were purchased, which ones and from where.
Let me know if there is anything specific you would be interested in me showing in more detail or discussing further.
Next up on my projects lists is to create a mockup of some 18th century stays which are the support garment worn by all women no matter their station. I have already purchased the fabric and all notions for the final garment but as fit is tricky, I plan to use some old fabric from my stash during my trial and errors. :)
I'm excited to continue to create and incorporate both knitted and hand sewn historical garments into my curated wardrobe. :)