How we can prepare for sewing and what we need to think ahead.

After New Years Eve we have a habit to set goals and we are full of energy to complete them.

In this blog post we will choose a sewing project and I will talk about the sewing historical costume and how we can make our dream garment real. I will make step by step guide and I will mention all the feature we need to be aware of before starting the project. We need to keep in mind that we make no more than illusion of accuracy.

And why is that?

We are not able to recreate the same fabric quality or color shade or even to repeat hand craft. Nevertheless, there are human beings who are still digging in historical records and bringing them back to life :-).

Let`s start … and … have fun…

Historical period – when we start to sew any historical dress, in most of the time we know exactly which historical period it will be. For example fencing or dancing historical groups are focused on specific era or film producers also know what the story will be about.

I am very attracted by Jane Austen novels and Regency era and I really want to have it in my historical wardrobe. :-). I have to admit that I have not sewed Regency dress yet. I will go with you through this process and I will pick a dress to prepare for the sewing project.

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Sources – the most accurate information and details we can get from paintings, fashion museums and archives. You may observe the real dress which were worn, it`s style, shape, color, hair style and accessories. The other good sources are books and internet. The advantage of internet is to get wide range of digitized documentations.

Purpose – with selecting the dress we also need to take in mind the dress purpose we want to present – it can be dress for common daily use, morning dress, riding habit, ceremonial garment, ball gown, working dress, hunting dress etc. …

Choosing the dress we like, we want to sew and dress can take more time than we could expect. To search the dress which catches your eye can take several hours or days.

I have fallen in love with the dress of Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842), The Duchess of Berry in a blue velvet dress from 1824:

The painting shows us upper part of the body, so we do not know how the bottom part of the dress looks like and even we can not see the shoes. We will need to make more research on that…

Pattern – we can use modern sewing patterns with all sizes or books with sketches and scaling. There are many possibilities to get the pattern and also they are affordable. In case you are advanced tailor, you will be able to make the pattern by your own or at least to amend the one you have.

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The dress I have chosen has simple silhouette but do not deceived yourself. An easy sewing can be also tricky.

Layers – the painting show us outer garment only. To be as much as accurate, we need to do more research on undergarments, such as corset, petticoat, stockings, …

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Color – it is very important visual part of the dress. Each of the historical period has specific colors which were worn. Also each color has it`s own meaning and it is worn on specific events. The color also reflects our social status. In case I would like to make royal garment, no one will be surprised I will select royal blue, red or golden.

Fabric – sewing historical costumes requires accurate fabric quality. There are many fabric imitations using polyester. Focus more on good quality cotton, silk, brocade, damask, taffeta, cotton velvet, linen, wool, leather. Even the prices are higher but it is worth it. We have not to forget calculate how much fabric we will need. In case we will wash the fabric before sewing, we need to buy few more centimeters/inches. Before buying the fabric, verify how the fabric should be maintained. For example, silk should never be washed. And on the other hand linen or cotton should be always pre-washed. Cotton fabric shrinks with washing and also manufacturing coloring needs to be stabilized.

Accessories and embellishment – when we have your project prepared, we have to complete the look with headdress, jewellery, shoes, bags, belts, shawls, embroidery…

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Each historical period has it`s own characteristics we need to follow. To select, prepare the sewing project and buying the materials is more time consuming than the sewing it self. Try to not rush this part because you long for dress to be as good as a real historical person.

…and now we can start to sew…