If you follow me on instagram, you know that I’m sewing an Edwardian shirtwaist costume at the moment. It consists of a refashioned men’s shirt-turned-Edwardian blouse, a black wool skirt, and a black leather belt and chatelaine bag. And because Edwardian wool skirts were usually worn over colored real or faux silk petticoats I made this pink faux silk petticoat for it. Continue reading Edwardian Pink Faux Silk Petticoat
Make delicious wild yeast bread with hops yeast water starter from scratch!
The Victorians usually made their own yeast at home from scratch, even if commercial yeast was already available back then. But they preferred bread with homemade yeast because it was more flavorful and healthier.
In the Victorian era, homemade yeast from scratch usually contained hops. Just like beer, hops yeast bread tastes bitter because of the hops. This bitter taste is unusual in bread but not in an unpleasant way. And besides the bitter taste, hops yeast bread is also very moist compared to other wild yeast breads. Continue reading Hops Yeast Starter – Victorian Wild Yeast Bread
I like to reuse old clothes: One old piece of clothing less in the landfill and a new beautiful denim corset top instead! Double yay! 😀 For these modern 18th century-inspired recycled denim stays I used one of my old jeans. Denim is a strong twill-weave fabric suitable as corset fabric. Because it’s a two-layer corset, it’s already so stiff that I didn’t even had to add boning. Continue reading Modern 18th Century Recycled Denim Stays – History Bounding
In the Victorian era, Graham bread was promoted as healthy bread. Graham bread is named after Sylvester Graham, a minister and dietary reformer. Victorians preferred white bread, whereas whole-wheat bread was considered rural and therefore inferior. Graham, however, argued that white bread is unhealthy because it was usually made from bleached whole-wheat flour at the time. No wonder that he propagated Graham bread as healthier than faux white bread that is loaded with toxic chemicals! Continue reading Victorian Graham Bread – No Yeast & Vegan
My Victorian black wool dress is completely sewn by hand: it took me 28 hours to hand-sew the dress! I used thin 100% wool broadcloth and the dress is partly lined with cotton fabric. And even if the Victorian dress is black, it’s not a mourning dress! A dress like this would’ve been worn as expensive but serviceable everyday dress in the Victorian era. Continue reading Victorian Black Wool Dress