Some years ago, I sewed an 1850s morning dress. The dress is completely sewn by hand: It took me 53 hours and 45 minutes to sew the dress with all those ruffles! 😀 It’s my first entirely hand-sewn dress. Continue reading Mid-Victorian Striped Cotton Morning Dress
Printed cotton dresses were worn in the Victorian era in the morning while doing the housework, often with a floral pattern on dark ground. Because of the pattern, they don’t show dirt so readily; and because they’re of cotton, they can be easily laundered. Continue reading 1850s Printed Cotton Gown – The ‘Sleeping Spinner’ Dress
I’ve sewn a Victorian pinner apron as part of my Victorian working woman outfit.
‘If for common use, aprons are made of white, brown, blue, black, or checked linen, of black stuff, calico, Holland, leather, nankeen, print, or long cloth; if for better purposes, of cambric muslin, clear, mulled, or jaconet muslin, silk, satinette, satin, &c. The length of the apron is, of course, generally determined by the height of the wearer, and the width, by that of the material, and by the purpose for which it is intended. For working aprons, the width is generally one breadth of a yard wide; for dress aprons, two breadths, one of which is cut in half, and these halfs put one on each side of the whole breadths. If the material should be wide enough, on breadth, of from fourteen to twenty nails will answer very well.’ (The Workwoman’s Guide, 1840, p. 76) Continue reading Victorian Cotton Pinner Apron
In this tutorial I’ll show you how to sew an authentic 1840-1850s plain cotton day cap by hand. Continue reading How To Sew An Authentic Mid-Victorian Day Cap – Tutorial
This is my Victorian corded petticoat. It’s just a short petticoat – about knee-length. Usually, stiffened underskirts, such as horsehair crinolines, cage crinolines and corded petticoats, were shorter than over-petticoats in the mid-Victorian era: 1858 painting, ca. 1835 short whalebone crinoline, 1858 cage crinoline and 1857 cage crinoline at the MET museum.
Continue reading Victorian Corded Petticoat
Just for fun I dressed up as a Victorian reaper. Continue reading A Victorian Reaper
Victorian working women wore practical clothing – suitable for working. Learn how a Victorian working woman would’ve dressed. Continue reading Dressing The Victorian Working Woman
A while ago I bought this antique Victorian or Edwardian 100% linen chemise. The chemise is light grey, really heavy and soft – probably because of the washing and mangling. The fabric might be hand-woven, and is very dense (unlike modern linen fabric). Continue reading Antique Victorian/ Edwardian Linen Chemise
In the Victorian era, women usually wore a woven wool scarf or a knitted sontag, but sometimes they wore a crocheted scarf. I’ve used a rather scratchy grey wool blend yarn (mostly wool and just some other fibers). The yarn had blue and red wool dots which I’ve removed. This took the most time! 😉 Here are three CDV of women wearing similar scarfs: two colored scarf, light colored scarf, and dark scarf with flowers.
‘No part of the business of farming is more pleasant than hay-making.’ (Merry’s Museum, 1843)
I love haymaking with the scythe! Besides being the best full body workout, mowing with the scythe is eco-friendly, quiet – unlike lawn mowers and string trimmers, and with the scythe it’s possible to cut the grass on a steep hill in our garden.
Every May or June I make hay for our rabbits. When the weather is good, it takes two or three days until the hay is dry: from cutting the grass, turning the hay to gathering the dry hay. Usually, I wear everyday clothes but for these pictures I tried making hay while wearing my Edwardian working woman outfit. Continue reading Edwardian Haymaking With The Scythe