Cellulose fibers, like cotton, linen and rayon, are more difficult to dye with plants than protein fibers like wool and silk. It’s possible to dye cotton fabric black but it takes time: at least three days (or rather a week) from start to finish! Because you have to scour the fabric, extract the dye, dye the fabric, modify the color and overdye the fabric again. But even if it’s a lengthy process, it’s very budget-friendly and sustainable: Because you probably have the materials already at home or can gather them outdoors! Continue reading How To Dye Cotton Fabric Black Naturally→
Make your old shoes look new again with leather paint!
Painting leather shoes with leather paint is easier than you think! I hesitated for a long time to paint my leather shoes because I was afraid the color might not cover properly or look streaky. But the painted leather shoes turned out so well! Yay! My shoes look like new again. Continue reading How To Paint Shoes→
How to make a graffiti denim skirt from a pair of jeans – easy sewing tutorial! And what’s best: the finished skirt looks like a denim skirt and not like a refashioned jeans!
There are a lot of jeans-to-skirt refashions out there. But this jeans-to-skirt refashion tutorial is different! Most denim skirts that are refashioned from jeans look like they were a jeans before. Because most refashion tutorials tell you to rip the seams and just sew the fabric pieces together again! What was the crotch of the jeans before makes a strange pattern piece at the front and back of most refashioned denim skirts.
But your new denim skirt doesn’t have to look like it’s refashioned from a jeans: Because there’s another (easier!) way to make a denim skirt from jeans: Simply treat the old jeans as a piece of fabric! Jeans legs are perfect to cut them into A-line panels or gores. Then sew these panels into a skirt. You can even use jeans that are too small like I did here. You get 8 panels out of a pair of jeans with almost no waste of fabric! You can even reuse the belt loops, pockets, labels and buttons for your refashioned skirt. Continue reading How To Refashion Jeans Into A Panel Skirt→
Do you need to invisibly join lace trim for your next sewing project? Learn how to sew an invisible lace seam by hand. This method to join lace is from the Edwardian era! Use this invisible lace join instead of a bulky seam for your next historical costuming or heirloom sewing project!
Currently I‘m making an Edwardian lace chemise for which I use lace scraps from my stash. And the Edwardians knew a method to invisibly sew lace together. This invisible seam works particularly well with lace that doesn’t fray badly: like cotton Valenciennes lace which I use here. Continue reading How To Join Lace – Invisible Seam→
If you’re looking for an easy Edwardian hairstyle for short hair, you’ve come to the right place! Do you admire Edwardian Gibson girl hair but you have short hair: This is an easy tutorial to create authentic Gibson Girl hair with short hair.
Gibson Girls were the it-girls of the late Victorian and Edwardian era. And their favorite hairstyle was the pompadour hairstyle. The Edwardian gibson girl hairstyle is a bouffant updo that softens the contours of the face. It’s a very feminine hairstyle with waves and curls. Continue reading How To Make A Gibson Girl Updo With Short Hair→
Do you want to make a bouffant Gibson Girl updo but you have thin hair? Don’t despair! Here are two ways to make an authentic Edwardian hairstyle with thin hair. No hair rat needed!
In the past, glue was usually homemade and natural. There are so many alternatives to store-bought synthetic glues. You can make homemade natural glue with various natural ingredients like flour, gelatin, egg white, milk and tree resin. Continue reading 20 Ways To Make Homemade Natural Glue→
Learn how to make an authentic medieval coil candle from scratch with beeswax and DIY candle wicks!
A medieval coil candle – also known as courting candle or candle by the hour – looks like a ball of yarn. And it basically is nothing else than a cotton string dipped in beeswax and wound into a ball of yarn. So all you need to make your own DIY medieval coil candle from scratch is beeswax and cotton string!
By the way, if you’re wondering why people in the Middle Ages made this unusual kind of candle: A medieval coil candle could be used as a kind of clock because it always took the same amount of time until a winding of the coil candle was burned. So a medieval coil candle was a timer and light in one! Continue reading How To Make A Medieval Coil Candle – Tutorial→
All these silk roses are made with pure silk fabric and silk ribbon. Making real silk roses from scratch takes some time but it’s so worth the effort! Real silk roses look so luxuriant and almost like real roses! Besides, silk fabric and silk ribbon is perfect for DIY roses because silk is thin enough to be used double, drapes well and has a subtle sheen not unlike real roses. Continue reading 4 Ways To Make Real Silk Roses→
