The Historical Forthnightly Challenge:#3 Undergarments

Our undergarment challenge: 18th Century Pocket Hoops

The Challenge: Create an undergarment.
Fabric: natural undyed cotton muslin with satin ribbon and poly boning.
Pattern: none
Year: Around the years 1750s-1780s.
Notions: ribbon
How historically accurate is it? 7/10 as it is mostly machine sewn and poly boning.
Hours to complete: Around 4-5

Challenge #1: Bi/Tri/Quadri/Quin/Sex/Septi/Octo/Nona/Centennia

Challenge #1 has been officially completed and well before the deadline of the 14th but we have been a little late in posting our results. Since we decided Regency as the era, our dear friend Mari's request for an evening gown using some fabric she had found was the perfect candidate. Matti drew and painted a sketch and then created the full ensemble including gown, stole, headband and pelisse.

 

The Challenge: Create piece that could have been worn in any century with a last numbers of '13.
Fabric: Gold shantung faux silk, dark olive green shantung faux silk, cottons, sari fabric and gold embroidered mesh trimmings.
Pattern: solid and sari pattern
Year: Around the year 1813.
Notions: Beaded frog closures
How historically accurate is it? 5/10 as it is mostly machine sewn and the shoulder seams could have been further back by an inch.
Hours to complete: Around 7-8
First worn: Worn last Friday by client for a Regency event

The Historical Sew Challenge #0 project

Well, since we just found out about this challenge today; it would have been a bit tricky to finish a project particularily for the challenge but we did finish quite a few pieces in the month of December including some Regency ball gowns, open robe, jewelry and a variety of custom requests. As the theme of the first challenge is "Simple", we thought our Pink Open Robe (available for sale in our Etsy shop here) would fit the bill.

The Challenge: Finish the open robe sitting in our To Do basket of various historical costuming pieces.

Fabric: Pink embroidered linen
Pattern: Dainty floral bunches
Year: Reminiscent of late 1790s or early 1800s
Notions: Vintage buttons from stash
How historically accurate is it? Used box pleating for the back of the skirt, and princess seams for the back. The shoulder seams could have been further back by an inch.
Hours to complete: Around 3-4
First worn: Modeled for photoshoot in mid-December, 2012

A Historic Challenge

Today, we came across a delightful challenge just suited to our itching historical costuming fingers; a group of sewers ready to recreate historical pieces every fortnight of 2013! Such a charming idea! The name of this venture is called "The Historical Sew Fortnightly" hosted by The Dreamstress. Each challenge has a theme such as "Undergarments", "UFO (unfinished projects - we have plenty of those just begging to be set to rights), and "Embellish" to name a few. The challenge can be joined on the Facebook group page or by following the blog.

We, ladies of MMC, will be posting photos of our finished pieces here and on the groups FB page. Oh, such fun! Now off to the drawing table (literally) to envision what pieces of historical finery we should submit. Ideas are welcome!

Come join the historical fun by joining the group or at least by following along with the charming results that are certain to come with such a great crew of seamstresses and tailors!