I will not call this post Winter is Coming. I will not...

Did I say last year that I wanted to do some stashbusting this year? *checks blog* I did. Well, in a shocking and unlikely turn of events I have actually done some. We had a cold snap a few weeks ago and I was nearly too cold to move (in house temperatures ranged between 17 and a remarkably chilly 24 – it wasn't that cold, but my body doesn't understand the concept of producing heat). I missed my justacorps* terribly.

Back in high school I was bit obsessed with the justacorps. I made one (in magenta corduroy) from Simplicity 3677 but later adapted the pattern to be historical based on this pattern from Maurice Leloir's Histoire du Costume and made a new one out of highly unhistorical polar fleece and three big plastic buttons.

This coat was very cosy indoors (but the wind went straight through it so wasn't great for outside) and was my warm winter coat for several years (and no-one ever recognised it as a pirate coat). Sadly both justacorps are now worn out and have been relegated to the dress up box.

So, back in the cold near-present, I decided to make a new fleecy coat. I had already bought and mocked up McCalls 7025 so that seemed like a good idea. Making it properly would also give me a chance to try following the instructions and test it a bit more thoroughly.

The colours were determined by what fleece was in the stash. I had a fair bit of blue left over from the justacorps and the pink came from some pyjamas mum made me many years ago. I tested colour arrangements by colouring in the line drawing of the pattern. The whole thing is lined with the blue fleece for extra cosiness. I used up all the pink, all the black and most of the blue, making a noticeable increase in cupboard space.

Even though for the most part I treated the stretch fabric as if it was woven, I did use some of the techniques I learned in the stretch sewing class I did the week before. I used a stretch stitch and a stretch needle – I worked out which one to use by looking up ‘fleece’ in the Schmetz app. I decided not to hem the skirts; I just used the decorative topstitching to hold the layers together. I didn't do the decorative stitching through two layers on the bodice because that would have made it impossible to have the waist seam hidden inside the lining. Unfortunately, sewing through only one layer made the stitching a lot less stable because the fabric kept stretching.

Back when I was looking for a new sewing machine the thing that convinced me to buy this model (Brother NV610) was its ability to stitch sideways. I finally had a need for that feature on this coat because pivoting multiple layers of fleece around a needle is not particularly easy. I did use forward sewing for most of it but when it was just a few stitches to match up lines I was very glad of the sideways feature.

Within a week I had a new cosy coat. I think it looks strange but it achieves its purpose – which is to be cosy and warm.



*18th century coat, known in the vernacular as a pirate coat.

The Difference a Deadline Makes

or All You Need to Know to Write Essays on the French Revolution

In 2007 chemise dresses started appearing all over the costuming blogosphere. I decided to follow the trend and make my own. I had received The Cut of Women’s Clothes for my 18th birthday (pro tip: having an 18th birthday is a great way to start a sewing library) so I used the diagram from that (based on this dress) to cut out my dress. It’s largely made up of rectangles, so I didn’t make a pattern. There is a lot of fabric in the dress and it all has to be gathered by drawstrings at the neck and waist. I left out the mid-chest drawstring from the original because I didn’t like the way it looked.

My hair has the leftovers of blue dye in it – doesn’t quite manage to look like 18th century hair powder.

The dress is made from white voile which has fine gold threads running through it. I used purple lace to trim it and purple satin for the sash and hat. The dress is worn over a corset and petticoat. The petticoat is two rectangles of fabric gathered to a waistband.

The corset was made from the pattern in Period Costume for the Stage and Screen but unfortunately my pattern scaling skills weren’t up to scratch and it ended up being too small. It was still wearable, but the lacing gap is huge. I mean to make a new 18th century corset but I am unable to get my head around the horizontal boning. I left that feature out of this corset, but I do think it would be better to include it. I bound the corset by hand and did the eyelets by machine. The outside fabric ended up being quite baggy so I realised it needed to be constructed differently. Now I use this method for 3-layer corsets.

I trimmed a straw hat to wear with this dress and for evenings I wear it with a turban (which should probably have a feather in it).

My chemise dress won 3rd place in the Canberra. It was finished in a rush the day before entries had to be delivered because I put in the entry form before it was finished and then proceeded to get distracted by other projects. It turned out to be quite easy and didn't deserve being put off for most of the holidays.

I've worn this outfit a few times at the Jane Austen Festival Australia.

This style of dress is known as a chemise a la reine, and was made popular by Marie Antoinette. As with everything she wore, it was criticised for being against the values royals were supposed to uphold. In this case, chemise a la reine was thought to be immodest. Some of her other outfits were criticised for being too fancy, or not fancy enough. The poor woman just couldn’t win.  

The above teachable moment was brought to you by a high school presentation and a university essay – because knowing your fashion history is an excellent way to get a handle on historical politics.