Anyway, this little aside here is another consequence of my childhood in Sweden but now, without any further ado, here’s how you make them (you literally only need pine cones, felt, needle and thread and a few drops of glue):

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Um uns in eine gemütliche Herbststimmung zu bringen, habe ich heute ein paar schöne (und einfache!) Bastelideen für Euch zusammengestellt – und nicht nur Bastelideen, sondern auch ein herbstliches Keksrezept zum Ausprobieren (siehe weiter unten im Post)!

• Apfel-Zimt-Haferkekse
• Herbstlaubkerzen verzieren
• Reisig-Windlicht
• Wollkürbisse

Apfel-Zimt-Haferkekse

• 100g Butter
• 120g Zucker
• 1 Ei
• 100g Weizenmehl
• 1/2 TL Zimt
• 125g Haferflocken
• 1/2 TL Backpulver
• 1/2 TL Salz
• 75g Rosinen
• 2-3 mittlere Äpfel

Die Äpfel schälen und fein würfeln.

Dann die Butter mit dem Zucker verrühren, das Ei untermischen, und dann die restlichen Zutaten hinzufügen. Zu einem gleichmäßigen Teig vermischen, und den Teig dann mit Hilfe von zwei Teelöffeln zu kleinen Häufchen pressen und auf ein mit Backpapier belegten Backblech setzen.

Die Kekse bei 200 Grad C etwa 8-10 Minuten backen, oder bis sie goldbraun sind.

Herbstlaubkerzen verzieren

• Dicke Kerzen
• Buntes Laub (oder Serviettenauschnitte)
• sauberen Stahlteelöffel
• 2. Kerze zum Erhitzen

Eine Kerze anzünden, und den Löffel mit der Innenseite über die Flamme halten, um das Metall zu erhitzen. Da ein bisschen Ruß kaum zu vermeiden ist, sammelt der sich dann nämlich nicht dort, wo Ihr mit dem Löffel das Blatt berühren werdet. Die Blätter wie gewünscht auf die Kerze auflegen und mit der Außenseite des heißen Löffels über das Blatt fahren. Dadurch schmilzt das Wachs darunter an und klebt beim Erkalten das Blatt an der Kerze fest.

Statt des Herbstlaubes kann man auch Motive aus Papierservietten ausschneiden, die unteren Lagen des Serviettenpapiers entfernen und dann die Motive auf die gleiche Weise an der Kerze befestigen.

Reisig-Windlicht

• Leeres Glas, z. B. ein altes Marmeladenschraubglas
• Reisig oder kleine Stöcke
• Gummiband
• Schleife, Wolle oder Paketband

Das Reisig auf die Höhe des Glases brechen oder schneiden. Ein Gummiband um das Glas legen und das Reisig so durchstecken, daß es vorläufig am Glas festgehalten wird. Ihr braucht genug Reisig, um das ganze Glas damit umstecken zu können.

Dann Eure Schleife, Wolle oder Paketband mehrmals um die Mitte des Glases wickeln und die Enden gut verknoten oder zu einer Schleife binden. Dadurch werden nun Eure Stöcke am Glas festgehalten, und das Gummiband kann entfernt werden.

Ein Teelicht in das Windlicht stellen — und fertig!

Wollkürbisse

• Klopapierrolle
• Strickwolle, gerne auch etwas dickere Wolle
• Kleines Stöckchen

Die Klopapierrolle auf die gewünschte Höhe zuschneiden: ich empfehle zwischen 4 und 7 cm. Die Wolle längs um die Klorolle wickeln, also jeweils durch das Innere der Rolle ziehen, so daß sich die Wolle vertikal um die Rolle legt. Auf diese Art die gesamte Rolle mit Garn bedecken und die Enden im Inneren gut verknoten. Die Ränder der mit Wolle bedeckten Pappe nach innen biegen, um den Kürbis zu formen. Am Ende ein kleines Stöckchen in die Mitte stecken, um den Stiel darzustellen.

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Full Dances

In the course of the evening we danced in many different styles – beginning with a Spanish Waltz (no footage unfortunately) several different quadrilles, both in square formation and cotillion style, different waltzes, a polka and “Hast to the Wedding” which confused me terribly, and our whole set ended up in a knot…

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In preparation for the annual victorian ball in Bath (hosted by Izabela from Priorattire), I had to make an outfit from the first bustle era, so 1868-1876 roughly. Truthfully I started planning about a year ago, two or three weeks after I got home from the 1860s ball.

I absolutely loved this pink dress from 1869, so that was going to be my main inspiration for the day dress. After much research on Pinterest (see my board here) I cherry-picked from different fashion plates and extant gowns, to create my own version of this dress.

After further hours researching designs, this is what I did for the evening gown: Many fashion plates feature a white bodice and over-skirt, which was the perfect solution to make my hot-pink fabric suitable for evening-wear. Not that it generally would have been a problem to wear bright coulours, but since I am quite young, a lighter colour was more appropriate for me, and I really liked the idea of wearing partly white.

Finally, and I only remembered this days before the ball – someone had gifted me an old table-cloth to use for sewing, and I thought it would be great to make a dolman cape from it, to wear over my evening dress.

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Click here to get your free PDF template with all of the measurements and some diagrams to help you visualize the construction!

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Download your free BuJo theme idea list here.

My Supplies:

• Mildliner markers
• Brush pens
• Black Fineliners

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Depending on where you live, you might know this historical period by different names, such as Mid-Victorian, Civil War, 3rd Napoleonic Era. It coincided with the reign of naturally Queen Victoria, Empress Eugene and Empress Sisi, each of whom heavily influenced the fashions of her time. After jealously looking at the photos posted each year, this year I finally had a chance to attend myself!

There is a video at the end of this post, in case you would like to see some of the gowns in action!

The annual Victorian Ball hosted by PriorAttire is held in Bath on the first weekend in May, usually coinciding also with the Met Gala – we all know who had the better dresses! I arrived on Friday afternoon, in time to explore a little before getting dressed in 1860s day-wear for a historical evening promenade through the city.

A number of girls stayed in the same hotel as me, so the receptionists soon had to get used to women in hoop skirts coming in and out. The promenade was a great opportunity to meet the people and chat to other dressmakers.

Oddly enough, I felt very myself in my dress, it did not feel like I was playing a part. I guess wearing the (almost) historically correct underpinnings also helped make the dress “real” as opposed to an empty costume worn over of the true you. Many people stopped to talk to us about our costumes, asked for pictures, and – my personal favorite – a skateboarder lifted his baseball cap at us! Funnily enough, others felt “underdressed” when they saw us, instead of us feeling overdressed.

On Saturday afternoon we had a dance workshop, in preparation for that night’s ball. Dances were called, and we learned how to dance polkas, quadrilles and English country dances. Some women wore day dresses, but most of us just showed up in our crinolines with a petticoat. I simply wore crinoline and t-shirt. It was important to get a sense of the space dancing in our big skirts.

Some of us did some last-minute shopping, ribbons, flowers and the like. I miraculously found some affordable vintage evening gloves in an antique store, and also some historically plausible clip-on earrings at a little shop in the Guildhall market.

Then we helped each other dress, and again the atmosphere was amazing. Imagine five exited girls getting into huge dresses in very small rooms, and finally building a chain in the corridor to lace the dresses of fix their hair. We were of course running late, and the fact that a pizza delivery guy had to squeeze past us, didn’t exactly help either. But we made it!

Finally we were all done and ready to hurry to the ball. When we got there, I noticed that I had forgotten my evening gloves. After some hesitation I figured I could run back to the hotel to get them, as every one was still queuing to have their picture taken.

I didn’t want to miss my chance of an official portrait, but there were enough people in front of me to give me 10 minutes to spare. That meant I had a proper “Cinderella running” moment. I also encountered some other latecomers to the ball, the gentleman courteously lifting his hat. In return I gave a hurried bow, and then started running again.

At eight o’clock, the ball started with a procession of all the couples, who walked in, bowed to the hostess/dance instructor, before separating into lines of men and women walking around the perimeter of the ballroom, before rejoining their partner at the doors. and walking around the room again this time as couples. Once we came to the doors again, we joined a second couple, to form a set of four dancers, ready to kick off the night with a Spanish Walz, which smoothly transitioned into a Danish Dance. Polkas and Quadrilles, Reels and Country-dancing followed. We had a short break about mid-evening, before dancing again till almost midnight.

Sunday morning I met with a few ball-goers for brunch at Sally Lunns, a historic little restaurant in town. The bulk of the ball guests brunched at the Pump rooms, but they were already sold out. Then we wandered around town a little more, and I caught the 3:13 train home. The End.

Since this was my first time going to a costume event, I was really exited, but also a little worried about how my dress was going to look next to all of the gowns of more experienced dressmakers. I did look a little simpler than most, but that was only to be expected, and didn’t stop me from enjoying my weekend to the full.

Especially the dancing was amazing – even though due to gentlemen shortage I danced with women most of the night. But since the dances are danced mostly in sets instead of the lead/follow setup, that didn’t really matter. Instead we danced our hearts out underneath the brilliant chandeliers, while about 500 meters of fabric whirled across the old wooden floors.

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But as we get more serious about recreating historical dress, we need a little more background information, specifically where historical sewing techniques and are involved. So here are some of the ways I research and fins inspiration for my (mainly Victorian-era inspired) costumes.

• Finding Inspiration
• Historical Research, Know-How & Sewing Techniques
• Favorite YouTube Channels to learn about Historical Dressmaking and Fashions
• The Design Process
• In Conclusion:

Finding Inspiration

Nothing is more valuable to recreating historical fashions than first-hand sources from the time itself, be that artwork, fashion plates or extant garments. Through the internet we have all of this information at our fingertips. Have a look at museum exhibits, either in person or online. Even watching well-made historical dramas can be great sources of inspiration. But in order to be able and replicate what you see you will need to understand what goes underneath, and how the shape of the fabric was cut. This is where books and video tutorials come in:

Historical Research, Know-How & Sewing Techniques

• The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Fashion and Beauty
• The Victorian Dressmaker (by Izabela Pitcher from Priorattire)
• Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques
• Keystone Jacket and Dress Cutter: An 1895 Guide to Women’s Tailoring (Dover Fashion and Costumes)
• Victorian Fashions: A Complete Lady’s Wardrobe (A collection of sewing patterns for late 19th century fashions)
• 59 Authentic Turn-of-the-century Fashion Patterns
• Historic Costumes and How to Make Them (Dover Fashion and Costumes)
• Historical ladies magazines such as the “Godey’s Lady’s Book”, “Journal de Demoiselles” etc. copies of which you can view on Archive.org

Favorite YouTube Channels to learn about Historical Dressmaking and Fashions

• Priorattire (Dressing-up videos for a wide range of eras, from medieval to Edwardian, showing the undergarments as well)
• Bernadette Banner (documents her historical dressmaking process and techniques, often with very interesting tidbits of information about the era)
• Crowseye productions (more dressing-up videos, lovely production quality)
• Karolina Zebrowska
• English Heritage
• Vasi Birchwood

The Design Process

After picking out a few inspiration pieces, be they fashion plates or existing garments, it’s time to decide if you want to actually recreate a dress 1-to-1 or put your own twist to it. Whatever way you decide, you will probably need to make a rough sketch – don’t worry if you’re not good at drawing, this is for your eyes only! This is where you bring your vision to life. What colors, fabrics, trims do you want to use? It’s one of my favorite parts of costume-making.

A big thing to consider is the budget – so if you’re a beginner you might want to keep fabric choices simple especially if you’re a (relative) beginner.

Additionally, don’t let yourself be constrained by what you see on fashion plates. Often when I’m in the process of making a dress, I get an idea, like a specific shape of sleeves or neckline, I want to incorporate, but I’m not willing to compromise on historical accuracy. So I do reverse-research – I start looking at sources to find evidence of that specific detail existing in fashion during that time period! And most of the time it does not take long to find historical evidence to support a design choice.

In Conclusion:

Having an approach of historical plausibility instead of ironclad historical accuracy can be incredibly freeing. Even if you can’t find evidence it’s still not impossible to incorporate it – fashion design comes down to the dressmaker after all, and dressmakers have always been people with ideas just like yourself. So don’t be afraid to go ahead, and design the dress of your dreams!

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The post How to Research Historical Fashion for Accurate Costume Recreation first appeared on Around the Year.