Split Skirt and Reconstructing History patterns (RH1024)

 In other words, the last round of sporting clothes... At least for now. (and of course, we should never say never, or never again). 

I could never really decide that for those sporting/biking clothes which one I like better, the one with bloomers or the one with split skirts. I have sewn both for the fall/winter season, from the dark gray wool, and yes, I have sewn both for the summer, from white linen. You've seen the bloomers in the last post, and here is the split skirt.

I made the previous one (which I planned as a useable mock-up) from a Truly Victorian pattern and while it is okay, I knew that there is another style I like much better. The one that has no front panel, not buttoned up front, but a big fold. 

However I could only find two patterns in this style, one that had a drawing one needs to be enlarged and though it is available for free, but still has only one size. 

The other is from a company named Reconstructing History. Which has a "Reputation". A reputation which is not good. Not good at all. In fact, whenever their name pops up in one of the groups of the historical sewing communities, the unified reaction that the only thing to do with them is to throw them onto the fire and slowly back away. So, I considered myself warned and yes, I did went into this with my eyes wide open.

For the above reason, I have avoided them for many years, even though there are things, periods only they have stuff for. The style of bicycle/split skirt I liked was one of those.  However, my friend, Anna bought a couple of their patterns, before she read up on them, and she said, they are not THAT bad. And I wanted *that* style of split skirt really bad. So, after much consideration, I have decided to give them a chance. 

I have been sewing for more than 40 years now. I am a learned dressmaker... I like to think I know what I am doing. What could happen? The pattern's lines don't line up? Well I can draw a line that straightens it. Some pieces missing? I can draw up a pocket or a collar if necessary. Sizing is off? I will need to make a mock up anyway, and fit things to the given body. A step or two is missing form the instructions? I hardly need to read the instructions anyway.

I bought the printable PDF pattern (for A4 sized papers). When I was taping the patternpieces together, there are no clear sign where to put them together. On the patterns I used before there were very clear sign, where to put the sheets together and how to tape them. With this, it was kind of a guesswork, just how much the sheets should cover each other. 

The split skirt's pattern had 4 major pieces, of which 2 and two should have been taped together again. (This is a split skirt, or as we say, a "pantskirt", a pant that has legs so wide, as a skirt's hem, so the pieces to cut out are huge). Out of the 4 pieces one had the markings on their underside, which made transfer the markings more difficult, but, here comes the point, when you have to know what you are doing to see and realize that you cannot fit the pieces together, because you have to turn one of them upside down.

Once I had the pattern pieces, I felt brave (and umm, I had little time before the event I planned to weat it) and insted of a mock up fabric, I've cut them out directly from my fashion fabric. After all, this is a piece that is fitted with pleats. I used that piece of linen, I originally bought for the bloomers. Thankfully I was kind of generous, when I ordered, otherwise the three meters I needed for the breeches wouldn't have been enough, but the 4 meters I had was. 

The pattern itself comes in two length (everyday and full), I drew the line between the two.

As for sewing and the instructions (and the markings...). The pleats fell to totally different places than the markings show, but I kind of expected that. There was one step missing from the instructions. There is absolutely no mention of what one should do with the front, when looking at the drawing it is rather clear that there is a seam that closes the front pleats for about 10-20 cm-s. I did sew it up, and then stitched it down. 

The fact that I had to cut off about five cm-s from the waist has noting to do with the pattern, but much more with my short waisted figure. 

I added an extra stitched down "flap" and buttonholes to the sides, so the skirt can be buttoned up. I used the same mother-of pearl buttons as at the bloomers and the white waistcoat, though I ended up using the split skirt with a polka dot blouse and the black striped waistcoat I originally made my historybounding outfit, that we still have not managed to fotograph in full. 

So, what do I think about the pattern?

As my friend, Anna said, no it was not as bad as its reputation. 

Would I suggest it to a beginner? No, I would not. Putting it together was not difficult, however it needs enough experience to see which part goes to where, to realize that a part is marked on its wrong side, to see something is missing from the instructions and make up for it. 

Would I suggest to an experienced sewist? Well, it is not for the faint of heart, I admit, but if said sewist does not get a panic attack if two pieces does not match perfectly but make up for the diference with an educated guess, if said sewist is willing to make a mock up where s/he figures out exact fitting, techniques, etc, in short, would only use the pattern as a starting point, then, yes, I would. 

Would I buy/make another of their patterns? Admittedly, the split skirt was a fairly simple piece, so there was relatively little space for errors, and there were errors, but then I could deal with them. To asnwer my question, yes, I will. I will get another one, probably something that is slightly more complicated, and go from there. 

All in all, I did enjoy making this split skirt, I managed to do it in a limited time, and I LOVED wearing it, and yes, I am planning to make other pieces from this pattern.

Pattern (Split Skirt): Reconstructing History 1024

Pattern (waistcoat): Black Snail

Shirt and hat: secondhand.

Linen: Bublákovo

Photo: Varga Norbert @ Bodeszphoto

Shoes, boots, or as you like...

 Being a historical reenactor, a costumer, the most difficult point of an outfit are... 

You guessed it, the footwear. Getting historically accurate, or even appropriate shoes are really difficult. 

Very few makers exist, the most well known are the American Duchess company, but ordering online, without trying them on are rather risky, especially with my feet... I have a short, but wide feet with very high instep and the arc of my heel is flatter than most, thus any shoe can cause painful blisters. Even trainers. So I am very choosie with my footwear.

There is one maker who makes historical shoes, but he also makes shoes for theaters, moves, circus, he is extremely busy, it is very difficult to get a pair from him. 

I even tried to learn how to make shoes, my maternal grandparents were shoemakers, and it is in my blood. However, I only found one workshop, where I made two pair of shoes (I have posted about one of them still need to write a post about the other one), but I am afraid, what I can learn there is limited.

I really, really whish, there would be a place to learn how to make shoes, not as a way to make money, but a way to make the shoes I can wear to reenactments. Unfortunately, I could not find such a place until now. 

On the other hand I did find a place that makes shoes, that, with a little modification, I can use for turn of the century. When there was a concert in the city I went to university, (about two and a half hour drive/trainride away from where I live), I thought, what if I mix up the pleasant thing with another pleasant to a useful thing? 

I have not called the place beforehand, however, I took the fact that even though it is open only for two hours a day, we arrived two minutes before opening, as a good sign. 

We talked a few minutes about what I wanted, he showed me the styles he already has and we discussed, how much they can be modified, and he took the measurements from my feet. 

After about a month, I got the phonecall, that my boots are ready, and if I want them shipped, or would I go to get them. So I took myself on the train, tied them on, and fell in love. 

The boots were just as I imagined/wanted them. Go perfectly well with my white linen sporting clothes. 

I already placed an order for another historical shoe, and I cannot wait to see, how that will turn out. 

Thank you Baktócipő and József Zombori .

Photos: Varga Norbert @ Bodeszphoto

Biker clothes, round two- Summer version

 I have been putting off writing this post because... there is noting much I can write about this set. 

Yes, I have already made a set of late Victorian/ early Edwardian biking clothes, and I already wrote about the whys and the hows of it. I also mentioned (or at least I think) that I meant it as a wearable mock-up, because the goal was to make a set for summer. Last year's swimsuits were rather popular, and we've planned a couple of events with the topic of sports and free time, and I wasn't about to get a heatstroke in a dark gray wool suit. Others in our group were planning to make that typical fluffy white lingerie dress (which I do have on my list, though not for now, but for a later time), but I wasn't about to stick out of our group like a sore thumb...

And I have already written about how a tiny small thing, like a fake flower in a shop-window, can spark an idea, that grows into a full set of clothes...

The spark in this case was an old linen table cloth crossing my path when I was looking for something totally different on am ebay-like second-hand/auction site... I LOVE blue and white small prints, whether it is on blue base and white patterns, or white based blue patterns, I love them. This was white based with small printed blue flowers on it. and it was adwertised as linen. (you know my saying: white, linen and has mother-of-pearl buttons... three things of which with two you can sell me anything.)

As soon as I saw that white based small blue print I knew I want to make it into a waistcoat. And I already knew that I would wear it with the shirtwaist I made from the fabric I had leftover from the bustle petticoat earlier this year... 

...and then it was kind of self evident, that the set would look good with a pair of wite, linen bicycle pants...

Then I got the linen tablecloth... and it had stains in it... yellow foodstains... Obviously, they did try to wash it out- without much succes. First I was thinking that okay, I can cut out the two fronts of the waistcoat around those stains, but when I put up all the pieces of the patterns, one, there wasn't much left over, much less enough to maneuver around... two, the stains were practically all over the fabric.

So I dug around the Internet for stainremoval secrets... First I tried domestos (a chlorox like thing) directly applied to the spots... they got much lighter, but they were still visble... then I went, and bought everything I could find in the drugstore.

I made a paste out of the gallsoap, I rubbed the stains, I washed the thing about 4-5 times, leaving it soaking in different stainremoval solutions... Wasn't I afraid that I will totally ruin the fabric? Well, I thought that I cannot use with the stains anyway, what it would it matter if it did fall apart? So I was brave with my attacks. At the end, there came the point, when I could not decide that I only imagine the spots, my eyes are playing up, the sun and shades causing the color difference or they are still there...

That was when I decided okay, probably only I can see them, so I started cutting and sewing, which went on pretty much like the last three times (umm, yes, this is the fourth of these waistcoats, by this time I thing I can honestly say, I kinda like this pattern... don't you think?), and as always, I have to tell you, I have a rather good photosequence of making them, and I will post it as soon as we manage to photo *that* waistcoat- (which was I think the second of them). 

As for the bloomers/bicycle pants/breeches call it whatever we want, I used the same base pattern from Black Snails, like I made the gray one from. For fabric...  When we bought the linen for the renaissance shirt I made for my friend and teammate, I ordered an extra three yards for the breeches, but I got thinking... Now, since I made the waistcoat from recicled/ucycled material, I thought, what if I make the trousers from some old material... I have a couple of linen sheets in my stash. We bought them many decades ago, at one of those so called "KGST Markets" Those markets were popular in the last one or two decades of the socialist system, and were called so, because sellers from the KGST countries bought all kinds of stuff there, that we could not buy in regular stores. I bought romanian leather shoes there, which I loved, and used them for many years, until they fell apart, they had ben to the US with me many times. I still have some "tiffany like colored glass bowls, drinking glasses, I have polish plates for Pizzaand many, many
things one would not think of... and I also have a couple of linen sheets from Ukraine. I never used them, because they were single sheets not big enough for my bed, and I kept them with the intention of making something from them someday... and someday did come now, so now both pieces of the set are made from old material. 

I did chopped off about 2 inches from the waist (just like last time, my wais IS short), and added whatever width I could to the legs to make them even more generous. I made the pockets ith buttons, and for once I managed to put the buttoned fly to the proper side. As with the mock-up, instead of the one bif fold, I used smaller pleats at the waist. 

Since the set was intended as sportclothes, we thought it would be best, if we could ty how it works doing sports...

It worked for badminton...

And it did work for hullahoop too.

It worked for running away with the circus too. 

Patterns: Black Snails

Photo: Norbert Varga @Bodeszphoto

Men's historical (renaissance) shirt

 This post mostly for documentation reasons. I've already made a historical shirt to my other half, some times ago, and this was not that much different, though I have tried to imptove fittings. 

The shirt was made for a team-mate/friend/dancing partner, Márton, from linen we bought from Bublákovo.

As shirts basically have not changed for a few hundred years, the same rectangular patterns, and principals are used for them, from the 15th century up until the early 19th century. 

Shirts are the basic piece of many full historical garb, they serve as a base layer, often even in place of underpants (they are long enough just to tuck them between the legs), and even as a nightshirt. Thus they were changed and washed frequently. (Just ask me about the test about bathing and changing shirt on one of our reenactment).

These shirts were also made with very efficient use of fabrics, from rectangulars. For pattern I used the tutorial on Morgan Donner's website, and the old shirt my friend gave me as a sample.

I did ask Marci, if he wants ties or fabric buttons, and he chose ties. 

As usual, I sewed the long, inner seams with my sewing machine, but the inner edges, the collar and the cuffs were tacked down by hand. 

It was a relatively short, enojable project, for once I did (could) manage to measure the time it took me to do (about 12-13 hours).

The modell (my customer) is Márton Nagy

Photos by Norbert Varga @Bodeszphoto