Historical Sew Monthly

I failed to complete the HSF last year, again, I think it was a combination of factors.

I started out well, I even got a mention by the Dreamstress herself for my knitting hat and souvenir shoes (Thank you so much Leimomi!!!). But then I lost my sewing drive early on and didn't get it back until Autumn. I think that I have inverse seasonal affective disorder.

To remedy this my plan for this year is fairly straight forward; finish all twelve challenges, no long blog entries, also use stash as often as possible. There might or might not be modeled shots.

So all of that aside I present Challenge One: Foundations

The Challenge: Foundations

Fabric: Vintage powernet, elastic strapping, silk remnant.

Pattern: Eclaire Coupe Paris Lingerie Book, pattern #353. You can buy full copies of these books from Etsy seller C'est la Mode Patterns at a great savings over buying them individually. I highly recommend this shop and am saving my pennies for the rest of the books that are available!



Year: 1940-46ish

Notions: Thread, four vintage garter tabs, pink dye.



How historically accurate is it? Pretty accurate, the color is a bit wrong, too bubble gummy pink instead of tea rose, and the notions took the dye differently. Though I may toss it into some blue dye and make it a French royal blue girdle. I did use a three part zig-zag stitch which affects the look of the thing. Aside from these the materials are vintage, as is the pattern so I give it a 75% accuracy rating.

Hours to complete: Around five including dye time.

First worn: For a test run Thursday the 29th.

Total cost: Free!