A large amount of my self-tailored clothing consists of worn pieces, which I mostly unravel and re-cut to make trousers, skirts and dresses. I have different reasons why I came to this activity. Mostly, I do it because there is hardly anything more satisfying than being in charge of a process from start to finish. From the design, to the cutting, problem solving and finally the sewing of the individual pieces into a whole.
I'm interested in the fashion of past times and the more I look into it, the clearer it becomes that the fashion designers of their respective eras got ideas from previous times.
The fashion of the 1920s
became famous because of its break with the Victorian dressing habits of women, with the banishing of corsets, with the boxiness and straightforwardness of the Bauhaus style, which found its way into architecture around the same time and very probably had an influence on the fashion designers of the day, who also intended to herald the dawn of a new era in clothing.
Artist: Tamara de Lempicka / Le turban vert (1930) - photographed from a postcard I purchased / Publisher L. Däbritz, Munich/ ART H. Hilscher
Away from emphasising the figure, towards an unrestricted mobility of the body. Thus, the design elements with their right angles appeared like a reflection of the strengthening architectural styles, without frills, representative of modernity and determination.
the 1900s photo-source
Interpretation of Harlem Jazz I by Winold Reiss (ca.1920) pic source
The gained leg and freedom of movement of the body then also made it possible to observe frenetic dancers. The Charleston is probably the most known dance. We remember seeing this referred to as the roaring 20s. With jazz and Big Band sounds as the accompanying music.
Series like Downton Abbey placed great emphasis on the historically accurate appearances of the ladies in the wealthy homes and the illustration of the change in fashion in the generations of women is very successful here in the cinematic presentation.
"Kleider machen Leute"
Clothing has always been an occasion to make statements. Also, either to bow to the fashion dictates or not. At all times there is a certain uniformity, even if one believes to be the master of one's own wardrobe.
But since there is basically nothing new in the world that hasn't been there before, there is currently a great love of mixing styles and eras. However, fashion is of course subject to the contours of the human body; legs, torso and arms have to fit into the clothes and are adapted to the climatic conditions.
Men have not yet completely emancipated themselves from the dictate of trousers. The sight of made-up men is still more offensive today than it was, for example, in the times of the Baroque in the aristocratic houses, where the gentlemen appeared in equally pompous frilly skirts as the ladies.
Some photos I shot in the making process
Today I am presenting a dress that I made in the style of the 1920s.
It was made from a pair of pleated men's trousers (the grey-green fabric) and a black skirt that no longer fit me. I completely unravelled both pieces. Unfortunately, I had already taken the skirt as a spare part for another project and made a diagonal cut, which now forced me to integrate this as a design element in the dress. I would have preferred straight lines, but you have to work with what you have, don't you?
I have a preference for halter tops because they show the shoulders, in my case I welcome it because I walk through the world with nice shoulders and therefore like to emphasise them. It's different with the rest of the body, I cover what I want to show off less.
My dressmaker's dummy doesn't come very close to my figure, despite the adjustment options, which, if you really think about it, only allow a superficial alignment, for the dummy has no belly, a tiny bust, but a veritable duck's arse, which I personally find exaggerated. That's why the dress draped over it doesn't fall the way it does on my body. Probably dressmaker's dummies also go with the fashion.
Here I experimented again with the accessories shown above, this time as waist and hip belts. You can see that the neck holder strip is not yet sewn on but still pinned in place. I deliberately put this part at the end to be able to correct any fitting problems. I notice with amateurs, like myself, that the seamstresses finish sewing their dresses and only find out afterwards that they don't fit. The work of unpicking everything is really not something you want to do.
Making off
I used the left over waistband from the skirt for the neck strip. This cost me some effort, as the curve of the neck turns out much smaller than that of the hip, and the whole piece had to be ironed into shape and shortened. The fabric didn't want to behave at all as I had planned and I used what is called bias tape for the inside part, which can be stretched into shape because of the 45 degree angle at which it is cut.
The entire holding part I sewed on by hand,
because the machine seam would have been guaranteed to fail me and I lack the practice to make precise straight seams at millimeter intervals from the edge of the fabric.
In the back of the dress
I left a slit open to be able to slip into the dress at all. Had I not created and sewn a halter top earlier in the summer, I probably would have been less confident in realizing the idea for a dress with a finer fabric. That summer top was created, as I mentioned in a previous needlework post (I think), from the remnants of my brother's cut up t-shirt that had been removed from his body in the ambulance during an emergency.
For the skirt part,
I had to sort out some fit issues by playing jigsaw puzzles with the fabric. Since I didn't want to do without the pockets, they had to remain on the side seam, however, I had already cut the top last year and then put it away, for lack of interest. Thus, upper part and lower part did not fit together from the circumference and so I had to add a strip of fabric in the front middle part, just like on the sides. Likewise, the back skirt section and top did not fit together.
The shenanigans I did
due to the top and bottom not actually matching are of course reflected in some of the wrinkles the fabric throws when worn, but as for the dress as a whole, I overlook these flaws as it would not have been made otherwise.
Using up a pair of men's pants that are no longer worn, as well as a skirt, justifies the whole affair, with the fun of the process and overcoming the problem being my greater motivation. I find it a bit dull to buy ready-made patterns and then just follow the lines that are given to me. I'd rather make my mistakes and seem to prefer learning the roundabout way.
Here you see the lining for the upper inner part, the piecing of the skirt and the sewing of the back neck/shoulder part.
In an early stage of the making. Seams stitched with red thread to fathom the fit. It turns out that ease all around is missing and I decide to sew in strips at front and sides.
I got the button from the sewing box my man discovered for me. It's quite a big case compared to the one I've been using so far! Unfortunately, the button has to go, as I can't get it to slip smoothly through the button loop because it's so rippled. It's annoying not being able to (un)dress oneself, even if the noble ladies of the manor houses had their chambermaids, I prefer to do the gymnastics from behind. Though I would immediately welcome some quiet hands doing braids in my hair.
I hope you enjoyed spending your time here.
All pictures without naming an official source underneath or next to it is my own work.