The Tudor Revolution

  Well beautiful humans, it has been a ruff 9 months of recovery, physical therapy, and at times bed rest. Today we are going to discuss the hand sewing project I was going to work on the day I injured myself, and the 4 months it took to complete it while I relearned to walk and strengthen my leg. In this project I used: - lace I purchased from DSA Threads which I already post a video of me prepping: www.dsathreads.net https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7BGTNOgGUI -Linen Sewing Thread and hand needle -Beeswax -Fine Linen Remnant -Straight pins -Chalk -Breakfast tray Other costumers and sewists have been reacting to their projects in 2022, and honestly this took up so much of my sewing time. I had to table some of my other projects while I could not stand because I could not cut out the fabric for next steps. This project was something I could work on through. I've never before make an iconic 16th century ruff before and the project had a lot of personal meanings and hang ups fo...

  Detachable sleeves are one of my favorite things to make for renaissance dresses, and always seem to be the last thing I think to make when I'm planning my outfits. These sleeves are made from thrift store fabric to mimic one possible way that "cut work sleeves" were made in the period. There are several theories, and my research has made me think that they all may have been in use at different points in time for different specific motifs. To make these sleeves I used a voided velvet scarf I found at my local thrift store and remnants of rayon velvet, silk shantung, and linen. Techniques I cover in the video include basting, hemming stitches, and how to easily sew with velvet. I completed the project using a mix of hand sewing and a modern sewing machine. I love wearing these Italian renaissance dresses at reenactment events or when I attend events for the Society of Creative Anachronism. Groups like this have helped me learn more about how period techniques and mate...

  While most of 16th century Italy loved to dress in bold colors, there were some groups of people who wore the ancestor of our little black dress. Frequently this dress was prescribed based on social customs and laws in the different cities over time. My primary inspiration for this dress was focused on Roman women in the later 16th century. The history I found while making this dress deserves its own video, so today we are going to focus on how I made this 16th century little black dress called a sottona. Materials I used for this dress are listed below. All Amazon links are affiliate links: Black Cotton Damask Linen Canvas Cotton Quilters Batting https://amzn.to/3rWsRvR Black Medium Weight Linen Black Cotton Thread https://amzn.to/44P8wat Wool Hem Braid Black Velvet Remnant Lacing Rings Embroidery Floss for Eyelets https://amzn.to/47clbFV Scissors https://amzn.to/3rYWlZP Play list for 16th Century Costuming projects and techniques: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?li...

  This week we are trying out an experiment with natural dyeing. I haven't really died fabric in years, and I've never been hands on in dyeing with natural fibers. I chatted with some friends who have worked with natural dyes and started saving onion skins from my cooking for a year. While cleaning up my sewing room after the holidays I cam across another stash of yellow onion skins and decided I had enough skins to try making a dye pot. I started this project my soaking my silk veil I wanted to dye in a mordant bath of alum while I started cooking onion skins. Mordants are a dye fixative to keep your fabric from loosing color after the dye process. My research said to use a mineral mordant, such as pickling alum, when trying to dye vegetable and protein based fibers. I didn't time this process and went more based on description and experimentation. The onions skins cooked in a crock pot I found at the thrift store last year while I was stating to passively research this...