De online bibliotheek

Om inspiratie op te doen voor een nieuw kostuum is er niets beter dan het door neuzen van oude boeken over kostuums, vind ik. Het is alleen zo jammer dat die oude boeken niet zo makkelijk te vinden zijn en sommigen zijn gewoonweg onbetaalbaar voor een eenvoudige student.
Gelukkig bestaat er zoiets al 'internet', waar miljarden mensen nog meer informatie lozen en beter nog: hele boeken digitaliseren en publiceren!
Nu ben ik absoluut tegen illegale verspreiding van boeken, waar andere mensen uren en uren aan onderzoek in hebben gestopt. Maar boeken die al erg oud zijn, al decennia out-of-print en waarvan de auteur al jaren dood is, daar zitten geen auteursrechten meer op en deze mogen dus openbaar worden gemaakt en worden verspreid. En laten deze boeken nu net een wereld van inspiratie herbergen!
Vind je ergens een titel van een boek gedrukt in de 19e of begin 20e eeuw, dan is google je trouwe bondgenoot in het vinden van een mooie .pdf-versie. Soms al binnen een paar minuten, soms vergt het wat doorzettingsvermogen en creativiteit, maar wie zoekt zal vinden en uiteindelijk een mooie bibliotheek kunnen aanleggen vol met inspiratie.

En voor wie nog niet geheel overtuigd is, deze prenten en nog vele andere, afkomstig uit Fancy Dresses Described, or What to Wear at Fancy Balls door Ardern Holt, kun je in .pdf-formaat hier downloaden. (2 minuutjes zoeken ;) ):

kijk tip: Turn back time - The high street

Voor de engelse tv worden er veel leuke en interessante programma's voor mensen die - net als ik - nogal verslingerd zijn aan geschiedenis. De laatste jaren zijn er verschillende series gemaakt waarin mensen teruggaan naar het Victoriaanse tijdperk (BBC's Victorian Farm, Channel 4's Diets Time Forgot en The Edwardian Country House, om er een paar te noemen).

Sinds afgelopen zondag kunnen we weer een nieuwe aan het rijtje toevoegen: Turn Back Time - The High Street.
In 6 afleveringen worden 6 vergeten high streets van kleinere Engelse steden terug geschoten naar de glorietijden in verschillende periodes tussen 1870 en 1970.
In de eerste aflevering gaan ze terug naar 1870 en weten een verlaten high street weer nieuw leven in te blazen.

Wat mij betreft een zeer geslaagd experiment.









(gespot dankzij The Enchanted Serenity of Period Films)

Over op de moerstaal

Vanaf nu gaat deze blog verdergezet worden in het Nederlands. Het was wel erg ambitieus om te denken dat ik iets kon toevoegen aan een toch redelijk verzadigde engelstalige markt, terwijl het een stuk lastiger is om informatie te vinden in het Nederlands. En niet iedere handwerker is even goed in Engels, mijn eigen Engels ik ook niet altijd even denderend en uiteindelijk wil ik me toch op een Nederlandse 'markt' gaan richten. Want ondertussen ben ik vrij zeker dat ik na mijn opleiding een eigen bedrijf wil starten. Hoe en wat precies kan ik nog een jaar over nadenken (of langer, als ik nog een buitenlandse stage wil doen ook), maar het is altijd al een sluimerende droom geweest sinds ik voor het eerst met naald en draad werkte. Maar voor nu is dat toch nog even toekomstmuziek. Eerst mijn laatste studiejaar goed zien door te komen...

(Bron)

Some interesting sites!

to share with you, and for me to never forget them.

http://tidenstoej.natmus.dk
This Denish site has some very beautiful costume from 1700 to the 1980's. But aside from the eye-candy, it also gives the patterns of some of the specimen! Off course, it's all in Danish, but with some experience in pattern drawing and a little bit of grammatical imagination, that should not be much of a problem.

http://vintagesewing.info/index.html
Here you can look through some older books (pre-1900 till 1950's) about subjects like dressmaking, pattern design and millinary. Unfortunately these books are not in pdf, and from the titles I searched I couldn't find a (satisfying) free pdf either (and I don't like to pay for stuff I can get for free).

Festivals in bathing suits

Last saterday I've been to CastleFest, together with a friend, my brother and sister-in-law and their two children. Sadly, the weather was not so good (it ended up raining, most of the day).
However, like I said in my previous post, I'd made costumes for me and my friend: Victorian bathing suits.

Bathing suits are only worn since the beginning of the 19th century, when the rich people flocked the seaside for recreation. The first bathing suits for women (before 1800) where just long gowns, with weights sewn in the hem, to prevent them from floating up and showing bare skin.
After 1800 a revolution showed in the swimwear. Though the base of the suit still was a long gown with long sleeves, a long trouser was worn underneath, so there was no more fear of the fabric floating up and showing bare skin.
Toward the middle of the 19th century, swimwear looked a lot like the revolutionary look Emily Bloomer had in mind for women to wear: "Tukish" pants and a "paletot" (some sort of short jacket).
In the second half of the 19th century the pants and sleeves eventually shorten, but stockings still covered the legs.
After the turn of the century people became more active, and women where in need of swimwear that allowed them to move more freely. The new suits no longer hid the female forms and as soon as 1915 they where skin-tight. Since the 1920's they started to use jersey for the swimsuits, making them more and more look like the swimsuits we still use today.
(source: victoriana.com)

For this costume I got my inspiration from the swimsuits around 1890. Aside from the shape, I allowed myself some freedom in the materials, using the very affordable cotton of Ikea and linen I got from a friend (thank you!). But the result was really good, if you ask me...

Oops...

My last blog-post is already more than two months old. It has nothing to do with lack of inspiration, but I've been bussy with the last weeks of school and after that enjoying my summervacation.
Do you also have the idea that you have more to do during the vacation that during the rest of the year?
Anyway, when reading back through my last posts I suddenly read the promise I made to post of pictures of my egyptian costume. So here they are!

Princess Zelda and me discussing the techniques used to make our costumes. We both used EVA-foam, but in quite different ways. ( © S. Everwennink)

The Farao and me, surrounded by amazone warriors.

My complete outfit. Note the white lining of the fur. It was used as a bag at the same time. It seemed like a good idea at first, until April decided it wanted to be like summer... (© O. de Rooij (http://photos.ork.be/))
Isn't Bob a cuty pie?

At the moment, this costume is waiting for me to feel like improving it, but I don't expect that to happen any time soon.
Right now I'm working at my first victorian inspired costume *drum roll* a bathing suit!
Yes, you read it correctly! For CastleFest I will dress a friend and myself in (late)victorian bathing suits. But there's still a lot to be done and so little time, so I gotta go back to work.

Green with dots

Another birthday present, another pincushion.
This time a simple one. Round and green with white dots, inspired by my wrapping paper. ;)

Walk like an Egyptian

The Elf Fantasy Fair is over. I had lots of fun looking and being looked at, talking to other people in wonderful costumes and getting ideas for upcoming projects.
I'm still waiting for the photo's of some photographers, but here are two pictures to show you what I looked like in my costume:

(from: http://photos.ork.be/events/elffantasyfair2010/zaterdag)

(from: http://www.gea-educatie.com/elfffned10-3.htm)

More pictures will be added later, so keep in touch.

Working on my costume

The past week I finally got to make some time to work on my costume for the Elf Fantasy Fair.
So I made long days, and worked as fast as I could. Off course at the expense of the quality, but from some distance, and at normal photo scale, it looks quite good, actually.

Here are some pics of the process.
First the vulture cap. I made it with craft foam, which is easy to shape, when you heat it a little. The head of the vulture has a base of aluminium foil, to give the basic shape, and a layer of fimo clay to make it look like a head:


After that I painted it gold:
Then I gave it a patina with aquarel paint, to make it look old. But I don't have pictures of it yet. The back will be 'closed' with a plate mail-ish decoration. (the blue things on the photo below)

Here's the jewelry. Two bracelets for the upper and two for the lower arm, and a collar, also made from craft foam. To make it a little sturdier, a layer of cotton is glued to the inside.

Here's the collar after painting, with dress (which is not finished here).


Here's the collar after the patina and the stones are added. I'm very pleased with the result!
And here a detail, to show the (very) subtle decoration I added.

That's practically how far I've gotten till now. Still a lot to do, but most of it is hand sewing, which is perfect for the evenings...

Make it with felt

Last weeks I've spend some time surfing the web, and I found several lovely craft projects to do with felt. So when a classmate of mine had her birthday, I wanted to make the present myself.
All the lovely things I saw, twirled around in my head, while thought of the best gift. I slept about it for some nights (which meant I lay awake for a good couple of hours, before drifting off to the lovely place of dreams), and figured the best idea would be to be to give her a needle book, where she could safely stash all her needles (I don't know about you, but mine always tent do disappear...).
I'd found some free patterns I could use, but I ended up making an unique version, by my own design.

I decided to make a victorian cameo-ish pincushion/needlebook, with a basis of old pink felt, a white frame and a black silhouet. The pincushion top can be opened to reveal the needlebook.

Some foto's:



Please let me know what you think!

To make a costume

Yesterday I've been shopping at the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam with my mum.
For short: I searched and found:

The longer version: I've decided to go with the Egyptian themed costume for this years Elf Fantasy Fair. The dress I intent to make is inspired mostly by the bleu dress Nefretiri (Played by Anne Baxter)wears in the 1956 movie 'The Ten Commendments':

Pitty I don't have a hunky prince of Egypt to accessorize the outfit ;)

Anyway... I have white cotton for the underdress, and a beige-ish linnen-like fabric to go on top. A broad ribbon, gold and blue, will be placed under the bust.
The original dress has a short Egyptian cloak, but I'll make a bigger one, that can be attached to bracelets around my lower and upper arm, a little like the wings of Isis. Some embroidery around the border to add a little more colour (blue and gold).


The vulturcap will be made of EVA-foam, and in such a way I won't need a wig (more explanation when I actually have something to show).

And than the accessories. Like the original picture I'll 'make' a panther hide.
I've found some lovely faux fur, and I'll line it with white fleece. Knowing the Dutch weather in April, I'll probably need it.


My second accessory will be the pharaoh's staff, like the ones found in King Tut's tomb:

How will I make them? Not sure yet. Wood, or EVA-foam...

I'll keep you posted.

A new year!

2009 was to me a year with ups, but also a lot of (rather deep) downs.
With the start of a new year, it's time to leave that all behind, and look forward to a new year.
And of course, make a few plans:

1) Get good grades at school, because I hope to receive my bachelor diploma.
2) Find a place to do an internship, in the summerholliday.
3) Make a costume for the Elf Fantasy Fair. I've decided to stick with my first idea: Egyptian princess. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
4) Process the fabrics I still have lying around. I'm planning to make a few blouses, some skirts, several bags...
5) Make Christmas decoration for next year. I want to decorate the house with home-made decoration.
6) Learn to make needle sculpted doll.
7) Practise my embroidery skills...
8) ... and don't forget about my lace-making skills.
9) Read more books than I buy. And read the books I've already bought...
10) Learn to knit (on the knitting machine) and crochet. Because, apparently the stores don't always sell what I want to buy.

Hmmm... seems like I won't be having enough with 365 days.
But the most important thing, of course, is to enjoy yourself!

Happy new year, everybody!