Amsterdam

Amsterdam prostitute museum

start of the 19th century

prostitutes used to dress in undergarments. underneath the corset a batiste chemise is worn. the one on display here was produced around the year 1910. the garment is a one piece gown without a crotch. in those days knickers were rarely worn by women. urinating or defecating was done without undressing. you would crouch down or relieve yourself legs astride.
up untill the mid 19th century physical hygiene was not a priority. the outer clothing were change at the best once per month. only after the discovery of the plague bacterium, people gradually became aware of the necessity to regularly wash the body and garments. the corset however could not be laundered as the steel frame would rust. to protect it from dirt the chemise which would get washed - was worn.
the chemise is part of the legacy of an old family from the dutch town wassenaar. the original stockings date from 1890 and originate from a noble family from utrecht. the boots are replica
in photographs from this era, we frequently see prostitutes wearing such an under garment paired with a pair of conspicuous stocking. around the turn of the century of the last centennial these eye catching stockings carried an air of eroticism. if you wanted to look sensual and sexy you would wear these kind of stockings: they covered your legs as was expected in the times yet everything could be seen. these stocking are also often depicted in the visual arts from that era.


the 1950's

during the 50 fashion underwent a trnsformation. again prostitutes led the way
this type of underwear is characteristic fort his period. the bra and gridle were part of the former inventory of a drapery shop in the southern area of rotterdam. towards the end of the 1970's the shop owner became too old to continue running the shop and she organised a big clearance. however in the 70's no one was interested in the corsets , girdles and the oversize bras from two decades earlier. for the shop owner, throwing the undergarments away was not an option and she stored the items in two big card bored boxes. only years later after passing her children opened the boxes, by then the outdated garments had become collectors items.
these days , we probably find this sexy fashion prudish. but these designs still inspire the leading names and trendsetters of the world. for he blond ambition tour in 1990 madonna and jean paul gaultier let there designs be inspired by the prude style of the 50's and gave it a contemporary look. the underwear is not worn under but over the cloths. it no longer remains hidden but is in full view.

Amsterdam museum

Amsterdam museum

when i went to Amsterdam they had a couple of wired museums the first one i went in to was the sex museum even thought i thought that it was going to be funny in thought that is was very interesting they showed the lingerie what they use to wear throughout the years. they didn't have alot of information on the corsets but it thought that they where intersecting to look at and then you are just looking at them you get a lot of information yourself . 

this was the first corset that i came across i thought that this under garment was beautiful i thought that the old vintage lace all around the garment was beautiful and also the vintage silk that was used as the belt around the waist .


this was the next under garment that i came across now for this corset i loved all the detail that they have put in to it the way that the corset is shaped and all the detail that they have put in to it like all the lace that is around the bottom and the top of the corset i also like the was that all the detail of the corset is on the front of the corset. i also like the way that when you are lacing up the corset it also had a panel.


this one was one of the more plainer corset but i thing that it is still beautiful but must be also a newer corset as there in a zip in the middle front then it also has a bra attached to the top of the corset.

making my corset

making my corset

for my first course when i was at university was my corset course when first starting the lessons we did a lot of meathored and way to be able to do the corset and different way to be able to draft up the corset after we finished all the lessons we then went on to do the draping which i written about in another one of my blogs . After i had done this i drew out my pattern and then cut it out of calico to be able and then stitched the full corset together to see if the the toile would fit my model and after i did that i had to make where it need to be bigger and where it needed to be longer i went back to my patterns and made the the size that they needed to be and then i did another toile with my new patterns and the went to see if it fit my model and then i would cut it out of my fabric which i piked satain fabric and then i had to basted it with the black fabric i had to go on the inside of the corset.after i did that i had to put the bust in the front of the corset and when stitching that it it was quite difficult . first you have to put the fabric wrong side to wrong side but before stitching it i had to make on one side where the hooks are going to poke thought the fabric. so where i make it i had to not stitch over it and once i got one half of the bust in i had to stitch down the other side of it to keep it in to place. now for the other side of the bust i had to put it wrong side to wrong side again and then mark where the pins would come though and put a little hole for them to get pushed thought which was quite difficult and then you had to stitch down the flat side to keep them in place. after i did that i then went on to stitch the other sides on.

it then came to doing the back and putting the ilets in the back of the corset first you have to stitch three lines in one 2 cm ways from the edge and the another one about 4 cm away and the the same again 2 cm away and the the ilets will go in the gap that is 4cm wide you have to go on an ilet machine to be able to put them in and but first you have to put the holes in using the machine once you have put the hole in of how many you want to use then you have to change the foot on the machine to be able to put the ilets in then you place the bottom of the ilet on the bottom of the hole and then the top bit on the top and then use the machine  to push them in to place.


i then went on to put the rest of the corset together and then once that was done where the fabric was sticking out the front one side you have to cut right down but make sure that for everone you cut down make sure that it is the same for everyone you do after you have done that the side that you havent cut down you have to fold in half and iron but make sure that no fabric is sticking out when it is ironed you have to put a one sided foot on the sewing machine and then stich down the folded of fabri quite close down the folded edge and repeat this for all of them. after i put my binding on the corset i was using black  silk biding i stitched it in one side useing the sewing machine and the the other side had to be hand stitched on you have to do the for the top and the bottom of the corset. theni wanted to ad some final touches i added lace around the lace the top and the bottom of the corste i also hand stiched the lace on to my corset and once i did this my corset was done and my modle was able to wear it.

fisherman costume

fisherman costume

for my next project i we are making a ghost for a street. we got our characters picked for use and i got the Victorian fisher man for the street. then i was doing my research i found a big bagged top with a high ruff collar with suit trousers.


when i came to my costume i got out a big baggy top block and it wasn't quite big enough so i had to alter the shoulder because i wanted a low shoulder on the top with puffed out sleeves. when i started to stitch it together and but it one my model i relised it was to big with the two center meter seam allowance so i decide to make a full new top and with out the seam allowance and that seamed to fit better and the way that i wanted it to fit.then when my model tried it back on i cut the sleeve down to size and then i stitched the pleats in to the top around the neck line.

after i did this i added the ruff to the collar when i did it i measured the neck line of the top all the way round and then but the measurement on to the fabric and went up two center meter in a diagnel. then i crinkled up the light weight calico and then steamed it with the iron to be able to get the crinkled affect on the ruff.


the next step on getting the top the way that i wanted it was to added long cuff's and when i was putting then on i wanted the puff out the bottom of the sleeves out. the one problem i had with the calico because with it not been washed it was quite stiff when trying to work with it. 

then it when on to doing the trousers the first set of trousers i did they where again about 2cm to big and about 4cm to big on the bottom.and then when i did my second pair of trousers i did the don't really look right in the photos because  the calico wasn't washed  and they where quite stiff  and didnt look right on the body.

octopus skirt

in collage for one of my project it was on animals and i decided to make and octopus costume i first started by picking out two colours which were purple and a white-blue colour. first i made a pencil skirt this is the hot of me starting to cut out the skirt in the fabric. for me to get the pencil shape in the skirt i put some darts in the front and back of the skirt.



after i did this it was not for the difficult part of the costume was making and adding the tenticals .
when making the tentical i did four different shapes so that the costume would look different. once i cut the out of one colour i then cout it out of the same colour and the stiched all eight of them together and them stuffed the with stuffing to make them look like tenticals.

after i did that i relised that they octopus have know sucker pads and it took me a while to figure out what i could do to make the sucker pad and how i would put them on to the costume, then i reslised that i could use a chifon and i cut out 100's of circles and stiched arount the full circle and the pulled the cotton to make them look like sucker pads.



after i did this to all of them i then i hand stitched them all on to the tenticals and making sure that the didnt fall of and this was my octopus costume finished.

fairy costume

first i got my silk pink and purple fabric and layed them out on to the floor and placed the pattern on top of the fabric and then cut them out of the two different colored fabric.

this was the start of the sleeve and this bit of the sleeve starts at the elbow then nearly hits the floor once i lade the out on the floor i cut them out.



this is when the sleeve was stitched at the top of the sleeve and then went on to do this for the other side . i then went to attach this to the top sleeve but before i did this i pleated the top to make sure that they sit right when the are atched to the sleeve.

once i did this i made the back and the front of the of the top that the sleeves where going to attach to. i only wanted a small jacket type to attch the sleeves to.

after i stitched this together and then hemed the edges to make it look neater

little black dress

making my dress


first i started by using the block and putting it on to a pice of paper and started to draw out my pattern. once i drew then out i had to alter my pattern to the way that i wanted it to be a sweet heart     neck line .

once i got the right patter and the way that i wanted it and then i decided to cut it out of the black cotton stretchy fabric.

after i did this a drew out all of my patten and all the darts and then i cut out all the patten pieces and the put all the pieces together but putting the on the maniqune to see how it would look once it was stitched together.

once i was satisfied with the way that my dress looked once it was on the mannequin i started to stich it together .

   

this was stiched together apart from the bottom frill because i decided to at lace over the top of the dress.

 this is it with the lace just layed over the top of the dress just to be able to see what it looks like and to see if it was suited for my dress. once i decided to keep the lace i went and cut the patterns out of the lace and began to stich the lace over the top of the dess.

this is the lace stiched on the top of the dress and the decided that the neck lane didnt look right so i place a lace around the neck line. 

once all the lace is stitched together i added the puffy bottom on after i had stitched everything else together i then stitched the bottom on to the dress and then i went on to stitched lace around the bottom of the skirt at the bottom.  

mexican costume

mexican dress

i was invited to it a Mexican party and decide to make a Mexican skirt and top first i made an a-line pattern it on the black fabric and only cut out three of the triangular shape to make the skirt. i then cut then out and stitched them all together  and then i made the waist and stitched it around the skirt and then i added elastic in the waist band. after that i went out and bought red, white and green ribbon and stitched it around the bottom of the skirt in the right order of the Mexican flags. i when out a bough a white top and then just went out and bought some tassels and then hand stitched it on to the tops all the way round and then did it again to make the tassels thicker. i then when out and got some red silk and made a waist band that touched the floor and the stitched pompoms on on to the edge of the silk and all the way  down.

prom dress making

i am making my sisters prom dress for her i stared of by measuring her top half and then made the patten for the top half of her dress and made the corset top and tried it on her , i then when on to take it in and made it the right size for her i made the lace top that when and cut it out and pin it over the top of the corset top to see if it how it would sit on my sister.

this is the photo of the top half of her dress and what it looks like, i then went on to stitch the two tops together and then went on to start the bottom half of the dress once i stitched all three layers together i pined it to the top to see how it would it on her and if i needed to make and adjustments to it. then doing the skirt i had a lot of trouble because the fabric was that thick that i snapped a couple  of needles while i was stitching it together.

and this is what it looked like once it was pinned to the top of the dress and then i stitched it and she tried it on again to see what it looked like once it was stitched she wanted a belt put on the dress but for this she had to be in the dress so that i know the belt was paced in the middle of the dress.

once i did that i stitch it while she had the dress on i then went and then i wen and hand stiched all of the beads on to the top of the dress and the bottom of the dress also i will put more photos on when it is all finished 

This week i attended the V&A in London and i thought that these pieces where really interesting .

 This is christian Dior's 'zemire' evening ensemble ( jacket,shirt,bodice and under-petticoat) 1905-57
christian Dior became and overnight sensation with his ' New Look' launched on the 12th of February 1947. christian Dior continued to create designs based on the distinctive hour glass shape through out his career .Zemire was commissioned by Lady sekers.Wife of an innovative British textile manufacturer. the original version was made in gray satin but she those one of the latest sekers synthetics. the under dress is made im traditional silk and net.

Day dress ( bodice,skirt and peplum)monsieur vignon 1860's to 1880's

dresses were such an investment that they were often made with separate bodices for different occasions and for evening use.Extra pieces like the peplum here could be attached to the back of the skirt to allow for further variations. the fashion for crinolines required large quantitative of fabric and the hem of the dress measures over five meters long











This mantua, made of patterned Spitalfields silk, is typical in style and construction of the 1760s. By this time, it was worn only by aristocratic ladies for ceremonies at court. The petticoat is still very wide, but now with sloping sides and worn over a hoop known as ‘fan-shaped’. The gown, and in particular the stomacher, are elaborately decorated with a braid of various silks, called ‘fly fringe’, which was very popular from the 1750s to the 1770s. The bright colors and curvilinear arrangement of the trimmings indicate the Rococo style in dress. 



Tailored to fit  1940-1960
Before the second world war fashion in London was mainly the work of tailors and court dressmakers.The incorporated society of London fashion designers was formed in 1942. most of its members were based in Mayfair and savile row. they became known for their practical beautifully made tailoring using the finest tweeds and woollen fabrics from Scotland .in the late 1940s the square sholdered masculine fashion of the war changed in the response to paris trends.london couturiers favoured two silhouettes the frist narrow waisted and full skirted in the line with christian diors new look the second with an elegant steamlined profile that foreshadowed the clean line of the 1960s.



Court and Country 1750 - 1800 
Court fashion in the 18th century was characterised by the use of extravagant and exclusive silk textiles. french silks were highly sought after until their import to Britain was banned in 1766. Designers and weavers in London also produced high quality silks their exquisite patterns often based on English. flowers. Dress makers made fashion doll as a way of spreading information about the latest styles. fashion plates were also circulated with depictions of what people were in court