It's about time! Like another commenter said, for a while there was definitely a trend of doing the opposite, and I am happy to do my part to reverse it and make this hobby feel less scary.
I used to be a sewing teacher and one thing I consistently told my students was “I’m teaching you the how and the why behind the rules so you know when to break them” and “historically adequate is perfectly fine - as long as you’re happy with the final product, we’re all good”
In college, there were loud voices in the costuming world, insisting every period garment was tailored perfection. Then I went on a study trip to Japan. I was delighted to see a high class Kamakura (medieval) outfit on display in Kyoto. The construction stitches were visible over a meter away.
Kimono was made to be picked apart everytime you washed it. Tbh, I have no clue why. If you watch someone had stitch one together, it's basically 5 minutes of basting for a 6 foot seam
OMG, THANK YOU! I took an 18thc dressmaking class through Burnley & Trowbridge over the Plague, and everyone was shockd when Brooke showed us how the extant gowns were made. Random bits! Huge stitches in lining and non-load bearing seams! The ladies who had been sewing perfectly for ages and made everything really perfect inside and out were like "I can't! It has to be perfect inside!" And I was like "yaaaaay! looks like how I normally finish stuff! I can screw up and make a little tuck/patch/random whatever and it's JUST FINE!"
Oh man, looking at extant garments is WILD. Those things are a mess inside and I love it. The seams are ugly, the sleeves are just slapped in, it’s beautiful. And it survived for centuries so clearly it works.
I learned to sew in 4-H, and was judged for it at the county fair. Then I started doing community theater, where the advice I was given was "if you can't see it from a moving horse, you're not going to see it on the stage". That rule carried with me when I started with the SCA and even now for the things I make for everyday.
"It'll never be seen from the back of a galloping horse!" Such a good phrase, and so true. I remember being told by a theater costumer that I was working for, "you're sewing too nicely! Just slam that thing through the machine so you can move to the next thing!" It was a revelation to me that even the thread color didn't need to match the fabric, for theater costumes. Any dark color thread will be perfectly fine for sewing any color (except white and pastels) fabric; any color differences won't be visible from the front row!
I have always thought that machine stitching is historically "accurate" for any century, because if sewists from the pre-industrial age had access to sewing machines, they would have absolutely used them! Probably with lots of top stitching!
I'm reminded of Bernadette Banner's point about historical accuracy in films and how it's actually impossible to achieve--the very materials that people of the past used are often no longer available to us. The quality of linen, for example. By the end of the 19th century, the center of the fine linen trade was in Belgium. Then WW1 happened and wiped out those strains of flax, and thus the linen that could be made from them.
If anything it's more important to finish everyday clothes well... because they need to go in the washing machine!! Historical costumes for current wearers (I'm guessing) don't need to put up with so much hard wear... (except for the small number of people who live in historical dress as daily wear). (I like doing enclosed seam finishes, they slow me down, which is a good thing, as sewing is as much a mental health practice as anything else, and slow sewing helps keep my material consumption down). And to paraphrase Sewstine... if you have electric light, good health, and have been vaccinated, you aren't being historically accurate! So don't sweat it.
Precisely! I feel like historical people had a much more keenly calibrated idea of just how much wear and tear a certain garment was going to take, and therefore what kind of finishing work was actually worth doing. I've done a similar thing with hand-felling all the seams on my pajamas. Machine-overcast seam allowances are fine for me most of the time, but if I am going to sleep in something? I want every bit of comfort I can get.
@@SnappyDragon so daily wear shifts/chemises are worth immaculate finishing (as next to the skin, get lots of washing); posh frocks only need functional finishing.
Not a fashion historian, but correct me if I'm wrong: in certain types of garments and cultures, wasn't it typical that if you *had* to wash an entire garment, you literally had to take it apart or take off the delicate bits, so the fabric wouldn't be torn or wear at the seams? I'm thinking of traditional kimono specifically - I would assume fast sewing of simple seams would be the order of the day in such cases.
The most freeing thing for me was hearing the phrase "piecing is period". Especially when it comes to lining garments, it's not always important to have a single, giant piece of fabric to cut the panels from. (This is also why my costumes are a hobby, not a career. I would feel weird selling a garment with pieced lining or less than perfect finishing, but I'll absolutely *wear* one if I made it.)
“Don’t let perfection be the enemy of fun” goddamn I needed to hear that 😭 I’m deep in con crunch and feel like I’m losing my mind trying to make everything perfect, when really I’m doing this for fun. I’m not competing with anything I’m working on right now, and I just want to play dress up :)
that goes double for con crunch - because how many times have we utterly exhausted ourselves in the week leading up to the con, that we can't even have fun at the event? I started making myself take the day before the con off. Con starts on friday? Wednesday is my last day to work on things, and Thursday is recovery and rest. I want to enjoy the events! Not be falling alseep in the panel rooms
My mom taught me how to sew by hand, and she had learned from her mother, who was a seamstress in the 1920's & '30's. My proudest moment was after making a shirt (on machine), my grandmother complimented me on how well it was put together. I told her it was machine stitched, and she said "it's not the machine, it's the attention to detail". But what I was proudest of was that she said that my hand-sewn buttonholes were "the best she'd ever seen", pretty high praise from a lady that had been a seamstress, and didn't drop compliments lightly. She did fuss a bit about my seam allowances being too short, but only because short allowances fray more easily. My grandmother seemed all my girl cousin's Barbie clothes, and they were some of the most fashionable Barbies you ever saw. That was over fifty years ago. My grandma was *thrilled* her youngest grandson was interested in seeing, and I got her sewing machine after she passed.
As an educator at a historic site, I ask myself these questions a lot! Will the general public notice or care if there's machine stitching on this 1820s dress? Probably not. But do I have a responsibility to make it as accurate as I can regardless? Great question!! I enjoy hand finishing, and I usually compromise by only using my sewing machine on seams not visible from the outside, but then again I make up for it in my personal wardrobe by being an impatient chaos gremlin. Good enough is indeed good enough.
I think if you're educating the public, there's a totally different set of considerations than if you're making costumes or clothes for yourself to wear personally. But yes, I doubt anyone is going to notice machine construction-- and if they're close enough to look, they're too close!
I used to sew professionally for theatre and had to learn quickly that perfectionism is the enemy of getting it on stage. Also, that detail that you spent SO MUCH time on, it can't even be seen from the front row. Not that I would encourage anyone to work in theatre, but it did teach a lot about efficiency and what actually matters. More recently, I had to rebuild part of a Baroque outfit. The dress (a mantua) is striped, and I made sure those pleats were perfectly arranged, because the narrow stripes make it obvious. They're held down with mediocre running stitches, though, because those aren't structural seams, and it looks completely fine-actually, I think they look better loosely stitched together, more like those pleats are just ironed in place instead of nailed down. The underskirt is a solid color, and the pleats are completely slapdashed because I was running out of time. I promise you, no one else has ever noticed, they just see the luxe-looking fabric and how it moves.
Lol yes. I got roped into school plays when the kid was in school. (I couldn't say no to the school secretary when she said " V said you sewed really interesting things, we are so excited you are doing the costumes! " what? Wait the kid volunteered me?). I quickly learned the step back 20 feet and can you see it if they run. So different from historical competitions!
It seems like a lot of the skill (then and now) was in figuring out what parts of the dress were worth spending the time and energy on, and what could be done quickly and "adequately" so you had time to get the important parts right.
I suspect that a lot of the "peicework" basting that was taken home by workers was actually getting distributed to kids in the family to finish. IMO that is the only way the amount of work could be possible. We are still struggling to stop exploitive labor and child labor in the fashion industry even with having sewing machine, overlockers and other tools. We may have clothing finishes of higher quality, but workers today are still being exploited like they were in the past. Machines don't make our clothes - people do. When we make clothes ourselves we can appreciate how much effort is actually involved. I choose designs that fit and flatter instead of settling for yet another poorly fitted garment made cheaply by poor people in slums. We are not different than the Victorians : just the slums are farther away now.
I was a dresser at a theme park one summer. We had a director who insisted the ice show plaid poodle skirts line up perfectly. We did so, then shocker, had to alter them for the performers. The head of costuming had to step in and professionally tell her off
I am so glad someone is saying this!! It applies to all aspects of life. I had a friend tell me that she NEVER uses a mixer to make bread. Good for her but it doesn't diminish my homemade items if I do use a machine, especially if it means that it saves my arthritic, scoliosis back from "back-breaking" work. My dad tells the story of when his grandmother spent her own hard-earned money to bring electricity into the house in the 1950s or early 60s. Her husband complained about the waste of money, because they had always managed before just fine with wood for heat and cooking, lamps, etc... She replied that she was tired of working so hard and it was HER money after all. I remind myself of this often, that our foremothers would have absolutely used every bit of modern machinery that they possibly could. I too love a beautifully finished seam(I am learning from all of you lovely creators who kindly share your talents and research) but I think that everyone should absolutely do what makes them happy. Thankyou for your wonderful videos!!
Even people in the past didn’t necessarily knead their bread dough by hand, especially when baking a large batch. They used different tools than us, or even their feet (wash them first!), but they knew that kneading a dough enough to develop the gluten properly is hard work and doing it by hand isn’t necessary or even the best way to get a good result.
My mother and aunts joyfully tossed their knitting needles and irons when cheap socks and polyester cotton came on the market. According to my mother I must have been out of my mind to start knitting socks.
@lenabreijer1311 I love knitting, because it's for enjoyment. But if you did it out of necessity rather than enjoyment, I could absolutely understand giving it up.
I make exactly two kinds of bread : Challah, which gets kneaded in the stand mixer within an inch of its life (and the stand mixer's too). And, dead-nuts-easy no-knead bread which gets nothing at all done between the ingredients being combined, and being shoved in the oven. Kneading by hand is fun if I want a workout, or to blow off steam (by singing kneading shanties at the top of my lungs) . . . but not otherwise!
Here's the thing: I love the sort of perfectionist handsewing detail that jerks like to enforce. I love switching out my waxed linen thread for silk on the visible seams and impeccably felled down inner seams (though I will argue about stitch length with people). This is because I try to make hardwearing historical garb that can go camping, sit on the ground, get soaked, cook over a campfire, tromp through the woods, and go into the wash afterwards. I love the original practice problem solving aspect of historical sewing. But this is me! For my garb! Fabric is expensive, I like working with Nice fabric, so I like taking my time with it and handsewing while I watch TV! When I needed a quick costume for a group thing, I pulled out the cheapest fabric that worked and the sewing machine and got to it, zigzagging the snot out of it (and still overfinishing stuff, but mostly out of habit. For anyone else, it's totally up to them! It all depends on what the goal for the garment is :) (My one high recommendation, because I ignored it when other people gave me this advice and I learned it the hard way: if you're working with linen and want your garment to last, finish the seams. How is up to you, but they do ravel, especially in the washing machine, and it's annoying when your otherwise good piece falls apart at the seam and you don't have enough fabric to fix it)
Absolutely this! I love being able to have flexible goals depending on WHY I'm making something. I have a Medieval gown right now that is not only being hand-sewn, but with wool yarn instead of linen thread because it's with a Jewish wearer in mind and I wanted to see how that changed the process. Meanwhile, the plain kirtle to go under the gown? Gonna be machine-sewn with cotton, because I've hand-sewn a rectangular kirtle once and I don't need to do it again.
I remember during one antique dress analysis (maybe on Abby Cox's channel), where she was looking at a formal-ish piece and the outside was very nice and detailed and the inside lining was a mess of haphazard hand stitching, and I've taken that with me ever since
Another factor was undergarments. If you're wearing a chemise, a corset, a bodice cover, a full slip, then the lack of smooth finishing is not going to affect wear or comfort.
Thank you. I'm still a beginner sewist and costumer and I'm glad I decided at the outset to go for "accurate enough". I recently finished a petticoat with my first attempt at lace insertion and while the inside looks pretty bad, I'm pleased with how the outside lace insertion came out. Who the heck is going to see the inside of my petticoat??
This is really important. Veteran cosplayer here and what's funny is the costumes people have loved the most, weren't the ones I did hundreds of hours on, it was the silly quick and dirty ones. The people who are shady about xyz "bad practice" usually also never finish anything because they are too busy worrying about how they must be irl, what Bernadette banner portrays in her videos.
You know i often think with these things, if I would whine about my uneven or large stitches to my late great grandma who saw both world wars, one of Europe’s worst civil wars, hunger and poverty in a developing nation there would be a zero percentage change that she wouldn’t dec my ass and tell me to knit a pair of socks.
I usually finish my seams by pinking them with pinking shears, which was a common mid century practice and the way I learned when I was a kid. Since I line dry my handmade clothes, the seams are perfectly adequate. I do French seams on sheer fabrics, but otherwise I can't be bothered to do fancy finishes.
I rarely even bother finishing my seams, especially if something is lined. I've had a dresses that I wear regularly and machine wash and dry last for years that way. I honestly always thought the fuss over finished seams was a cosmetic thing, this video taught me it was practical. 🤷♀️
I’m a middle Eastern dancer, and French seaming is great for sheer fabrics that fray. But UGH! So much extra work! But when it’s a dance costume or veil, it has to be strong, so I suck it up and ad do the French seam. Even though it’s TWICE THE WORK. 😭
I love French seams. Since I learned how to do them, I use them on everything... I didn't spend all that time and energy learning them to not use them 😆 Or I'll just cover seams with binding because I stress too much about them fraying.
My mum sewed for herself me my 2 elder sisters and made shirts for dad and my 3 brothers. She used cotton, cut out with pinking shears, and only seem finished adult clothing. She also knitted for us all in rotation and reused the wool from out grown jumpers. Cardigans and things brought from jumble sales. All my dresses and bousers growing up had at least 18 months to 2 years growing room in pintucks that could be unpicked before the wash and ironed out . This was in the late 50s and 60s must say she worked morning, afternoons and evenings, and the only time she sa5 without sewing or knitting in her hands was when we went to church. I love to look at photos of my childhood and admire her handiwork
I went through a knitting and crocheting phase and it's amazing how you get accustomed to having something you're working on when in front of the TV or just conversing. I got to the point that, if I didn't have a project going for some reason, it felt weird to have nothing to work on!
This reminded me of my school's parade uniforms. They are the fanciest, but have no lining, huge hems that are just serged and single folded in place, or double folded when they are too big, and all the seams have huge seam allowances with the pieces individually serged. Seems really badly done but it is actually really pratical: You wear these things once a year and every year you just adjust it quickly to fit you again, and all the pretty decorations are still in place.
If I hand stitched all of my historical clothes, I wouldn't even have a whole outfit yet and my carpal tunnel would have gotten really bad much sooner than it did! I usually only hand stitch if it's going to change the construction of the garment or it's one of the few things that is easier or only possible by hand
I prefer to fell seems over serging. I know the serging is easy and effective but man I just love how felling looks.Yes, no body will see it but it looks nice to me and the seam allowance isn't flapping around inside.
For me it’s mostly a sensory issue. I won’t ever serge anything I’ll be wearing against my skin, but that’s because it feels too scratchy to me. Anything that isn’t worn against the skin, or that is worn by someone who isn’t as sensitive as I am, can _absolutely_ be serged and I have no issues with it, it’s just not my preference when it comes to things that go against _my_ skin.
I do this too, especially on stuff I am hand-sewing. My goals tend to shift with every project though, so there's still plenty of machine-overcasting that happens when I want something *done* rather than to enjoy the long process of making it.
My favorite non-perfect way to sew is to use the finished edged of thrifted sheets as my hems on petticoats as often as I can. Or to use hand sewn eyelets for a lace up closure on a more modern dress because I hate installing zippers.
Somehow we always forget that people in the past were still people. Just like today, some people were perfectionists and some people just needed it to be good enough.
Great video. There are so many things in life (parenting, marriage, where you live, where you work, cooking, personal faith, politics, etc...and now it would seem, sewing) that others tell you if you're not doing it their way, you're wrong. Don't give a crap what others say or tell you what to do. Live your life, find your joy and if someone tells you you're doing it wrong, smile and walk away. They ain't worth your time.
Karolina Zebrowska made a 50s gathered skirt in a totally chaotic way, and people were coming for her. But it. Looked. Great. On. And it made her happy. What else matters?
Finally, someone pointing out what should be obvious: people are people and always have been, i.e. among the many women who sewed their family clothes, there would be all the spectrum from love of sewing to a total annoyance about it - nowadays, we have a choice - and I'm pretty sure the annoyed extreme would show their daughters how to sew from the moment they could hold a needle. I go through sewing phases. I try to make clothing based on patterns from a french magazine from the mid-19thC to early-20thC, so there's one size and one has to adapt it to one's measurements (yes, I do like a challenge). Needless to say, what occurred to me as I played with these patterns, was that there probably were many women like me with a basic knowledge of sewing, having to fudge their way through making clothes. As for stitching, I enjoy hand-sewing, but I use the machine for anything long or if I'm pressed for time. My productions would definitely not be of the standard of commercial clothes, but hey, they're for me, so that's fine. I tell myself that there were probably many women who did as good a job as me or worse. When I have the time, I do make lovely, perfect little stitches (it's very relaxing), and I do like a 'perfectly' stitched, neat cornered, well finished item. More often than not, I just want to see what skirt or shirt or chemise the pattern will produce (after having had me guestimate just about everything). Tons of fun. I found out recently that french seams are called english seams in french.... The lowest of the low in a sewing place - a dressmaker's shop, for instance, is called "la petite main" meaning the little hand and is the person who does all the tedious, 'no skill required' kind of work. Probably, young sewists wanting to some day have their own dress-making business and in an apprenticeship. Thanks for another interesting and well-presented video.
I feel like I hold myself back from projects because I'm scared I can't do them perfectly right off that bat (and bc disabilities get in the way). I know I'm probably not the only one to feel this way so on behalf of us, thank you for saying this.
My ADHD and long Covid fatigue means that I’ve had the fabric for my Dragon Con skirt for three weeks. And I only washed it three days ago. And I haven’t even cut it. But ADHD also means crunch time=productive. I have to pack Wednesday, and this weekend is my only time to sew. Joann opens in two hours, and I’ll buy my thread and get to sewing immediately. Because I’m out of time to worry and obsess! 😂
I would love to try relearning to sew, but the fear of investing money and time (and possible cat aggravation) to not be able to do it well enough to make wearable clothes has me paralyzed. I'm on SSDI and genuinely don't have money to sink like that, plus disabilities that might affect my ability to even do it. I had to give up making jewelry because of arthritis and carpal tunnel combined with vision problems.
@@maryeckel9682hey I'd encourage you to do it. A lot of my best garments were things like an old tablecloth or some repurchased bedsheets. What I tell people trying to learn though is I'd you have something you love that doesn't fit properly, start by taking it in or hemming something. You don't need the best sewing machine, just a functional one off fb marketplace. Beyond that, you really only need scissors, thread, pins, and needles.
I absolutely love this!! It reminds me that people have always been people. I recently took apart my cloak and added a lining. Did I roughly attempt to make the pieces match up? Yes. Did I take the time to have the lining stretch out? Nope. Is the hem level? Also no. But is it done and cozy and incredibly long and drapey and has a lining of my favorite color? Yes 😁
A friend owns two Balenciaga coture dresses from the early 60s. The seam allowance is pinked and raw. There are NO LININGS. Lining wasn't done until quite recently.
It makes total sense! Interlining/flatlining has a structural purpose, but bag lining just takes up a lot of extra fabric and labor. So if that fabric is costly and you don't have a reason to do it . . . why bother?
I do not enjoy hand sewing and I use my sewing machine for as much as possible, I was absolutely THRILLED when I figured out how to sew on 2-hole and 4-hole buttons using my machine...it actually got me to finally re-attach all my loose and escaped buttons to multiple garments that I had stopped wearing. Side note: it bugs me when people say "I don't know how to sew. I can't even attach a button!" My first thought is usually that I do know how to sew, but I'm lousy at buttons 🤷♀
I'll frequently "finish" interior seams by running fray check down the edge. These are cosplays, so they're not getting super heavily worn, that's how I can get away with it.
Fray check is MAGICAL. And it's not like historical dressmakers never used similar stuff! I remember a really cool video about a Chinese seam-finishing paste made from starch.
My first historical handsewn garment had teeny-tiny perfect nearly invisible finishing stitches but as I've handsewed more, my stitches have gotten larger. Not so much because I don't want to do tiny ones, but because I've experientially learned how small stitches actually have to be to function.
I think that's the sort of knowledge people in the past would have had. "This is exactly how small a stitch needs to be to do its job, I will make it that small and NO SMALLER"
This is why you should do all your historical sewing by candlelight, without your glasses and with chilled hands. Proper random mistakes and don't-care-it-workses.
When the p@nd3mic hit and JordanCon 2020 had to be canceled, I decided to learn blind hemstitch and hand-sew the shawl for my Victorian Tinker costume. After all, I was going to have a whole year instead of a couple of weeks. I did it, and it took forever. And it looks good. I had the time. And now I can hand-sew a blind hemstitch if I must. Unless I really NEED to do it, you can bet I machine stitch everything. But in the event it’s impractical to machine-sew something, now I can do it by hand and have it look good.
My two favorite "good enough" finishes: using raw selvedge on the center back zipper seam (it has to be perfectly straight for the zipper anyway), and my "impatient woman's French seam" where I turn the seam allowances in on each other, iron generously, and zig-zag stitch over the top of it all.
Yes! Do what is fun for you! Personally, making the garment is more of a priority than wearing it. Yes, some of us actually WANT to spend way too many hours handstiching, but if you dont, then great!
My favorite “not perfect” sewing technique is completely unfinished seam allowances…a 1/2” of linen or cotton (with a normal to tight weave) realistically doesn’t fray to the point of the garment falling apart, even with repeated machine washing. I love a clean finish but sometimes time and/or energy does not allow. Thank you for this video!
"If you use random thrifted fabrics and slap together patterns on the floor..." I have never felt so seen in the historical clothing community! (Or seen there at all.)
Yours is one of several sites mentioned by Shannon Makes in her episode about perfectionism. I'm so glad I checked you out--love all you rcomments. In my teens, I sewed my clothes, in my 20s I sewed clothes for my husband and kids. Then I moved on to other needlecrafts, primarily crocheting. About 20 yrs ago, when I retired, I finally had time to join a quilting group making quilts for charity. I quickly became a self taught scrap quilter. We were assured that "misakes "Make it our own" or that the "quilt police" aren't coming . I'm seldom led to redo something I'm making for charity cause I realize that a non-quilter will probably NEVER see my lack of perfection as long as the item is well made enough to stay together. Thank you for your video on Perfectionism. I feel so much better about my own lack of perfection.
I just posted this on @shannonmakes' video on perfectionism, applies here though! I do consider myself a perfectionist, but only when it comes to my own endeavors. And even then, I know perfect doesn't actually exist. I use it to drive me to do my best and keep learning rather than to beat myself up with not achieving perfect. I hold no one but myself to my standards. Historically adequate is my mantra on anything that might be done with a historical inspo or bent, we can hypothesize all we like about how things were done 'back then' but we weren't there. We can't know for sure how accurate something was, so unless you're being judged (like, in a contest or something like that) for how close you got, who cares how you got there? So many people are just way to hung up on how other people do things. Stay in your lane and lift others up by admiring how hard they worked on that item and how well they did with it. Don't nitpick someone else's work unless they ask you to. (I do ask for it sometimes because I want to get better at the thing and I have friends that are more experienced in sewing than me.) Remember what we all learned as little kids, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".
I find a great deal of joy in hand-stitched buttonholes and seams enclosed with invisible stitches... but if there is ANY way to avoid ironing in the middle of a project, I will find that way. I have pressed seams between plastic storage boxes and set them next to the tub while I showered to avoid dragging out the ironing board.
🤣🤣🤣 one of the reasons I love handsewing linen : i can just finger-press instead of ironing! You want me to get up off the couch in the middle of my evening? NOPE.
Thank you for this video! When I first started sewing during the pandemic, there were many costubers and dress historians that pushed the idea of historical accuracy. It was so overwhelming at the time, and took some joy out of the sewing process for me in my beginning stages.
Fortunately, some costubers have been pushing against that, with examples of extant garments. I also like when they point out that fine, tiny hand stitching actually _wouldn’t_ have been the most accurate for the time period in question.
This brings me to something that used to annoy me considerably. I am a larper and I've been for all my adult life, but I still remember a conversation I had in my first larp. We were sitting around the fire having a meal (my character was a bard so I travelled around many different camps) and someone started criticizing the fact that my overtunic was woven out of very thick wool (knitting wool essentially - this was in Sweden as as someone who grew up in Portugal I found the Swedish climate very cold) and had visible machine stitching. I just remembered saying that we were currently eating potatoes and there are orcs over there if you want to complain about historicity. I have been working for a while to try to bring Larping to Portugal and part of what I am trying very hard to create is a welcoming experience for people who are entering the hobby and learning how to sew - i don't want people to be discouraged and to give up on something that brings them joy - its like you said, the point is we are here to have fun.
My Granny, born in 1897, taught me, the youngest granddaughter out of her eight kids (all raised in the Depression), how to sew by making six year old me a rag doll and giving me patterns made out of newspaper to make her clothes with. I imagine this was how they used to teach young girls to sew in her day. Bonus - I sewed some of them on her treadle machine, which I still own and use. This was back when we trusted small children to use sharp objects and not do something stupid, or at least learn what not to do from our mistakes! 😂
You only sew over your finger once before taking more care! My Mum's attitude to most childhood hazards (no risk of permanent damage or major injury) was "they'll only do it once wont they?"
I am a very novice sewist that doesn't do historical fashion (yet, because one day I'd like to play dress up) but from "historical sewing" I've picked leaving big seam allowances so my clothes can be refitted and felling because I love handsewing. I find it really relaxing so it’s my prefered method for making small alterations on modern clothes and especially sheer ones.
@@SnappyDragon my mum went on vacation a couple weeks ago. She had very long white linen pants she wanted to wear so I shortened the hem with almost invisible felling and not only did I have fun but I made them so practical for her that she wore them a bunch. It felt great 😁
My husband and I are in the process of going through and disposing of two storage units of his family's stuff. As well as the aftermath of losing my father and much of his household stuff that found its way into our house and garage. We found husband's grandmother's fabric stash during the Covid lockdown and it included some abundant but low quality linen. I really wanted to try out a linen pillowcase but my sewing machine has been inaccessible for a fair few years now. After watching a few hand sewing videos, I went for it and now I have a yellow linen pillowcase that took me a week to make by working on it while watching TV in the evenings. If I'd waited for my machine to reappear, I still wouldn't have my pillowcase which I love and plan to make some more of. I'd try doing sheets, but the fabric is vintage and only 36" wide. I'm thinking of making a lightweight summer "blanket" or coverlet out of it, though.
Because of my sensory issues I adore felling seams over any finishing style that leaves a loose bit of fabric to flap around. That said I didn’t mark a single thing after the center points on the gathers in the front of my first wedding dress. It’s chaos around here. 😂
Finishing seams and other inside-the-garment tidiness is really important to me because if something's itchy or awkwardly bulky I won't be able to think about anything else all day, but this video is such a great reminder that the ways I construct good-feeling garment insides don't necessarily have to be good-looking as well. Freedom! Also: that modern dress is so so cute!
Hey V, thank you for this. When I was in design school, I would cry on my sister's shoulder (really), because I was so anxious and exhausted, trying to perfect my drawings and finished projects. I did learn there is a time and a place for final draft, or when your seams should be hand finished. You mentioned how many historic dress sewists are perfectionistic. Finishing hand seams can be very satisfying, but can also feed a big OCD monster, which, I suspect, is very present in several historic dress YT channels. Final note, be kind to yourself, and if you are anxious about your project, find solutions that work to complete the project to the level needed, but where you can keep your sanity! After all, you show examples of finished works that have seriously rough internal finishing, but the outside is lovely (mostly). Those sewists knew where to cut corners or where to spend their time and energy. BTW, found this clip that works perfectly for this topic: th-cam.com/video/wVoT5AXLN2U/w-d-xo.html
I have a cotton flannel nightie I handsewn as a young teen that I still wear today over 25 years later. It was cut on the biased as a project to learn about grainline. The seams are unfinished, maybe 4 stitches to a inch on a running backstitch or whipstitch on most of the garment. The only spot I did tiny backstitches was in the under arms. It is probably the most worn garment out of everything I own. Outside of adjusting the straps and replacing elastic for size changes, it hasn't needed to be repaired. At this point as ratty as the fabric has gotten I have kept it around because It was comfortable, my first truly wearable garment, and it is a reminder that a garment don't need to be perfect to be awesome.
When I sew most of the time I cannot be bothered changing the thread to anything but black or white. This makes the stitches visible, but I cannot be bothered finding a matching thread for every project.
My grandma, who taught me to sew, preferred to use her machine and serger for everything possible. She was able to sew for enjoyment, but she also definitely sewed for necessity, and it showed--when possible, she even sewed the buttons on by machine. I learned how to stitch in the ditch for linings from her, and only switched to hand-finishing them as an adult when I realized I preferred that. I enjoy doing the hand-finishing on garments, and tend to use my machine for the long seams or for sewing knits, although I definitely use my serger to overlock edges when that's more convenient than doing it by hand.
I work in historic reenactment, about 1840-1890. Sometimes I just don't have time to sew outside of work, so I end up hand sewing and finishing everything between guests. It's very satisfying, I recently made a blouse that way. However, sometimes I need it YESTERDAY, like with a couple linen dresses for summer in Texas. In that case, ALL the stitches are by machine, zigzag finish and no lining. They're holding up fine.
I love that you have the same $80 brother home sew machine that I use professionally to make clothes for TV and Broadway. Anyone who needs the clothes built with coture accuracy is just trying to feed their ego
I *LOVE* this machine! Early in my costuming journey I sewed a leather doublet with it because I didn't know that wasn't supposed to be possible. And, ah, it worked. Gonna do another one soon.
This one really spoke to me, because I struggle a lot with how bad my sewing can look but there's no way I can get better without practice no? I remembered my seam allowances from my last project, where I overlooked the seams separately after assembly and it looks baaad but it's done and I'll move on. Thanks for the reminder ❤
I overcast most of my seams after construction and sure, it's not pretty . . . but do we judge our modern clothes for having machine-finished seams? Nope!
Love yourself, make lots, learn more, just don’t wear things inside out🌻😜. What makes you personally happy? You are the most important person to satisfy. Keep making!!❤️
Thank you for this. I have seen too many that push the "finished edges only", "it's not accurate if the stiches are too big" and more. I try new things when I know it won't confuse me. I have done both hand and machine work on single garments. My newest thing I love doing is French Seams, but even I have my limitations for them on certain garments.
Depending on the time period, it’s quite plausible that your stitches are too _small_ to be “historically accurate”. And machine sewing everything on the inside and only sewing the bits that will be visible by hand is perfectly good practice.
I just did french seams for one of the first times yesterday evening! They're super satisfying, but I did have to redo one of them because the raw edge got caught on the outside 🤣
I've been blessed to be given extant study pieces and worked in historic costume collections and visited museums all over the world. Like today there were all skill levels. If I'm sewing for myself it's just gotta get done. If I'm being paid that's a different story. The diaries of women running their homes just blew through their mending because they were BUSY! So makes sense to just get it done!
As a quilter there’s a saying, anyone who judges you by the back of the pieced top isn’t your friend. I’m a working mom of 2 and while I love my slow stitching sessions, I have way more fun making costumes on my sewing machine. Oh, and just a note, if you ever find yourself sewing your kid a puppy costume and you use faux fur. Spend the extra time to do French seams. Faster than felling and necessary to keep those shedding hairs encased.
My first quilt(an anniversary gift for my parents) was completely handsewn, even the binding. The next three were for my children and were hand-pieced and quilted, but those big seams were machine sewn due to time concerns. Any future quilts will depend on the state of my hands and eyes! Proud of each of them.
Very true! Doing things the efficient way, not the 'right' way, is accurate to the spirit of humans in every period. If you spot some machine stitching at your reenactment event, let it go. On the flip side, if someone has exquisitely handstitched french seams on an entire gown and is showing them off because they're proud of them, scoffing and saying "Should've used an overlocker" is equally unwelcome. Deciding the way you do things is the only 'correct' way is harmful to both creativity and interpersonal relationships.
What you have said here is absolutely perfect. Except for the elite, people in the past have always been about functionality over perfection. This applies to not just garments but tools and weapons as well. We as modern people tend to want everything perfect but historically speaking, almost nothing was perfect. Thank you for a wonderful video!
Okay but this is *exactly* the pep talk I needed right now! Who cares if it's not perfect - I finished the thing! That's worth celebrating in and of itself :)
I made myself a "wearable mockup" of some around the house boxers with pockets. I tried a pattern I'd picked up for 25cents, to get an idea of how to work with commercial patterns. When I put them on I walked out and informed my roommate "I think I just failed home-economics". The seam finishing is trash. But they have pockets. Which neither of our home-ec boxers from "back in the day had". Would better seam finishes improve laundering? Definitely! But if your seams cross each other... and both are required to check the fit, at what point on a wearable mockup does it make sense to properly finish them? ... Exactly.
My favourite "improper" sewing technique is using dental floss for my patch jeans. I also just tucked the end of a dart in that stuck out instead of trying to piece together how to do it "properly".
Checking out existing ready-made garments is a good bit of advice. Once I really started looking I realize just how many of those "imperfections" I worry about in my own sewing are there and rarely noticed by me in my ready made garments. I hate sewing stretching knits (especially necklines! ugh, so hard to make them lay flat) so I started buying slightly over sized shirts from second hand shops and then altering them to fit. Cut or seam rip side seams and sleeves and leave the neckline + shoulders intact. I'm repeatedly surprised once I have things disassembled and layout of my go-to T-shirt pattern on top to find just how wonky the originals are. Lots of wildly unsymmetrical pieces (and not just from wear and stretching--some second hand finds still had their original store tags on them). Side seam over an inch longer on one side, one sleeve way tighter than the other, not-so-straight seams, and so many loose threads.
The very fact that we now buy cheaply made, inexpensive clothing to wear in our daily lives is proof enough that perfection is beautiful to be sure, but enjoyment of the garment, no matter how well made, is far more important! Have fun y'all!
Thank you for your voice on this. I'm new to sewing (and so far am not doing historical, but may in future as I find history in general fascinating), and having someone be open about the fact it should be fun has made it so much more accessible. As someone with a chronic illness I don't have the energy or ability to worry about doing things perfectly or a specific way (especially if there's an easier option), and expecting or forcing myself to just added unnecessary barriers.
I'm that one masochist who enjoys teeny tiny hand stitching, crocheting miles of lace for garments, being generlaly meticulous and ultra precise. I went around my ass to get to the kettle to hunt down and acquire a 130 year old Cadorette CPW to learn how to spin. I also like taking thrifted $10 wedding gowns and crinolines and cobbling them into other projects. I'm taking old family quilting projects and turning them into quilted coats and petticoats. Like I said over on Shannon Makes' vid/post, I find that the drive for excellence gives me the enjoyment I wouldn't otherwise have without it. But that I teach my students to embrace their work no matter what it looks like, to be proud of what they've achieved, not what they think they should have achieved. (Yes, Im here from Shannon's vid 🥳)
Hey, I also love teeny tiny hand stitches! But those are for the projects where I want to sit and handsew to relax, not where I want to Make A Finished Thing On A Timeline.
@@SnappyDragon Valid!! I stopped taking on projects with hard deadlines after making my bestie's wedding dress last year 😅 I finished the stitching approximately 2 hours before the ceromony.
My grandmother, born 1889, when hurrying to put up a hem real quick or using a pin instead of a button would just shrug and say "It'll never be seen from the back of a trotting horse." If it got the job done, well, good enough. There were always other things to get done.
It was 2021, Texas was still in the middle of a terrible Pandemic, with the rest of the nation, but Texas was struck by both nature and political ineptitude when our power grid froze over for nearly two weeks. I was one of the lucky ones, I had power and an electric stove, so even though the pipes on the patio that fed our washing machine had burst, I knew I could do this! I heated the water, poured it in the tub, put the clothes in, shoved in a bit of laundry soap and began to try to agitate the water with a walking stick that had an apparatus to almost make it a small umbrella.... And then I wished I had not done all this because now I had to keep doing it after the first thirty seconds, and fck, fck fck fck, was it hard. The strength Laundry Day would have taken back in the day, I have felt in my bones, and my bones cannot endure. And then it was harder to remove the clothes-- small undergarments-- and hang them up, because even if it was just mens and womens underthings, they were just sooo heavy with the water. Honestly, torture, that was a new level of psychotic and physical torture to me, the "you can't stop, what will you do? All your unders are in here, you can't stop." and my body screaming for me to stop.
I'll fuss with French seams and hand finishing for stuff that I plan to wear (and wash!) until it wears out. For rough drafts, kids stuff and costumes, it's either raw or pinked unless it will show from the outside. Although, it is easier to practice new seam finishes on kids stuff as they have such shorter seams. My mom NEVER finished her seams and those 15 year old pj pants are going strong.
Kind of similar to how it worked historically! Chemise seams would need to be strongly finished to survive rough laundering, but a fine outer dress that would never be *washed* that way, it didn't matter
That's like even modern info telling you you have to perfectly match even the overcast thread. I got so fed up with that to the point I'm using any thread I got nearby for those bits and for anything no one will ever see.
two words: Fusable interfacing. If I can cheat and slap a machine-washable interfacing on something with an iron rather than using a non-washable interfacing on an otherwise washable garment, I will. I'm not going to wear something I have to send out to get cleaned. (also synthetic wool alternatives. But that's because I'm sensitive to wool)
The discussion around "Low skill" tasks being done by machine now really reminds me of a lot of conversation I'm seeing around AI today. In arts, in data, etc. It's interesting to watch the technology experience a similar cycle!
When my grandmother made her sampler for school, her mom had her count the threads, and when her teacher saw it she stared at it and said “that…was not necessary.” 65-ish years ago we were not having that!
I really appreciate this discussion, even outside of historical costuming. I grew up around sewers, and I really wanted to learn. So I started an extra curricular class when I was in 7th grade. But I dropped out before even finishing our first project cause the teacher would make me redo every stitch that was a bit crooked. It discouraged me for years, until I started learning the way that was right for me. Now, I give textile art classes at a local non-profit and I keep this experience in mind everytime: we don't have to be perfect, otherwise we won't get anywhere and we can't learn without trying!
I have made lots of historical clothes for myself and others. My hand sewing is mostly overcasting eyelets and attaching hooks and eyes. Machine sewing all the way.
I started sewing before I could read thanks to my mother & grandmother. To give you a sense of ages, I was born in 1964, my mother in 1922 and my grandmother in 1887. I learned on a sewing machine and it was very much treated the same as learning how to use a washing machine or how to cook. I do renaissance faires as a hobby and firmly believe the Elizabethans were a very practical people. If they'd had sewing machines they would have used them. My favorite "not supposed to be done that way" trick? For any top or shirt I sew just the shoulders together and lay the front and back out flat, then fit in the still flat sleeves. Once they are in I fold it in half at the shoulders and sew armpit to wrist and armpit to hem on both sides. It is much simpler than trying to ease in a constructed sleeve into an armhole.
As a hand knitter, I will reknit and reknit something to make it “right”. I will ALSO leave my ends unwoven in and just hanging loose because I just spent 2 months making a single sweater and I want to wear it NOW. Not one will see my unfinished inside. I’m sure if you look at a lot of hand knit garments, you might find the same situation. 😅
Okay i have this picture in my head of the Victorian person trying to generate enough electricity for the machine, perhaps by getting family to ride one of those electricity producing bicycles.
Or that the mains generates a different current, and now she has to move 4 streets over to get the right one. Maybe that only happened in Britain though. Before the grid we had lots of small energy producers all doing their own thing with current and voltage. It ment you had to rebuy all your electronics if you'd moved house. It's one of the reasons that they didn't really catch on here till later.
As I sit switching between fake french-seaming, overcasting, and like... mattress stitching? the laughably frayed, huge seam allowances of my rectangular construction, thrifted-cotton-flannel tunic with thrifted thread and lace insets like it's 1909, I am so grateful that you continue creating grounding, historical, and affirming sewing content. Absolute mensch.
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! After working with heirloom children's garments for many years - including tutoring under one of the best restorers in the area (150 year old christening gown that's been stored in an attic that you'd like to use in your own child's christening in 3 weeks? No problem!) - this speaks to me. This same woman - while hand restoring French hand-sewn laces - and creating bullion roses that would make your eyes water - TAUGHT our French-handsewing by machine class. Why? Because while it's an amazing art (that she also taught by hand for the record) to be able to hand-finish all of these things, she'd just as soon see her full-time-working, Hands-always-full-but-commited-to-sewing clients making pieces they loved and were proud of and NOT AFRAID TO USE! I love the call for the community to take off the self-judgy pants, do what works in that time or that moment, continue to learn and grow and HAVE FUN!!!
@@SnappyDragon what I remember most was about lace insertion and how to piece together the laces, and then insert them but covered all of French seaming etc (not hand-felling obviously) and a lot of the stitch length and tension requirements to sew these fabrics by machine without destroying them! I need to try to go find my notes - if I can I’ll gladly get them your way!
Excellent as always. I don't make garments, but I make quilts as a hobby. I feel this. I machine piece everything because why do I want to spend extra time on structural seams no one sees? I machine bind because I suck at the hand stiches and at that stage I'm ready to move on to the next project anyway. I hand quilt for family and friends because it is my way of saying you are special. It takes 10s of hours to finish even a simple lap quilt this way. I also don't have a longarm and trying to get anything bigger than a placemat under my domestic is a nightmare. If I'm going to do the whole process for the few worth it to me I have to do it this way. I can see people of the past doing a similar cost-benefit calculation. Quilts were first and foremost standard household utility items.
For me, the making is the fun part, and that includes doing things how they would have been done at the time, as far as possible. Most of the wool Viking kit I have is entirely hand-sewn with thread I spun myself, usually on a spindle. I'm currently in the middle of building a warp-weighted loom because I want to do sheep-to-garment for a low-status Viking kyrtle and I want to nålebind a pair of socks to the same gauge as the York Sock. I also want to make an outfit on each of my antique sewing machines suitable for around the year of manufacture, and there I'm looking forward to finding a use for every one of the fancy feet that came with them. I own an overlocker but I hate using it for anything but quick-and-dirty cosplay because sometimes the way overlocked seams feel gives me the heebs. I have to wear my purchased pyjama bottoms inside out because of it when that happens, so rather than overlocking something I'll wear multiple times, I'd rather leave the seams unfinished for a wearing or two and finish them properly when I have time. Mostly, it's that I like having had the experience of doing it the way they would have had to do it and it makes me value the garment more. But if it's not fun for me, I won't do it - I don't like the way unspun flax feels, so I don't spin it. Even if I'll still sew it by hand, I'm more than happy to buy linen thread and fabric and that hand-woven kyrtle will be worn over a linen layer that may well be machine sewn. And I'll probably have modern knickers on under that. Do I want to spin and weave *all* the cloth for our Viking kit? Hell no! I have a job and the internet and brightly-dyed fibre I want to spin up to knit with and so on. I want to do it at least *once*, but my weaving will probably be terrible (hence low-status kit) and I'm pretty sure I'll make a hash of using those fancy feet as well, but the original garments I have are pretty iffy in places, and it's about having done it, not making it perfect. Also with the Viking kit, most of what I've got planned is high-status, and as I understand it, chances are such women had people to do the basic spinning and weaving *for* them, so there I think it's *more* accurate for me to buy the fabric and thread and to put my effort into the fancy - and more enjoyable - things like the tablet weaving, which the women would have used as a way of showing off what they had the skill - and time - to do.
side note: It makes sense for us to have both low and high status kit for reenactment because different tasks go with them. If my fella's dressed in high-status kit, it doesn't make sense for him to be doing the cooking (and nobody wants me doing it!) and it doesn't make sense for me to be weaving basic cloth if I'm wearing high-status kit, just as it doesn't make sense for him to take a sword onto the battlefield if he's wearing low-status kit or for me to be doing fancy tablet-weaving (or just sitting around doing nothing much) if I am. So plan is for us to have both, so that we can slip into the tent to change clothes to suit what we need/want to be doing at the time. I'm also planning a nun, so I can wander about looking generally disapproving of everything, which is what my face does anyway when I get peopled out, so might as well make clothes to go with it!
THANK YOU!! I am so frequently stymied by my perfectionism, although believe me, nothing is hand stitched except the occasional hem. I love that you call this “playing dress-up” and that this hobby is meant to be fun, joyful. I needed to hear this so badly today! Thank you.
I focus on getting the outside of the garment to look how I want, then the insides depend entirely on how much energy I have. Worst case scenario is zig-zagging the edges together and calling it done, which is perfectly fine! On days when I can't leave bed I might hand-fell some seams, while on high energy days I might decide to french seam everything.
On exactly one garment have I ever bound seam allowance. I made it out of clearance holiday damask tablecloths. That was the most ravely fabric ever. By the time I was done I hated that dress. I wore it once and not for the event I made it for.
I’m so glad you and other fashion historians are debunking the idea that people in the past were all perfectionists.
It's about time! Like another commenter said, for a while there was definitely a trend of doing the opposite, and I am happy to do my part to reverse it and make this hobby feel less scary.
@@SnappyDragonhear hear
Not just fashion historians, Tod at Tod's workshop had a video on this topic about 2 months ago.
I used to be a sewing teacher and one thing I consistently told my students was “I’m teaching you the how and the why behind the rules so you know when to break them” and “historically adequate is perfectly fine - as long as you’re happy with the final product, we’re all good”
Good wisdom! Your students are lucky to have had such a grounded teacher.
In college, there were loud voices in the costuming world, insisting every period garment was tailored perfection. Then I went on a study trip to Japan. I was delighted to see a high class Kamakura (medieval) outfit on display in Kyoto. The construction stitches were visible over a meter away.
I definitely still hear those voices, although they are getting fainter! I wonder if me and my crummy eyesight could see those stitches too . . .
@@SnappyDragon They we’re two stitches per inch if not larger. You might be able to see them if the clothes are still on display.
Kimono was made to be picked apart everytime you washed it. Tbh, I have no clue why. If you watch someone had stitch one together, it's basically 5 minutes of basting for a 6 foot seam
OMG, THANK YOU!
I took an 18thc dressmaking class through Burnley & Trowbridge over the Plague, and everyone was shockd when Brooke showed us how the extant gowns were made. Random bits! Huge stitches in lining and non-load bearing seams! The ladies who had been sewing perfectly for ages and made everything really perfect inside and out were like "I can't! It has to be perfect inside!" And I was like "yaaaaay! looks like how I normally finish stuff! I can screw up and make a little tuck/patch/random whatever and it's JUST FINE!"
Love B&T! I haven't taken any of their classes, but I am delighted and not at all surprised that they're so well-informed and down to earth.
Oh man, looking at extant garments is WILD. Those things are a mess inside and I love it. The seams are ugly, the sleeves are just slapped in, it’s beautiful.
And it survived for centuries so clearly it works.
I learned to sew in 4-H, and was judged for it at the county fair. Then I started doing community theater, where the advice I was given was "if you can't see it from a moving horse, you're not going to see it on the stage".
That rule carried with me when I started with the SCA and even now for the things I make for everyday.
"It'll never be seen from the back of a galloping horse!" Such a good phrase, and so true. I remember being told by a theater costumer that I was working for, "you're sewing too nicely! Just slam that thing through the machine so you can move to the next thing!" It was a revelation to me that even the thread color didn't need to match the fabric, for theater costumes. Any dark color thread will be perfectly fine for sewing any color (except white and pastels) fabric; any color differences won't be visible from the front row!
I have always thought that machine stitching is historically "accurate" for any century, because if sewists from the pre-industrial age had access to sewing machines, they would have absolutely used them! Probably with lots of top stitching!
I'm reminded of Bernadette Banner's point about historical accuracy in films and how it's actually impossible to achieve--the very materials that people of the past used are often no longer available to us.
The quality of linen, for example. By the end of the 19th century, the center of the fine linen trade was in Belgium. Then WW1 happened and wiped out those strains of flax, and thus the linen that could be made from them.
If anything it's more important to finish everyday clothes well... because they need to go in the washing machine!! Historical costumes for current wearers (I'm guessing) don't need to put up with so much hard wear... (except for the small number of people who live in historical dress as daily wear).
(I like doing enclosed seam finishes, they slow me down, which is a good thing, as sewing is as much a mental health practice as anything else, and slow sewing helps keep my material consumption down).
And to paraphrase Sewstine... if you have electric light, good health, and have been vaccinated, you aren't being historically accurate! So don't sweat it.
Precisely! I feel like historical people had a much more keenly calibrated idea of just how much wear and tear a certain garment was going to take, and therefore what kind of finishing work was actually worth doing.
I've done a similar thing with hand-felling all the seams on my pajamas. Machine-overcast seam allowances are fine for me most of the time, but if I am going to sleep in something? I want every bit of comfort I can get.
@@SnappyDragon so daily wear shifts/chemises are worth immaculate finishing (as next to the skin, get lots of washing); posh frocks only need functional finishing.
Not a fashion historian, but correct me if I'm wrong: in certain types of garments and cultures, wasn't it typical that if you *had* to wash an entire garment, you literally had to take it apart or take off the delicate bits, so the fabric wouldn't be torn or wear at the seams? I'm thinking of traditional kimono specifically - I would assume fast sewing of simple seams would be the order of the day in such cases.
@catherinew1 That's my understanding, yeah! Anything that's going to be *washed* rather than spot-cleaned will need more hardcore finishing.
@hopeofdawn I have heard this, yes! But I know very little about those practices, so maybe someone else can weigh in.
The most freeing thing for me was hearing the phrase "piecing is period". Especially when it comes to lining garments, it's not always important to have a single, giant piece of fabric to cut the panels from. (This is also why my costumes are a hobby, not a career. I would feel weird selling a garment with pieced lining or less than perfect finishing, but I'll absolutely *wear* one if I made it.)
“Don’t let perfection be the enemy of fun” goddamn I needed to hear that 😭 I’m deep in con crunch and feel like I’m losing my mind trying to make everything perfect, when really I’m doing this for fun. I’m not competing with anything I’m working on right now, and I just want to play dress up :)
Is it for Dragon Con? Because I have to sew my last DC item today. I’m doing a zero waste adjustable skirt from The Stitchery’s channel.
that goes double for con crunch - because how many times have we utterly exhausted ourselves in the week leading up to the con, that we can't even have fun at the event?
I started making myself take the day before the con off. Con starts on friday? Wednesday is my last day to work on things, and Thursday is recovery and rest. I want to enjoy the events! Not be falling alseep in the panel rooms
My mom taught me how to sew by hand, and she had learned from her mother, who was a seamstress in the 1920's & '30's.
My proudest moment was after making a shirt (on machine), my grandmother complimented me on how well it was put together.
I told her it was machine stitched, and she said "it's not the machine, it's the attention to detail".
But what I was proudest of was that she said that my hand-sewn buttonholes were "the best she'd ever seen", pretty high praise from a lady that had been a seamstress, and didn't drop compliments lightly.
She did fuss a bit about my seam allowances being too short, but only because short allowances fray more easily.
My grandmother seemed all my girl cousin's Barbie clothes, and they were some of the most fashionable Barbies you ever saw.
That was over fifty years ago.
My grandma was *thrilled* her youngest grandson was interested in seeing, and I got her sewing machine after she passed.
As an educator at a historic site, I ask myself these questions a lot! Will the general public notice or care if there's machine stitching on this 1820s dress? Probably not. But do I have a responsibility to make it as accurate as I can regardless? Great question!! I enjoy hand finishing, and I usually compromise by only using my sewing machine on seams not visible from the outside, but then again I make up for it in my personal wardrobe by being an impatient chaos gremlin. Good enough is indeed good enough.
I think if you're educating the public, there's a totally different set of considerations than if you're making costumes or clothes for yourself to wear personally. But yes, I doubt anyone is going to notice machine construction-- and if they're close enough to look, they're too close!
Greetings, fellow chaos gremlin!
I used to sew professionally for theatre and had to learn quickly that perfectionism is the enemy of getting it on stage. Also, that detail that you spent SO MUCH time on, it can't even be seen from the front row. Not that I would encourage anyone to work in theatre, but it did teach a lot about efficiency and what actually matters.
More recently, I had to rebuild part of a Baroque outfit. The dress (a mantua) is striped, and I made sure those pleats were perfectly arranged, because the narrow stripes make it obvious. They're held down with mediocre running stitches, though, because those aren't structural seams, and it looks completely fine-actually, I think they look better loosely stitched together, more like those pleats are just ironed in place instead of nailed down.
The underskirt is a solid color, and the pleats are completely slapdashed because I was running out of time. I promise you, no one else has ever noticed, they just see the luxe-looking fabric and how it moves.
Lol yes. I got roped into school plays when the kid was in school. (I couldn't say no to the school secretary when she said " V said you sewed really interesting things, we are so excited you are doing the costumes! " what? Wait the kid volunteered me?). I quickly learned the step back 20 feet and can you see it if they run. So different from historical competitions!
It seems like a lot of the skill (then and now) was in figuring out what parts of the dress were worth spending the time and energy on, and what could be done quickly and "adequately" so you had time to get the important parts right.
I suspect that a lot of the "peicework" basting that was taken home by workers was actually getting distributed to kids in the family to finish. IMO that is the only way the amount of work could be possible. We are still struggling to stop exploitive labor and child labor in the fashion industry even with having sewing machine, overlockers and other tools. We may have clothing finishes of higher quality, but workers today are still being exploited like they were in the past. Machines don't make our clothes - people do. When we make clothes ourselves we can appreciate how much effort is actually involved. I choose designs that fit and flatter instead of settling for yet another poorly fitted garment made cheaply by poor people in slums. We are not different than the Victorians : just the slums are farther away now.
I was a dresser at a theme park one summer. We had a director who insisted the ice show plaid poodle skirts line up perfectly. We did so, then shocker, had to alter them for the performers. The head of costuming had to step in and professionally tell her off
I am so glad someone is saying this!! It applies to all aspects of life. I had a friend tell me that she NEVER uses a mixer to make bread. Good for her but it doesn't diminish my homemade items if I do use a machine, especially if it means that it saves my arthritic, scoliosis back from "back-breaking" work. My dad tells the story of when his grandmother spent her own hard-earned money to bring electricity into the house in the 1950s or early 60s. Her husband complained about the waste of money, because they had always managed before just fine with wood for heat and cooking, lamps, etc... She replied that she was tired of working so hard and it was HER money after all. I remind myself of this often, that our foremothers would have absolutely used every bit of modern machinery that they possibly could. I too love a beautifully finished seam(I am learning from all of you lovely creators who kindly share your talents and research) but I think that everyone should absolutely do what makes them happy. Thankyou for your wonderful videos!!
Even people in the past didn’t necessarily knead their bread dough by hand, especially when baking a large batch. They used different tools than us, or even their feet (wash them first!), but they knew that kneading a dough enough to develop the gluten properly is hard work and doing it by hand isn’t necessary or even the best way to get a good result.
My mother and aunts joyfully tossed their knitting needles and irons when cheap socks and polyester cotton came on the market. According to my mother I must have been out of my mind to start knitting socks.
@@ragnkja Exactly! Easier work meant that more could be accomplished.
@lenabreijer1311 I love knitting, because it's for enjoyment. But if you did it out of necessity rather than enjoyment, I could absolutely understand giving it up.
I make exactly two kinds of bread : Challah, which gets kneaded in the stand mixer within an inch of its life (and the stand mixer's too). And, dead-nuts-easy no-knead bread which gets nothing at all done between the ingredients being combined, and being shoved in the oven.
Kneading by hand is fun if I want a workout, or to blow off steam (by singing kneading shanties at the top of my lungs) . . . but not otherwise!
Here's the thing: I love the sort of perfectionist handsewing detail that jerks like to enforce. I love switching out my waxed linen thread for silk on the visible seams and impeccably felled down inner seams (though I will argue about stitch length with people). This is because I try to make hardwearing historical garb that can go camping, sit on the ground, get soaked, cook over a campfire, tromp through the woods, and go into the wash afterwards. I love the original practice problem solving aspect of historical sewing.
But this is me! For my garb! Fabric is expensive, I like working with Nice fabric, so I like taking my time with it and handsewing while I watch TV! When I needed a quick costume for a group thing, I pulled out the cheapest fabric that worked and the sewing machine and got to it, zigzagging the snot out of it (and still overfinishing stuff, but mostly out of habit. For anyone else, it's totally up to them! It all depends on what the goal for the garment is :)
(My one high recommendation, because I ignored it when other people gave me this advice and I learned it the hard way: if you're working with linen and want your garment to last, finish the seams. How is up to you, but they do ravel, especially in the washing machine, and it's annoying when your otherwise good piece falls apart at the seam and you don't have enough fabric to fix it)
Absolutely this! I love being able to have flexible goals depending on WHY I'm making something. I have a Medieval gown right now that is not only being hand-sewn, but with wool yarn instead of linen thread because it's with a Jewish wearer in mind and I wanted to see how that changed the process. Meanwhile, the plain kirtle to go under the gown? Gonna be machine-sewn with cotton, because I've hand-sewn a rectangular kirtle once and I don't need to do it again.
I remember during one antique dress analysis (maybe on Abby Cox's channel), where she was looking at a formal-ish piece and the outside was very nice and detailed and the inside lining was a mess of haphazard hand stitching, and I've taken that with me ever since
Another factor was undergarments. If you're wearing a chemise, a corset, a bodice cover, a full slip, then the lack of smooth finishing is not going to affect wear or comfort.
Thank you. I'm still a beginner sewist and costumer and I'm glad I decided at the outset to go for "accurate enough". I recently finished a petticoat with my first attempt at lace insertion and while the inside looks pretty bad, I'm pleased with how the outside lace insertion came out. Who the heck is going to see the inside of my petticoat??
Anyone who's looking at the inside of your petticoat better have other priorities (or be about to receive a kick to the head).
This is really important. Veteran cosplayer here and what's funny is the costumes people have loved the most, weren't the ones I did hundreds of hours on, it was the silly quick and dirty ones. The people who are shady about xyz "bad practice" usually also never finish anything because they are too busy worrying about how they must be irl, what Bernadette banner portrays in her videos.
You know i often think with these things, if I would whine about my uneven or large stitches to my late great grandma who saw both world wars, one of Europe’s worst civil wars, hunger and poverty in a developing nation there would be a zero percentage change that she wouldn’t dec my ass and tell me to knit a pair of socks.
I usually finish my seams by pinking them with pinking shears, which was a common mid century practice and the way I learned when I was a kid. Since I line dry my handmade clothes, the seams are perfectly adequate. I do French seams on sheer fabrics, but otherwise I can't be bothered to do fancy finishes.
LOVE pinking shears! I gotta remember to use them more, the fancy scalloped pair I own have been sitting forlorn and unloved since 2020.
I rarely even bother finishing my seams, especially if something is lined. I've had a dresses that I wear regularly and machine wash and dry last for years that way. I honestly always thought the fuss over finished seams was a cosmetic thing, this video taught me it was practical. 🤷♀️
I’m a middle Eastern dancer, and French seaming is great for sheer fabrics that fray. But UGH! So much extra work!
But when it’s a dance costume or veil, it has to be strong, so I suck it up and ad do the French seam.
Even though it’s TWICE THE WORK. 😭
My mom was a pinker! It really made a difference and wasn't fussy.
I love French seams. Since I learned how to do them, I use them on everything... I didn't spend all that time and energy learning them to not use them 😆
Or I'll just cover seams with binding because I stress too much about them fraying.
My mum sewed for herself me my 2 elder sisters and made shirts for dad and my 3 brothers. She used cotton, cut out with pinking shears, and only seem finished adult clothing. She also knitted for us all in rotation and reused the wool from out grown jumpers. Cardigans and things brought from jumble sales.
All my dresses and bousers growing up had at least 18 months to 2 years growing room in pintucks that could be unpicked before the wash and ironed out .
This was in the late 50s and 60s must say she worked morning, afternoons and evenings, and the only time she sa5 without sewing or knitting in her hands was when we went to church.
I love to look at photos of my childhood and admire her handiwork
This sounds incredibly practical! If you're sewing to clothe your family, that's exactly the sort of thing I would expect.
I went through a knitting and crocheting phase and it's amazing how you get accustomed to having something you're working on when in front of the TV or just conversing. I got to the point that, if I didn't have a project going for some reason, it felt weird to have nothing to work on!
This reminded me of my school's parade uniforms.
They are the fanciest, but have no lining, huge hems that are just serged and single folded in place, or double folded when they are too big, and all the seams have huge seam allowances with the pieces individually serged.
Seems really badly done but it is actually really pratical:
You wear these things once a year and every year you just adjust it quickly to fit you again, and all the pretty decorations are still in place.
That sounds practical indeed!
If I hand stitched all of my historical clothes, I wouldn't even have a whole outfit yet and my carpal tunnel would have gotten really bad much sooner than it did!
I usually only hand stitch if it's going to change the construction of the garment or it's one of the few things that is easier or only possible by hand
Done is better than perfect :D
I prefer to fell seems over serging. I know the serging is easy and effective but man I just love how felling looks.Yes, no body will see it but it looks nice to me and the seam allowance isn't flapping around inside.
For me it’s mostly a sensory issue. I won’t ever serge anything I’ll be wearing against my skin, but that’s because it feels too scratchy to me. Anything that isn’t worn against the skin, or that is worn by someone who isn’t as sensitive as I am, can _absolutely_ be serged and I have no issues with it, it’s just not my preference when it comes to things that go against _my_ skin.
I do this too, especially on stuff I am hand-sewing. My goals tend to shift with every project though, so there's still plenty of machine-overcasting that happens when I want something *done* rather than to enjoy the long process of making it.
My favorite non-perfect way to sew is to use the finished edged of thrifted sheets as my hems on petticoats as often as I can. Or to use hand sewn eyelets for a lace up closure on a more modern dress because I hate installing zippers.
YESSSSS. I'm about to turn some old linen duvet covers from a friend into Ren Faire costumes, and I will be doing this as much as possible!
Zippers are the bane of my sewing existence!!!
Somehow we always forget that people in the past were still people. Just like today, some people were perfectionists and some people just needed it to be good enough.
Great video. There are so many things in life (parenting, marriage, where you live, where you work, cooking, personal faith, politics, etc...and now it would seem, sewing) that others tell you if you're not doing it their way, you're wrong. Don't give a crap what others say or tell you what to do. Live your life, find your joy and if someone tells you you're doing it wrong, smile and walk away. They ain't worth your time.
Hear hear!
Karolina Zebrowska made a 50s gathered skirt in a totally chaotic way, and people were coming for her. But it. Looked. Great. On. And it made her happy. What else matters?
Finally, someone pointing out what should be obvious: people are people and always have been, i.e. among the many women who sewed their family clothes, there would be all the spectrum from love of sewing to a total annoyance about it - nowadays, we have a choice - and I'm pretty sure the annoyed extreme would show their daughters how to sew from the moment they could hold a needle. I go through sewing phases. I try to make clothing based on patterns from a french magazine from the mid-19thC to early-20thC, so there's one size and one has to adapt it to one's measurements (yes, I do like a challenge). Needless to say, what occurred to me as I played with these patterns, was that there probably were many women like me with a basic knowledge of sewing, having to fudge their way through making clothes. As for stitching, I enjoy hand-sewing, but I use the machine for anything long or if I'm pressed for time. My productions would definitely not be of the standard of commercial clothes, but hey, they're for me, so that's fine. I tell myself that there were probably many women who did as good a job as me or worse. When I have the time, I do make lovely, perfect little stitches (it's very relaxing), and I do like a 'perfectly' stitched, neat cornered, well finished item. More often than not, I just want to see what skirt or shirt or chemise the pattern will produce (after having had me guestimate just about everything). Tons of fun.
I found out recently that french seams are called english seams in french.... The lowest of the low in a sewing place - a dressmaker's shop, for instance, is called "la petite main" meaning the little hand and is the person who does all the tedious, 'no skill required' kind of work. Probably, young sewists wanting to some day have their own dress-making business and in an apprenticeship.
Thanks for another interesting and well-presented video.
I feel like I hold myself back from projects because I'm scared I can't do them perfectly right off that bat (and bc disabilities get in the way). I know I'm probably not the only one to feel this way so on behalf of us, thank you for saying this.
My ADHD and long Covid fatigue means that I’ve had the fabric for my Dragon Con skirt for three weeks. And I only washed it three days ago.
And I haven’t even cut it. But ADHD also means crunch time=productive. I have to pack Wednesday, and this weekend is my only time to sew.
Joann opens in two hours, and I’ll buy my thread and get to sewing immediately. Because I’m out of time to worry and obsess! 😂
I would love to try relearning to sew, but the fear of investing money and time (and possible cat aggravation) to not be able to do it well enough to make wearable clothes has me paralyzed. I'm on SSDI and genuinely don't have money to sink like that, plus disabilities that might affect my ability to even do it. I had to give up making jewelry because of arthritis and carpal tunnel combined with vision problems.
@@maryeckel9682hey I'd encourage you to do it. A lot of my best garments were things like an old tablecloth or some repurchased bedsheets. What I tell people trying to learn though is I'd you have something you love that doesn't fit properly, start by taking it in or hemming something. You don't need the best sewing machine, just a functional one off fb marketplace. Beyond that, you really only need scissors, thread, pins, and needles.
I absolutely love this!! It reminds me that people have always been people. I recently took apart my cloak and added a lining. Did I roughly attempt to make the pieces match up? Yes. Did I take the time to have the lining stretch out? Nope. Is the hem level? Also no. But is it done and cozy and incredibly long and drapey and has a lining of my favorite color? Yes 😁
Sounds like it does everything you need it to, and is therefore a good cloak!
A friend owns two Balenciaga coture dresses from the early 60s. The seam allowance is pinked and raw. There are NO LININGS. Lining wasn't done until quite recently.
It makes total sense! Interlining/flatlining has a structural purpose, but bag lining just takes up a lot of extra fabric and labor. So if that fabric is costly and you don't have a reason to do it . . . why bother?
I do not enjoy hand sewing and I use my sewing machine for as much as possible, I was absolutely THRILLED when I figured out how to sew on 2-hole and 4-hole buttons using my machine...it actually got me to finally re-attach all my loose and escaped buttons to multiple garments that I had stopped wearing.
Side note: it bugs me when people say "I don't know how to sew. I can't even attach a button!" My first thought is usually that I do know how to sew, but I'm lousy at buttons 🤷♀
I'll frequently "finish" interior seams by running fray check down the edge. These are cosplays, so they're not getting super heavily worn, that's how I can get away with it.
Fray check is MAGICAL. And it's not like historical dressmakers never used similar stuff! I remember a really cool video about a Chinese seam-finishing paste made from starch.
My first historical handsewn garment had teeny-tiny perfect nearly invisible finishing stitches but as I've handsewed more, my stitches have gotten larger. Not so much because I don't want to do tiny ones, but because I've experientially learned how small stitches actually have to be to function.
I think that's the sort of knowledge people in the past would have had. "This is exactly how small a stitch needs to be to do its job, I will make it that small and NO SMALLER"
This is why you should do all your historical sewing by candlelight, without your glasses and with chilled hands. Proper random mistakes and don't-care-it-workses.
💯💯💯
Hahaha that gag with the victorian seamstress snitching your machine was gold 😂😂😂
SO much fun to film 🤣
"This is a beautiful prototype, I love it" she whispered as she disregared finishing the seams
When the p@nd3mic hit and JordanCon 2020 had to be canceled, I decided to learn blind hemstitch and hand-sew the shawl for my Victorian Tinker costume. After all, I was going to have a whole year instead of a couple of weeks.
I did it, and it took forever. And it looks good. I had the time. And now I can hand-sew a blind hemstitch if I must.
Unless I really NEED to do it, you can bet I machine stitch everything. But in the event it’s impractical to machine-sew something, now I can do it by hand and have it look good.
It's good to have the whole range of skills, so you can *decide* what suits your goals best!
My two favorite "good enough" finishes: using raw selvedge on the center back zipper seam (it has to be perfectly straight for the zipper anyway), and my "impatient woman's French seam" where I turn the seam allowances in on each other, iron generously, and zig-zag stitch over the top of it all.
Yes! Do what is fun for you! Personally, making the garment is more of a priority than wearing it. Yes, some of us actually WANT to spend way too many hours handstiching, but if you dont, then great!
My favorite “not perfect” sewing technique is completely unfinished seam allowances…a 1/2” of linen or cotton (with a normal to tight weave) realistically doesn’t fray to the point of the garment falling apart, even with repeated machine washing. I love a clean finish but sometimes time and/or energy does not allow. Thank you for this video!
"If you use random thrifted fabrics and slap together patterns on the floor..."
I have never felt so seen in the historical clothing community! (Or seen there at all.)
And THIS is why I needed to make this video. Costuming community is missing out if folks don't feel seen!
Yours is one of several sites mentioned by Shannon Makes in her episode about perfectionism. I'm so glad I checked you out--love all you rcomments. In my teens, I sewed my clothes, in my 20s I sewed clothes for my husband and kids. Then I moved on to other needlecrafts, primarily crocheting. About 20 yrs ago, when I retired, I finally had time to join a quilting group making quilts for charity. I quickly became a self taught scrap quilter. We were assured that "misakes "Make it our own" or that the "quilt police" aren't coming . I'm seldom led to redo something I'm making for charity cause I realize that a non-quilter will probably NEVER see my lack of perfection as long as the item is well made enough to stay together. Thank you for your video on Perfectionism. I feel so much better about my own lack of perfection.
I just posted this on @shannonmakes' video on perfectionism, applies here though! I do consider myself a perfectionist, but only when it comes to my own endeavors. And even then, I know perfect doesn't actually exist. I use it to drive me to do my best and keep learning rather than to beat myself up with not achieving perfect. I hold no one but myself to my standards. Historically adequate is my mantra on anything that might be done with a historical inspo or bent, we can hypothesize all we like about how things were done 'back then' but we weren't there. We can't know for sure how accurate something was, so unless you're being judged (like, in a contest or something like that) for how close you got, who cares how you got there? So many people are just way to hung up on how other people do things. Stay in your lane and lift others up by admiring how hard they worked on that item and how well they did with it. Don't nitpick someone else's work unless they ask you to. (I do ask for it sometimes because I want to get better at the thing and I have friends that are more experienced in sewing than me.) Remember what we all learned as little kids, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".
I find a great deal of joy in hand-stitched buttonholes and seams enclosed with invisible stitches...
but if there is ANY way to avoid ironing in the middle of a project, I will find that way. I have pressed seams between plastic storage boxes and set them next to the tub while I showered to avoid dragging out the ironing board.
🤣🤣🤣 one of the reasons I love handsewing linen : i can just finger-press instead of ironing! You want me to get up off the couch in the middle of my evening? NOPE.
Thank you for this video! When I first started sewing during the pandemic, there were many costubers and dress historians that pushed the idea of historical accuracy. It was so overwhelming at the time, and took some joy out of the sewing process for me in my beginning stages.
Fortunately, some costubers have been pushing against that, with examples of extant garments. I also like when they point out that fine, tiny hand stitching actually _wouldn’t_ have been the most accurate for the time period in question.
It was definitely the norm when I first started watching costuming videos, in 2018 or so. Happy that it's changing!
This brings me to something that used to annoy me considerably.
I am a larper and I've been for all my adult life, but I still remember a conversation I had in my first larp. We were sitting around the fire having a meal (my character was a bard so I travelled around many different camps) and someone started criticizing the fact that my overtunic was woven out of very thick wool (knitting wool essentially - this was in Sweden as as someone who grew up in Portugal I found the Swedish climate very cold) and had visible machine stitching.
I just remembered saying that we were currently eating potatoes and there are orcs over there if you want to complain about historicity.
I have been working for a while to try to bring Larping to Portugal and part of what I am trying very hard to create is a welcoming experience for people who are entering the hobby and learning how to sew - i don't want people to be discouraged and to give up on something that brings them joy - its like you said, the point is we are here to have fun.
TLDR: sew your projects however you want, and mind ya business xD love this vid!!
My Granny, born in 1897, taught me, the youngest granddaughter out of her eight kids (all raised in the Depression), how to sew by making six year old me a rag doll and giving me patterns made out of newspaper to make her clothes with. I imagine this was how they used to teach young girls to sew in her day. Bonus - I sewed some of them on her treadle machine, which I still own and use. This was back when we trusted small children to use sharp objects and not do something stupid, or at least learn what not to do from our mistakes! 😂
You only sew over your finger once before taking more care! My Mum's attitude to most childhood hazards (no risk of permanent damage or major injury) was "they'll only do it once wont they?"
According to one of the books I looked at, making doll clothes was considered one of the best ways for children to learn basic dressmaking.
I am a very novice sewist that doesn't do historical fashion (yet, because one day I'd like to play dress up) but from "historical sewing" I've picked leaving big seam allowances so my clothes can be refitted and felling because I love handsewing.
I find it really relaxing so it’s my prefered method for making small alterations on modern clothes and especially sheer ones.
I find hand-sewing really relaxing too! I have a current project that is literally just an excuse to do as much fussy hand-work as possible.
@@SnappyDragon my mum went on vacation a couple weeks ago. She had very long white linen pants she wanted to wear so I shortened the hem with almost invisible felling and not only did I have fun but I made them so practical for her that she wore them a bunch.
It felt great 😁
My husband and I are in the process of going through and disposing of two storage units of his family's stuff. As well as the aftermath of losing my father and much of his household stuff that found its way into our house and garage. We found husband's grandmother's fabric stash during the Covid lockdown and it included some abundant but low quality linen. I really wanted to try out a linen pillowcase but my sewing machine has been inaccessible for a fair few years now. After watching a few hand sewing videos, I went for it and now I have a yellow linen pillowcase that took me a week to make by working on it while watching TV in the evenings.
If I'd waited for my machine to reappear, I still wouldn't have my pillowcase which I love and plan to make some more of. I'd try doing sheets, but the fabric is vintage and only 36" wide. I'm thinking of making a lightweight summer "blanket" or coverlet out of it, though.
Because of my sensory issues I adore felling seams over any finishing style that leaves a loose bit of fabric to flap around. That said I didn’t mark a single thing after the center points on the gathers in the front of my first wedding dress. It’s chaos around here. 😂
I've complained in the comments before that I'm not a great seamstress so thanks for the reminder that perfection is the enemy of good enough.
Finishing seams and other inside-the-garment tidiness is really important to me because if something's itchy or awkwardly bulky I won't be able to think about anything else all day, but this video is such a great reminder that the ways I construct good-feeling garment insides don't necessarily have to be good-looking as well. Freedom! Also: that modern dress is so so cute!
Hey V, thank you for this. When I was in design school, I would cry on my sister's shoulder (really), because I was so anxious and exhausted, trying to perfect my drawings and finished projects. I did learn there is a time and a place for final draft, or when your seams should be hand finished. You mentioned how many historic dress sewists are perfectionistic. Finishing hand seams can be very satisfying, but can also feed a big OCD monster, which, I suspect, is very present in several historic dress YT channels. Final note, be kind to yourself, and if you are anxious about your project, find solutions that work to complete the project to the level needed, but where you can keep your sanity! After all, you show examples of finished works that have seriously rough internal finishing, but the outside is lovely (mostly). Those sewists knew where to cut corners or where to spend their time and energy. BTW, found this clip that works perfectly for this topic: th-cam.com/video/wVoT5AXLN2U/w-d-xo.html
I have a cotton flannel nightie I handsewn as a young teen that I still wear today over 25 years later. It was cut on the biased as a project to learn about grainline. The seams are unfinished, maybe 4 stitches to a inch on a running backstitch or whipstitch on most of the garment. The only spot I did tiny backstitches was in the under arms. It is probably the most worn garment out of everything I own. Outside of adjusting the straps and replacing elastic for size changes, it hasn't needed to be repaired. At this point as ratty as the fabric has gotten I have kept it around because It was comfortable, my first truly wearable garment, and it is a reminder that a garment don't need to be perfect to be awesome.
Ahhh that's so cool! Makes me wonder what my first makes are going to look like in 25 years 🤣
I usually hand fell seams, but that's just because I enjoy it and really like how it looks. I'm a perfectionist in general, not just when I'm sewing
When I sew most of the time I cannot be bothered changing the thread to anything but black or white. This makes the stitches visible, but I cannot be bothered finding a matching thread for every project.
My grandma, who taught me to sew, preferred to use her machine and serger for everything possible. She was able to sew for enjoyment, but she also definitely sewed for necessity, and it showed--when possible, she even sewed the buttons on by machine. I learned how to stitch in the ditch for linings from her, and only switched to hand-finishing them as an adult when I realized I preferred that. I enjoy doing the hand-finishing on garments, and tend to use my machine for the long seams or for sewing knits, although I definitely use my serger to overlock edges when that's more convenient than doing it by hand.
I work in historic reenactment, about 1840-1890. Sometimes I just don't have time to sew outside of work, so I end up hand sewing and finishing everything between guests. It's very satisfying, I recently made a blouse that way. However, sometimes I need it YESTERDAY, like with a couple linen dresses for summer in Texas. In that case, ALL the stitches are by machine, zigzag finish and no lining. They're holding up fine.
Hand-sewing is GREAT for when you just need something to keep your hands busy!
I love that you have the same $80 brother home sew machine that I use professionally to make clothes for TV and Broadway. Anyone who needs the clothes built with coture accuracy is just trying to feed their ego
I *LOVE* this machine! Early in my costuming journey I sewed a leather doublet with it because I didn't know that wasn't supposed to be possible. And, ah, it worked. Gonna do another one soon.
This one really spoke to me, because I struggle a lot with how bad my sewing can look but there's no way I can get better without practice no? I remembered my seam allowances from my last project, where I overlooked the seams separately after assembly and it looks baaad but it's done and I'll move on. Thanks for the reminder ❤
I overcast most of my seams after construction and sure, it's not pretty . . . but do we judge our modern clothes for having machine-finished seams? Nope!
Love yourself, make lots, learn more, just don’t wear things inside out🌻😜. What makes you personally happy? You are the most important person to satisfy. Keep making!!❤️
Yes! Only indulge in perfectionism insomuch as it adds to enjoyment and satisfaction.
Thank you for this. I have seen too many that push the "finished edges only", "it's not accurate if the stiches are too big" and more. I try new things when I know it won't confuse me. I have done both hand and machine work on single garments. My newest thing I love doing is French Seams, but even I have my limitations for them on certain garments.
Depending on the time period, it’s quite plausible that your stitches are too _small_ to be “historically accurate”. And machine sewing everything on the inside and only sewing the bits that will be visible by hand is perfectly good practice.
I just did french seams for one of the first times yesterday evening! They're super satisfying, but I did have to redo one of them because the raw edge got caught on the outside 🤣
I've been blessed to be given extant study pieces and worked in historic costume collections and visited museums all over the world. Like today there were all skill levels. If I'm sewing for myself it's just gotta get done. If I'm being paid that's a different story. The diaries of women running their homes just blew through their mending because they were BUSY! So makes sense to just get it done!
As a quilter there’s a saying, anyone who judges you by the back of the pieced top isn’t your friend. I’m a working mom of 2 and while I love my slow stitching sessions, I have way more fun making costumes on my sewing machine.
Oh, and just a note, if you ever find yourself sewing your kid a puppy costume and you use faux fur. Spend the extra time to do French seams. Faster than felling and necessary to keep those shedding hairs encased.
My first quilt(an anniversary gift for my parents) was completely handsewn, even the binding. The next three were for my children and were hand-pieced and quilted, but those big seams were machine sewn due to time concerns. Any future quilts will depend on the state of my hands and eyes! Proud of each of them.
Very true! Doing things the efficient way, not the 'right' way, is accurate to the spirit of humans in every period. If you spot some machine stitching at your reenactment event, let it go. On the flip side, if someone has exquisitely handstitched french seams on an entire gown and is showing them off because they're proud of them, scoffing and saying "Should've used an overlocker" is equally unwelcome. Deciding the way you do things is the only 'correct' way is harmful to both creativity and interpersonal relationships.
What you have said here is absolutely perfect. Except for the elite, people in the past have always been about functionality over perfection. This applies to not just garments but tools and weapons as well. We as modern people tend to want everything perfect but historically speaking, almost nothing was perfect. Thank you for a wonderful video!
Okay but this is *exactly* the pep talk I needed right now! Who cares if it's not perfect - I finished the thing! That's worth celebrating in and of itself :)
I made myself a "wearable mockup" of some around the house boxers with pockets.
I tried a pattern I'd picked up for 25cents, to get an idea of how to work with commercial patterns.
When I put them on I walked out and informed my roommate "I think I just failed home-economics".
The seam finishing is trash.
But they have pockets. Which neither of our home-ec boxers from "back in the day had".
Would better seam finishes improve laundering? Definitely! But if your seams cross each other... and both are required to check the fit, at what point on a wearable mockup does it make sense to properly finish them?
... Exactly.
. . . that sounds like winning Home Ec to me!
I really love your summary at the end. Sewing SHOULD be fun and bring us joy ❤.
thank you! I maaaaaybe have a lot of feelings about people who ruin others' enjoyment of their own projects . . .
My favourite "improper" sewing technique is using dental floss for my patch jeans. I also just tucked the end of a dart in that stuck out instead of trying to piece together how to do it "properly".
Dental floss?! Do tell!
Checking out existing ready-made garments is a good bit of advice. Once I really started looking I realize just how many of those "imperfections" I worry about in my own sewing are there and rarely noticed by me in my ready made garments.
I hate sewing stretching knits (especially necklines! ugh, so hard to make them lay flat) so I started buying slightly over sized shirts from second hand shops and then altering them to fit. Cut or seam rip side seams and sleeves and leave the neckline + shoulders intact. I'm repeatedly surprised once I have things disassembled and layout of my go-to T-shirt pattern on top to find just how wonky the originals are.
Lots of wildly unsymmetrical pieces (and not just from wear and stretching--some second hand finds still had their original store tags on them). Side seam over an inch longer on one side, one sleeve way tighter than the other, not-so-straight seams, and so many loose threads.
The very fact that we now buy cheaply made, inexpensive clothing to wear in our daily lives is proof enough that perfection is beautiful to be sure, but enjoyment of the garment, no matter how well made, is far more important! Have fun y'all!
Much as I dislike fast fashion, there are reasons it came to exist!
@@SnappyDragon yeah and now I have to teach all of my younger friends how to sew on buttons and tack up hems! 😆
@@SnappyDragon yeah and now I have to teach all of my younger friends how to sew on buttons and tack up hems!😆 Cheap has its price!
Thank you for your voice on this. I'm new to sewing (and so far am not doing historical, but may in future as I find history in general fascinating), and having someone be open about the fact it should be fun has made it so much more accessible. As someone with a chronic illness I don't have the energy or ability to worry about doing things perfectly or a specific way (especially if there's an easier option), and expecting or forcing myself to just added unnecessary barriers.
I'm that one masochist who enjoys teeny tiny hand stitching, crocheting miles of lace for garments, being generlaly meticulous and ultra precise. I went around my ass to get to the kettle to hunt down and acquire a 130 year old Cadorette CPW to learn how to spin. I also like taking thrifted $10 wedding gowns and crinolines and cobbling them into other projects. I'm taking old family quilting projects and turning them into quilted coats and petticoats.
Like I said over on Shannon Makes' vid/post, I find that the drive for excellence gives me the enjoyment I wouldn't otherwise have without it. But that I teach my students to embrace their work no matter what it looks like, to be proud of what they've achieved, not what they think they should have achieved.
(Yes, Im here from Shannon's vid 🥳)
Hey, I also love teeny tiny hand stitches! But those are for the projects where I want to sit and handsew to relax, not where I want to Make A Finished Thing On A Timeline.
@@SnappyDragon Valid!! I stopped taking on projects with hard deadlines after making my bestie's wedding dress last year 😅 I finished the stitching approximately 2 hours before the ceromony.
My grandmother, born 1889, when hurrying to put up a hem real quick or using a pin instead of a button would just shrug and say "It'll never be seen from the back of a trotting horse." If it got the job done, well, good enough. There were always other things to get done.
I keep finishing skirts and then deciding I got the waist wrong, I should start making my seams, and waistbands, easier to alter.
It was 2021, Texas was still in the middle of a terrible Pandemic, with the rest of the nation, but Texas was struck by both nature and political ineptitude when our power grid froze over for nearly two weeks. I was one of the lucky ones, I had power and an electric stove, so even though the pipes on the patio that fed our washing machine had burst, I knew I could do this! I heated the water, poured it in the tub, put the clothes in, shoved in a bit of laundry soap and began to try to agitate the water with a walking stick that had an apparatus to almost make it a small umbrella....
And then I wished I had not done all this because now I had to keep doing it after the first thirty seconds, and fck, fck fck fck, was it hard. The strength Laundry Day would have taken back in the day, I have felt in my bones, and my bones cannot endure. And then it was harder to remove the clothes-- small undergarments-- and hang them up, because even if it was just mens and womens underthings, they were just sooo heavy with the water. Honestly, torture, that was a new level of psychotic and physical torture to me, the "you can't stop, what will you do? All your unders are in here, you can't stop." and my body screaming for me to stop.
I'll fuss with French seams and hand finishing for stuff that I plan to wear (and wash!) until it wears out. For rough drafts, kids stuff and costumes, it's either raw or pinked unless it will show from the outside. Although, it is easier to practice new seam finishes on kids stuff as they have such shorter seams. My mom NEVER finished her seams and those 15 year old pj pants are going strong.
Kind of similar to how it worked historically! Chemise seams would need to be strongly finished to survive rough laundering, but a fine outer dress that would never be *washed* that way, it didn't matter
I love, love, love doing machine sewing. it is fast, and often easier than hand-sewing.
That's like even modern info telling you you have to perfectly match even the overcast thread. I got so fed up with that to the point I'm using any thread I got nearby for those bits and for anything no one will ever see.
Yeah the overcasting thread is "whatever I have lots of and won't show through".
two words: Fusable interfacing. If I can cheat and slap a machine-washable interfacing on something with an iron rather than using a non-washable interfacing on an otherwise washable garment, I will. I'm not going to wear something I have to send out to get cleaned. (also synthetic wool alternatives. But that's because I'm sensitive to wool)
The discussion around "Low skill" tasks being done by machine now really reminds me of a lot of conversation I'm seeing around AI today. In arts, in data, etc. It's interesting to watch the technology experience a similar cycle!
So true! I'm really curious if anyone complained back in the day about sewing machines taking people's jobs . . .
When my grandmother made her sampler for school, her mom had her count the threads, and when her teacher saw it she stared at it and said “that…was not necessary.” 65-ish years ago we were not having that!
I really appreciate this discussion, even outside of historical costuming. I grew up around sewers, and I really wanted to learn. So I started an extra curricular class when I was in 7th grade. But I dropped out before even finishing our first project cause the teacher would make me redo every stitch that was a bit crooked. It discouraged me for years, until I started learning the way that was right for me. Now, I give textile art classes at a local non-profit and I keep this experience in mind everytime: we don't have to be perfect, otherwise we won't get anywhere and we can't learn without trying!
I have made lots of historical clothes for myself and others. My hand sewing is mostly overcasting eyelets and attaching hooks and eyes. Machine sewing all the way.
I started sewing before I could read thanks to my mother & grandmother. To give you a sense of ages, I was born in 1964, my mother in 1922 and my grandmother in 1887. I learned on a sewing machine and it was very much treated the same as learning how to use a washing machine or how to cook. I do renaissance faires as a hobby and firmly believe the Elizabethans were a very practical people. If they'd had sewing machines they would have used them. My favorite "not supposed to be done that way" trick? For any top or shirt I sew just the shoulders together and lay the front and back out flat, then fit in the still flat sleeves. Once they are in I fold it in half at the shoulders and sew armpit to wrist and armpit to hem on both sides. It is much simpler than trying to ease in a constructed sleeve into an armhole.
I’m definitely doing this if I ever make anything with sleeves!!
Retro Claude and Shannon Makes both made anti-perfection videos this week. It's a theme we should all pay attention to!
As a hand knitter, I will reknit and reknit something to make it “right”. I will ALSO leave my ends unwoven in and just hanging loose because I just spent 2 months making a single sweater and I want to wear it NOW. Not one will see my unfinished inside. I’m sure if you look at a lot of hand knit garments, you might find the same situation. 😅
Okay i have this picture in my head of the Victorian person trying to generate enough electricity for the machine, perhaps by getting family to ride one of those electricity producing bicycles.
🤣🤣🤣 Or, she's complaining that the hand wheel doesn't have a crank on it for easy operation!
Or that the mains generates a different current, and now she has to move 4 streets over to get the right one. Maybe that only happened in Britain though.
Before the grid we had lots of small energy producers all doing their own thing with current and voltage. It ment you had to rebuy all your electronics if you'd moved house.
It's one of the reasons that they didn't really catch on here till later.
As I sit switching between fake french-seaming, overcasting, and like... mattress stitching? the laughably frayed, huge seam allowances of my rectangular construction, thrifted-cotton-flannel tunic with thrifted thread and lace insets like it's 1909, I am so grateful that you continue creating grounding, historical, and affirming sewing content. Absolute mensch.
thank you 💚
I think if you're a perfectionist and those little details make you happy, go for it. But don't expect others to do it your way.
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! After working with heirloom children's garments for many years - including tutoring under one of the best restorers in the area (150 year old christening gown that's been stored in an attic that you'd like to use in your own child's christening in 3 weeks? No problem!) - this speaks to me. This same woman - while hand restoring French hand-sewn laces - and creating bullion roses that would make your eyes water - TAUGHT our French-handsewing by machine class. Why? Because while it's an amazing art (that she also taught by hand for the record) to be able to hand-finish all of these things, she'd just as soon see her full-time-working, Hands-always-full-but-commited-to-sewing clients making pieces they loved and were proud of and NOT AFRAID TO USE! I love the call for the community to take off the self-judgy pants, do what works in that time or that moment, continue to learn and grow and HAVE FUN!!!
"Handsewing by machine" class? *Tell me more*
@@SnappyDragon what I remember most was about lace insertion and how to piece together the laces, and then insert them but covered all of French seaming etc (not hand-felling obviously) and a lot of the stitch length and tension requirements to sew these fabrics by machine without destroying them! I need to try to go find my notes - if I can I’ll gladly get them your way!
Excellent as always. I don't make garments, but I make quilts as a hobby.
I feel this. I machine piece everything because why do I want to spend extra time on structural seams no one sees? I machine bind because I suck at the hand stiches and at that stage I'm ready to move on to the next project anyway. I hand quilt for family and friends because it is my way of saying you are special. It takes 10s of hours to finish even a simple lap quilt this way. I also don't have a longarm and trying to get anything bigger than a placemat under my domestic is a nightmare. If I'm going to do the whole process for the few worth it to me I have to do it this way.
I can see people of the past doing a similar cost-benefit calculation. Quilts were first and foremost standard household utility items.
Aaaaahhh see quilting by ANY method just intimidates me! So much work, no wonder people went for the least labor-intensive methods when they could.
For me, the making is the fun part, and that includes doing things how they would have been done at the time, as far as possible. Most of the wool Viking kit I have is entirely hand-sewn with thread I spun myself, usually on a spindle. I'm currently in the middle of building a warp-weighted loom because I want to do sheep-to-garment for a low-status Viking kyrtle and I want to nålebind a pair of socks to the same gauge as the York Sock. I also want to make an outfit on each of my antique sewing machines suitable for around the year of manufacture, and there I'm looking forward to finding a use for every one of the fancy feet that came with them. I own an overlocker but I hate using it for anything but quick-and-dirty cosplay because sometimes the way overlocked seams feel gives me the heebs. I have to wear my purchased pyjama bottoms inside out because of it when that happens, so rather than overlocking something I'll wear multiple times, I'd rather leave the seams unfinished for a wearing or two and finish them properly when I have time. Mostly, it's that I like having had the experience of doing it the way they would have had to do it and it makes me value the garment more. But if it's not fun for me, I won't do it - I don't like the way unspun flax feels, so I don't spin it. Even if I'll still sew it by hand, I'm more than happy to buy linen thread and fabric and that hand-woven kyrtle will be worn over a linen layer that may well be machine sewn. And I'll probably have modern knickers on under that. Do I want to spin and weave *all* the cloth for our Viking kit? Hell no! I have a job and the internet and brightly-dyed fibre I want to spin up to knit with and so on. I want to do it at least *once*, but my weaving will probably be terrible (hence low-status kit) and I'm pretty sure I'll make a hash of using those fancy feet as well, but the original garments I have are pretty iffy in places, and it's about having done it, not making it perfect. Also with the Viking kit, most of what I've got planned is high-status, and as I understand it, chances are such women had people to do the basic spinning and weaving *for* them, so there I think it's *more* accurate for me to buy the fabric and thread and to put my effort into the fancy - and more enjoyable - things like the tablet weaving, which the women would have used as a way of showing off what they had the skill - and time - to do.
side note: It makes sense for us to have both low and high status kit for reenactment because different tasks go with them. If my fella's dressed in high-status kit, it doesn't make sense for him to be doing the cooking (and nobody wants me doing it!) and it doesn't make sense for me to be weaving basic cloth if I'm wearing high-status kit, just as it doesn't make sense for him to take a sword onto the battlefield if he's wearing low-status kit or for me to be doing fancy tablet-weaving (or just sitting around doing nothing much) if I am. So plan is for us to have both, so that we can slip into the tent to change clothes to suit what we need/want to be doing at the time. I'm also planning a nun, so I can wander about looking generally disapproving of everything, which is what my face does anyway when I get peopled out, so might as well make clothes to go with it!
THANK YOU!! I am so frequently stymied by my perfectionism, although believe me, nothing is hand stitched except the occasional hem. I love that you call this “playing dress-up” and that this hobby is meant to be fun, joyful. I needed to hear this so badly today! Thank you.
I focus on getting the outside of the garment to look how I want, then the insides depend entirely on how much energy I have. Worst case scenario is zig-zagging the edges together and calling it done, which is perfectly fine! On days when I can't leave bed I might hand-fell some seams, while on high energy days I might decide to french seam everything.
This is the sort of spoon-analysis I do all the time with projects
My "rule" for handsewing: as long as it looks good from the right side out and the seams are holding, who cares what it looks like on the inside
On exactly one garment have I ever bound seam allowance. I made it out of clearance holiday damask tablecloths. That was the most ravely fabric ever. By the time I was done I hated that dress. I wore it once and not for the event I made it for.