5 Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques to Improve Your Sewing
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2024
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Have you ever wondered how Victorians actually made all of their clothes? What sewing tips and tricks did they utilize? What dressmaking techniques can we adopt as costumers, cosplayers, and sewists to improve our sewing skills? In this video, I am going to walk you through five basic victorian clothing construction techniques that I see in my antique clothing collection.
While I don't believe in "always" and "never" when it comes to dress history, the 5 things I point out in this video are commonly found within my personal clothing collection, and so I feel comfortable sharing this information with you all as "correct" and authentic information.
So if you're looking to make your first (or 100th) Victorian dress - be it from the crinoline era, bustle era, or the incredible 1890s - these 5 Dressmaking and sewing tips and tricks should help make your sewing easier.
We're going to look at antique clothing from 1850-1900 in this video to help demonstrate these five techniques - 1. Put in Pockets 2. Semi-Detached Collars 3. Lining and Layers 4. Bind your Hems 5. Hand Sew in Your Sleeves.
Intro: 00:00
Pockets: 05:14
Collars: 07:00
Linings and Layers: 09:47
Bind Your Hems: 19:00
Hand Sew in Your Sleeves 20:41
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Everyone, all throughout history: I Do Not Want To Do The Collar
Hi, Spooky, glad to see you here.
@@michellecornum5856 I like to learn all the construction techniques so I can mad scientist them better into my historybounding.
@@jaspersgrimoire Spooky, you are a better man than me if you can get through some of these books. May you always roll a Natural 20 in all your sewing endeavors!
@@michellecornum5856 a Nat 20? [looks at my swing coat buttonholes] [sweats]
@@jaspersgrimoire HAHAHAHAHAHA! Naw, I've seen your work. You have some chops (to borrow from the musicians). I'm with you because you show a real skill, and I want to watch it grow. It even shows in your Tim Burton-esk buttonholes. 😁 Uh, no pressure! (accidentally applies pressure)
Those collars are so cool! 16th century doublets, please sit up and pay attention, you have something to learn here.
i know I am kind of randomly asking but does anyone know of a good site to stream newly released series online ?
I am always excited how messy the inside of those gowns looks. It gives me hope in my own tailoring endeavours.
I always amuse myself when I'm sewing thinking about a future Abby looking at my janky seams and enthusing over it 😂
I can't believe I've been sewing for most of my life and not once has anyone ever told me "Hey, just sew the sleeves on that garment by hand." Anyone else feeling betrayed by all the people who've told you that sleeves are just supposed to be difficult and there's no way to make it easier?
I thought sleeves were too hard until finding out to sew the shoulder seam, sew flat sleeve into arm hole, THEN sew the side seam. Doesn't work for all garments but most
That's why they're called sleevils.
I always put the sleeves in flat, before sewing sleeve and side seams. I have no idea whT difference it makes inserting a tube into another tube
I have no idea, why it's never suggested as an option, either. I learned to sew before the internet was really a thing (mostly from books) and would usually baste the sleeves in for a fitting, before sewing them. And taking the step from that, to completely handsewing them, seemed pretty obvious to me. At least with garments like jackets or coats, where you do want to do several fittings during the construction process and then have to deal with tailored sleeves, that need to be eased into the armhole.
Doing that by hand doesn't take that much time and it's just so much easier!
Rara Avis - Same. I picked up sewing as a hobby in 1998, so the internet existed, but I was (still am) a slow tech adopter (I believe I was the last person in the U.S. to get a cell phone). I taught myself to sew primarily from Threads Magazine and sewing books picked up in used bookstores. At first I didn’t even have a machine, so I sewed by hand. After I ‘advanced’ to a machine, the first time I went to set a sleeve by machine I looked at the size of the armscye and my machine and thought “well, this makes no sense”, and promptly set the sleeves by hand. I continue to do this to this day on most things.
The most oppressive thing about a pocket is when it’s made too small, and you’re forced to buy a bigger, separate pocket to carry your things
Small pockets are the result of a conspiracy between the clothing industry and Big Bag.
Mirjan Bouma - 👏🏻 This is memeworthy!
@@madeleinerose7090 go for it, with my blessings!
Convent pockets, Abby. You need to learn about convent pockets in old historic Benedictine habits. I first learned about them as a postulant in the monastery when I was 27; I’ve been sewing them into all of my skirts and dresses for over half my life, now. LIFE CHANGING.
Some time ago my mom showed me her detached collars she saved from her high school uniform. She told me the reason they attached them by tacking/clip buttons was that collars get dirty quickly from touching the neck and so you just pop in a new one while you wash and starch the other.
That's what I was thinking. Like how men's collars used to be detachable
If you can't smuggle a *huge* chocolate bar past your kids, your pockets are too small.
LOL, true
Hehehe 😝
Or a full size packet of chips
Truth!!!!!
🤣 As a mother of four, I approve this message. 🤣
I think also, by just tacking the collar you could update the dress to the next “modern” style more easily!
I was thinking that, too!
Collars also get easily discolored by sweat, so you could take off a collar, boil it, bleach it, or replace it with a new one. It just makes sense.
Or change the look so it didn't look like you were wearing the same dress all the time.
@@elleplaudite I was going to say this too! I REALLY wish modern men's dress shirts had removable/replaceable collars because my husband gets his so much dirtier than the rest of the shirt because of wearing ties and sweating. I have to throw out shirts that are otherwise fine just because the collar gets so nasty!
@@arionrhod6383 that is so true! My husband goes through shirts like crazy
Re: Collars - another reason collars may be tacked on is because they often had lace or were made of lace, and up until about the mid 1800s when machine lace started to get GOOD*, lace was incredibly expensive! Tacking it on meant you were less likely to destroy the lace, you could move it from garment to garment, and it could even be handed down! A lot of the antique lace collars I deal with sometimes still have original tacking threads around the necklines, and the reason lace collars survive quite well is because they were meant to be removed and reused!
*Good as in, it became very hard to tell handmade from machine made from a glance and even relatively up close, leading to a boom in anyone and everyone being able to afford lace.
Great point, this is exactly what I suspected when she showed the collar attached with hooks. I want to try making a detachable collar - it would add so much flexibility to the style of a garment!
When you started talking about pockets, I kept waiting for Gollum to ask "What's in her pocketses?"
...I actually made a flannel ring to stitch into the pocket of a housedress/winter shift I'm almost finished :D
@@bunhelsingslegacy3549 I'm confused. What do you mean?
@@johannageisel5390 I'm making a flannel housedress with huge pocketses and I used scraps to make a little ring that fits any of my fingers, so I'm going to sew it into the pocket so I can always have something in my pocketses besides my handses :)
@@bunhelsingslegacy3549 Haha, that's a cute idea.
You should not sew it into the pocket tightly, but rather have it on a thin string which is attached to the inside of the pocket, so that you can take it out to show people.
Of course the string will wrap itself around any object you put into the pocket, so the ring plus string needs an extra little pocket inside the large pocket.
And of course the ring needs to be golden and have some words in the dark language embroidered on it.
@@johannageisel5390 It's only lfannel, I'm not convinced a string is a good idea...bit it is the kind of pocket I could pull inside out if Iwanted to show anyone....but I really think I sohuld keep it secret, keep it safe :)
Evidence-based analysis of techniques, I am blown away. Two out of the five techniques (collars and sleeves) used in the Victorian and Edwardian eras simplify some of the more stressful aspects of garment making. Thanks!
Outstanding! Tacking the collar is just genius. I find a lot of amusement in the fact that so many extant garments completely ignore, if not outright contradict, sewing manuals of the day. It also amuses me greatly that things aren’t all that different, today. It’s wonderful to know that anyone can “do the thing,” not just people who can sew twenty perfectly spaced backstitches to the inch.
Thank you for de-mystifying Victorian and Edwardian fashion! Much love to you and the doggos!
Yeah the collar thing was mind blowing once, especially when I realized it wasn't a fluke. 😂
My mom studied language in university years ago. She said that they used old school books everything it said not to do was probably being done to language by the lower class.
Yes! Yes! Exactly! When I started sewing, I picked up all these sewing manuals and was discouraged by all the fiddly things you had to do just to get the damn fabric cut out. There is the Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, Couture sewing and techniques, The Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences, The Complete Book of Sewing (1943), and the Art of Sewing and Dress Creation, and NONE of it is easy. (Of course, it all reads like sewing pattern instructions). And I have long noticed that what they want you to do in pattern instructions is WAY different than what you see done in ready-to-wear garments. I hear Bernadette Banner talk of stitches only 4 threads long, and I want to lay on my face and cry. And you're over here trying to do all this "period accurate" according to the books, thinking that this is how it actually was because, with rare exception up till now, NO ONE SHOWED YOU THE INSIDE of all of these beautiful dresses! THANK YOU, ABBY!
You have to know the rules to know you're breaking them like a boss.
It's like if in 200 years, people tried to figure out what the lives of 21st century women were like by reading Cosmopolitan or Vogue. Nah, fam, we were just shopping at Target.
The collar bit is surprising but makes perfect sense because what if the style changed suddenly and a different collar style would've been preferred? What if no collar was suddenly popular? It just makes the garment more versatile in the long run, which just shows more innovative thinking on the parts of Victorian dressmakers.
I was thinking that, too. If you make the collar removable with hooks and eyes, you could change your look by changing out the collar. Maybe to go from a daytime look to a dinnertime look without having to change clothes.
@@lindasprinkle4615 absolutely! The way they would cleverly have an evening and day bodice to go with the same skirt is also such a great and versatile concept.
Me, procrastinating getting started on my 1890's prom dress because I don't know what I'm doing: *help*
My youtube notifications:
Do it!! Even if it sucks
It will be fine, small steps and stop overthinking what’s happening 4 steps ahead!
Here's the place to ask your questions. Whaddaya need to know?
- Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown
Changing the collar and cuffs( wrists) of women's dresses was a way to update a blouse or dress. My Grandmother always had solid color material and lace ones for blouses. Along with the different breaches was all she changed for holidays, going to church,weddings etc. You new by the collar she wore how much esteem she gave you! ( she would put fresh on for when ladies came to tea). She passed in 64.
Came here to say something like this! So nice that you have such a lovely memory of your Grandmother :)
Very sorry....but anyone else hear:
"I look like my great aunt Tessie!!"
When you saw the ruffled bodice at the start of the video 😂😂
I smell like my great aunt Tessie!!
As a self-taught visual learner, I am squealing. And I'm working on a dress with pockets this week.......!
Me too!! I thought, "Thats why I learn so much from you, your visual ". Have a good day.
Same! Visual and tactile learner here, and this helps SO MUCH with conceptualizing historical garments.
Talk science to me Abby...you know how I love it!! I wish I could help you with your DB (I have a few degrees in IT...don’t ask, I’m a DAMN NERD). Can you imagine having a database that not only has your clothing collection but the ability to see the data with associated construction techniques involved that’s searchable? My nerdiness is simply dying.
My notion board is actually *not* that far off! I might do a patreon only video showing how we've set it up so far (like, i have a check box for pockets lol). Notion is only lacking in multiple key word searching so if you type in "velvet ribbon" it will only look for "velvet ribbon" but not "velvet" and "ribbon" - if that makes sense (it's 7:50 am here and I haven't had a sip of coffee yet. LOL)
@@AbbyCox Yeah, it doesn’t have the capability to separate words. Makes perfect sense. I used to have to code in SQL so I get ya’.
I've noticed Notion databases are very similar to Airtable databases. Does anyone know if Airtable is more searchable, or about the same?
THANK YOU for the segment on the (k n o w n) existence of historical pockets!! there was a post drifting by my fb feed a while ago that said something like, “pockets in dresses were phased out so women could prove they weren’t witches carrying spells and/or ill intentions" and it honestly still makes my brain fizz out just from thinking about it again
I can't roll my eyes hard enough at those articles. Like, 5 minutes of research proves how silly that whole concept was/is.
@@AbbyCox it got even worse when i sourced that claim to a historical fantasy novel and then found an article discussing said novel that started with "historically, women’s clothing has been pocketless for…basically ever," only for the author to follow that up with a timeline of women's pockets from the pre-17th to mid-19th centuries, alongside a bibliography of reference texts on pocket history........ make it make sense 😩
Oh I usually see the "pockets were forbidden in the French Revolution" one, which... what?
Tempted to bind every hem ever. just sounds so much cleaner than the old roll'nstitch I've generally resorted too. As I have now started making my own clothes, this is entirely the fault of Dearest Bernadette of course, I think binding will be more time consuming but much neater! Thank you Abby! I look forward to any other tips you have for us.
Bias binding is sooo much easier than attempting to roll a narrow hem.
It is easier, especially if the hem is curved, just like facing a hem
I've seen the folded ( synthetic?) tape that looked like the one Abby is talking/showing us. Would that be a good substitute?
As a competitive cosplayer I always worry about raw edges... now I know that historically it doesn't matter!! Thanks!!
I have been mulling over my hem on an 1887 dress I’m working on (attempting to recreate a dress by great grandma wore). I haven’t had a chance to look at extant hems. I am also thrilled my plan for the collar (with hand knit lace) is actually an accurate way to do it. Thanks Abby! You’ve given me more confidence to tackle this project.
What an amazing thing to do, make a dress from a pic of your family ..Wow. What a great idea. Thanks for sharing. Have a good day.
I made a collared capelet for a cosplay and trying to get the collar to work caused me a minor breakdown, Im glad to know other people struggle with collars and next time just make it detachable.
I feel like with one of the collars that's mostly attached with hooks and eyes, it would be fairly easy to just have interchangeable collars. Ones with lots of lace or embroidery or ruffles and ones that are more simple, depending on what the event you're going to would require. Or for ones that are sewn in, it would be easy to switch out the collar depending on the fashion at the time. I don't know if this is something that actually would have happened, but it might be an easy way to get a bit more mileage out of a dress
Also it may be to make them easier to replace if they got worn or stained, like men's collars of the time. Especially if you made 2 collars as standard.
@@alexismontez4230 and they are just plain easier to clean/iron.
No doggo footage? 😢 We demand doggo footage. Nicely. And politely. And respectfully.
Such a useful video thank you! 👏 your database is setting off my data nerd radar 🤓
I filmed this one when their daddy was home, so they were, for once, finally, fine with leaving me mostly alone to film (though Gryff checked on me a couple of times, because he's velcro) 😂
I have a cat named velcro, for exactly this reason
Bless 😍 my rats are the opposite of velcro, they want to run free and eat anything they can find. Unless they're ill, then they want snuggles 😥
@@elizabethhunley4020 I also had a cat named Velcro :)
@@elizabethhunley4020 I have a cat named Ivy.
I feel like binding your hems is a great tip regardless of era to help them last longer!
totally! it's just a good tip over all, and if you're into history bounding, is a great way to add just a sprinkle of history bounding aesthetic to an outfit!
@@AbbyCox and could alsoa add some cool contrast colours or accents if desired. And on the dual plaid skirt note I just bought someones stash of Laura Ashley cotton with 2 different plaids included so that's given me ideas 😂 obviously not as nice as silk but 🤷♀️
So my takeaway...catalogue your collection as you get it. Maybe you could share with us what your database looks like? What kind of categories you track...I have started collecting, so now would be the time to do this. lol Love your videos!
This video literally blew my mind with the collar thing!
So even more proof that I need to give myself some slack and put down my perfectionist self and quit over doing it all. Time to give all of ourselves some grace.
Thank you as always!
I know the feeling. Abby's videos have really helped with battling my own perfectionist demon.
Took me years to get over myself. I still see the things that didn’t work the way I wanted or the errors, but finally realized no one else did. They look at the overall garment and don’t notice all the stuff you see as neon signed errors!!
Anyone else get a huge boost of sewing confidence from Abby's videos? It's so empowering for the modern amateur dressmaker who squirms at all of the mistakes in her dresses (which no one else can see, LOL). Here I was thinking, oh man, I have to find tarlatan to stiffen my skirt bottoms, but if they didn't do it, why should I? 😁
Abby, anytime you want to make a video of any of your babies which don't already have unboxing videos, you're sure to have tons of people mesmerized while you go all fashion forensics on your collection! 👍
I love the little appearance from the puppy. Totally had the look of, "mum's doing one of her things again, I better sneak outta here." 😇
The more and more I learn about 100 year plus sewing methods, the more I realize our modern view on sewing has been shaped by really our grandmothers/great-grand mothers. It's that 1940s / 1950s era of machine home sewing ladies that really, really got into clean and tidy (factory-perfect) work more so then older generations and it does make sense; a retro or mod-style pattern has much, much fewer pieces and less fine details that fashions of previous eras. If you look at written material explaining how to make the 1920s "one hour dress" you'll see hints that even though they are trying to invent a "new fast modern" way to do things (by reducing pattern pieces and simplifying the shape), they are still expecting that you are coming from an older mindset, an Edwardian or Victorian mindset, and that of course you'll still remember how to do intense detail work on this one area of interest (often at the neckline, hemline or at the waistline). But by the end of WWII that perspective seems to not really be present in dress design anymore, with most FINE handwork eliminated from instructions and the order of operations arranged to make sure everything is much more streamline and tidy.
So then for modern sewists, who are looking back to the oldest generations alive in our lifetime, we see the post-war take on clothing construction and just assume that's "the old way" going all the way back as far as we can imagine. But really, the more and more we examine old clothes, it seems like attitudes change by the generation, along with the fashionable shape, and what is considered the "expected method" shifts constantly, with the final worn appearance.
Welp, now whenever I cut my lining layer out I'm going to have Jimmy Buffett in my head. 😂 Small trade off for learning about how to tackle collars? Maaaaaaaaybe....o/' layers and layers o/'
sorry not sorry 😂😂😂😂
"You can put big fu...nctional pockets in your skirts." That was not where my brain went LOL!
Literally came to RUclips to do research on my first foray into victorian dressmaking - and BAM, Abby has delivered again. Thank you so much, can’t wait for more like this! ❤️ I’m currently working on figuring out how to make those cool early 1860s double puff sleeves.
Yes! I wanted to do the double puff sleeves on my 1860s dress, but I'll be real - I ended up just getting confused and settling for one puff. xD
my grandmother told me that she used to tack collars onto her sweaters in the 1950's, I think this has been common in a lot of periods of history. Im all about it.
I've seen 40s and 50s ads for women's dickeys, which are essentially chemisettes for under dresses and cardigans
pockets are not a symbol of some alleged patriarchy. happy to hear someone younger than myself acknowledge this fact. and that detached collar idea is brilliant! collars, zippers, machine buttonholes....the bane of my sewing existence.
and oh my glob! i feel your pain in sewing sleeves in by machine.
these are great tips.
I’ve never been so happy to be told to do something I just thought I was doing out of sheer frustration. I hate putting sleeves in by machine. I started doing it by hand and found it sooooooooo much easier. Somehow I thought I was cheating,
Unexpectedly dangerous aspect to this video: I recently resisted buying some fine worsted wool in that *exact* colour of vibrant winey purple.
I'm so glad to hear the Victorians also had the attitude of 'screw fully integrated collars'. I used to have so much trouble getting collars to go in right.
i don't sew. i just love Abby.
"Quantify the evidence..." music to my ears! I love the intersection of data and art!!
Ah, I see today is a day again that abby and nicole upload within an hour from each other
OMG!!!!
I have been working on a 1890s Jacket, forever!! The collar has had me "stumped" for the last month. I've done countless mock ups, patterns, researched, sleepless nights, How do I make this collar! When I think I finally got it! Then you post this video!
Thank you for answering all my Victorian sewing questions!
Are you going to do a video on Victorian Sleeves. (1890s Humgus ones?)
Please do more...😄
😄
When you try to avoid sewing sleeves in by attaching the sleeve before the side seam. And then just sew the side seam and the sleeve seam in one go XD
These tips are actually really useful. Also your collection so far...I say so far as I know you'll end up having over 1000 by the end of next year 😂I love it so much theyre so beautiful just the ones we have seen so far.
I'm currently working on Simplicity 8161. I'm going to use flat-lining for it, because I love myself and Satin's a bastard to work with. And this video makes me feel so much better about doing that. So, Thank you, Abby. Can't wait to show you that dress when I finish it. ♡
Woo! I look forward to it!
Read this too fast. Thought it said Satan's a bastard to work with. Lol
Good luck on the dress 😁
@@lajoyous1568 me too!! Had to reread it a couple of times
I had to work on a dress that had a boned bodice and two layers of skirt from satin and two-layered floor-length cape sleeves from chiffon. Never. Again. Those two fabrics together are the worst punishment.
@@lajoyous1568 Satin = Satan. This will forever be in my head. Because that's how I read it too...
- Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown
I don't make historical clothing or sew in general, but I find this really entertaining and educational. So please make more of these. Your delightfulness is icing on the cake ❤️ thanks Abby
I go for pockets big enough for my Kindle! (Paperwhite).
I have to say I'm also wondering about flatlining viscose jersey (sloppy, but there are so many pretty ones) with cotton jersey...! Instead of bag-lining dress bodices (for warmth and clean finishing). Of course, the raw inside seams are far less of a bother when there will be a minimum of two layers of garments between those and the skin (thinking corset and chemise). :)
Yes to big pockets!
I'm a little confused by your second section of the comment about flatlining jersey? Could you maybe send me a message on Patreon clarifying what you mean? ❤
@@AbbyCox Message sent :)
Love how the dog walked to the entry and turned around and left. Too Cute.
Convent pockets, Abby. You need to learn about convent pockets in old historic Benedictine habits. I first learned about them as a postulant in the monastery when I was 27; I’ve been sewing them into all of my skirts and dresses for over half my life, now. LIFE CHANGING.
When you said ‘bag lining doesn’t exist’ I think I actually cheered! Thank you!!!
All of my equestrian shirts have a removable collar and I can tell you, it's rad & makes the final look really lovely.
I recently made a vest from around 1900 as my second ever sewing project. The pattern asked for horse hair as a layer. It was a pain in the a*s to get it. I finally found it in a small online shop. It’s so good to hear that it was very common to use other fabrics. So at least the material gathering will be easier 😂🙈
I'm thinking of making a vest and I have been thinking of using some sort of fabric to replace thw horsehair but I don't know which would be good as replacement but using different types of fabric sounds really cool.
@@sayuriando3379 if you want something with a similar stiffness I think canvas can be a good replacement. When you use more lighter fabrics a strong linen or cotton could be an alternativ.
@@badurbangorgeous7843 Thank you
The collar thing makes so much sense! My late 1800s housekeeping manuals all talk about collars as being separate in laundry instructions. And I have a couple of literary references to making a new collar to refresh a hand-me-down gown.
I could literally listen to aunty Abbey talk garment construction forever. I feel so vicariously smart lol 🤣
That plaid thing is a wonderful example of how clothes from those eras could be absolutely eye searing.
I'm a maker but not sewing or clothes, I cross stitch. What you said at the end about the vintage makers just not stressing about the little details even in couture is so true even in antique cross stitch samplers.
So many modern stitchers freak out over uneven cloth, not enough edge for framing or even mistakes and holes in the fabric. But looking at antique samplers they just went with it, you can even find obvious patching and stitching over it, or just darning the hole. If they ran out of a thread color, they just carried on with a similar one, they left in obvious mistakes and uneven motifs.
I remember from reading historical novels, that man's collars where usualy detached to by starched and stiffened. Isn't this related?
I would consider detachable collar shirts a bit different (and only just a little bit), because the collars are meant to be worn with different shirts (kinda like mix-n-match) where this construction technique is just meant to be an easier way to deal with the collars on the bodice.
I would love to see some modern recreations (for durability) that use these techniques so we can see how the different methods change the way things look or hang or whatever.
I totally feel you on the skirt pockets thing. My favorite "7 day" skirts have pockets large enough to fit a novel. It's so necessary!
Visual learners unite! Loved the close-up of the hem braid, and glad it's not just me who finds sewing sleeves by hand much easier
History student here 🤓 would love a future video maybe.... possibly.... of how you manage your collection? We love a DIY database and some best practices 🤓
I was taught in college that designer garments are constructed/built not made. Layer is applied to layer to create the shape/form of the garment. I just love you description of the process.
Time to open a antique garment museum with an emphasis on garment construction
You had me laughing on the floor with "sewing the sleeves in by hand!!!" Hahaha. So true.
I have never thought of using "beefy" to describe a skirt, now, I see that it makes perfect sense.
I feel like I've definitely read about people embroidering collars for gifts and such during that period, so it makes sense that they would be easily detachable!
Abby, you need to put this in a book with an index or searchable website or something. That book would sell! You could be the next Janet Arnold. When I search for Victorian sewing techniques I get instructions on how to make a backstitch like that covers everything. You're the one that understands what we really need.
I will be making my wedding dress based off an 1860s extent gown. These tips are sooooo helpful. THANK YOU!!!!
OMG! Thank God for pockets!
Love this new series! Excited to see what comes next!
The collar thing doesn't surprise me. As men's shirt collars were pretty much always detachable for cleaning. So it makes sense that women's would be the same. I love the fact that the skirts had actual usable pockets!
My late mum taught me a lot of these techniques and I still do them , thank you so very much for this video
Excellent format! I really liked the collar and the hem tip!
This was so fascinating!! Thank you for sharing all of this research.
not to be a weird nerd, but like, organizing and quantifying all of the garments in your collection sounds so much fun. like noting the sizes and fabric types and the dates and stuff and keeping a huge database sounds like a week of vacation for me. kind of jokingly but not entirely post covid times, if you want someone to organize, annotate, digitize, and quantify your collection i volunteer
This was fantastic. I'm looking forward to more in this series!
I loved this. It’s very interesting to hear how these things were done and it’s good tips for current designs too. I’m looking forward to the next one of these videos.
An amazing video. Very informative, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to more.
I love the collar tip! Going to be doing that!
When I was in school, we had to attach a fresh white collar and sleeve cuffs to the uniform dress every week. Usually it was whip stitch or just basting. Collar and sleeve cuffs were the only things that has been washed throughout the semester. the dress itself was washed only during school breaks
Non pro tip: Petticoat won't stay down in the front? Not a problem. Sew washers into the hem! Great tips, thank you, I had no idea about the collars.
Thanks for doing this - it is super helpful and solved some of my problems!
Love the detachable collar trick! Looking forward to the rest of this series! Thank you!
Perfect way to start my rainy Sunday.. Thank you -Melanie
This was SO great!!! I can’t wait for different eras of dresses!!!
I learned to sew as a child back in the mid-late 60s. I don't remember sleeves being that much of a problem. So, now I'm starting to sew again and I'm starting to wonder if maybe my memory is not very good. Or, maybe since I was so young, I just expected it to be hard because everything is hard when you're a child. LOL. I loved this look at actual Victorian dress construction. It's my favorite era and it's what I want to learn to do.
Absolutely love when I get a notification that a new video is up! As always great educational content. Maybe someday I will get around to actually trying to make a historical garment.
I cannot believe my brain decided that I needed to sleep yesterday when it knew full well... FULL WELL... there is Abby time to be had. But, it's pretty awesome to wake up to coffee and Abby time. What a lovely video with so much to learn here. You are a treasured resource for so many reasons and it isn't just your 100 pieces.
Loved this!!! New fav series :)
This was the best video tp watch whilst finishing my combinations!! I now know what i need to do to make sure the gown I'm planning to make looks right!!
Hi Abby, this video is the best! Please make more! This is such interesting information that you literally can't get anywhere else... So so good!
Super helpful tips! Thank you so much! I needed this before I start my bustle gown.
My favorite is the sleeve sewing tip! 😍
I love learning these techniques! I’d like to incorporate some of this in my sewing so this is really helpful, thank you!
Thanks! I look forward to seeing more of these techniques! Especially liked the tip about binding with velveteen, since I have never had the luck to find appropriate wool braid.
Thanks for this video! I love these tips! And I particularly like hand sew your sleeves! So freeing.
what a great and informative video. all the sound effects were fun too. Thanks for sharing!
I love this. I am not the only person who looks inside each garment to see how it's made. I have been sewing since I could reach the knee pedal. I have an allergic reaction when someone wants to know the right way to sew something. You gave us so many different (all right) options to engineer a garment. Do your best, within your skills, using the materials you have. Oh. Arm holes are much easier when you realize pin basting is not meant for them. Hand baste then sew by machine. You will be happier.
Thank you for this video. This is amazing.
I love you Abby! This video was informative and, as always, funny. I love looking at your collection it's beautiful.