Historical Sew Monthly – 2023

Jupe Courtisane skirt pattern

It’s been many years since I started participating in the Historical Sew Monthly projects, and as years have gone on, I’ve been able to participate less and less. For 2022, I only completed ONE of the twelve suggested themes, though given my mood, budget, Covid, and lack of participation in my local reenactment group (largely due to Covid, amoung other factors) I wasn’t really surprised to do so little towards the challenges.

However, each year I DO find the themes inspiring, so once again I’m making my “wish list” post, for the challenges for 2023.

Capsule collections – by colour

Crossing out colour combinations I don’t like

One of my current sewing objectives is to buy less fabric (and trims, etc) and focus on using up what I have first. When I built my capsule collection idea, that was really intending not just to make more cohesive “wardrobes” for each of the eras I was interested in costuming for, but also to make choices around the fabrics I already have acquired, and how I might use them – both for historical costuming, along with fantasy costuming and mundane or party clothing.

I was going through my boxes of fabrics recently, and realized that one of the things I could do to organize my stash better would be to allocate fabrics into their intended collections – for garments I already know I want to make.

15th Century Capsule Wardrobe

V-neck Burgundian gown worn with my red horned hennin

The next “Capsule Costume Collection” is another small one, but one that I think is perfect for doing as a capsule collection because there is the potential for multiple layers with certain styles, and I have created an abundance of amazing headdresses for this era.

Historical Sew Monthly 2020

Well it’s already October – and only now am I thinking about the Historical Sew Monthly 2020 challenges. I used to LOVE working with the challenges, but in the couple of years… my life just hasn’t cooperated on multiple levels.

In fact… I don’t think  I even did (any? many?) of the 2019 challenges either. Even though I’ve still be sewing and making, I haven’t found the time to blog, research, photograph… the way that I used to.

Still I figured I’d record what I would have LIKED to do for each of these challenges – possibly to do in the future if I can play a little catch-up once my life cooperates with my desire to sew and craft.

I also LOVE that the 2020 theme that spans the entire year is Sustainability!

German Costume Capsule Wardrobe

German Renaissance Cranach gown costume with gown, chemise, gollar, cap, sleeves, and hat.

A fairly poor contender for my capsule wardrobe collections is my German costume – namely because I only have one gown with a few accessories at the moment – it’s not a layering costume where pieces can be interchanged to create that “capsule” impact. As much as I utterly adore that gown – I don’t really foresee myself making another.

My existing costume is a Cranach style gown, but I also want to make a Landsknechte style costume as well. Since I have a lot of fabric ready for that outfit… and lots of other fabrics I need to weed out – I figured that it would be a good idea to at least brainstorm colour schemes for that outfit as well.