Tag Archives: dressmaking

Vintage Hemp, Your “Something Old”

vintage hemp fabric on a roll

Hemp. My absolute favorite material for making bodices. I adore the contrast with silk, the way the smooth, sheer, impalpable chiffons contrast with the rough grainy antiqueness of the vintage hemp.
I collect these one of a kind pieces at vintage markets across northern Italy, they are old, sometimes dating back to the mid 1800. They are handwoven, hand spun, the perfect shade of natural ivory. ⁠

After carefully soaking and washing these, we roll them up and store them for future use. They are precious, as no one makes these anymore and will one day be gone.⁠

Aaand…. it’s made! A sneak peek in to the making of a custom outfit.

Aaand…. it’s made! The custom wedding outfit, that is.

After I draped out the pattern for the blouse yesterday, getting the v-neck and shoulder folds exactly the way I wanted them, marking everything out and drawing out a nice armhole, I proceeded to remove the muslin from the dress form.

I ironed it out flat, and traced the shape and markings on to paper, smoothing out the lines and correcting the curves as I did, and then I added seam allowances.