Loose threads

At the end of this summer, I went to the larp Sunkissed Affairs, heavily inspired by the Danish TV series Badehotellet. Summer dresses, sand dunes, seaside resorts and petty plots during vacation. What's not to love? 

 

The fashion. The fashion is what I don't love.

 

You'd think that as someone with a long back and flat chest I'd love the 1920s. Alas, I do not. Or, I loved Lady Edith's magazine editor phase in Downton Abbey. I just don't love it on me, since a long back and dropped waist is a terrible combination, and the sleek lines combined with wide hips and short legs bring out every single body image issue I have - something other historical periods rarely do!

 

But needs must, and I wanted to go to the larp, so into the rabbit hole I went. 20s fashion have some redeeming factors:

• There are quite a lot of photos from the period, so we can find comfort in that 20s fashion mostly didn't flatter 20s people either
• There are quite a lot of either original, fascsimile or new-from-original patterns out there.
• Suitable fabrics can, at least to some extent, be easier to find in charity shops and the like than is the case for, say, Mediaeval or Renaissance fashions.

 

I got a few patterns on e-bay, and realised that another challenging thing with 20s fashion is the deceptive simplicity of it. Don't be fooled. The simple style hides nothing. NOTHING. Where in most eras I can hide my less-than-stellar tailoring skills, this is not the case in the 20s. Precision is EVERYTHING when you have nothing to help you besides the drape of the fabric and the finish of the seams. I should have used more drape-y fabrics, but a) those fabrics were not easily found second hand, b) cost more to buy new - I was not very inclined to spend a lot of money on these projects  and c) are a pain to sew in.

 

For most of the daywear I used this  pattern with more than a few tweaks.

 

The original plans/recommendations were to make a wardrobe for normal September temperatures - that is, 10-15 degrees Celsius, with a bit of autumn winds and possibly rain. That meant that I first tried a long-sleeved version.