The Screaming 20s

In which I learn to sew 1920s style, or possibly go insane. Or both. Both is good.

[screaming20sproject]

Is this aesthetic? Am I doing aesthetic right?

[screaming20sproject]

1927 Bandeau: Fitting time!

Behold, we have reached the fun part!

I ran a couple lines of basting down the middle of the fabric and pinned it around myself via the age old method of STABBING MYSELF WITH THE $&%*# PINS 80 THOUSAND TIMES

ahem

Anyway, as soon as I had it on, the reason for gathering the center became clear. As it turns out, fabric is flat. As per the raison d’etre of this project, boobs are not. That leads to extra fabric at the top and bottom of the bust. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so if you curve the line, you take up extra length and the edge lies flatter.

I am very bad at geometry, so this made no sense to me until I saw it in practice and then it was obvious. I’m starting to suspect that many intimidating Sewing Things are just nudging fabric until it looks sort of person shaped and then stabbing it until it stays there.

After that revelation, I got the top edge looking good but still had some floppiness around the bottom. I figured out two possibilities:

Pull up the gathers and make the bottom edge a deeper curve

Pinch out darts to remove extra fabric.

I tried both and went for option 2 because it made a flatter silhouette. One of the example videos I watched put darts directly below the boobs, but that’s going to give a more cup-like shape, so I put them on the side. It pulls a little bit oddly, probably because I winged it with the size and shape, but it’s under the arm so I don’t really care. This isn’t a garment I’ll be wearing under tight clothes anyway.

Pictures to follow in reblog. And after that: CLOSURE

[screaming20sproject]

Let us gather.

Shocked, I am simply SHOCKED that this immaculate pinning job didn’t yield perfect darts.

[screaming20sproject]

1927 Bandeau: Fitting time!

Behold, we have reached the fun part!

I ran a couple lines of basting down the middle of the fabric and pinned it around myself via the age old method of STABBING MYSELF WITH THE $&%*# PINS 80 THOUSAND TIMES

ahem

Anyway, as soon as I had it on, the reason for gathering the center became clear. As it turns out, fabric is flat. As per the raison d’etre of this project, boobs are not. That leads to extra fabric at the top and bottom of the bust. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so if you curve the line, you take up extra length and the edge lies flatter.

I am very bad at geometry, so this made no sense to me until I saw it in practice and then it was obvious. I’m starting to suspect that many intimidating Sewing Things are just nudging fabric until it looks sort of person shaped and then stabbing it until it stays there.

After that revelation, I got the top edge looking good but still had some floppiness around the bottom. I figured out two possibilities:

Pull up the gathers and make the bottom edge a deeper curve

Pinch out darts to remove extra fabric.

I tried both and went for option 2 because it made a flatter silhouette. One of the example videos I watched put darts directly below the boobs, but that’s going to give a more cup-like shape, so I put them on the side. It pulls a little bit oddly, probably because I winged it with the size and shape, but it’s under the arm so I don’t really care. This isn’t a garment I’ll be wearing under tight clothes anyway.

Pictures to follow in reblog. And after that: CLOSURE

[screaming20sproject]

It’s happening! Get hype!

Where the FUCK are my fabric scissors

[screaming20sproject]

Item: one 8x37 strip of cotton with a .5” hem pinned on either side. My sewing machine probably needs to be cleaned and I can’t be fucked to do that so we’re going to do this Bernadette Banner style

ps. My scissors were on the bookshelf next to a box of googly eyes. Naturally.

[screaming20sproject]

Hem achieved! I wasn’t actually planning to go FULL Bernadette and fell it, but turns out that’s way easier than running stitch when you have multiple layers of tightly woven fabric.

(Breaking: People in the Past Knew Their Shit)

anyway I’m pleasantly surprised at how NOT insanely time consuming it was. This was 2 evenings of not particularly focused work. If I end up liking this I bet I could repeat it even faster.

Now, to RUCHE

[screaming20sproject]

It’s happening! Get hype!

Where the FUCK are my fabric scissors

[screaming20sproject]

Item: one 8x37 strip of cotton with a .5” hem pinned on either side. My sewing machine probably needs to be cleaned and I can’t be fucked to do that so we’re going to do this Bernadette Banner style

ps. My scissors were on the bookshelf next to a box of googly eyes. Naturally.

[screaming20sproject]

It’s happening! Get hype!

Where the FUCK are my fabric scissors

[screaming20sproject]

NEEDLES SHE MEANT NEEDLES

THEY’RE NOT PENISES

ALLEGEDLY

[screaming20sproject]

Where was I? Oh yes, primary sources

So the cool thing about studying fashion in the 1920s is that most of the material published back then is in the public domain, which means it can be scanned and distributed on the internet for free. And it is, because despite what Big Business would like us all to think, the internet is still for nerds.

ANYWAY.

The first place I went was archive.org. It took me a hot second to figure out how to get good search results but I’ve found a few books that look promising and one REALLY interesting study by the US Dept of Agriculture in 1927, “Present trends in home sewing.”

The first interesting thing is that they even did the study, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day. What’s relevant to my main topic is the categories they asked about. For underwear, they surveyed women to see if they made:

slips

petticoats

chemises

bloomers

This tells us a couple of things. First, all four were still being worn, i.e. there hadn’t been a complete transition away from chemises as everyday undergarments. That could mean they were still being worn as a base layer under the bust support, as was done for most of history up to this point.

Second, no support garments are on the list. That suggests to me that bras and corsets were not commonly being made at home. That isn’t terribly helpful, but it’s also not too surprising. Shapewear takes specialized knowledge and materials that most people don’t have time to mess with. I’m hopeful I’ll find some patterns, but this confirms it may take a while.

Finally, not underwear related but I thought it was really interesting: They collected demographic information on income and community size. The income bracket that did the most home sewing was $2000-2999/year, or about $32-49k in today’s money. I interpret that as the lower-middle to middle class, who could afford the time to sew for themselves (very possibly as stay-at-home spouses) but didn’t have a ton of money to shop.

And that concludes today’s research into the underwear of the 1920s! Tune in later for more incredible nerdiness and maybe an attempt to make that bra from YouTube.

[screaming20sproject]

wait no I found some bra videos

SCORE

Hang on I gotta watch and report back

[screaming20sproject]

Hmmmmmn. Okay so I found two of the same bra (YouTube still refuses to tell me anything so I’m finding these via a sort of blog ring method).

On the good side: Squares! This thing is just a cotton rectangle with a couple of straps. I have an old sheet in the Goodwill bag, I could make this TODAY.

On the questionable side: Ruching in the center. Usually when I see that on modern bras, it’s for cup definition and that’s kind of the opposite of the goal. On the other hand, there is some topography in the middle that you have to adjust for, otherwise why not just wrap yourself in a sheet and call it a day.

It’s probably trying as a starter project, because did I mention SQUARE, but I have doubts.

Video sources:

The Long Haired Flapper (original, small bust sizing)

Gwen’s Shenanigans (larger bust adjustment and also you should watch the first few minutes just for the thing with the tea bags. Trust me)

Tomorrow: the hunt for primary sources

[screaming20sproject]

wait no I found some bra videos

SCORE

Hang on I gotta watch and report back

[screaming20sproject]

Research rabbit hole day one: Mostly YouTube

It’s actually day two because I started this nonsense yesterday, but hey.

Question the first: Did they, in fact, wear underwear? Weren’t they just ya know ... flapping around?

I knew the answer to this one, which is nah bro. The majority of humans are not rectangular. We have a variety of lumps in a variety of places. Also, tennis was big, and no one likes to run around a tennis court with no boob support. OW.

Question the second: Okay so what were they wearing?

This is where things got FUN.

I watch a lot of Costube (historical costuming YouTube) so that’s where I went first. Oddly, either the search algorithm sucks (possible) or there’s not a lot out there for the 20s! Lots of “History of the decade! They wore stuff!” but not a lot of “Here’s me making a thing they wore.”

I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s too simple to make good video? Lots of people making floofy Victorian petticoats, very few slapping a couple of squares together and calling it a day.

Anyway I did end up finding two that made the same pattern: Engineering Knits and Gwen’s Shenanigans. They both made a step-in chemise/teddy pattern that was free from Mrs. Depew Vintage at the time. It no longer exists, but it’s not exactly hard to reverse engineer from the videos. (Squares. It’s squares. Love the 20s already)

Question the third: WTF is a step-in teddy?

Examination suggests that it’s an undergarment that you “step into” through the side opening rather than pulling it over your head.

Question the fourth: So does that work as a binder?

No, but it looks heckin comfortable!

Question the fifth: Then what else do you wear it with?

No fucking clue, and apparently YouTube doesn’t know either, which means it’s time for

(echoey announcer voice)

Primary Sourcesssss