December’s HSM challenge was On a Shoestring. The description is as follows:
It’s an expensive time of year, so make an item on a tight budget (say, under $15, or less than you’d spend on a reasonable priced takeaway meal for one person in your country – and no ‘stash’ doesn’t count as free: you still have to count what you would have originally paid for those items)
I haven’t been sewing much in the past month and so I was having trouble coming up with any ideas for this challenge. Then I remembered that I had, in fact, sewn a small item that fits this challenge–a new faux hair braid to add to my 1830s hairstyle for the annual Christmas ball!
Just the facts:
Fabric (we’ll call this ‘materials’, for this entry): 1 pack of Kanekalon faux hair in dark brown.
Pattern: None.
Year: 1830s, but it can be used for most of the 19th century.
Notions: 3 black hair nets, 2 black hair ties, and thread.
How historically accurate is it?: 95%. Adding faux hair to make complicated styles was a popular practice in the late 18th century and through most of the 19th century, but of course my braid is made of modern materials.
Hours to complete: 3.
First worn: December 14, 2019.
Total cost: Approximately $9.
The wonderful thing about covering the braid in hair nets is that it stays super smooth and not frizzy. Sometimes I like the frizz (to match my own) so I also have a braid that does not have the hair nets on it. And, I’ve decided that it’s fun to have a sleek braid, too. You can see (and read about) my method for covering the braid with the hair nets in this post.
This braid is 40″ long. It is simple and ready to be styled in any way I can think of!
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 