Revealing How Often I Actually Clean My Daily Historical Clothes

Its funny to have this laid out and see how similar it is to my own procesa even though i didnt realize it before. I wear religious garmenta under my bras and shirts, so it works like a shift and absorbs all the sweat for me. I wash my whites after each wear, but i inspect the condition of the outer piece after i wear it to decide if it needs washing. As such my bras only get washed once a month or so, skirts every 4-ish wears, shirts every other wear, etc. People think this is an oppressive laundry schedule, but its very easy to get used to and works just fine for me.

If anyone is thinking about trying cheap tequila instead of vodka - don't. Ask me how I know...

The material in the shift makes a huge difference for how often you need to wash them. My cotton shifts often smell of sweat after one use, but the linnen (remie) one hasn't smelled even after 3 days in 30°C weather. Linnen is more breathable, feel cooler and has some antibacrerial properties so it is the supperior material for underwear.

I´d love to see an updated version of your closet! you did a tour, but it´s a few years back, and i am sure your wardrobe has changed a lot over that time!

This is such an informative video, and actually helpful for people that struggle with sweating and want to both wear historical clothes and maintain proper hygiene.
I have several questions:
Could you give some examples of how you treat spots on outergarments (what cleaning solutions you use, soaking time or other such details)?
Are there undergarments for peeps that sweat profusely in the armpit area and crotch area, especially under clothes such as short-sleeved blouses (e.g. 1940s short-sleeved blouse), or slightly loose trousers (e.g. 1890 trousers for men)?
Would an altered chemise (with shorter sleeves and length) work for wearing underneath a short-sleeved blouse?
Would it make sense to attach the dress guards to an undergarment (instead of the outergarment), for extra protection?
Finally, how to get our hands on a chemise or shift? Do you know any accessible online shops that carry them? Is it actually easier to sew your own chemise/shift? If yes, do you know any sewing patterns for them (especially for a beginner)?
Thanks!

Cool 😀

I definitely need to make some dress shields, they'd be great for less washable jackets!

I love this! Very helpful

I agree with another commenter that today's modern fabrics cause odor to develop more quickly in clothing than natural fabrics would. I really enjoyed this video, and I am trying to incorporate more natural fabrics like cotton into my own wardrobe. I remember my mother wearing dress shields in her very nicest dresses. I think that was probably a very typical thing of her generation.

Can you use the vodka on wool or silk or only cotton and linen? Thanks

I have question dear, for the wool. When you use the wool cycle of the laundry machine, can you put more than one piece? That cannt felt the items? I’m always scare of wool . Can you let me know? Thanks ❤

As far as wanting to smell a real historical perfume, Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City gives that opportunity. A lost steamboat was located in an old river bend (now a farm field) and since it was submerged in water and buried in mud, no heat, light, or air reached the contents. The steamboat went down loaded with restocking goods for general stores, so there's a wide range of goods being preserved and displayed, perfume included. They were able to analyze it and recreate it and now you can spritz yourself and smell history!

Thank you, this is very helpful. I'm trying to wear historical belle clothes for every day.

Do you ever line dry your cotton and linen under garments? Sun bleaching works!

Regarding deodorants: any type of zinc cream is amazingly effective, inexpensive, and mild enough to use on a baby’s bottom. You can buy a small tube in a drug store and give it a try. If it works well for you, you can buy in a larger jar and have enough for a very long time for about $8. I find I don’t even need to use it every day, it inhibits the growth of bacteria. It tends to be a bit thick but you can dab just a bit on your finger and spread it thinly. I’ll often apply it at night so it’s invisible by morning or right out of the shower when the residual moisture helps to spread it more thinly.

I have zero issues laying out a lot of clothes and wearing them again the next day (or another day) if I haven't sweated in them or gotten them visibly dirty. If anyone takes issue with it, well, I can tell them different reasons. It's friendlier to the environment, the clothing lasts longer, and stuff like that. Obviously (or maybe not), undergarments are changed daily; as are mask from when I wore them during the bulk of the pandemic. I'm more than a little grossed out by people wearing the same mask day after day without washing it.
I love night shirts for sleeping. They're loose and don't require any thought when I have to use the toilet in the middle of the night! Victorian nightclothes seem reasonable to me!

since I found your channel a day ago, all I am thinking about is
how you clean IN your historical clothes? 😅

How do you keep track of what wear a garment is on?

Many would call my garments historical or rather ancient times for some of them. I'm a bit scattered in various time periods for different garments. While I did purposely make 3 garments as a study on ancient clothing an to learn something specific others were quarreling about. I did not actually purposefully set out to make & wear historical clothing. It just sort of happened more due to necessity, practically an frugality.

Due to both frugality and meager income I began making my own clothing. I've darned socks an mended clothes many years an even made children's clothing for some reason I never thought to make my own till a few years ago. Wish I'd had the epiphany years ago as I went many years without being able to buy clothes an definitely not what I wanted or needed.
When I started Wearing long skirts I learned a lot an found I enjoyed wearing skirts. There were so many perks for me I wondered why they ever got the boot. Winter posed an issue but not for long I quickly realized it was easy to simply add another skirt for more warmth. This is impossible to do with jeans.
Many women think I must be freezing in wintertime due to skirts but I'm warmer due to being able to layer an body heat accumulates like a mini heated room.
I've spent so much time out of doors an learning how to dress for it that it saves on heating costs as well to simply dress for the weather. The more I learn the more I think our so-called progress in many ways is actually backwards.

Very very informative. I still wonder what women did during their period. My mother said they wore rags but how did they hold them up? Also, I thought people bathed rarely but washed themselves in a basin. Calling the washing tops and tails. There is a proper order to washing yourself standing up with a basin. Hands, face, wrists, arms, then underarms, neck, crotch, behind. Feet are last. Hair was washed separately. Often dried in the sunshine in warm weather, in winter by the fire.
That would be interesting cleanliness throughout history. Thank so much.

You you make all your under garments? Do you make your corsets? Or do you have them made? If you have them made who do you have make them?

Try some creed fragrances they have a touch of history

I read in How to be a Victorian that the most common perfume scent in the era was a combination of bergamot and lemon, personal taste impacting the ratio. It is a lovely way to smell like the time period.

Not just dress shields, but removable collars and cuffs. Very practical. IIRC, the linen under layers were boiled? I think the loose linen provides much better hygiene than the modern underwear. More comfortable too. ....and people wonder why I go hiking in skirts.

Towards the end of your video, you mentioned that you would like to try some historic perfumes. On that head, there is a company called Timbrell Cockburn Cunha, who sells historic perfume powders and bottles of perfume. In another video, you mentioned that you enjoy reading historic literature, which they have plenty of handbound copies on linen paper.

I just found your channel and I'm slowly making my way through all you videos. It's so interesting to hear thus from a historical perspective, as I was raised to wear things until they were actually dirty - undergarments to coats. I've recently been trying to get more organic undergarments, especially Marino wool, as they last longer and are usually more comfortable. 🙃

Vodka makes a great starch, I use it in my heirloom sewing, and I know many quilters who use it in their blocks to get super crisp and flat seams.

Acrylic fabric or polyester used in most modern clothes react with skin in a way that actually creates body odor, if your dress is silk it is a whole different story, not to mention putting a hand sewn silk velvet dress in the washing machine will rip it to shreds, personally though I’d opt for just getting a bucket and gentle hand washing after every wear and hang dry

aranea black has a good vid about washing her corsets in a washing machine and they survive. It's another option. Something I've found and you highlight - people used to live in these clothes all the time. there was a time when these clothes were not historical - they were just clothes and women had already found ways of making them practical. Why would these things be mutually exclusive now? I think we treat fancy clothes too delicately. Unless you were megabucks wealthy, clothes had to work for a living, even the posh frocks.

Even with my modern clothing, I don't always wash my pants or shirts after every wear, not unless I get them dirty or sweaty.
I do eventually want to make and wear historical clothing and would make similar practical choices in how I make my garments. I would also go for mostly linen, cotton, and wool. Those natural fibers can be washed at home which makes them more easily cared for.
I think I would only use silk if I was going to an event.

Dress shields! Ive been thinking how I could protect any historical/historybounding clothes I got and FINALLY I have a solution. Weird how Ive never come across them anywhere else. Thank you for the video/s! Ive binged a few and they are all just really nice

Please do a video about you/things we don't know about you!

do have how to for like historical patterns and hand sewing? would love a sew along

Thank you so much for this video! Everything from the UK based fabric shops to the frequency of washes and temperature used was incredibly helpful.
If it’s not too personal, do you live in the UK?

This was so so helpful!! I’d never thought of using dress shields. That’s a great idea! On another note, would it be too much to ask for a video on how you deal with menstruation in your historical garments? It would be very practical for those of us who want to wear historical clothing more frequently or as a part of our daily lives.

THANK YOU! I have been wondering about this for ages. Although it still doesn’t address my main concern which is that I’m a pig. I basically ending up wearing whatever I ate that day no matter how ladylike I try to eat. I am less concerned about undergarments and more getting food or dirt on outer garments. How do you spot treat silk taffeta if you can’t get it wet? What happens if you get rained on?

Sprinkling with cornstarch mixed with coconut powder...humm i do it for my regular clothes..i like the way smell afterwards..and i switched from Vodka to witch hazel..i like the smell..too

I know many costumers in plays etc use the practice of also spraying many garments with vodka or rubbing alcohol to get rid of the funk under the pits or cooking smells like you said. I've had a pair of stays for a decade and never washed them because it was worn over a blouse only for Renfest couple days . . I haven't washed my ski coat in years.. probably needs a good wash eep. my wool I don't wash often. my linen shifts for bed I wear on top my undergarments they get washed at the end of the week and I have two of them . underwear get changed daily and washed every week. bras get washed every other week except for my sports bras.

Care of these items is always missed...you get extra points for covering!!!

A thing about skirt lengths:
What many people don't realise that the long skirts rule really only applies to western Europe, its colonies and/or more eastern cities. Especially in some eastern European rural areas, the hems went flying up so fast that at least by 1840 they ended mid-calf, sometimes even barely under the knee (looking at you Moravia).
So, yea, if you don't fancy long skirts, there's always a loophole.

Anyway, I loved the video! I feel a bit dirty now, as some of my petticoats haven't been washed in months... But then again, they smell fine and aren't directly in contact with skin.

As someone who is in the process of also building a "historical adjacent" wardrobe with the undergarments being the most period of the overall ensembles this has been such an amazing watch! I have been wondering how often I should be washing certain pieces and how and this has been immeasurably helpful - especially as I continue to make clothes and take considerations into what fibres I choose in the future. Thank you! x

Also thank you for making this. I have been wondering how best to wash historical garments since I became interested in doing this though I am no where near even a full outfit yet

Where do you get your stockings from?

Your videos are so helpful, thank you for making them

I loaned my vintage dress to my daughter, and she had it near sunlight so part of the dress has faded. What can I do to bring the color back? I thought to let it soak in black dye with cold water as hot water will damage the old material which is 100 years old. Any thoughts or ideas??

This might be a bit personal so my apologies. You mentioned wearing bloomers upon occasion. What do you do for mensuration? Does your wardrobe change at all to accommodate this?

I watched this whole video then asked myself. I wonder what do her clothes smell like before she wash them😂😂😂😂😂 think about it! Her natural oder could different from most women. Her ph balance is balanced!

seems you would benefit from a hedge or lawn to lay your linen , cotton and wools out between wears so the fresh air and sun can purify them as would be traditional. You are certainly washing them far more often than was normal when I was a child 60 years ago and I'm surprised you use a machine for wools and silks when hand washing is so easy and authentic. Ecover has dubious connections with animal testing by the way and more ethical substances can be found, why not soap as was used authenticly ? Try fullers earth . But a good start to counter the fools who wear synthetics and then wonder why they sweat and smell and then cost us the planet with their laundry excesses