>> daryl: maybe we will get a snippet of your rehearsal late owner in the broadcast. >> josh: sounds good. >> carrie: thanks josh. i think he has to go rehearse a little more. >> daryl: yup, he does. >> carrie: a out of the of alberta student knows what back breaking work being a seamstress was 300 years ago. >> daryl: she recreated six dresses for masters project, did it in the way that would have had them made in the 18th century. graham neil has more. >> reporter: this is a dress that was popular in the mid1700. it's one of six recreations made by carolyn dowdow who tried to replicate these as authentically as possible. >> using appropriate materials for the time period and also appropriate techniques. >> reporter: this would be considered an appropriate technique. dowdell sewed all of these like an 18th century seamstress on a hardwooden chair in a corseted work dress putting the gowns together stitch by stitch, often working only by candlelight. >> on the days that i was sewing, i didn't bathe. because people in the 18th century didn't bathe on a regular basis. >> reporter: you didn't have friends come over i'm guessing while you were sewing. >> occasionley i did but i warned them. >> she has the calluses. >> my thumb. report relevant it took her five months of ten-hour days to complete these dresses. this quilted petticoat has almost 25,000 stitches in it. >> reporter: you worked hard on that one >> long and hard. >> the experience is part of her masters work in the department of human ecology. >> you can read about it but there's also doing it and i wanted to put them together. >> reporter: she knew the work would be hard but maybe not this hard. >> i thought that i was being realistic about it. but i turned out that i wasn't quite. >> reporter: she's left not only with a lasting impression of what wearing a corset can do to you but also an immense respect for the women that did this for a living in the 18th century. >> their skill levels in making these was really not recognized or respected. they were at the lower end of the occupational trades. >> reporter: she is going to donate these dresses to the university of alberta. after that she may try making something else. >> i would like to try and make some clothes for myself, modern clothes for myself but using these historical techniques and seeing what's like and what that ends up looking like but i think i will wait at least six months. >> reporter: graham neil, ctv news, edmonton. >> carrie: but she should try her work is extraordinary. >> daryl: very impressive. >> carrie: m-hm. the exhibit is running at the human ecology building located on 116 street and 89 avenue until april 26. >> daryl: it's sort of in two faces because in a few weeks she is going to turn the dresses inside out so people can see the stitching. >> carrie: stay tuned. later tonight, find out who is footing the bill for a new home for the california octuplets and her six other children.yolf. dr.z