Your Wardrobe Unlock'd

The calash bonnet is one of the most intriguing 18th century accessories. Serena makes a historically accurate example.

Gina Barrett shows us how to make Deaths' Head buttons, one type of the many different type of  passementerie buttons. 

No matter how good a garment is, it can always be improved by adding some lace. Izabela looks at Punto in Aria and bobbin lace.

Izabela walks us step by step through the creation of an 1785 riding habit, including gold embroidered buttons.

Serena examines authentic skirt construction step by step, completing and adding the final flourishes to the gown.

Serena discusses real eighteenth century bodice construction methods, and then builds one step by step using those principles.

A bad fabric choice can cause an accurate, researched, handsewn reproduction to look disappointingly modern. Here's how to get it right.

An introduction to late 18th century frippery and furbelows - the items commonly used to complete feminine ensembles of the beau monde.

Making sense of the vast array of shirts, breeches, trousers, waistcoats, jackets and coats, stocks, stockings, garters and cravats.

This month we have two questions:

Joyce inquires about plus size articles and what style of dress she would look best in (and gets some wonderful responses);

Elizabeth writes and wonders how to adjust a 1770's waistcoat pattern for a man with a large stomach (and learns that it probably won't be that much trouble.)

 

When looking at sleeve patterns for 18th century dresses, there's a rather striking difference when compared to modern sleeves—they have corners.

This is because for much of the 18th century, sleeves were set differently than they are today. The sleeve was set in the lower half of the armscye, the dress was put on, and then the sleeve head was pleated to fit the wearer.

This is a very efficient method and prevents a lot of the stress often associated with setting sleeves... yet for a seamstress sewing for and by herself, it presents a problem. How exactly do you pleat a sleeve on yourself?

Marion's got all the books and resources you need to create an amazing ensemble for the Revolutionary period:

The Must Have books and the Nice-to-Haves; A 1785 French fashion magazine with men's and women's dress, hat and wig fashions; and much more!

 

 

This month on the Letters, Questions and Answers page we have:

Two requests for men's clothing articles (and the answer) Regency pinafores as seen in Jane Austen films: did they really exist? A free, globally available wealth of Regency fashion plates in full color What does Dickens mean by a "comforter" in A Christmas Carol?

This early 1790s brocade bodice in Katherine's collection retains the straight front and structured lines of earlier dresses, but also hints at the later 1790s fashions with its higher waist line.

It also showcases a variety of different construction and seam finishing techniques, as each seam and edge is finished differently.

The period 1770-1789 was a time of transition in Europe and North America. It is this period that historians have long considered the dawn of the Modern Age. 

Fashion often acts as a visual guide and barometer of social values and conditions, and within such a climate of change during the 1770s and 1780s, it was impossible that fashion would not be influenced.

In our recent survey you told us that you'd like to see more how-tos involving costume accessories.

Loren Dearborn shares with us two easy techniques, using polymer clay, to create beautiful and convincing portrait and mourning jewelry appropriate for the 18th and 19th centuries.

One of my priorities when reproducing the fashions of any era is to be able to create something which can be simultaneously historically accurate and individual and distinctive in style. It is becoming harder and harder to accomplish this with Regency fashion due to the huge amount that is reproduced every year, partly due to the enormous popularity of Jane Austen.

In response I've made it my task to uncover some of the lesser known extant examples of Regency clothing, giving you a detailed insight into some more unusual examples of Regency outerwear. These are often found packed away, unseen, in the archives of museums for years, dropping into an oblivion of forgotten fashion styles.

You'll discover ways to make your own reproductions distinctive and imaginative whilst staying within the realms of historical accuracy: we'll begin by examining the pelisse and how to pattern it, then moving on to the spencer, cloaks, capes, mantles and wraps.

Jema extends Vicky Clarke's look at early period trims and Gina Barrett's discussion of Victorian embellishments by looking into trims of the 18th century.

It always seems such a shame, when having spent days, weeks, months (sometimes even years) sewing a fabulous gown, that the only option for trimming is either pretty but chunky upholstery trims or rather unsuitable modern "narrow wares".

The further back in time that you go, the more anachronistic modern trims appear. The supremely fine silk and cotton used to weave them has been replaced by chunky manmade fibres woven by machine.

Those that are available in silk are prohibitively expensive - that is, of course, if you can find anything even slightly appropriate in the right colours... So what's a girl to do?

Make her own of course!

...to Elsabet Rowth one kyrtyll of worsted upper bodyed with blew satyn of bryderies...

The British History Online site is a wonderful source of first hand information about the clothing and material objects of daily life in Tudor England.

Come explore the riches with us! 

 

This month, Loren Dearborn takes us aside and whispers in our ears about how to fake an 18th century quilted petticoat convincingly.