- All Sections
- Costume making (1)
- Extras (2)
- Historical periods (8)
- Research (2)
 Discussing the cut of a late medieval kirtle and a very popular V neck gown, often simply referred to as the Burgundian gown.  There are many Tudor dresses of 1530 and later on the re-enactors' circuit, but few earlier ones. Let's go back to 1510 and do something different!  Five simple techniques can make a wide range of jewelry to provide the finishing touch to your Tudor or Renaissance outfit.  Making a new outfit for a young Tudor lady. Part 2: foresleeves, forepart, kirtle layers, and revisiting the smock.  You've just finished sewing your dream outfit—maybe it's Tudor, or 1550s Florentine, or a gorgeous black velvet Spanish gown—and it fits perfectly, but something seems to be missing. Accessories take an outfit from costume to clothing, and jewelry played a huge role in the opulent look of middle-class and noble 16th century clothing for both men and women. While some types of 16th century jewelry require serious metalworking skills or advanced faux techniques in polymer clay and other materials, a huge range of beautiful and authentic jewelry can be made using basic beadwork techniques, supplemented with carefully chosen costume jewelry.
 It is surely a dream of many a young girl to wear a beautiful dress. It is doubly so when the young girl is a re-enactor playing the role of a Tudor Gentry girl. One young lady will be given that very dream at Kentwell Hall's Tudor Events this summer. Eleven-year-old Etty has been portraying a young gentry girl for the past two years, but for the first time she will be wearing a tailor-made gown suitable for her character's status in the year 1538. I have been commissioned to make the entire ensemble for Etty, and readers can follow the process, picking up techniques and tips that I use. All the techniques and patterning can be applied to adult women's gowns of the period as well as a young girl's gown.  We had numerous entries to our writing competition this last month and we judges had a hard time choosing the top two, let alone the winner! First place goes to Lindsey Eastman for her great essay "Death of a Costume Snark". We'll publish the second place entry next month.
 ...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!
 The ten year wait for Janet Arnold's last work is over: Patterns of Fashion 4 is to be published on November 7th, and this month YWU is celebrating its release! This extraordinary treasure trove, the final book in the series, has been completed with additional material by Jenny Tiramani and Santina M. Levey after Janet's passing in 1998. We've been smiling very sweetly at the publisher, and our grovelling has paid off with an advance copy. So Marion's ready to give you her exclusive review!  After a wait of almost ten years, Patterns of Fashion 4 was released in late 2008. Janet Arnold's final work covers all kinds of extant ruffs, collars, smocks, shifts and chemises in astounding detail, with mouth-watering photographs and the clear, complete annotated patterns that she was so famous for. To celebrate, we thought we'd feature details on where to get some of the fine quality materials to re-create the items in the book.  Introducing Handmade Trims: Part 1 - Lucet There's an old saying that goes "It's all in the details". With historical costume, this counts double - details can make or break an outfit, be it in terms of period accuracy, colour, or design. But creating detailed, authentic handmade trimmings for your garments and accessories is actually much easier than you might think. In this extensive beginner's guide, we'll look at lucet cording, a simple and versatile technique that gives great results and doesn't need a lot of equipment; secondly, we'll take it a step further and try fancy braiding; finally, we'll move to inkle and tablet weaving for more complex and impressive historically accurate results.  The gorgeous Elizabethan gown is completed after months of work. Everything is beautifully fitted and sewn, the fabrics are near-as-damn-it authentic and just perfect. It looks amazing, but something is missing. That small detail which is always seen in the portraits but never noticed. You need a piece of needlelace! This Masterclass will show you how to add that little bit extra to your gorgeous gown. The technique used is Drawn Threadwork and the garment is a pair of Drawn Threadwork Cuffs (pictured right). The technique is easily transferable to other decorative linen garments such as the ubiquitous Elizabethan Coif, a partlet or embellishment to a shirt or smock. Or you can use the technique for the border of a handkerchief. The skill is not just restricted to Elizabethan costuming but is seen from very early medieval period right through to the twentieth century and on all kinds of linen items such as caps, Edwardian shirtwaists, collars, aprons and handkerchiefs. Once you've learned the basics, you can unleash your imagination! |
