Your Wardrobe Unlock'd

We've gone through our links, pored over the bookshelves and searched for the best in books to help you create a masterpiece for the Natural Form Era 1876-1882.

We've got an awesome trilogy of ladies' tailoring books by Charles Hecklinger and his equally amazing trilogy of men's tailoring books.  

Having trouble getting a smooth fit to a cuirass bodice or Princess dress? We've found period  fitting guides with step-by-step pictures to guide you through the process.  Want to know what options women had for corsets and petticoats? Check out a mail order catalog from 1883.  And that's just the free stuff, not from a bookstore!

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 Other Stash?" you ask.  "I thought we already dealt with The Stash."  And indeed we did last month, at some length. 

However, there is more to the finished look than just a beautifully made dress.  Shoes and hats, coats and wraps, parasols, stockings, handbags, gloves, handkerchiefs, fans, a host of small incidentals, not to mention corsets and other undergarments... all of those items, Dear Reader, comprise The Other Stash.

During the Natural Form Era (1876-1882), straw was a popular material for hats and bonnets in both summer and winter.

I'll show you an easy technique to create three different Natural Form hat shapes by altering and decorating modern straw sun hats and using some items found around the house.