Your Wardrobe Unlock'd

An outstanding primary source for the history nerd and dressmaking masochist. Ava begins to translate the directions for 21st c sewers!

How to make 18th century hoops - small, pocket and medium sized - and some humorous period stories about their use. 

Izabela gives patterns and details for creating the skirt, apron skirt and a detachable train with ruffled balayeuse for a wedding gown.

Ah, to be wed in Victorian finery! Izabela first shows how to make the many layers of underwear, including full length bustle cage.

Izabela shows you how to recreate a habit much like the beautiful example in Kyoto, and even tests it for us, on horseback!

Sunny finishes her deciphering of a black velvet Teens evening gown, with the bodice opening and velvet tabard.

Sunny continues her examination and deciphering of a black velvet Teens evening gown, focusing on the bodice and sleeves.

Jennie demonstrates how to draft different styles of sleeves (long and short), skirts, and finishes up the 1812 dress.

The bonnet is the iconic accessory of the early nineteenth century: Serena shares how to construct a Close Bonnet of c.1810.

Taking the basic bodice slopers from part 1, Jennie provides several examples of how to transform them into a new design.

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

Tucks were a favorite decoration from the 1820s to Teens: here's how to create a mid-19th c.-style tucked petticoat, start to finish.

The art and science of hand sewn buttonholes, looking close-up at museum examples and then making our own in four simple stages.

Sunny continues her examination of a black velvet evening gown with many of the characteristics of Teens high fashion.

Sunny examines a very complicated early Teens black velvet evening gown with  many of the characteristics of high fashion in this era.

Last month, Sunny covered how the lower half of the dress was patterned and constructed. This time, she examines the bodice.

Serena takes us step-by-step through constructing an 1812 spotted muslin dress by traditional hand- stitching methods.

In our first Teens Double Period Project article, Sunny examines a fashionable striped wool dress from 1909 - 1914 in her collection.

Amanda analyses a rare find and compares it to museum examples around the world so that the techniques can be recreated accurately.

Early medieval clothing: a potato sack with a girdle? Not necessarily: here lies an astonishing wealth of fabric, colour & detail.