Book review: In Fine Style
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How did fashions change through the 16th and 17th centuries? This book follows the lead of an exhibition put on by the Royal Collection Trust showing exactly that.
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A Labour of Love - Conspicuous Consumption in Fashion
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Hidden conspicuous consumption? This contradiction in terms might apply to the modern interpretation of fashion in the 17th century when we are not all aware of the techniques used to create the various parts of the clothing. I propose that the fashion for tabs on doublets was actually conspicuous consumption, having just finished making 8 of them.
Read MoreA Labour of Love - Constructing a 1640's Doublet
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Getting to grips with pad stitching to form the curved parts of the doublet in the shoulder and the tabs or laps. This is what distinguishes tailors form seamstresses in the early modern period. Tailors create 3D shapes in fabric. Seamstresses make strong, durable garments that are flat but can be washed lots of times.
Read MoreA Labour of Love - A 1640's Doublet in Silk
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Constructing a replica of a 1640’s doublet in crimson silk - this post starts a series following the reconstruction of a doublet for use in banqueting and having fun with re-enactment.
Read MoreCopy of A Pair of 1640’s Stays: Part 2
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A description of making a pair of stays using a pattern from Patterns of Fashion 5. Carrying out the fitting and a review of the effectiveness of using the Barra Tape method of scaling up the pattern from the book scale to the client size.
Read MoreIt costs how much???
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How do you work out how much to sell your products for when you have never sold anything before? This post shows roughly how I did it for Properly Dressed.
Read MoreBook Review with a Twist: Modern Maker 1
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A review of the Modern Maker series by Matthew Gnagy. These excellent books provide a range of advice, techniques and tips on making C16th and C17th clothing in the original manner to get the right shape and look. Using one of the techniques, we have extended its use successfully and present this here too.
Read MoreThe Importance of Breeches
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How do C17th breeches close at the front? Probably not the way we have tended to make, looking pack from our modern stand point. This blog looks at one alternative method.
Read MoreBook Review: Clothes of the Common People Series
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A review of the series of research pamphlets called “Clothes of the Common People of Elizabethan and Early Stuart England” as a source for making re-enactment costume.
Read MoreCreating a Banqueting Gown Part V
/The final post on making a 1630 high fashion outfit.
Read MoreCreating a Banqueting Gown Part IV
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Making the accessories for a 1630’s fashion gown have given the dress something very special and set off the look perfectly.
Read MoreCreating a Banqueting Gown Part III
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Part three in the story of making a 1630’s high fashion outfit.
Read MoreCreating a Banqueting Gown Part II
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Part two of the construction of a banqueting gown for the seventeenth century.
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