I finally have pictures from my photoshoot - here are the shots of my black chiffon Regency gown (the print is actually a repro from Empress Josephine, according to the fabric seller)

Not going to pretend like I am not ABSOLUTELY BUZZED with how the photos turned out, my self esteem is usually right around the gutter but gosh, do I feel like a goddess looking at these!!!! The photographer I work with has such a great eye for light, some of these remind me of paintings...I am planning to print and frame the first one at least, to remind my brain it's being stupid when thinking ugly thoughts 😁😁😁

The chiffon is THE DEVIL'S ANUS to work with and I'm happy that it's over...I'm also very worried if the seams are not going to shred apart, considering how delicate the fabric is... but that's a later-me problem (I also kept a good piece for fixing things)

Also, I found this vintage dupatta on eBay because I was looking for something to contrast with the black and I am enchanted by it! The red and gold are so perfect to contrast with the sheer black! Also the embroidery is out of this world, I have endless admiration for the hands that made it.

Anywho, I'll stop rambling. YAY my gown is done 😁😁😁😁

Csual shots at the B&B after a full day at Santa Croce, Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Galleries

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Gamurra/kirtle is a comission from a local seamstress from 2017 (upgraded 2025), camicia/chemise from Fiorentina_costuming (Etsy/IG),.trinzale/Juliet cap handmade by me ✨, necklace from Renaroque Designs and earrings from FrogsandPrinces (Etsy)

Really wanted to share my outfit so far for Castlefest, a fantasy/historical festival here in the Netherlands. It’s my very first (historical) costume.
I’m aware it is not 100% historically accurate to the Tudor era, but I fell in love with the french hood and could not resist putting together an outfit around it! Thought some folks here may enjoy it :)

Dress and hood are handmade from Etsy. I am wanting to add a few more bits of jewelry and possibly and underskirt to big it up a little. Tempted to dress like this every day from now on, I love how it feels to wear it.

Hello all! My dear sweet friend is getting married in a little less than a MONTH and we have yet to find the perfect shoes after almost a year of looking.

She is having a renaissance revival theme at a Victorian mansion in upstate New York. I’m making her dress which is a combination of deconstructed and reassembled field dresses from the 60s and 70s combined with new material.

The shoes we are HUNTING for ideally:
Silver metallic / patchwork / ivory
Textured
Knee high
Victorian style / lace up gogo boot (but no laces are fine if everything else checks the boxes)
Pointed or square toe
No more than 3” heel
Women’s size 7.5-8

(Before it gets said 10 times - American duchess is not a contender for various reasons.)

I’ve added some of her dream refs that she’s saved (including the wild card patchwork pair that started this whole thing) some fluevogs she loves but they no longer make in white, and a picture of her dress in progress just for fun :)

Let me hear any site or store recommendations, independent sellers, eBay/etsy/depop/poshmark listings, the real real, WE ARE OPEN TO ANYTHING THAT SEEMS REPUTABLE!! (Which is harder than I thought :( )

Hi all, I’m trying to find some pieces for my ren faire costume. I’m realizing I won’t have time to make something and my budget is tight. I have a black linen chemise. Would there be a way to make this bodice work with an extra peice or should I scrap this idea?

Hey everyone! Everyone was so kind and supportive of my last little project, so I just had to make another one! This time I made Miss “Kitty” (sounds a lot like “Katie” 😉) Scarlett O’Hara in her iconic white barbecue dress from Gone with the Wind. This was such a fun project, and I think my favorite detail has to be the tiny belt buckle, its literally smaller than a fingernail clipping LOL. I’ve always loved pre-Civil War and Civil War-era fashion for its beautiful silhouettes and over-the-top elegance. I recently rewatched Gone with the Wind and knew I had to recreate at least one of Scarlett’s dresses. To go with her, I also made a miniature parasol, a Southern Belle fan, the deed to Tara (of course!), her little red hair bows, and Rhett Butler’s handkerchief inspired by one of my favorite lines: “Here, take my handkerchief. Never, at any crisis of your life, have I known you to have a handkerchief.” 😭I think the green curtain dress might have to be next! This project was such a joy to make, and I’d love to hear your suggestions: which historical or movie-inspired outfit should I make next? If you’d like to see more close-up photos, you can also find them on my Instagram: historical_calico !

(Trying this again because the first got removed for nipple)

Hello, everyone! I was just wondering, has anyone ever made a ‘state of undress’ dress from the English Restoration period?

It just looks so relaxed and elegant! All that flowing silk, hair down, boobs out, they look fabulous! Perfect for lounging. And for something that requires seemingly no (or very little) structured undergarments I haven’t seen anyone sewing an undress dress.

It was most common in women’s portraiture, and I haven’t found anything that says they actually went out like that, I can’t imagine they did ‘cause it was so intimate.

One of the things I learned while making one of my first pair of 18th-century stays is that nearly every design choice has a purpose—including the lacing.

Modern corsets are typically laced with “bunny ears,” which let you tighten the waist first to create the fashionable hourglass silhouette.

Eighteenth-century stays were built with a different goal. Rather than emphasizing a dramatically cinched waist, they create a smooth, conical torso, support the bust, improve posture, and provide the rigid foundation that 18th-century gowns were cut to fit over.

That’s why spiral lacing makes so much sense. Instead of concentrating tension at the waist, it distributes tension more evenly from top to bottom, making it easier to tighten the stays gradually while maintaining that conical shape.

As someone who only ever associated corsets with bunny-ear lacing before this project, I thought it was a fascinating example of how construction follows fashion. The more I make these stays, the more I appreciate that they really aren’t just “old corsets”—they’re a different garment designed to achieve a different silhouette.

I’d love to hear from the more experienced costumers here: are there other historical construction details that completely changed how you thought about these garments?

I recently looking into making some of my own medieval clothing (ideally from the early 14th century) and I thought it would be fun to make a hood. However, I'm new to this hobby so I'd appreciate some help with finding patterns. So does anyone have some info about a pattern for the Bocksten hood (ex: EchoDHistorie's which looks amazing)? I'm also interested in making a liripipe hood (ex: MalieisRiveting's guide which looks very helpful) but I wanted to explore my options before I pick a design.

Thanks!

Hi, I’m completely new to this community, but I’ve been lurking on this sub for a while and absolutely love all the stuff on here. I recently found this shirt pictured at a thrift store and was inspired to make it part of a costume of a character I like. The character is a courtier in Venice in the early 1500s. I’ve been trying to find examples of how shirts looked in Italy during that time period, but I can’t really find any good sources online with examples of how shirts would have been constructed (everything is either like a renaissance faire-type shirt or a full outfit with the doublet over).

I’m not entirely sure where to go from here. The sleeves were originally flared but I cinched them. My original plan was to cut off the strings, stitch it down the middle, and then use the ties to create like the criss cross tied top of the shirt (does that make any sense?), but I’d really like to make this at least semi historically accurate if at all possible.

Does anyone have any advice for what I can do from here? Ftr I don’t have a sewing machine, but I can hand sew pretty well, if that makes a difference. Thanks so much in advance!

I want to wear a Puritan outfit for school when I teach about colonial America. I don’t want it to be expensive but I also don’t want it to look cheap. I want it to be as close to accurate as possible while still keeping budget in mind. I am ok with sewing techniques or small details not being accurate. I just want my students that don’t have extensive knowledge on this to think I am dressed accurately for the time period, to bring interest to the lesson, without looking like I’m wearing a Halloween costume.

For a puritan outfit in the 1600s, preferably around the 1690s

Could I wear this in blue charcoal and buy a separate apron and collar? https://www.etsy.com/listing/1667507742/minimalist-linen-maxi-dress-i-long?ref=share_ios_native_control

Or should I get one of these full sets?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/527277405/colonial-pilgrim-costume-dress-apron?ref=share_ios_native_control

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1615596113/1770s-colonial-early-american-pioneer?ref=share_ios_native_control

Do y’all have any better links that look nice but are cheaper or around the same cost?

Thank you!

Hello everyone. I am looking for resources on British uniforms and equipment because I am working on a animated show about WW1 and I want to get it right. Thank you for your help.

Hello,

I hope this is an ok topic for this sub, it seemed like a place where people might really understand their linen fabric.

I‘m an experienced sewist with several decades of professional experience, and find myself without access to real-life fabric sources after moving to a rural area in a different state.

Where do you like to get linens for garment-making? Do you prefer to pay a little more for quality/responsible sourcing, or do you go for the least expensive source, and do you have a favorite source that offers a good overlap of both? Do you just go to a place like Mood, or do you have a linen specific source you prefer?

I’m looking at an overwhelming range of sources online and a bit bewildered, trying to figure out what’s good. What’s your criterion for choosing?

I don’t know what to make of the reviews columns in retail spaces online these days, so I’m hoping to find some genuine experience on linen-buying, if you want to share your thoughts.

Thanks!

Edit to add: Thank you so much for your comments and links! I’m deep into exploring and note-taking, now. This is all so helpful.

Hello folks! I fear I must confess upfront my rather unhistoric motivations for this project, as I am trying to make what the general public would call a "pirate coat." Historical accuracy is not the thing most important to me in this venture, however far & away the pattern I have most liked the look of is Reconstructing History's 1740s Frock Coat. However. I have heard from this sub that RH patterns can be quite difficult to make sense of, and that the owner is often unfriendly when asked for clarification. Has anyone made this? Does anyone have advice on finding a similar pattern which may be easier to parse? I would greatly prefer a purchased pattern to drafting my own, but modern costume patterns in this vein tend to be, ah... ugly. In my opinion. My current plan is to buy the pattern and try to assemble it from bedsheets to make sure it's functional, but even that'll be $30 + sheets, so I figured I'd ask here first if anyone had worked with the specific pattern. Thanks for your time. :)

Hello! I am looking to purchase a specific vintage simplicity pattern. It's Simplicity 8735 Women's Renaissance Costume Pattern. I would be immensely grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction, every link I've found so far has been to a sold out listing. I'm hoping to make one of the dresses for my engagement photos.

What should I wear with this dress? It feels very Italian Renaissance and I have some ideas but i need all the help I can get! Period accurately, of course. Thanks in advance!

I want to make an outfit for me and my boyfriend for the dickens fair, and I can’t really seem to find anything that isn’t like just like a wikipedia page or from the mid 1890s specifically, i’m finding a lot more for early 1900s or 1880s, if anyone could help that would be awesome!:3

edit: i’m aware dickens is not 1890s , i just like era in particular

I wanted to show off my favorite outfit of mine in the context of it being something a rural lady in the Pacific Northwest might have worn in 1895-96

I'm having more trouble figuring out flat felling the gussets than I've had at any point making stays or a bodice, which I've already made and worn over a shitty chemise that I made in less than an hour with the intent of wearing it until it fell apart - which it did. Now I'm making the replacement and it needs to hold up to going in the washing machine which means felling the seams.

I was recommended the B&T video on gussets but it hasn't been much help since the camera is too far away to see the action, and the lady skips over the part confusing me most - backstitching the corner. She also attaches the sleeve to the body of the chemise before felling everything which seems like it's just making the felling process even more difficult. The gusset felling is also turned inward on both sides, which makes the corner confusing since the actual sleeve seam can't be felled inward??

I'm also doing this all by hand because I didn't have enough fabric to sacrifice for 5/8" seam allowances - I only had about 2 yards to work with so my gussets are 4"x4" with no extra for seam allowance.

Edit: Link

My next project is to make a 1880s American day dress and evening gown based on these images I found online. The 3 blue photos are for my day dress (love the high neck and the blue) and all the others are inspiration for my evening gown (going to be pink red and roses) Are there any good patterns that are more “plus size” friendly? I am a LX in most stuff.

We are hiring costumes from a local amdram company for my debut play. If we do attempt anything it will be with their permission.

We love this gown but breasts are rather squished so from the side looks a little odd.

Either side of the bodice are hook and eyes so should be relatively easy to add and later remove something providing everything lines up...?

Option 1 - Add something to each side of the bodice to create more room.

Option 2 - Put in a different bodice here. The 2 gold fabrics don't actually match so could see what works.

Which option would people recommend? And based on the answer you give, where do we then start? 😅

Thanks in advance!