Making Working Women's Costume gives a unique account of the clothes of ordinary women from the mid-fifteenth century to the early twentieth century. As well as introducing the historical periods, it gives patterns for a range of typical garments that women of the poorer classes would have worn. Organized by century, it draws on historical sources and finds, paintings and photographs to recreate the clothes of these under-celebrated women. It includes useful information about equipment for present-day use, calculting curves, taking measurements and sewing techniques not in current use, and patterns for late medieval clothes, such as smocks and gowns, are developed from ancient T-shaped garments and can be marked out on the fabric with given measurements. Garments for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including bodices, waistcoats and skirts, are drawn on grids. Proportionate cutting is used for the clothes of the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as nurse's uniforms and cotton frocks, with options to add a range of features. Written for costume students, teachers and re-enactors, this book will be an invaluable source for everyone seeking to recreate and wear the clothes of these under-celebrated women. Illustrated with 43 colour illustrations and 81 patterns.

Edwardian fashions for women were characterized by the S-shaped silhouette, embellished with lace, tucks, ruffles, tassels, frills and flounces. This essential book includes eleven detailed projects, which form a capsule collection of clothing and accessories that might have been worn by an Edwardian governess, a woman travelling on an ocean liner, a campaigning suffragette, or a wife overseeing a busy household in a large country house. It explains making sequences in full and advises in detail on how to give the garments a fine, authentic finish. Eleven detailed projects are included, based on the dress collections at Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove, and Worthing Museum and Art Gallery. Each project includes a detailed description of the original garment, with an accompanying illustration alongside photographs of the original pieces, and scaled patterns are included for all projects with a list of materials and equipment required. Includes step-by-step instructions with information about the original techniques used and close-up photographs of the making process, with further chapters on tools and equipment, fabrics, measurements and sizes, and how to wear Edwardian fashion with ideas on creating new outfits from the featured projects. Also includes advice on how to adapt garments to make them suitable for both wealthy, leisured women, and for their poorer counterparts. Aimed at costume makers, museums and re-enactors and beautifully illustrated with 200 colour photographs.

Subtitle on cover: Pattern cutting from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Practical, informative guidebook shows how to create everything from short tunics worn by Saxon men in the fifth century to a lady's bustle dress of the late 1800s. 81 illustrations.

The Georgian and Regency period was a time of extremes in clothing, from the heights of the extravagant and decorative headdresses to the widths of the panniers. These garments were supported by a wide range of padding, boning, frills and flounces to create shape and texture. This essential book will guide you through the exciting fashions of the time. Suitable for experts and novices alike, it is filled with practical projects ranging from grand gowns to dainty bonnets, all presented with clarity and insight. There are ten detailed patterns, dating from 1710 to 1820 with five suggested variations to show how the patterns can be adapted; eight patterns for contemporary undergarments and seven patterns for accessories. Step-by-step instructions and photographs show how to construct the patterns and lavish photographs illustrate the finished designs. With general advice on the period, the role women played in it and the fashions of the day, this book will be of great interest to stage and screen designers, museums and heritage sites, costume players, re-enactors and design students. Lavishly illustated with 309 colour images and step-by-step instructions to show how to construct the patterns.

Historical Pattern Archive: Women’s Clothing 1837–1969 is the first book of its kind to capture such a wide range of women’s period patterns in one book, featuring 83 patterns spanning over a century of clothing. The book offers an accurate pattern of each garment on a 1/8" graph that can be used to scale the pattern up to its original size, drawings of each piece from multiple angles, and instructions about how the original garment was constructed and what materials were used. Capturing research and information about garments that would have otherwise stayed hidden or disappeared permanently due to age, wear, or poor storage conditions, this volume is designed to be a tool to preserve history through documenting vintage clothing. Written for historians, reenactors, costumer makers, and costume designers, Historical Pattern Archive will enable readers to study the history behind each piece, implement their original techniques, and recreate unique garments that are both beautiful and historically accurate.

The distinctive style of the Regency period is a source of endless fascination for fashion academics and historians, living historians, re-enactors and costume designers for stage and screen. Author and fashion historian Cassidy Percoco has delved into little-known museum hoards to create a stunning collection of 26 garments, many with clear provenance tied to a specific location, which have never before been published and never – or very rarely – displayed. Most of the garments have an aspect in their construction that has not been previously documented, from a style of skirt trim to the method of gown closure. This practical guide begins with a general history of the early 19th-century women's dress. This is followed by 26 patterns of gowns, spencers, chemises, and corsets, each with an illustration of the finished piece and description of its construction. This must-have guide is an essential reference for anyone interested in the fashions or the history of the period, or for anyone wishing to recreate their own beautiful Regency clothing.

Stays and Corsets: Historical Patterns Translated for the Modern Body goes a step beyond traditional historical costuming texts by not only providing you with historical pattern diagrams and information, but by showing you how to adapt these patterns to the contemporary body shape. Using her original pattern-drafting system, author Mandy Barrington will show you how to draft a historical pattern for a modern body shape, while still retaining an accurate historical silhouette. Each pattern has been generated from an original stay, corset, or pattern taken from a historical garment. The instructions to follow these new patterns are designed to accommodate any size of female figure, allowing you to avoid extremely difficult, time consuming, and inaccurate historical pattern re-sizing Requiring only basic prior knowledge of pattern drafting, all calculations have been worked out for the costume maker and are provided in simple tables accompanied by easy-to-read, step-by-step diagrams that clearly show how the historical pattern is plotted onto the female basic block, coupled with photographs of the constructed stays and corsets.

This book contains three 16th century Austrian tailors' guild masterbook manuscripts, or schnittbuch, Nidermayr (1560), Enns and Leonfeldner (1590). These manuscripts were created to help journeyman tailors study and pass the master tailor exam. The original manuscripts have been transcribed and translated into English.

Over 280 rare photographs document "Sunday best" clothing from the 1840s to the 1890s. Bustles, pantalets, top hats, waistcoats, bowlers, other attire, as well as hairdressing and tonsorial styles.