Why I DON’T wish I was born in a different time.
How often have you heard a version of this line: “Oh gosh, that dress is so gorgeous. I wish I lived back then so I could wear that everyday!” I get it, the way I and other people portray aspects of history have a certain appeal. But still, I do not wish I was born in any different era!
Drawing and altering a stays pattern
Last week I told you about my plans for making a Robe a la Francaise. And a historical costume is nowhere without the proper undergarments. So today I'm working on my new stays. (also, sorry for the bad quality of photo's in this post, I was working on this late at...
Historical Fabrics: What fabric to use
Like I mentioned in this post, about historical accuracy, how far you want to take historical accuracy is entirely up to you. But if you want your historical garment to look as historically accurate as possible, fabric choice is a big part of that. It is also the most...
Researching Historical Children’s Wear
In the past years, I researched historical clothing a lot, and I plan to do even more so in the years to come. But in my research, the focus is almost always on women’s fashion. (And more specifically on the women’s wear of the upper classes) To a lesser extent, I’ve...
Designing a Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol Dress
Last week we had a lot of snow here in Holland, and with Christmas right around the corner, it inspired me to make a new wintery Christmasy costume. To me, Nothing says Christmas like Charles Dickens' classic novel: A Christmas Carol. The classic story of the three...
Dressing up in an 1802 Empire Gown
Empire or Regency dresses can seem quite simple. But as you can see in the video, there were still some layers involved in achieving the empire or regency style outfits. After posting this video, I got some questions what all those layers were for, because to our...
Chintz; cotton in bloom during a masterclass blockprinting
One of the most influential fabrics on dutch costume history is chintz. This flowery hand painted cotton fabric was originality from India, but it gained enormous popularity among the lower and middle classes once the East India trading company brought them back to...
Fashion is ever changing, but the chemise is forever
When we want to learn about historic clothing, we immediately think of wide dresses of the rococo period, or the round crinoline dresses from the 1840's. But what was underneath all those layers. Bra's are a relatively new invention, and most people immediately go to...
