The best free vintage sewing books
One of the good things about studying history is: eventually everything about your subject becomes public domain. Because it was made so long ago, there are no more copyright restrictions. And that means, we can all share these books, completely free! Below are six...
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...
How to Make a Straw Hat
In my last post I showed you the fabric for a Frisian hat I made using the block printing technique. Today I'm turning this piece of fabric into an actual hat. This kind of hat is quite particular, due to the bonnets the ladies in Friesland used to wear during the...
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...
The Stays or Corsets of the Regency era
I am currently working on a new historic outfit, based on the very beginning of the nineteenth century empire period. A very interesting period, given the fact that it was a total change from the rococo dresses with grand panniers and rigid stays. Even more because in...
Dress Details: The Empire Corset
As you could read in my last blog post, navigating the styles of corsets in empire fashion is not as straightforward as it seems. I concluded that research by saying: "a lot was possible in corsetry in this period. People just adapted their corset to what they needed...
