Roaring & Swinging: The Plus Pattern Project

I'm delighted to announce the opening today of an exhibition I worked on this year at the Museum at FIT: The Roaring Twenties and the Swinging Sixties. I developed the public programming for the exhibition along with Becca Carr, and you can see this content through the Extras tab on the site. What I'd like …

Mini-project: 1922 Silk Frock

The portrait! I am so happy with it. The bulk of this was a one-night project; I found inspiration around 10pm and finished most of the work by 5am. It's not quite complete yet, but I had to get a portrait ASAP and didn't know how fast I'd be able to finish the rest of …

1871 Yellow Gown…à la transformation

I'm back! Corona-ennui has done a number on me, but I recovered my sewing motivation upon seeing the Mimic of Modes announcement asking for pattern testers. Cassidy is working on a pattern taken from an extant 1870 bodice, and I loved the shapes; fortunately, she said yes to me testing it! If you'll recall, I created …

Size Inclusion YouTube Live

I know I haven't posted in a while - quarantine ennui got the best of me. I have been working on two projects and I swear I'll post about one of them soon! but in the meantime, I'd like to share with you a live discussion-cum-lecture I did yesterday with Abby Cox and moderated by …

1916 Plaid Dress

We have several events coming up this year that require interpretation in historical clothing around the 1910s-20s. I took the opportunity to get my feet wet in this era, as the closes I'd made to date was my 1903 ensemble. After a bit of browsing and with my deadline in mind, I decided to take …

1660s Dutch Ensemble: Everything Else (& final photos!)

1660s Dutch Ensemble The Bodice The Huik Everything Else (you are here) Shift I actually left this and the partlets until the end, though they're first in this post! I was torn between making a low-necked shift (appropriate for elite women) and a high-necked shift (everyone else). Some paintings do depict wealthy women with high-necked …

1660s Dutch Ensemble: The Huik & Houpette

1660s Dutch Ensemble The Bodice The Huik (you are here) Everything Else  The Huik I spent quite a while waffling over this piece. I needed winter outerwear, but in preliminary research was surprised to note that women do not appear to have commonly used hooded cloaks until the 18th century. Clearly, I was going to …

1660s Dutch Ensemble: The Bodice

1660s Dutch Ensemble The Bodice (you are here) The Huik (not yet posted) Everything Else (not yet posted) Just to introduce this with a general idea of what the final will look like: I was inspired by Gabriel Metsu’s paintings of a woman cooking, and from there branched out to other Dutch artists of the […]

Resource: Jumps, 1702-1882

Jumps: What, where, when, and why... This is a resource page dedicated to collecting textual references to women's jumps, a somewhat mysterious undergarment of the long 18th century. I have excerpted definitions, translations, news articles, court records, and published books and magazines from 1702-1882. For a general overview of corset terminology, check out The Dreamstress. …

Mini-Project: An 1890s Walking Skirt

About a year ago, I threw out the last pair of jeans in my closet and vowed to only wear what made me comfortable. Since then, I've been slowly making new garments and giving away clothing that I don't wear. I've been trying to make my skirts as long as possible, but suddenly having everything …