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Reviewing Historical Costuming Books!

 Hello again! 

I will eventually post some sewing projects of mine, but first I want to post this: Reviewing historical costuming books! 

The books that I'm going to talk about are:

-Making Edwardian Costumes For Women

-Authentic Victorian Fashion Patterns

-The American Duchess Guide To 18th Century Dressmaking

-Turn Of The Century Fashion Patterns And Tailoring Techniques


Alright, let's get started.






1. Making Edwardian Costumes For Women

By Suzanne Rowland

I like this book a lot. It has 10 projects to make within its pages. This book also goes into detail on what fabrics, trims, and techniques to use for each project. For some of the projects it gives the patterns in a scaled down form, which one then has to scale up. If a pattern is not scaled down then you are told how to draft the garment to your own measurements. This book also has lots of words on every page but other than that I think this book would be good for anybody who just wants some basic Edwardian garments.







2. Authentic Victorian Fashion Patterns

By Kristina Harris

This book is a go-to resource for anybody interested in 1890's clothing. It has within its pages fashion plates and the downsized patterns that go with them. All the garments are gorgeous, but do take a significant amount of fabric. For example, a walking skirt plus a shirtwaist plus a jacket might take about 5-15 yards of fabric, depending how full the skirt is, how full the sleeves are, and such. But I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows how to scale up patterns, and is interested in 1890's clothing. Just to let people know though, the pattern's are not from the entire Victorian era. I was fooled by this. The patterns are for just 1890's clothing, even though the title of the book is Authentic Victorian Fashion Patterns. This a great resource just not the best title.






3. The American Duchess Guide To 18th Century Dressmaking

By Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox

This book is AMAZING! It gives you the patterns, and the instructions for hand sewing the garments. So, basically, this book is a complete how-to about making your own 18th century gowns. It's great. Enough said.




4. Turn-of-the-Century Fashion Patterns and Tailoring Techniques

By S.S. Gordon, with a new introduction by Kristina Harris

This book brings out the aspiring tailor within me. Its pages are filled with waistcoats, jackets, coats, skirts, and many other things. I love to thumb through it at night, dreaming of projects involving this book. I hope to someday make an Eton jacket from a pattern in this book, as many other things. I love that it has tailoring techniques too! Overall, this is a great book!



Well, we're now at the end. You might have realized by now that I love all these books and that I can't choose a favorite. My only problem was with the title of one of them, but now that I know what that book really stores within it's pages, I greatly enjoy it and appreciate it as a resource.

Thank you for reading! 

(I promise I'll post a project soon!)
















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