A Brief Costume History

If you haven't already gathered from my blog, I love costumes. I would love to be a costume designer! I would like to give a brief history of costume. I will be using the eras dictated in the book Historic Costumes for the Stage by Lucy Barton. Many people have differing opinions of when fashion eras begin and end; I have chosen to follow the outline of this book because it is detailed and well-documented. I have made some minor changes to a few of the names and dates of the eras, but for the most part I followed the book. My favorite eras are the Regency and Early Victorian.

Early Gothic 1200-1350

Late Gothic 1350- 1450

Renaissance 1450- 1550

Elizabethan 1550- 1625

Charles I and Commonwealth 1625-1660

Restoration 1660- 1700

Early Georgian/Baroque 1700- 1750


Late Georgian 1750- 1790

1775 Marie Antoinette^

1775^

1789^

1750^

Hats, hair, and shoes 1770's and 80's^

Movies: Part of Amazing Grace (2006), John Adams (2008)

Regency 1790- 1815

1810^

1812-1813^

Movies from this time period: Most Jane Austen movies. Pride and Prejudice (2005) reflects the lower, natural waistlines of 1790 whereas the typical regency waistline is higher. As far as costumes go I recommend Emma (BBC 2009), Pride and Prejudice (BBC/A&E 1995), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Persuasion (BBC 2008).

Romantic 1815-1840

1836-1840. Photo taken by Valerie McGlinchey^

1841^

Movies: Wives and Daughters (BBC 1999)

Early Victorian/Crinoline 1840-1865

1844^

1855^

1862^

1865^

Movies: North and South (BBC 2004), The Young Victoria (2009) The first part of Little Women (1994), Gone with the Wind, The King and I, most Dickens adaptions.

Late Victorian/Bustle 1865- 1890

French Woman 1874^

1874^

1881^

1882^


1888^

Movies: The Second part of Little Women (1994).

Fin de Siecle (End of a Century) 1890- 1900

1890-92^

1892^

Edwardian 1900- 1910

Three sisters in 1902^

A beautiful gown from pre-1905 here

Summer evening in 1906^

1906^

1909^


1909-1910^

Movies: My Fair Lady, Anne of Green Gables


A time line of period dramas can be found here.


Most pictures found at commons.wikimedia.org

I will be adding more to this page later!

Great Costume Books

These are some of my favorite costume books:

• Cut of Women's clothes 1600-1830 by Norah Waugh
• Historic Costumes for the stage by Lucy Barton
• A History of Costume by Carl Kohler
• Period Costumes for stage and screen 1800-1909 by Jean Hunnisett

:D

Bird Watching shirt

I started this shirt in September, before school really started! I made the pattern with princess seams and 3/4 length sleeves that roll up. There are so many cute plaid shirts out there that I just had to make one. I finished everything but the buttons a couple months ago. The shirt got lost in the busyness of life until I recently finished it!

Fiber class 2

Week 2,3, and 4 of my textile class were spent weaving. I am making a scarf. There is a special name for my loom but I don't remember it! The teal yarn is a wool-mohair blend and the multi-colored yarn is wool-nylon.

Christmas Surprises

This year for Christmas I made my two brothers and my brother's girlfriend magnetic hot pads. I had not very pleasant experiences when I bought the supplies at Joanns and I left resolved not to shop there again. We'll see how long it lasts...
These are the supplies for nine hot pads:

-Fabric (linen like. I think it is a polyester linen blend.)
-Insul-Bright: needled insulated lining. It is like batting that has a heat resistant metal side to it.
-Wool felt cut from a felted sweater and scarf.
-Super strong .47/.5" diameter magnets from Jerry's. On the packages they say: Extremely Strong Magnets! Not for Children! Do not inhale magnets. As you can see they are very dangerous! :D


The hot pad pattern is 22x20cm with 1cm seam allowance. The pattern for the batting and the wool is 20x18cm. I layered the hot pads for sewing in this order facing up: right side of fabric, one layer insul-bright, one layer wool, wrong side of fabric. I found that it was best to sew the insul-bright and the wool in the seam of the hot pad to help the hot pad to lie flat.

Some of them have pockets and decorative stitching.

These are the bags I decorated to hold the lovely gifts:



So those are my surprises!

Fiber Class: Week 1

This term I am taking a fiber class through Homesource at the Eugene Textile Center (1510 Jacobs Drive). It is a really cool store to go in and look around. They specialize in weaving, dyeing, felting and other textile related crafts.

For my first class I learned to needle felt. It is really easy if you have the right tools! You need a special tool that has several needles coming out of it. You also need a foam mat, a solid piece of felt for your "canvas" and wool for your project.
This is what I made: