The Vintage Nerd Sews

I decided fairly quickly that in making my suit, I preferred the look of the coats with stand-and-fall collars. As historically there were a few neckline options, from no collar whatsoever on up, I went with my aesthetic preference for the frock coat style. I was pretty intimidated by this as I looked through the resources I have. I have made a 1940s women's suit using tailoring techniques, but that is the limit of my suiting experience. To take that limited knowledge and use it to draft, fit, and assemble an 18th century suit coat from a gridded image felt overwhelming, even with the 18th century sewing experience I had under my belt already.  Doing some research in a couple of excellent historical costuming groups on Facebook, I found one name popped up again and again as the frock coat expert: Henry Cooke. Lucky for me, he doesn't only offer classes, but also a pattern, available at The Sign of the Unicorn: Wm. Booth, Draper. A part of me felt like a cheat for purchasing a p...

Breeches are what brought us here to this project. Well, breeches and my ardent optimism/perennial stupidity that has made my creative motto forever be "How hard can it be?" Hard. Very hard.  As an upfront note, I use this space almost as a journal, updating photos and writing as I go, then publishing it when I finish. Because of this, there are things I do that I discover need to be changed as the construction process progresses. This is not a perfect tutorial by any means: it's far more like a legible version of the pencil notes you find scribbled along the margins of a pattern's instructions. Read on at your own risk. After feeling confident about my waistcoat, I put aside those pieces and I opened Costume Close-Up . I preferred the breeches pattern in this book slightly over that of the pattern in Fitting & Proper , primarily as it looked like the sizing would be closer to my own. I ended up with an abomination of a first round of patterning. I haven't in...

1790s, Colonial Williamsburg Collection I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I continue to be inspired by Felicity Merriman's wardrobe. I think most (if not all) historical costumers of a certain age owe a large portion of their passion to The Pleasant Company, and I am no exception. When Virgil's Fine Goods announced the return of their fabric, "Cait's Flowers," the original 18th century print that inspired the one used by American Girl, I had to have it. I was very kindly gifted 5 yards of it for Christmas by my parents, and spent my time waiting on the pre-order to arrive by deciding what to make with it.  I didn't want to go full cosplay, in part because that's not quite me. Another reason was that I already have a calico round gown, so another felt...excessive. What did catch my eye during the research process were the many chintz petticoat and jacket combinations. This struck me as something a grown-up Felicity might wear. I began to do my res...