I made Victorian yoga pants!
I have always loved wide-leg pants, from just about any era of historical fashion. So of course, I had to sew an 1890s split skirt to try out what Victorian women wore as athletic pants. And then, because apparently working out in historical dress is just what I do, I did yoga in them to prove they’re functional athleticwear. (spoiler alert, they totally were.)
The history of thrifting : the Victorian way to fight fast fashion!
The Victorians loved thrift shopping, and it goes back a lot further than the Victorians! Time for a deep dive into the history of the secondhand clothes trade and its role in fashion history. As usual, a lot of the problems of the modern fashion industry (like low-quality fast fashion) are not as old as we think . . .
This Jewish medieval woman just got a statue : Analyzing the Licoricia of Winchester statue’s clothes
Who was Licoricia of Winchester, and why did this medieval woman get a bronze statue? Does it show historically accurate medieval dress? Licoricia of Winchester was a powerful 13th century Jewish businesswoman who left her mark on medieval history.
A “transformation” day bodice for a Victorian dress
I'm transforming a Victorian dress from a ball gown to a day dress by sewing a second Victorian dress bodice. Watch me make a Victorian dress bodice to finish off the outfit I’ve designed for Mirah Lapidoth, the heroine of the Victorian novel Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.
Laundry in the middle ages was as bad as you think.
Yes, medieval people washed their clothes, and (for once) the historical myths are real medieval facts. I love historical myth busting and medieval history myths are rarely true, but the history of doing laundry will make you very grateful you are not washing clothes in medieval times!
Can I sew a corset in under 14 hours?
How long does it take to sew a corset, and can I make a new Victorian corset in time for a party? Join me for a corset making speed run vlog and we’ll find out.
A Victorian ball gown bodice for Mirah Lapidoth
I finished the Victorian ball gown for Mirah Lapidoth from Daniel Deronda! It was so much fun to make a Victorian bodice for this evening gown, and then wear it to a Victorian Christmas party with my friends from the on-strike cast and crew of Dickens Fair.
Sewing a Victorian evening gown skirt from 1865
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot is a remarkable work of Victorian literature, and the BBC's Daniel Deronda 2002 adaptation is a classic source of inspiration for historical costumers interested in Victorian dress. This Victorian skirt is the first part of making a Victorian gown for one of the characters.
The historically “accurate" medieval dress that's now every high fantasy costume
It's the Lord of The Rings dress, every high fantasy dress, the costume of fairies and elves, but is it a historically accurate medieval dress? Yes! It's called a bliaut, and was worn throughout Europe in the High Middle Ages. This dress is behind so many of our fantasy aesthetics, and I've always loved it-- so I chose to recreate it as a historical costume, using modern techniques and sources from medieval history.
1000 Years of Hanukkah in Jewish historical costume!
Let's celebrate 1000 years of the history of Hanukkah in historical costumes! Some Hanukkah traditions are over two thousand years old, and throughout Jewish history new Hanukkah celebrations have been invented. I dressed up in historical outfits from the last 1000 years to try out different Hanukkah celebration activities for each night.
A Victorian hoop skirt with no hoops?!
A Victorian hoop skirt isn't impossible to move in, but this corded petticoat will be much easier! I’ve worn more traditional hoopskirts before and they’re not as bad as they’re made out to be. But even a steel crinoline petticoat is too much for me (my back problems have serious hoop skirt trouble), so I decided to sew a corded petticoat to take the place of a crinoline under my Victorian crinoline dress.
Why Victorian etiquette about dresses is so ridiculous
The Victorians etiquette was complicated, right? Victorian etiquette rules meant the wrong dress was social death? Let's bust some Victorian dress myths, see why we think the Victorians changed clothes 10 times a day, and talk about why Victorian era rules of etiquette seemed so riduculous.
I made an Edwardian Morticia Addams costume
I love the Addams Family, and Morticia's iconic look translates perfectly to a historical Edwardian skirt. Since I already owned a goth Edwardian Gibson Girl blouse, this easy Edwardian skirt was all I needed to make my Morticia Addams Halloween costume complete!
Is a Halloween witch costume antisemitic?
The witch halloween costume : pointy witch hat, long hooked nose-- and anti-semitism?! The history of witch costumes and anti-semitic stereotypes goes back further than the witch trials to the middle ages, when Jews and witches were considered one and the same. Turns out, this harmless-seeming witch Halloween costume has a problematic history, and as a Jewish dress historian, I'm here to explain it.
What did Vikings wear, really? A historically accurate womens’ Viking costume
What DID Vikings wear? Not the History Channel show costumes, but real, authentic, historically accurate Viking age womens clothing. The Viking age clothing we have is literally scraps, so the answer is . . . we don't know. But I'm gonna sew a Viking dress anyways, and talk about why historically accurate Viking clothing is a myth-- because there's so much we don't know about what the Vikings really wore.
Getting dressed in the middle ages, while Jewish
How would a medieval Jew dress? Historical Jewish fashion varied, in England, and Spain, and everywhere else. It depended on when and where they lived, how well the Jewish community was treated, and that Jew's status within their community and the wider world. We'll take an in-depth look at the historical costumes of two 11th century Jewish women : An Ashkenazi Norman English Jew, and a Sephardic Jew living in Islamic-ruled Iberia (present-day Spain).
Watch this when you need a sewing pep talk
Sewing is hard! Whether you're a historical costumer, cosplayer, modern sewist, or any other kind, let us cheer you on. Then join us for CoSy 2021, short for CosTube Symposium, from August 19th through August 22nd!
Comparing Victorian fashion magazines to Cosmo
Fashion magazines like Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar aren't new, they've existed since Victorian times! But what do they tell us about fashion history, and about what life was like over a hundred years ago? I compared two modern "womens" magazines to two Victorian ones : Godey's Ladies' Book from 1857, and Harper's Bazar from 1897, to see how different fashion magazines and the parts of life they talked about are— or aren't.
A Victorian corset for scoliosis and back pain
While sewing a historical corset for my scoliosis, I dove into how corset myths connect to Victorian medical history, sexism, and disability justice. Spoiler alert : it's a familiar web of ableism, corsetry health scares, questionable Victorian medicine, and so much more. Oh, and in the meantime I drafted, adjusted, and franken-patterned an asymmetrical corset pattern to fit around my scoliosis curvature, avoid back spasms or aggravating my fibromyalgia, and support my shoulders and posture.
Why medieval people didn't wash their hair, and how it stayed clean
Medieval people didn't bathe or wash their hair, right? Hair care in the middle ages involved no shampoo, but they still kept their hair clean. As a professional hairstylist, I think this historical myth needs to be debunked. Busting this myth comes down to understanding what resources Medieval people had for personal care, and reveals that historical people were actually quite clever about working with what knowledge they had.