Making Spats for a Gentleman Jack Cosplay

As an upgrade for my Gentleman Jack cosplay, I decided to add spats, partly to be more screen accurate (though I'm not overly concerned with this) and partly to cover up a modern pair of boots. This is part runthrough-part guide, as I figure this could function as an easy tutorial for any style of …

Making a Grecian Peplos

What do you get when you cross Assassins Creed Odyssey with historical costuming? This, apparently. Ahead you'll find the historical inspiration and process behind making a hand painted Grecian peplos. The History Most fashion in the Greco-Roman World was a series of rectangles draped and pinned in different ways to form to the body. The …

Making Medieval Horns

Medieval horned headdresses are great for the sole reason that they convey regal opulence but also EVIL. I, too, would like to look like an evil princess which is really the only "why" behind this project. Ahead you can find my inspiration and sewing process. This project came about based on a variety of sources/inspiration: …

Making a 1740’s Riding Habit

Hello and welcome to Alicia finishes everything 2 months after her self-imposed deadline! The challenge of finishing a whole riding habit complete with undergarments was already hefty to undertake in a month, so it's no surprise I only just finished it at the end of January. But how satisfying it was to complete!   My …

How to make an 18th Century Petticoat From an Old Quilt

Quilted petticoats are on the lesser side of extra in the context of 18th century fashion, but they're still so pretty. Quilted petticoats were manufactured by professional quilters and were sent to America as ready-made items. Satin was often the exterior "fashion" fabric with wool batting. The actual quilting was done in matching silk thread …

18th Century Foundations

If you're remotely close to the writing community around this time of year, you might have heard of Nanowrimo, the writing challenge where writers of all skill levels aim for 50,000 words during the month of November. I've participated in the past, but wanted to switch things up a bit and focus on sewing instead. …

1890’s Shirtwaist

In the rush to find something for this year's Oakland Cemetery Sunday in the Park, I decided that yes, rushing to make (and pattern!) an entire 1890's ensemble in a week and a half was a good idea. The main prerogative was this shirt, originally made out of lightweight silk with a lot of background …

1890’s Foundations on a Budget

Costuming is an expensive hobby as far as hobbies go, and I'm not at that point in my life where I have much room in my budget, so I decided to make some foundations for my 1890's day wear out of thrifted fabric. And that just happened to be sheets! Ahead you'll find out the …

Making a Cinderella Ball Gown

Somewhere along the way, I decided this was going to be the year I finally made the dress from the Cinderella 2015 movie. And what a dress it is. The petticoat was half the battle, and you can find details about that here. This post will primarily be about how I made the skirt, constructed the …

Making a Cinderella Petticoat

The first thing anyone sees about the live-action Cinderella dress is its size. It's huge. Since that's where a lot of the wow factor lies, I knew starting out that I wanted this to be a comparable size. I did a quick waist-hem ratio for Lily James and estimated how wide the skirt would probably …