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Lately (the past year or two) I’ve been collecting museum catalogs. I find that they are great resources because they give you specific examples of how a particular dress or item of clothing was put together. You can see construction lines that you can’t see in fashion plates, and see color and texture in fabric and trim. It’s great for seeing how a particular style works in an individual example.

I’ve come across some great finds using ebay and trolling through used bookstores (both physical and online). Recent acquisitions (to use my librarian voice!) include: In Style: Celebrating Fifty Years of the Costume Institute (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Costume (Western Reserve Historical Society), the catalog from the Museum of Costume in Bath (U.K.), and Vanity Fair: Four Centuries of Fashion From the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (St. Louis Art Museum). I’m on the hunt for a version of Best Dressed (Philadelphia Museum of Art), but since it came out relatively recently (which means there are still a number of copies in circulation) I’m not willing to pay much for it (plus most of it is 20th century).

One that I’m particularly excited about is Modesty to Mod: Dress and Underdress in Canada, 1780-1967 (Royal Ontario Museum), published in 1967, which includes (yay!) scaled patterns for a number of dresses in the exhibition. I think I’m going to use the pattern for an 1894 ballgown bodice for my 1897 ballgown.

Okay, WOW. Just came across the online exhibition From Paris to Providence: Fashion, Art, and the Tirocchi Dressmakers’ Shop, 1915-1947 at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). A. & L. Tirocchi, Gowns, was a prominent dressmakers’ shop in Providence, R.I. run by Laura Tirocchi Cella and Anna Tirocchi. This site is AMAZING. There are numerous color photos of extant garments and fabrics from the shop, PLUS information on the house, owners, clients, AND databases which record employees and clients, transcripts of correspondence, transactions from their ledgers, clients’ measurements, and much much more. I am so impressed — THIS is the way to do an online exhibition.

I decided to distill some of what I’ve learned through my years of costuming into construction tips for costumers. Included is advice on interlining and lining, piping, making friends with hand sewing, and pattern drafting. I hope it’s useful to someone!

Okay, I admit it. I’ve always resisted reading Threads magazine, both because it’s focused on modern sewing, but also because it’s pricey. I’m planning to ask for a new sewing machine for Christmas (I desperately want one that does buttonholes, plus there’s some electrical problems with my current one), so I picked up the latest issue for it’s review of 31 sewing machines currently on the market. I have to say, it’s fabulous! Tons of construction tips, lots of inspiration, and pretty too! They’ve got a ton of useful info on their website, with lots of articles from back issues.

Photos are up from Costume College.

Some of the classes were really exciting, such as “Fancy Feet” (which demoed all of the millions of foot attachments you can use on your sewing machine — I’ve already ordered my ruffler from Clotilde), and “Georgian Fabrics.” Other classes were not as useful as I’d hoped — some of the period overview classes turned out to be more skimpy or more “show & tell” than I’d hoped. But overall it was fun to hang out and talk shop with other costumers, see the fabulous vintage clothing display, and (of course!) shop in the marketplace.

I signed up to teach two classes next year — an overview of 1830’s fashions with Heather, and another class on fashionable women of the bustle era (1870’s-80’s). I’m really excited about the second one, and am already collecting images of Princess Alexandra, Jennie Churchill, and Lily Langtry etc. If you have any suggestions for key fashionable figures from the U.S., England, or France from this era, please email me!