démodé

 adjective: old fashioned, out of style, unfashionable [from French, the past participle of démoder "to go out of fashion," from mode "fashion"].

essential links

reference

patterns

fabric

trims

notions & supplies

tips & tricks

costumer's sites

essential links

This list is comprised of my essential links -- sites that I have bookmarked, which I come back to over and over. It is by no means comprehensive, but I believe it represents the best of what's out there. It is heavily weighted towards female costume -- sorry guys!

reference

general/cross-era:

  • Costume College: "...educational classes and programs regarding all aspects of costuming; from hands on workshops and demonstrations on costume-related projects, to lectures regarding the history of clothing and other costume subjects, as well as tours of local costume-related businesses and areas in Los Angeles." Extremely fun and worthwhile -- especially fun are the half- or full-day hands-on classes, where you bring in your sewing machine and make (for example) an 18th century corset with a teacher who knows what s/he is talking about!
  • Costumer's Manifesto: a very confusing site, but there's good information here if you can find it. I particularly use the Timeline of Costume History Images, which contains lots of fashion plates.
  • Fashion Era: huge overview site that examines fashion, both aesthetics and in social context.
  • La Couturière Parisienne: a good resource for all periods, but especially for the 18th century. This site includes patterns, sewing instructions, paintings, fashion plates, and a wealth of other information.
  • h-costume mailing list: listserv devoted to recreating historic costume. The knowledge represented by this list can be amazing! Check the searchable archives for past discussions.
  • VintageSewing.info: scanned sewing books, 1890s-1950s.

organizations:

  • Costume Society of America: for academics, museum professionals, students, and reenactors.  Includes regional sub-groups. Publishes the journal Dress and a monthly electronic newsletter. Organizes national symposia and study tours. Site includes calendars of exhibits and a business directory.
  • Costume Society of Great Britain: for academics, museum professionals, and students. Publishes the journal Costume and a biannual newsletter. Organizes symposia.
  • Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild: for recreational, amateur, and professional costumers.  A must, even if you live 500,000 miles away from the Bay Area. Links to suppliers, articles and instructions, symposiums and conferences, and -- most importantly -- the Great Pattern Review, which you MUST check out before you buy any costume patterns (and please contribute to it - you don't have to be a member to do so!).
  • International Costumer's Guild: Parent organization for a number of regional sub-groups. If you're interested in joining (or starting) a regional group, check here!
  • Northern Society of Costume & Textiles: Based in Northern England, and encourages the study of costume and textiles. Produced (and sells on their website) four scaled patterns of some interesting garments.

art:

  • A La Mode, 1795-1920:  Fashion plates from the Boston Public Library.
  • ArtCyclopedia:  Links to online images.  Search by artist, title, or museum, or browse by medium, movement, or subject.
  • BildIndex: huge art database, all in German. Use Babelfish to help you translate. To search for portraits from a particular era: click on "Expertensuche" (top nav bar), type in your start and end dates in the top right boxes (von=from, bis=to) and then put "portraet" in the top left "Gesamtindex" box.
  • Joconde Database: Art from French museums. Use Babelfish to help you translate. To search for portraits from a particular era: click on Recherche avancée, then input the following: In Sujet représenté, type in "Portrait"; in Périod/Datation, input a century as ##E SIECLE (17E SIECLE=17th century); check off Avec Image.
  • La Couturière Parisienne Image Database:  Collection of images:  paintings, drawings, and photographs all related to costume.  Browseable by date, country/region, and gender.
  • Fashion Plate Collection, University of Washington (1806-1915).
  • Fashion Plates and Photographs, 1806-1906:  From Koshka-the-cat.com.
  • Musee McCord Keys to History: The Notman Photographic Archives has over 450,000 photographs from 1860-. Amazing resource. (FYI, the costume collection is integrated into my Real Women's Clothing Directory).
  • New York Public Library Digital Gallery : Images from books, newspapers, magazines; photographs, fashion plates, prints, and postcards. Most images are pre-1923.
  • Olga's Gallery:  Collection of images.  Browse by movement or artist.
  • Photographs from the Lafayette Studio:  Hundreds of vintage photos from the late 19th - early 20th centuries, hosted by the Victoria & Albert museum.  Photos range from royalty to actors to military.
  • Vintage Images from Sense & Sensibility patterns: fashion plates, photographs, and pattern illustrations, 1795-1959.
  • Web Gallery of Art:  Collection of images.  European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods (1150-1800).  Browseable by period or format, or searchable by artist, title, etc.

film costumes:

16th century:

17th century:

18th century:

regency:

victorian:

20th century:

  • 20-to-40 Style Syndicate:  their fashion pages have lots of great info on the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, including some period patterns, overviews of different items of clothing, and a really cool makeup guide.
  • Antique Corset Gallery: Extant corsets, 18th c. - 1920s.
  • Besame Cosmetics Looks: How to apply makeup for looks from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.
  • The Blue Gardenia: Vintage patterns for sale (1920s-1960s) -- BUT while they're really nice patterns, they're pretty expensive so I use this site as an image reference.
  • Christine's Vintage Fashion Page: period illustrations and ads from the 1920s - 1970s.
  • Corset Patents:  1840s-1920s.
  • How to Fingerwave (aka marcel wave): detailed instructions from a 1960s cosmetology textbook; this style was immensely popular from the 1910s-1930s.
  • Modetijdschrift De Gracieuse: Scans of what appears to be every page of every issue of the Gracieuse fashion magazine from 1862-1936.
  • Period Fashions Reference Library [Vintage Victorian]: 1910s undergarments and evening dress.
  • reVamp: creates vintage-inspired clothing (1920's - 1950's) for purchase. Their site also includes information on period hairstyles, makeup, and clothing etiquette.
  • Sewing Dresses from the Teens Era [Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild].
  • SewRetro: a mailing list for anyone interested in the creation and repair of vintage clothing, especially for the period 1930-1960.
  • Victorian & Edwardian Photographs

patterns

pattern reviews:

  • Great Pattern Review: from the Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild. Check it before you buy any costume patterns -- there are some really terrible ones out there! And please, contribute to it - you don't need to be a member to do so!

pattern suppliers:

  • AlterYears: carries most of the historic costume pattern companies, and a few that Amazon Drygoods does not. Primarily mail order -- get a copy of their print catalog.
  • Amazon Drygoods: also carries most of the historic costume pattern companies. Only mail order -- get a copy of their print catalog.
  • Lost Coast Historic Patterns: they don't always carry every pattern, but they are extremely reliable.  I always get my order in lightening fast time!

pattern companies:

  • Decades of Style: 1910s-1950s. Quality reproductions of vintage patterns, with an excellent size range.
  • Folkwear: 18th century - 1950's. Not always the most historically accurate of pattern companies, but their patterns always WORK and have clear instructions, and that is quite an improvement over some of the costume patterns available!
  • Recollections of J.P. Ryan: 18th century. They have some of the better 18th c. patterns out there on the market.
  • Kannik's Korner: 18th century. I have heard that their patterns are more accurate than most that are out there. Mostly underpinnings/accesories.
  • Laughing Moon Mercantile: mid-19th century. I've only used one of their patterns, but it was excellent. I've heard great reviews of their patterns.
  • Past Patterns: 1830's - 1940's. One of the best pattern companies on the market for reliability and range.
  • Patterns of History: 1835-1899. Also very highly regarded pattern company. I made up their 1857 Promenade Dress pattern and it went together like a dream.
  • Truly Victorian: mostly late Victorian (1870-1895ish) but also a few mid-Victorian patterns. I can't recommend this company highly enough! I love their skirt patterns especially.

For a comprehensive index to historical pattern companies and sources of vintage patterns, see the GBACG guide to Buying Patterns Online.

fabric

  • Designer Fabrics Online: gorgeous upholstery fabrics that might interest the historic costumer, but a bit pricey to expensive.
  • Equilter.com:  A huge range of cotton prints, plus silks, linens, rayons, etc.
  • Fabric.com: check this store often for great deals, as you never know what's going to pop up. They've gotten great reviews on the h-costume mailing list for having good prices and good service.
  • Fabrics-store.com: excellent deals, especially on linen - although I've heard it isn't always of the best quality.
  • Farmhouse Fabrics:  A great source for "heirloom" fabrics like batiste, voile, etc.
  • Fashion Fabrics Club. This is my favorite online fabric store -- I order from them all of the time, and I'm always pleased with the results. Keep an eye on them for great deals!
  • Hancock's of Paducah: cotton prints for quilters. They carry some of the historic prints.
  • Martha Pullen: a bit pricey, but they carry some of the harder to find "heirloom" fabrics (batiste, etc.)
  • Reproduction Fabrics: a wide range of historic prints, 1775-1950. Unfortunately, they're all in cotton!
  • Renaissance Fabrics: not always the largest inventory, but the quality is always very high.
  • Silk Connection: dyeable silks at good prices. Get swatches first - I ordered some silk taffeta from them, and it was the lightest stuff I'd ever seen.
  • Thai Silks: now has online shopping! This company has a WIDE range of silks (the best I've ever found) at reasonable prices. My only complaint is that most of their fabrics are solids rather than prints, stripes, plaids, etc.
  • Trim Fabrics: not just trim, actually! Check out their fabric lots for great deals.

trim

  • Cheeptrim.com: high minimum $$ order amount.
  • M&J Trimming: a wonderful selection of all sorts of trims. I have ordered from them numerous times and always found their products to be of very high quality.
  • The Ribbonerie: ribbons!

notions & supplies

  • AlterYears: carries boning and other costume and sewing supplies.
  • Clotilde: Sewing supplies.
  • Farthingale's Canada and Farthingale's LA: Costuming and corsety supplies; Canadian store has a larger inventory, LA one has cheaper shipping.
  • Greenberg & Hammer: Sewing, dressmaking, costuming, and corsetry supplies. Slowly putting their catalog online; much more is available by mail (and phone) order.
  • Hedgehog Handworks: Needlework and costuming supplies.

tips & tricks

costumer's sites

  • A Stitch in Time: Anna makes just fabulous 1860s gowns, but no updates in forever!
  • Bjarne Drews:  Puts all other costumers to shame.  Embroidery to DIE FOR.
  • Books 'n' Threads :  Teresa's costumes are always gorgeous.
  • Couture Costume: lovely costuming, plus museum restorations.
  • Does This Make Me Look Fat? Really amazing costumes by Alyxx.
  • Elegant Musings:  All of Casey's costumes are loverly, plus she's impressively crafty.
  • A Festive Attyre: Everything Jen makes looks like it just stepped out of a portrait. Really really amazing.
  • Glittersweet:  Michaela de Bruce makes simply gorgeous costumes, plus she loves film costumes even more than me.
  • Historically Dressed:  Jenni and I have very similar tastes -- we've made many of the same patterns.  I love that she posts detailed reviews and photos of her projects.
  • Holly Messenger:  check out her bustle ballgown!
  • Jenny La Fleur's Costume Cabinet:  Everything Jenny makes is just beautiful, plus she's as into 18th century as I am!
  • Julie's Dress Diaries: A gorgeous Venetian dress, among other projects.
  • Jwlhyfer de Winter:  Lovely creations, with excellent hair & makeup.
  • Katherine's Dress Site (aka koshka-the-cat):  Fabulous costumes and tastes similar to my own -- plus her Koshka looks like my Sadie!
  • Lynn McMasters:  Elizabethans that are just breathtaking!
  • Melanie Schuessler: Her costumes just look so authentic, you'd think she just stepped out of a painting. I just love her 16th c. countrywoman costumes.
  • Mode Historique:  Sarah loves Elizabethan and it shows -- but we've managed to tempt her to dark 18th century/Victorian side. Everything she makes is just stunning.
  • Nehelenia Designs:  costumes for sale rather than a personal costume site, but many of her creations are really pretty.
  • Sewphisticate: really beautiful costumes plus a wicked sense of humor.
  • Suzi Clarke, Costumier: outstandingly amazingly beautiful.
  • TrystanCraft: Not just a costumer, also the Gothic Martha Stewart. Creator of the Victorian sushi dress. 'Nough said.
  • Vintage Victorian:  Katy Bishop's costumes are beautifully made.
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Please see my copyright/common sense page before using this webpage or images for anything other than personal or educational use.
Last revised March 18, 2008.
This page is http://www.demodecouture.com/links.html.