The best sources for comparanda will depend on the age of your garment.
For pre-19th century garments try looking at:
For garments from the 19th century and after try looking at:
A collection of tens of thousands of fashion images curated by the FIT Library over the course of decades. This collection includes magazine and newspaper clippings, runway shots, fashion illustrations and promotional materials. Spanning from the 1970s to 2010.
Search images, sketches and photographs from art and fashion history from the years 2,000 BCE to 2021.
Search photographs and clothing from museum collections. Focus is on 20th century fashion but included fashion as early as 500 BCE.
Available in Print 1960-1993
Available in Microfilm: 1888-1993
Also available in SPARC
GT615 .E92 1986
Dresses and their construction from 1660 to 1860.
Dresses and their construction 1860-1940
The third volume in Janet Arnold's groundbreaking series Patterns of Fashion covers an earlier period than the previous two volumes: Patterns of Fashion 1660-1860 and Patterns of Fashion 1860-1940, concentrating on the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Significantly, too, this is the first of Arnold's books to include patterns for men's clothing. As well as Janet Arnold's meticulous patterns for these remarkable garments, the book includes an amazing 300 black and white photographs ranging from portraits of the period to details of articles of clothing .
The art and craft of the semstress, silkwoman, cutwork maker, bone-lace maker, embroideress and laundress -- Portraits and other visual sources with photographs of original objects showing stitching, fabrics and trimmings -- Drawings and patterns taken from original objects -- Measurements and metric conversions -- Using the pattern for full-scale work -- Starching and setting linens.
The content, cut, construction and context of bodies, stays, hoops and rumps c. 1595-1795, illustrated in color details and containing graphed patterns of museum originals and detailed reconstruction instructions.
This addition to the popular deconstructed clothing series adds more garments with graphed patterns and fabric layouts plotted in color.
TT504 .W385 1968
Researching a designer from a specific period? Search by designer name in the library catalog not designer by decade. For example, if you were to search "Coco Chanel 30s" you would find zero books. However if you were to search for just "Coco Chanel" then look through the many books we have on her, you would find plenty of her designs from the 1930s. Because a designer's career can span decades, it's difficult to restrict a search to a specific designer AND a specific decade.