Historic pattern shapes and details can inspire current fashion design. The Library has purchased many reprints of historical pattern manuals. In addition, recent research has made many more extant garment available for study.
For a more detailed listing of historical pattern layouts, divided by century, see the Fashion and Clothing History guide.
EMc/MS 11/2021, Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Dresses and their construction from 1660 to 1860.
Making Edwardian Costumes for Women by
Edwardian fashions for women were characterized by the S-shaped silhouette, embellished with lace, tucks, ruffles, tassels, frills, and flounces. This essential book includes 11 detailed projects, which form a capsule collection of clothing and accessories that might have been worn by an Edwardian governess, a woman traveling on an ocean liner, a campaigning suffragette, or a wife overseeing a busy household in a large country house. It explains making sequences in full and advises in detail on how to give the garments a fine, authentic finish.
17th-century Men's Dress Patterns, 1600-1630
This newest addition to the Victoria and Albert Museum's series on historical dress patterns presents full instructions for the making of men's historical garments in a technically accurate, visually exciting, step-by-step format. The book delves into the intricate detail of the techniques involved in historical tailoring and dressmaking. Scale patterns, precise construction diagrams, an abundance of informative details, and x-ray photographs that reveal the hidden structure of each piece are accompanied by color photography of the whole garment. Edited by the world's leading authorities on historical tailoring, 17th-Century Men's Dress Patterns surveys the masculine wardrobe in England during the early seventeenth century. It features twelve chapters, each dedicated to one garment, including an ensemble of doublet and breeches, three doublets, a cloak, a hat, a night cap and a night-cap liner, a picadil, a pair of mittens, a sword girdle and hangers, and a linen stocking. Chapters on tailoring, dressing and inventories of men's dress provide key historical context. Like its predecessors, this book promises to be a unique resource for costume designers, dress and social historians, students, and fashion enthusiasts alike.
