Ok, to be fair, my year 1 was actually about a month ago, but this only occurred to me yesterday and it’s 5:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep.
Blog post time!!!
I feel like I’m in a weird place with costuming because I’ve done other textile arts my whole life, so I can come across as experienced when I actually have no idea what I’m doing. I also know a lot about some things and then absolutely nothing about others.
So here goes– this is a list of important lessons I’ve learned in the last year. Ish.
Things I’ve learned in my first year of historical costuming:
Always do a turn and turn hem on linen! Otherwise after ~2 wearings you’ll have to pull your old hem out and do a turn and turn anyway
MAKE THE FREAKING MOCK-UP
Draping, drafting, and resizing are not as scary as you think!
Buy pattern paper in bulk
Cartridge pleat with silk thread, not linen, otherwise it may break on you and you will be sad
Your handsewn eyelets may look crappy because of your fabric choice, not you
Sketchy fabric stores are your friend. We can’t all afford full-price duchess satins
Iron everything. For wool use a scrap piece as a press cloth
CLIP AND GRADE SEAM ALLOWANCES
Not Another Costuming Blog 