The Tudor Revolution

  Detachable sleeves are one of my favorite things to make for renaissance dresses, and always seem to be the last thing I think to make when I'm planning my outfits. These sleeves are made from thrift store fabric to mimic one possible way that "cut work sleeves" were made in the period. There are several theories, and my research has made me think that they all may have been in use at different points in time for different specific motifs. To make these sleeves I used a voided velvet scarf I found at my local thrift store and remnants of rayon velvet, silk shantung, and linen. Techniques I cover in the video include basting, hemming stitches, and how to easily sew with velvet. I completed the project using a mix of hand sewing and a modern sewing machine. I love wearing these Italian renaissance dresses at reenactment events or when I attend events for the Society of Creative Anachronism. Groups like this have helped me learn more about how period techniques and mate...

  While most of 16th century Italy loved to dress in bold colors, there were some groups of people who wore the ancestor of our little black dress. Frequently this dress was prescribed based on social customs and laws in the different cities over time. My primary inspiration for this dress was focused on Roman women in the later 16th century. The history I found while making this dress deserves its own video, so today we are going to focus on how I made this 16th century little black dress called a sottona. Materials I used for this dress are listed below. All Amazon links are affiliate links: Black Cotton Damask Linen Canvas Cotton Quilters Batting https://amzn.to/3rWsRvR Black Medium Weight Linen Black Cotton Thread https://amzn.to/44P8wat Wool Hem Braid Black Velvet Remnant Lacing Rings Embroidery Floss for Eyelets https://amzn.to/47clbFV Scissors https://amzn.to/3rYWlZP Play list for 16th Century Costuming projects and techniques: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?li...

  Welcome Back Beautiful Humans! I talk a lot about 16th century haircare and hairdressing on this blog because I feel it completes the look of your historical outfits. Today we are going to work on a renaissance hair tutorial for long hair, but I will give you a few pointers on ways to adapt the style for shoulder length hair too. Make sure that your hair has been thoroughly combed out and separated with a center part while you are getting ready for this hairstyle. I would recommend having about 2.5-3 yards of silk ribbon on hand to complete the style for hair going to your waist. You may need less for shorter hair, or more to secure thicker hair. I have other blog posts where I go into history of hair dressing in the 16th century, and thought this video would be helpful for those out there trying to do a full circle or crown of braids instead of just a semi circle like I posted a few weeks ago. Renaissance Fabrics for Silk Ribbon Historical Hairstyle Playlist Thank you as a...

  Hello Beautiful Humans! CoSy 2021 is finally here and I am so excited to get you started today with some renaissance costuming content. The earliest hairnets I have found reference to come to us from ancient Greece. The mesh work on these is much finer than the net I am going to show you to make today, as were many of the examples from the middle ages and renaissance. I am still in awe that we have surviving nets from these time periods for people to study! Some of my favorites are visible on the Museum of London's collections website. in the 1540s and 1550s Eleonra di Toldedo, the duchess of Tuscany is often depicted in paintings, carvings, and other media with her hair parted down the middle and arranged into a gold scuffia, which we would today call a snood or hairnet. My goal today is to make a similar scuffia for my own dresses from this period. They are a very versatile accessory which allows the wearer to keep their hair contained, follow the letter of the laws about b...

  Hello Beautiful Humans! Thank you for your patience this week with my technical difficulties. I promise it will be worth it because I was able to make some more edits to my video to make it more fun. This is a project I am making to go with a new medieval dress that one of my friends is making, and I thought a few of you might be interested in how I stitch these tiny hems on silk veils. My secret with the fabric is particularly flimsy is starch. Starch is a material that is available in Europe by the 16th century and is used to set riffs, and hide glue was also being used to stiffen buckram for interlining garments and hats. I'm going to call the idea of starching difficult fabric for sewing historically plausible, even if they would have been cooking starch rather than using a convenient spray bottle. the Elizabethan Costume Group on Facebook has lots of great information in its archives on starches and buckram if you want a deeper dive. This video was not sponsored by Targe...

  This week we are trying out an experiment with natural dyeing. I haven't really died fabric in years, and I've never been hands on in dyeing with natural fibers. I chatted with some friends who have worked with natural dyes and started saving onion skins from my cooking for a year. While cleaning up my sewing room after the holidays I cam across another stash of yellow onion skins and decided I had enough skins to try making a dye pot. I started this project my soaking my silk veil I wanted to dye in a mordant bath of alum while I started cooking onion skins. Mordants are a dye fixative to keep your fabric from loosing color after the dye process. My research said to use a mineral mordant, such as pickling alum, when trying to dye vegetable and protein based fibers. I didn't time this process and went more based on description and experimentation. The onions skins cooked in a crock pot I found at the thrift store last year while I was stating to passively research this...