Manchester Art Gallery and Platt Hall hold the city's world-class art collections, with over 25,000 objects of fine art, decorative art & costume.

Attending and participating in the Jane Austen Festival for the very first time, I've spent the last month fabric, notions and pattern shopping, planning and designing my dresses and accessories. I'm utterly exited!! Me being a new member of the JASNA Louisville chapter and having seen all those pretty people online attending last years festival in their regency get up, I'm determined to give it my all to show my appreciation for the beauty of the period and my admiration to Jane Austen. And…

The trials and tribulations of an over-enthusiastic seamstress learning to create period-correct historical items and fashions

There’s been a spate of discussion flying about the ORS for a little while now. Mostly it’s a discussion on how a set of Regency stays ought to fit, and how does one compensate for special issues, like more endowed ladies, or wide hips, etc. The first misconception by anyone who’s accustomed to making corsets from other periods is that Regency stays should be shaped and fitted like a corset. Of course they should fit you, and of course they should rest along your curves, but a Regency corset…

Attending and participating in the Jane Austen Festival for the very first time, I've spent the last month fabric, notions and pattern sho...

How to be fat and fabulous in ANY time period! It's all about the accessories, ladies!!

Corset, cotton with stitching and cording, England, 1820s-1830s

c1810 beige canvas boots. I was so pleased to find these, I hope not too good to be true! They are everyday boots, not fine boots. They even have Regency mud stains around the base. I don't think the fabric is posh 'nankin', just canvas.

It's actually a FO. Well, more of a working prototype that's terribly patched together, but considering the prototype had been a UFO for ...

Fine historical footwear and reproduction shoe accessories, designed for costumers, reenactors, theatre, film and historically inspired brides

As the number of ladie's fashion magazine publications increased, so too did the quantity of information available and when this is added to the increasing amount of extant items stored now in museums or private collections, it is possible to find that from the 1780's onwards, a much clearer and…

Hello gentle reader! Mrs. Parks here to talk about your gown for the rout! Whether you decide to make something over or sew a gown from scratch I have some ideas for you. In this post I am going to…

“grecian” shoes 1818 The Los Angeles County Museum of Art