#I own... so many vintage sewing patterns

[number44newseries864962]

Need to rant for a minute because even though I have very much been enjoying the fruits of my efforts learning how to sew vintage style clothes, I just swapped out old fatphobia (nice plus size vintage clothes never making it to stores) for new fatphobia (trying to find patterns). Cause it doesn't end at what clothes you're able to buy already made.

I finally bought a Friday Pattern Company pattern the other day, and man it made the bare minimum feel like I was being spoiled. The sizes go up to 7X (that's XL, XXL, 1X, 2X, etc, so there's 9 sizes above L) they had a thin and a fat model on the cover! Usually I'm barely lucky enough to get an XL, and I'm just expected to guess how it's going to look on my body. The majority of their patterns have two differently sized models on the covers, and all of them have that full range of patterns inside.

It is so hard to find good plus size patterns, even if they're available, many companies just scale up their mediums and I can't guarantee they're actually sized correctly for a different shape. As good as Friday is, them and other modern indie pattern companies aren't easy to find.

Okay well what if I went another step deeper, what if I forgo patterns all together and decide to be completely independent and draft things myself?

Then I'll need a plus size dress form. I got lucky and found one at an antique mall for 50$ but these are incredibly rare and more expensive than smaller ones. I'll need to learn how to draft patterns, something that was taught to me on a XS form by my college and nearly every tutorial out there. Drafting close fitting clothes for fat bodies is a completely different skillset, because all that extra fat is much squishier and shifts more. Measuring yourself correctly and getting the shape you're looking for is far more important. Before I even got there I'd need to sketch out what I wanted to make, right? Well the patterning book my family got me only shows you how to draw tall, skinny people. A beginner would have to look up their own drawing references and tutorials because what what supposed to be a super accessible beginner's guide to fashion has decided their body isn't normal enough for the baseline tutorial.

We're expected to be the ones who put in the extra effort. Digging to find the pattern companies that fit our shape and actually prove they can, paying extra in shipping or driving farther to pick them up. Having to search specifically for plus size tutorials for drafting and sketching. It's always treated like it's not part of the beginner's experience to be working with a fat body, that's just going to make people more frustrated and lost and less likely to pursue something they're excited about! Especially if it's in response to already being frustrated about the lack of clothing options.

We need a little positivity to this post so to end on a high note, here's me modeling the blazer I just finished with a shirt I made a couple years ago!

Being able to finally wear clothes I really feel like me in has been an amazing confidence boost. It's not fair that there's so many roadblocks in the way for someone who looks like me who just wants to wear things they enjoy.

[pterribledinosaurdrawings]

I heard you make clothes, is there a specific way to make the patterns? Or do you find them online?

I draft all my own patterns, often based on diagrams of patterns copied from historical garments. I have an old post where I talked a bit about my patterning process, but it definitely won't work for everyone. I did learn to do drafting the "proper" way in college, which gave me a good start at understanding the shapes, but all the basic blocks we made aren't anywhere near the right cut or fit for the 18th century stuff I like to make.

You don't need to go to college to learn basic block drafting though, there are instructions in books and on the internet! You can make a basic block for a bodice, a sleeve, pants and/or a skirt, and once they're fitted to your measurements and you've learned a bit about pattern manipulation you can do many things with them. We used the same basic bodice block as a starting point for both corsets and tailored coats. Just make sure to always do mockups in a cheap fabric.

The Closet Historian has some videos on basic block drafting and dart manipulation and such. She mainly does vintage inspired feminine styles, but in college we did more or less the same dart placement on the basic bodice block wether or not the wearer had boobage. (I'm sure there are lots more tutorials out there too, but I haven't looked them up.)

Getting back to the more historical stuff, I have an old post with a lot of resource links which I keep meaning to make into a better organized post on my blogspot, but there's just so very much of it.

There are places to buy patterns online, but not having bought any of them I can't personally speak on their quality, and also every company has different focuses so it would depend on what you specifically want to sew. I mostly do 18th century menswear, so if I did want to buy patterns my options would be very few and far between.

[17unfinishedprojects]

Vintage Knitting/Crochet Patterns Masterlist

Recently, I’ve been getting really into more older styles of knit and crochet, and in my search for vintage patterns I’ve come across a ton of sites and articles that have been incredibly helpful to me, so I thought I’d share them all with you. The majority of these are free, and this post is still being updated as I find more. Hope you enjoy!

(p.s. most of the places you can get crochet patterns are in the ‘Misc.’ section bc most sites have both knit and crochet patterns)

Knitting:

vintageknittingpatternarchive.com

An archive featuring a variety of patterns from the 1920s-1980s

Pros:

Completely free

You can search by bust size, colorwork, yarn weight, decade, and clothing article

Also features some crochet patterns

Cons:

The site can be hard to navigate

vam.ac.uk

An article featuring a 15 clothing patterns from the 1940s

Pros:

Completely free

Cons:

Only has instructions for one size

sunnystitcher.gumroad.com

A collection of vintage knit clothing patterns from the 1930s-1970s

Pros:

A “name your own price” site, you can choose to pay $0 if you choose

Cons:

Not a lot of patterns

aranpatternarchive.com

A collection of vintage aran knitting patterns

Pros:

Completely free

Has a wide variety of patterns

Crochet:

antiquecrochetpatterns.com

An archive featuring a variety of vintage crochet patterns

Pros:

Completely free

A lot of home décor patterns

Cons:

Most of the clothing patterns are for babies and children

A lot of the patterns are currently unavailable due to the site being updated

Misc:

thevintagepatternfiles.blogspot.com

Pros:

Completely free

Has patterns in different languages, including Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, and Russian

Has patterns dating back to the 1800s

You can search by size, clothing article, and decade

Cons:

The site can be a hard to navigate.

marymaxim.com

A collection of vintage knit/crochet patterns

Pros:

You can filter by pattern type and yarn weight

The patterns are relatively cheap, ranging from $0.99-$4.99

Cons:

No free patterns

You can’t filter by size

trove.nla.gov.au

A blog post featuring 2 vintage knit patterns and 1 vintage crochet pattern

Pros:

Completely free

Cons:

Patterns may be hard to read because they appear as old newspaper/magazine excerpts

antiquepatternlibrary.org

An archive featuring a variety of vintage knitting, crochet, embroidery, sewing, quilting, macrame, weaving, tapestry, and many more pattens.

Pros:

Completely free

Wide variety of patterns across many crafts

Cons:

Website has an older layout and can be hard to navigate

(p.p.s I didn’t put cons on a few of them bc I honestly didn’t find any. If you encounter any problems with any of these sites let me know and I will add that to the con list.)

(p.p.p.s. if you have any other websites you use for vintage patterns please share them I’m always in need of more)

[fandomfits]

mini 70s fashion resource masterlist

I'm working on bigger projects (that might never see the light of day because I can't figure out formatting, links and other stuff) but I wanted to provide some sources for those interested in fashion, specifically for writing 70s fashion in fics and books.

I love 70s fashion and it hurts my heart to see so many characters in bell bottoms, bright colors, converse and leather when those weren’t even the biggest parts! I like to use pictures from real people and their lives, as well as magazines. I like to stay away from the costume style that’s often portrayed in movies. 

these are sorted from my favorite to least favorite

Reddit- Yeah yeah I know it’s reddit, but there are so many good resources!

r/TheWayWeWere is MY FAVE!!!! It’s literally random people’s pictures from any era! Their focus is on people in everyday life, so it’s perfect. Go to this subreddit, type your desired era or use the flair and you have hundreds of real life pictures from real life people in your desired era. 

r/70s is a lot, it’s everything 70s so you get some good stuff and some bad stuff, but it’s authentic for sure

r/vintagefashion and r/vintage a lot of this is really good, but some can get gimmicky, overall they are good resources

r/TheGoodOldDays hit or miss but it’s okay

r/fashion and r/mensfashion hard to sort through, a lot of the advice tends to be a little gimmicky

Sewing Patterns- A lot of people sewed their own clothes in the 70s

Readily available, easy to find, with the variety you can find super popular stuff and less popular stuff

Simplicity Sewing Pattern, Vintage Sewing Pattern Company, Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki, there’s SO MANY websites out there

Magazine articles from the 70s- this is the advice a lot of people followed so it’s good for me! 

A big big reason for this being second is that it’s a bit inaccessible, I haven’t had much luck but I am not the most technologically advanced individual

The best way to view these is at a library that has them archived on microfilm, if you have a good, large library near you then you might be in luck

There are some archived and digitized online, but they are mostly behind a paywall or incomplete pieces.

Large magazines have vaults, like TIME and Vogue, but some they can be a representation of the upper class and the very rich which isn’t the target of most authors

Movies/shows from the 70s- ehhh pretty hit or miss. movies from the 70s tend to be a pretty idealistic representation of what people were wearing. it HEAVILY depends of what kind of show

Movies set in the 70s- this is a super broad one so some are great! some are bad! i would suggest looking at other sources, at least for a while, once you notice the trends then you can notice what’s realistic and what isn’t.

[gothhabiba]

hello! i am a longtime huge admirer of your clothing/fashion sense, as well as a longtime backreader of your #victorian and #goth tags. i am really interested in what you've written about Victorian dress, and i am looking to get more into 19th and 20th century clothing for gender + diy craft reasons. i'm so sorry if you've answered similar questions before, but do you have any tips for where a newbie should start researching? either way, thank you thank you, your blog opens my mind wide and brings me much joy and reflection!

General research:

Spend some time searching the 'net, museum websites, and archive sites for fashion plates (such as archive.org—link leads to a date-restricted query for "fashion"—or the Smithsonian—link leads to fashion plates in their image collection). Take note of what you like, as well as which styles correspond to which decade. Karolina Żebrowska has a good rundown of English fashion over the decades.

The undergarments are what does the most work creating the necessary silhouette to make Victorian & Edwardian womenswear fit properly. If you've figured out a decade you want your outfit to draw on, doing a quick search for "[decade] undergarments" should bring up plenty of blog posts, which may or may not cite primary sources (such is the fickle nature of the historical blogosphere). Bustle pads and sleeve supports can be purchased or made; they're both pretty simple, and tutorials abound.

Purchasing clothing:

Reproduction made-to-measure clothing can be readily found on etsy, but can be in the several-hundred USD range. I've had some luck finding vintage reproduction clothing (like, a skirt someone made by hand in the 1980s to a 1900s walking skirt pattern), which tends to be much cheaper.

Men, women, and children wore stays and corsets. As far as I know, Orchard Corset has the cheapest OTR corsets that are good quality and safe to wear. If you get a corset in the style of a specific decade handmade or made to measure, make sure that the seller tells you what the boning material is, what construction the boning is (spiral steel is sturdiest and most flexible), how many bones there are, what the corset material is, &c.—otherwise it's an indication of an unserious maker. Follow general advice for wearing corsets at a waist reduction (lace up slowly, break it in, &c.).

Antique Menswear on youtube gives a lot of good, practical advice for wearing late 19th-century and early 20th-century men's clothing (including where to buy reproductions and how to treat them, how to modify modern shirts to 19th-century standards with basically no sewing skills, &c.).

Actual antique clothing can be found and purchased online or at estate sales—usually in very small sizes, but I've seen Edwardian skirts and petticoats in an XL (also a small size, but...). You can also just simply browse this kind of thing for inspiration and save photos of anything you think you'd like to recreate.

Even clothing that was not "meant" to be worn by re-enactors can be clearly historically influenced (e.g. the huge boom in Victorian- and Edwardian- style blouses in the 1980s), so keep an open mind when shopping for vintage clothing! A lot of 1970s dresses that look "hippy" on their own can look very Victorian with the right undergarments and an updo. A lot of 1980s men's trousers also approach the right silhouette for the 1910s-inspired three-piece suit I'm trying to put together. Witness also the recent trend for big puffed sleeves!

Making or modifying clothing:

Victorian and Edwardian manuals for garment drafting and sewing can be found online—go to archive.org and search for "sewing," "drafting," or "dressmaking," then use the filters on the left to chuse which year(s) you want to see results from. Most of these have patterns that are sort of vibes-based: The work-woman's guide is one manual that claims to have patterns laid out strictly according to a grid.

I don't sew garments, but if Victorian pattern-writing for sewing is anything like it is for knitting, that may not be super useful. People do sell updates and graded 'translations' of antique patterns (which tend to be written in only one size) on etsy and ebay—just make sure from the description that it's 'deciphered' and translated rather than a scan of the original pattern!

One of the easiest things that you can do to add some Victorian or Goth flair to an otherwise plain-looking garment is to add trim. You can knit, crochet, or tat your own trim from Victorian lace-making patterns; purchase antique trim from resale sites; or buy braided or lace trim very cheaply at any craft store. Trim doesn't just have to go around the hems and cuffs of a garment: lace "insertions" between two pieces of fabric, as well as raised geometric patterns over the surface of a garment, are common in 19th-century clothing.

[ID: first image shows a black overdress showing lace insertions between strips of fabric of equal width, creating a striped effect. second image is the back of a black blouse with trim in a geometric design centred around right angles and parallel lines. end ID]

Jewellery (women's and men's):

Actual antique jewellery (including men's jewellery and fastenings) is not as expensive as you might think. Even if you're not willing to spend a lot of time learning what to look for and scouring estate sales for people who don't know or care what they have, late Victorian mass-manufactured costume jewellery often goes for sub-$50 or even $30 prices at auction on ebay (USD, in the US—in my experience it is even more plentiful and cheaper in the UK).

Specifically, I've lucked out with lots ("lot" as in, a bunch of small things being sold together) of "vintage men's accessories" going for $20 or so that contained Victorian cufflinks (in low-karat gold, mother-of-pearl, and jet), collar studs (in low-karat gold and base metals), and shirt studs (in low-karat gold, with garnets and seed pearls, &c.). Searching for lots of accessories is generally a good idea since by and large people do not know what these things are... but if you're willing to spend a little more for something that has been identified and is more likely to still be with its set, use the specific search term for that item (e.g. "antique collar studs").

Answers to Questions About Old Jewelry (though aimed at estate sellers and, if memory serves, full of regrettable pæans to Queen Victoria) is a good reference text to dating antique jewellery. I also recommend Miller's Illustrated Guide to Jewelry Appraising. Both of these texts are available on libgen.

Feel free to ask me follow-up questions if you want more detail on any of these points. As you can see I am perfectly happy to blather away on this topic

[ptolomeia]

Who wants to hear my thoughts on how my disability, fatness and grief all intersect?

If the answer is not you, please press j to continue to the next post!

So, we're coming up on a year now since our disability meant we had to come to terms with the fact that we would never be able to work and had to drop out of school for our dream job and become a housebound/bedbound lump person. Now my dream job was in construction, it was unionized and extremely well paid and I was three months short of graduating when reality became undeniable. I was never going to be able to do this.

I may have been the only person in my class who had to double check the weight capacity of my harness and shock absorber, but I was fucking good at the work. One of my teachers had me tutoring classmates before the brain fog made that impossible. And while it was hard to find clothes that fit me, mens clothes typically came in larger sizes, which worked for me.

And then came MECFS, slowly robbing my life of, well, most things really. Including, but very much not limited to, my sense of identity and my dream job.

Being a poor student, I didn't really have many clothes that didn't fit with that life. And being very fat, i couldnt exactly go to a mall and buy fast fashion that suited me better for cheap. So, I find myself almost a year down the line with still not many clothes that make me feel good or happy or non additional grief.

Which brings me to my next set of issues. Due to sensory and temperature regulation issues, I can only wear natural breathable fibers (another thing that cuts me off from fast fashion). Between the exhaustion from my ME/CFS and my sensory issues, shopping is hard on me.

But HAHA! I think. I've been sewing on and off for near two decades now (ow my brain). I can just sew myself a new wardrobe! Besides, the non construction worker styles I like (vintage 40s-50s) is even harder to find plus sized, well fitting anyway. If I can't do my dream job, at least I can enjoy some expertly sewn (eh, close enough), perfectly (that could probably use some quotes) fitting clothes in a style I've long loved but thought impractical!

Except, here's the thing. Sewing requires energy. Laying out and cutting out fabric requires energy. It requires precision and focus and when I only have a few good hours a day and have to take care of myself and my home on top of my sewing ambitions...

Last summer I made a pair of shorts (two front pieces, two back pieces, a fly, a waist band, belt loops, 4 pockets and facings) in three days at the start of my decline, and that was on top of doing some basic renovations at my parents house. Last month, an extremely simple t-shirt (front, back, two sleeves and a neckband) took me... a week? More? And there's so much more I want to make working through my stash. Pj's that aren't falling apart. A new raincoat and a new fall coat. A simple 1950s style dress in a wonderfully loud plaid that would just be so much fun.

But this morning I was trying to get my jersey to lie flat and nearly ended up crying (knits are the devil fabric. Curse them and their comfort and stretch). There are days where it feels like there is nothing this disease won't take from me.

But at the same time... even if a year ago I could have trimmed assembled and cut out a pattern in one day, at least today I got to trim the papers? And even if cutting out that jersey took more fabric that it strictly needed to, at least I'm one step closer to having some new, hole free pjs.

So, even as i grieve the many many things I lost, I try to hold to what I still can do. And also rail against the world for making things harder for fat people than they need to be. Because seriously, I'm having to learn to make my own patterns (and yes, they will fit better but that is not the point) because most patterns (and definitely none of the big commercial ones) come in anything close to my measurements. This makes me extremely annoyed.

But yeah, to sum up, disability, fatness, grief, and hope all make a very complex ball. And I wish it could be easier

[three--rings]

I didn't plan to do this, but IDK.

My 2023.

This was not a good year for me. Most of the bad came in the second half after my car accident and subsequent inability to walk. My first trauma trip to the ER. Some very dark weeks of pain and inability to move. Followed by very, very slow progress to being more mobile. I have at least six more months of recovery according to the Dr.

Then the absolutely devastating and tragic burning of Lahaina on Maui, where my mom and brother live. Their house was safe but I can't convey the depth of the tragedy that this was for the community. So many dead, so many displaced, so many who lost everything but the clothes on their backs. Rebuilding won't start for years due to needing toxic cleanup. It affected my family directly financially and emotionally, even though they are fortunate.

Followed by my mom being diagnosed with breast cancer and going through treatment for that, which is ongoing.

So yeah the last few months have been rough and I've experienced it all from my bed, not able to really DO anything.

We're all trying to climb out of this hole. We bought a new car to replace the totaled one, with lower payments. My mom's radiation ends in a couple weeks. I'm starting physical therapy to get walking as soon as I get insurance sorted.

One of the things that bothers me a lot mentally is I feel like I haven't DONE anything in the past year. Most of the last six months was me playing video games.

But I made a round 20 books in 2023. I've done several typesets since then, also. I published 55K on AO3. I wish I had gotten to sew more. I basically made one dress that got torn in the wreck and hand-sewed a pirate shirt.

I also, like, don't talk about this at all but I was trying to soft-launch a business in 2023 as well, of selling vintage stuff online. The wreck really ruined that, because I had finally gotten my own car that I was going to use to go hunting and then that.

But I've sold a lot of vintage sewing patterns in the past year. I haven't looked at the total income for the year yet but it's more than zero.

So I need to be kinder to myself. I do plenty, but I've just been extremely restricted for months and I'm losing my mind.

[dollsahoy]

I remember trying to sew a buttoned shirt in the late 90s, from a lightweight cotton knit with an ant print. I still think the fabric would have worked nicely for a buttoned shirt, but maybe not with that particular pattern, and definitely not with my skill level at the time. I never wore it.

I tried sewing some buttoned shirts again a few years later, in the early 2000s, and they turned out a lot better--I wore those! But I was still not completely happy with them.

In 2005, I tried a new shirt pattern, got a better idea of how I wanted things to fit, made a few modifications to the pattern, and ended up making so many shirts from it, in so many obnoxious prints. The shirts were very simple, but making them boosted my shirt-making confidence considerably. I also actively learned from mistakes I made on those shirts, which made them get incrementally better. I'd probably still have at least a few of them if my body shape hadn't changed.

The quick loud shirts I've been making are more complex than the shirts I was so happy with 18 years ago, with a lot of construction features I couldn't handle back then, but I never would have gotten to this point if I hadn't had so much fun with the easier shirt style to begin with.

I guess I'm saying: if you want to make your own obnoxious shirts, be patient with not only your sewing skills, but also--maybe even more so--with finding a pattern you're comfortable with.

(and having a way to make good, consistent buttonholes helped me a lot, too--I used to think that what I hadn't liked about doing button closures was sewing on the buttons, but I eventually realized that what I didn't like was confronting the horrible four step buttonholes my old machine did. I now love the vintage buttonholer attachment.)

[silverfoxstole]

And… it’s done! One finished waistcoat and shirt combo.

Apart from a few hiccups (such as when I accidentally dyed the first lot of cotton lawn for the shirt cream - oops), it’s all turned out pretty much as I’d envisioned.

The shirt is my go-to shirt pattern, the Sewaholic Granville, which I’ve made many times. I removed the back princess seams a while ago to save matching a busy fabric, and this time I opted not to bother with pockets as they never get used. It’s very light and should be cool to wear in the summer, either as a coverup or tied at the waist.

For the waistcoat I’d originally intended using the Style Arc Joy pattern even though it doesn’t have a collar and I ideally wanted one; before I bought it however I happened to receive an email full of waistcoat patterns (serendipity or what?) and found New Look 6914 which features five different styles, two with collars. Normally I shy away from Big Four patterns (unless it’s for outerwear) because they’re so unreliable regarding measurements; fortunately I read a few reviews that mentioned the ridiculous amount of ease (5 and a half inches!!) so opted to go down a couple of sizes which turned out to be the right decision. I didn’t bother to toile and it’s more or less spot-on though I did have to make my usual alterations for princess seams, taking them in over the bust and into the armholes front and back. It’s a straightforward pattern to follow, but one thing I would do if I make it again is change the way it’s bagged out as the method used makes it awkward to sew and impossible to adjust the side seams.

The instructions use the main fabric for both back and front but as that’s not what happens with traditional waistcoats I opted for satin as both back and lining, which turned out to be something of a headache. The fabric was less stable than the one I used for my coat lining and I really should have overlocked all the edges before I started; I decided to zigzag so as not to have to re-thread the overlocker, which I hate doing, and the stuff just frayed through the extra stitching, resulting in some holes that had to be (not very neatly as I’m a poor hand sewer) fixed afterwards. I’m just hoping the whole thing doesn’t disintegrate after a few wears! It’s definitely not going near the washing machine just in case.

While I wanted a waistcoat anyway, not having worn one since the early nineties, after I’d made my Dark Eyes jacket I thought it would be fun to make something else that was a take on one of the Eighth Doctor’s costumes but that I could wear as part of my usual wardrobe. There wasn’t a lot of choice as far as fabric went; I wanted brocade, and this was the closest I could find. In colour it’s more akin to the one Paul wore for Power of the Doctor, but if you used the wrong side it would actually be a little closer to the one from NotD, something I didn’t notice until I was partway through. It frayed a lot, though not as much as the satin, and as i worked I got covered in bits and threads. I have no idea why I always choose to wear black jeans whenever I sew with fabric that sheds but it happens every single time! Thank goodness for lint rollers!

Now, because I’d based these pieces on a costume, I just had to get a couple of other bits to finish it off, didn’t I? 😉

The scarf is a little chiffon one that I could wear with other things for a vintage look; the chain is just that, no watch as the pockets are false welts.

Cue the obligatory mirror selfies (for once turned the right way round)! Unfortunately I haven’t owned a pair of lace-up knee boots in about twenty five years, which is a shame.

I also recreated that transitionary look I drew a while ago, with the jacket:

Now I am starting to really want to take on the NotD coat. I love frock coats and I’ve always wanted one, plus I’ve found some fabric and a perfect pattern…

[solar-halos]

i’ve skipped so many mood board mondays, so here are a ton of mood boards. they’re all Annie Cresta themed and how i think she’d dress/accessorize in a modern au. this one is gonna be lengthy tho i luv fashion

don’t keep the devil waiting, old friend: queer couture*

comments: this one was the hardest only bc i couldn’t find a lot pics of patchwork jeans + smudged (and ugly in an on-purpose-fuck-beauty-standards type of way) makeup and i feel like that is a fundamental part of annies style in this fic. also shes in hs and i feel like that is the peak of diy-ing things that are ugly but obv pinterest didn’t have much of that. but in the fic she loves red+black color combos and sanrio and also mitski so i included that here. also, had to include a heathers pic. and before anyone says that this doesn’t count as alt pls remember something: i don’t care

* (as in annie is queer in this fic, not that u have to be queer to wear this. just btw)

fond boy with a flower in his heart: lipstick lover*

comments: her style isn’t rlly described that much in the fic but i think it’s very much winx and barbiecore. lipstick lover* to the max. she is also the queen of sporty spice athleisure

*in a “pink panther” by Scene Queen (the musician) way, not a luver of lipstick way. although annie is both in this fic

a deep dive into the mind of annie cresta: man eater couture

credits, first and foremost!

i found the first pic (starting from the top left hand corner) on pinterest. this is the second pic dress pattern. third pic is also pinterest but it gives me johanna and annie vibes. this is the fourth pic (it’s still a tester pattern so i just linked her account!). this is the fifth pic. this is the sixth pic. i found the seventh pic on pinterest. this is the eighth pic. i found the ninth pic on pinterest. this is the tenth pic (can you tell i love madebymolly? lol)

comments: okay, so at first i wanted to focus more on materials like linen bc i think d4 would be more focused on practicality than glam, but as you can tell it’s mostly crochet pieces bc i’ve saved SO many pics that gave me boho beach vibes. but also some outfits (like the green dress!) are outfits i described in the actual fic and then found on instagram later like “wait….. this was literally something i had in my head and they made it into something real.” like how fucking cool is that imagine sewing something from ur own two hands (esp lace!). but also the cheetah (leopard?) print underwear is so annie cresta after she won the games bc i feel like she’d embellish everything she owns like the fashionista she is

miscellaneous: i-t g-i-r-l

ok when i was first pondering abt annie cresta’s style @turtlesandwhales678 put this into the universe and i haven’t been able to stop thinking abt it: vintage styled annie cresta! i know i didn’t do this concept justice bc most of the outfits are condensed to a select few decades but there was an era in my life where i would refuse to post anything on my instagram stories except vintage pictures/photoshoots, so here are some i had in my arsenal that i dug up:

credits!

first pic (top left corner) is from the nanny! love that show u should watch it. i know the second pic looks like an invasion of privacy but i swear it was for a photoshoot in 1969 for life magazine. i found the third pic on pinterest, it’s lisa bonet on “a different world” i believe. the fourth pic is from my instagram stories archive arsenal. same with the fifth pic. this is the sixth pic. seventh pic is from my stories archive. this is the eighth pic

comments: i kinda said everything i needed to at the beginning. the ninth pic is giving me odesta vibes

okay, that’s it! i know this was sooo long but i was scared of uploading it to ao3 cos the last time i did something like that it got taken down. but to be fair it was sorta my fault. anyway this was sooo fun and im in a very big procrastinating mood so i will literally make a mood board out of anything / any other styles. i was thinking abt doing a cottagecore one but i heard that style has racist undertones? idk i haven’t looked into it but i should. anyway bye hope these were pretty

[nonasuch]

hello! i love all of your miss frizzle-esque dresses, and the clothing you make in general. im interested in learning how to sew my own clothing, and was wondering how you learned! do you happen to have any resources you could point me in the direction of?

honestly I don’t know if I can recommend my method! it’s mostly “trial and error + attempt to copy existing thing I want more of + watch youtube tutorial if I get stuck on a specific skill”

so like. I wanted to make pleated skirts. I looked at some skirts I already had and went “ah okay it’s just a big rectangle with a waistband. is there a faster way to do the pleats than pinning and measuring? oh cool i can use a fork! hm i wonder how waistbands work.” and eventually I had a set of steps that reliably produced a wearable skirt.

the dresses I make are almost all the same princess seamed bodice, which i copied off an existing vintage dress that fit me well and tweaked until it was just right. it took a few iterations to figure out the best order of operations for assembly, but now I’ve just made it so many times that I know how to do it well and pretty quickly.

I’m still kind of garbage at following patterns generally, though. especially because they require a ton of adjustments to fit me right, and once I had a good bodice block I just didn’t want to go through the hassle of making a million toiles again.

in conclusion: don’t be like me, probably. maybe take a class?

[discountalien-pancake]

Kay this is why you don’t post things at 1am, I realized the diagram and instructions required a lot of edits so I’m just taking down that post for now. I’ll make up for it by giving y’all a materials list for the Sea Guard Cadet Tunic:

So. You want to make the Sea Guard Tunic. You will need:

2 yards of teal medium-weight linen or wool. All pattern pieces, excluding the cuff interlining, will be cut from this. I used linen from fabrics-store.com in the color “Sphinx.” For a fully screen-accurate wool tunic, use this wool from renaissancefabrics.net (currently sold out, but will probably be restocked)

1”x22” of a lightweight but stable fabric for interlining the cuffs. I used a different linen I had lying around. A plain cotton or something similar will work just as well. Silk organza is bizarrely good as an interlining but it is also ass to work with, so I don’t recommend it for this project.

Sewing thread. I used 50wt Kinkame silk thread from britexfabrics.com, color 47. You can use whatever regular sewing thread you have on hand, but you will have to wax your thread if hand-sewing with something other than a high-quality silk thread. Treat Gutermann silk sewing thread like it’s cotton.

4 small buttons (2 on each cuff). Mine were 1/4” diameter vintage shell buttons. You can also substitute these for 2 larger 1/2” diameter buttons, 1 for each cuff.

Size 8 or 9 quilting “betweens” (or whatever you prefer). These are shorter than regular sharps. Nicole Rudolph, who is an excellent historical costumer, uses embroidery needles, which are thicker and longer than sharps. This all comes down to personal preference and comfort. Betweens work for me, but they may not work fo you. Test out different needle types and invest in them when you find a good fit. I used the size 9 betweens from Clover.

Size 28 tapestry needles, if sewing linen. Just trust me on this. The blunt point will make all the seams so much less annoying, and you will need them if you want to do any embroidery. You may still find it necessary to fell the seam allowances using a smaller sharp needle. I use the ones from Piecemaker’s. Note: you can find these at a cheaper price from other online shops, and I can’t vouch for their shipping because I didn’t order mine from them, but I want to link to their shop directly.

Fabric scissors. I used embroidery scissors for everything. This is stupid. Do not do that, it takes forever and is deeply unnecessary. Use regular fabric sheers unless you’re a masochist like me and need everything to be perfectly on grain or you’ll go bonkers.

Beeswax, for waxing your thread. You don’t need this if you are using a smooth silk thread like Kinkame or Tire silk threads. You can get it from Burnley and Trowbridge. One thing of wax will last you forever and is a good investment even if you use silk for this project. I got mine many years ago from Whole Foods, in the…health and beauty aisle? The one with all the essential oils. It is also sold by various Indigenous-owned small businesses!

Optional:

Embroidery thread of your choice. I used a size 12 perle cotton from Valdani in shade 152, and a size 16 perle cotton from Finca in shade 4074. Valdani perle cottons can be found on etsy, and I got my Finca perle cotton from roseground.com, a UK-based lacemaking supplier.

Beads, if you want some sparkle. Size 11 and 8 seed beads would work well, especially if trying to emulate the show’s aesthetic. I get beads from direct.auntiesbeads.com which sells them in little bulk-quantity baggies. I didn’t bead my tunic, but I may bead future TROP cosplays.

You may want to have a 0.65mm (very small!) crochet hook, if sewing with silk thread. Instead of using a seam ripper, I pull my stitches out and reuse the thread. You can do this with other threads but they will start to fray and fall apart very quickly. Kinkame and similar silks will not. The crochet hook helps speed up the process. Always remove stitches in reverse of the direction you put them in, on the chance you pierced your thread on the backside. This allows you to maintain the longest possible usable length of thread.

[calamity-bean]

wait, do you have advice/resources for beginning to sew clothes? i self drafted a totebag and have made a few small bags, but am hoping to branch out

Make mockups; do lots of test fittings throughout the process; finish your seams; clip your corners and curves; stitch the most visible and trickiest bits by hand, not machine (unless you're good enough with a machine!); learn the main properties of different fabrics; when you really wanna hold your fabric in place nicely, baste rather than pin; adjust the fit via triangles and curves; it's only fabric; it's okay to fuck up; accept that you WILL fuck-up and WILL have to undo and redo things and that that is OKAY.

^ Some things I personally have benefited from and wish I'd learned earlier!

Seriously, though — I should preface by saying that I myself am also a beginner. I follow some really brilliant costumers and cosplayers here on tumblr, and I am nowhere NEAR their level. (And I would welcome any advice/resources more experienced clothes-makers would like to share!) It's only in the last few years that I've gotten more into sewing, starting mainly with alterations of existing clothes and then moving into making things from scratch. I've figured out a lot just via trial and error — as well as by taking existing garments apart and looking at how they're made.

But, honestly, my main resource has been YouTube. There are tons of tutorials on there for specific techniques and garments, of course, and I do watch those. But I've also learned a LOT from the more entertainment-focused sewing content — the ones where the sewist isn't really trying to teach you how to make something, just making something cool and showing how they made it. There's so much knowledge to be gleaned just from watching them work and listening to them talk about why they used a certain stitch, how they resolved a fit issue, etc.

Some favorite creators include:

TheClosetHistorian: Makes stunning vintage and high-end fashion; big proponent of drafting your own patterns, and has tutorials on how to do so as well as on things like darts and seam finishing. Plus I find her voice and aesthetic very soothing.

Bernadette Banner: Focuses on using period-appropriate methods to create her garments (mainly 19th and early 20th c.), which means a lot of hand sewing. I've picked up a lot of hand-sewing tips and tricks from watching her work.

Vincent Briggs: Mainly 18th century garments, with very excellent tutorials on decorative buttons and buttonholes in particular. And how to make an adorable leaf-kerchief!

Morgan Donner: All-around crafter with a particular focus on medieval garments and other aspects of medieval culture. Does lots of non-sewing craft content I enjoy as well.

Rachel Maksy: Less focused on technical sewing skills and more so on costume making and other crafting, but she's very inventive and fun to watch and shows a lot of creative problem solving.

And a few specific tutorials:

Circle skirt drafting by Mariah Pattie

Making a split-side adjustable skirt by Ash L G

Seam finishing by Evelyn Wood

There are honestly too many good channels to list... Sewstine; The Stitchery; Nicole Rudolph; Shannon Makes...... Beyond the sheer entertainment value, what I really love about watching all of these creators is that each of them has their own particular specialties, preferred ways of doing things, etc. Some of them went to fashion school, some are self-taught. Some are very technical and precise, some of them work organically and messily. And I think that just as the measured, detail-oriented approach of someone like Bernadette Banner offers much instruction, so too (in a very different way) does the chaotic approach of someone like Micarah Tewers, who perhaps can make garment construction seem less intimidating by demonstrating that you don't have to precisely follow a step-by-step guide.

Right now, I'm almost done (SO CLOSE TO DONE) making a skirt. It's not a crazy difficult skirt, but it does have pockets, pleats, gathers, a zipper, an attached waistband with elastic, and a plaid pattern to consider the direction and matching of, so it required thought and planning. I had originally been planning to make the whole skirt using a hand-me-down McCalls pattern, but then decided I didn't like the fullness of that skirt, so I took only the pockets from that pattern and drafted the skirt itself using the circle skirt tutorial linked above. I used a quarter-circle with a 175% waist measurement for the front half, which is pleated, and a 150% waist measurement for the back half, which is gathered. I did frequent test fittings and had to take apart and redo a couple things. And whenever I wasn't exactly sure how to do something, I'd just Google it and find lots of help.

Like I said, some of my mutuals on here are far better at this than I am, and I feel a little silly talking about my skirt like it's some grand accomplishment and a little unqualified to offer resources/advice. But I guess I'm hoping that my experience can still be helpful precisely because I am still a beginner and am very much still in the phase of figuring it all out. And my method is basically to take in information and inspiration from a lot of different sources, find the courage to try things out, learn from my mistakes and try try again.

Congrats on your tote bags, anon, and best wishes on your sewing journeys to come!

[detectivenyx]

2023 In Review

for me, 2023 just kind of... came and went. very quickly. i kind of wish it didn't.

there's been some horrific mental-health stuff, not aided by what's going on, both in my little corner of the world and across the world in general. i'll start with the negatives, so we can end on a positive note - that seems like a good outlook for the year.

there's obviously the horrendous situation with the writers and actors strike, where garbage studios think paying people for their hard-made art is very much an optional thing rather than fucking mandatory. yet in this year, warner bros, the company who's the most mask-off with their transphobia (still releasing HP stuff and hiring a TERF and sandy hook truther to voice one of the most well-known female characters in mortal kombat), releases a 2 hour toy commercial and gets heralded a Feminist Masterpiece for the same messages that Mean Girls and Legally Blonde had shovelled out two decades earlier. there's also just the countless fucking genocides. i'm hoping and praying that the victims of those genocides are not wiped out, even if i've acknowledged i cannot help directly.

but in addition, i think this year just sealed the deal for me about the cosplay community. i'm still routinely dragged to cosplay events - it's either that or be socially isolated for two whole months as it's all that gets talked about - and the local 'in-crowd' community is as garbage as ever. someone a close friend wanted to hitch a ride back towards the city with just. randomly started spouting anti-trans sports propaganda to us? she started complaining about trans women 'having a biological advantage' by being taller or whatever. the absolute second that this person was away from a transmasc friend and with two people she didn't fully know, she just assumed we were both cis and went full mask-off with transphobia, and that indicates to me that things have gotten worse since i left. i want to return to cosplay badly, but the fucking community just keeps letting shit like that slide, going to a con run by a neonazi and excusing it with 'it lets me see my friends!' like they've never learned how to plan an outing more than two weeks in advance before. ultimately it makes cosplaying barely worth it; it's an expensive hobby that now only for my own validation. there's no leftist cosplayers in queensland - only people cosplaying as leftists.

it also doesn't help that, off-topic, i am pretty sure i know my dad's care for me is hollow now; something happened in september to prove it to me. there's also the fact that this year introduced me to now having chronic back pain thanks to his neglect, and i don't think i'll ever get any sort of apology from him. and while probably the least-bad thing in the list, one of the more charismatic members of a channel i'd just got introduced to had sexually harassed a semi-guest of the channel.

that said: in newer spaces, and in general, i think things are looking up. the aforementioned channel kicked the sexual harasser, and re-structured so that it was unlikely to ever happen again. i joined up with a new group of people to play Blood on the Clock Tower in-person every month and online a few times a week - and quite frankly i would trust those people with my life. i think just having something to do that isn't a popularity contest has been healing. i'm not super close to the people there yet (or maybe im misjudging it? i don't know how healthy relationships irl work if i'm honest). sewing has been fun, as has finding out an interest in vintage patterns - i'm hoping in 2024 to actually make some of them. finding resources for free patterns (via mood.com - a really good resource, i've found) and having fun with the creation has also been fun, though my fabric stash is getting pretty full now thanks to my many trips to a second-hand fabric store. the last con of the year also wasn't all bad; really only cementing my decision to remove myself at the very end of the con day. i wouldn't have considered coming back at all if the con hadn't been a fun time; even getting to meet someone who was a fan of my youtube channel. a recent bout of hostility for a two-year-old video because someone decided to grift off it had given me doubts about my channel; bad or not, those videos are still fully mine, more than, say, somerton- sorry, i mean someone can say. but i think just being able to see someone, physically, who liked my videos, made it a lot better. (and i purchased a pronoun pin from them and the pin is super duper cute and they gave me a really cute sticker oh my god--)

so, rather than setting resolutions, i tend to set themes for years after seeing this video by SCP Grey that offers it as an alternative. this year was the Year of Education - a year where i did my best to focus on my learning and educational pursuits. at the start of the year i set myself three semi-goals that could change; to do my Master's in Arts, to keep learning Japanese, and to learn corsetmaking techniques.

i wound up re-joining my university in the middle of the year to do my Honours in Creative Industries, focusing on adapting social deduction games and their game theories into the design of a narrative. i'm a little behind on the narrative itself, but the articles i've read and the definitely-research-and-not-a-thinly-veiled-excuse-to-play-games have both been fascinating for me, both in how much theory is kind of just ableist bonkers nonsense and what thin bits of truth are actually present (in all people, deception requires more cognitive thought; there's usually either scriptedness or a very slight delay when someone's trying to deceive - which proved useful when i finally watched roblox_oof.mp3 and noticed both in mister tallarico's behaviour).

my education with japanese fell by the wayside - i got burned out trying to keep up my streak with moving house yet again, and just kind of did the bare minimum to keep up the streak and stay in the diamond league. i think some of my basics have gotten a bit stronger, but that's all.

with that said, i learned a lot more about making clothes over the course of the year! admittedly, i still struggle with making a skirt fit correctly (it is either severely too big for me even with elastic in the back, or just small enough to be uncomfortable in day-to-day wear) but i think i've created a bodice block that fits close enough. i've also kind of fallen in love with a second hand place sort-of near my house that sells a lot of vintage and second-hand fabrics for cheap, which is really useful as a seamstress living on unemployment who'd like to make All Of The Things. i did also make a corset this year, but aside from the busk, it used some really shoddy materials - i accidentally made the lining layer out of broadcloth rather than twill or herringbone and the outer layer was a polyester brocade and a polyester waist tape, meaning the entire thing was just. the itchiest fucking thing in the universe. (and i was wearing an underlayer, it didn't do much to help). i have materials to remake it, i've just been unsure how to go about it.

so that's been my year (alongside obscene amounts of baldur's gate 3). onto 2024 and the goals there!

[watsername]

i wanna know about clothes what kind of clothes do you like? do you make them? also how do people know how to style things i am usually very lost

alright let’s split this into 3 parts

1) im the worst when it comes to clothes i love patterns i love quirky aspects i love wide legs for trousers and platform boots and flares and things that have generally interesting shapes. it’s hard to explain how i dress bc i don’t rlly adopt to any aesthetic or style boundary but i love vintage i take from kind of 60s-y2k a lot but i also love grunge and like accessories a lot i have a lot of hats and jewellery and so many jackets and also 5 different kind of platform boots . i love things that are Different tbh

2) i don’t currently make my own clothes i am however saving up for a sewing machine bc that’s gonna be my thing for over summer to start learning to make garments bc i always have so many ideas for things i want to make and wear but i don’t have the ability to sew or draw . i currently embroider but idk whether to crochet or move straight towards pattern sewing

3) look around for inspiration . if there’s a particular aesthetic you want to try look on places like tiktok pinterest google ‘x style inspiration’ or ‘how to style x item of clothing’ if you want to style a specific thing you have currently bc i guarantee there’s a lot of youtube videos ‘how to style (garment) in 5 ways’ that you can try as well . also don’t be afraid to experiment . the ultimate way to style something is just to wear it in the way you want to . if there’s something that you want to wear out it on and dedicate some time plying around with the clothes you have until you go ! yes that’s how i want to look ! that’s what i do sometimes . i’ll put on a youtube video and just try on clothes until i go hey that fucks . but if you don’t know where to start there’s plenty of videos and posts and sites on where to start looking for a specific style and developing your own

[bloodyparadisechime]

Sewing resources #1 ૮꒰ ྀི >⸝⸝⸝< ྀི꒱ა

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ SEWING PATTERNS

Etsy (Prices will vary)

Etsy has lots of secondhand sewing books and pdf patterns from independent sewists. (If you're a cosplayer there are lots of character specific patterns you can buy!!)

If you're looking for a good sewing book I really like "Cosplay Sewing & Design BOOK"

Unfortunately I don't know the name of the author since I can't read kanji (╥ᆺ╥；) honestly if you can't read Japanese you may need basic sewing knowledge for this book BUT there are lots of pictures AND IT COMES WITH PATTERNS!!!! It shows how to alter the patterns like turning a regular sleeve into a puff sleeve or turning straight pants into puffed ones but as far as I know it doesn't show how to alter the fit of the patterns.

2. Pomadour.com (Prices will vary but I've found the prices to be fairly moderate)

(They also have an Etsy store!!!) A great place to find craft books from Japan (including the one I showed above)

3. Freesewing.org (Free)

Admittedly I have never used this site but I definitely plan on it. from what I've been told you're able to plug your own measurements and get a custom fit PLUS IT'S ALLL FREE. This site has patterns for both menswear and womenswear.

4. Sewist.com (Very affordable)

MY RIDE OR DIE FRRR Fully customizable patterns for a very small price (typically $1-$3 but I believe there are a few free things on there plus they have sales) This site features womenswear, since the measurements are fully customizable you probably can plug in the measurements for a male body but the clothing may still give off a feminine shape (probably idk I'm not a professional don't listen to me lol)

5. Your local library (Free!!! mostly!! I'll explain(ᵕ—ᴗ—))

Many sewing books actually have sewing patterns in them, and if you're lucky your library might even have regular sewing patterns to borrow. (I haven't been that lucky but hey at least my library has videogames) So as long as you have a library card you'll have free access!! HOWEVER lots of sewing patterns like the ones I have shown here come in pdf. form and need to be printed. Most libraries charge for printing (this is what I meant by mostly free) but typically it's only like a couple cents per page. I believe students can use their college libraries' resources for free but I wouldn't know I'm a dropout lmao.