Hellmouth
In 2015, I decided to attempt to make a more historically accurate costume for the Renaissance Faire. At the time, I was really into Landsknecht uniforms and the fashions of early 16th-century Germany. I got several yards of green cotton velveteen for the dress, along with some silk satin for the trim and cotton for the chemise. Because I spent all my money on fabric, I had no money for patterns and had to draft the dress pattern from scratch. For the goldhaube/cap, I used the pattern from here. This website was super useful for info on this period of German fashion.
Once I got my materials, I started by drafting the pattern for the hemd/chemise. It was very simple to draft, as it was just a bunch of rectangles. Originally, I planned to smock the neckline and cuffs but decided against it as I wanted a smoother look. I sewed it up, and I hand-embroidered the collar of the hemd with gold thread. I also started to embroider the cuffs but stopped when I realised they wouldn't be visible.
Next, I started drafting the pattern for the dress itself. This was my second time drafting a dress pattern, and I didn't really know what I was doing, so I struggled a lot and made lots of mistakes. I had a lot of fun figuring out how to do the sleeves, though. After I got the fit as good as I could, I machine-sewed all the inside seams and hand-sewed the visible seams.
Lastly, I made a tellerbarret, a giant round hat covered in feathers, and a goldhaube, a golden cap covered in pearls. For the tellerbarret, I cut a long rectangle out of my cotton velveteen and gathered it into a circle over a big wire hoop. I then covered it in feathers. My mom did all the beading on the goldhaube, and then I sewed it together. I stuffed it with wool to pad it out. It was extremely heavy from all the pearls, so I had to use a bunch of hair pins to keep it on my head, but it turned out beautifully.
I also made an outfit for my dad to wear to the faire. It wasn't based on any specific region or decade. Just generic fantasy/16th century inspired. I used one of his old shirts to draft the doublet and drafted the trunkhose and shirt from scratch. The trunkhose turned out a little sad, so I stuffed a bunch of tulle inside to make them puffier. This was my first time making clothes for someone else. I'm really surprised at how well this outfit turned out, especially the trunkhose because I'd only ever made one pair of pants before. My dad learned some embroidery to decorate the cuffs and collar of the shirt. My dad has worn this outfit to the faire several times, and it's still holding up.
I made this for XenaCon in 2022. My friend and I both decided to go as the character "Discord," the Goddess of Retribution. I went in her regular costume, and my friend did an amazing recreation of her 1950s-style undersea outfit from the episode "Married with Fishsticks." It was a bit difficult to find good reference images for this costume. Since it's an older show, it can be hard to get high-quality images of the costumes. I watched all her episodes and took a bunch of screenshots of her costume from various angles.
For the bodice pattern, I altered a corset pattern from Aranea Black to give it bust cups. The cups didn't fit and looked a little sad, but they successfully covered my boobs. I boned the corset with a bunch of spiral steel I took from a corset I made years ago. I couldn't really tell what material her bodice was made of. I tried a bunch of different options and finally settled on two layers of black tulle over canvas fabric, though I don't think that's what they used. After sewing the bodice base, I cut out a bunch of strips of pleather and spent 100 years applying a bunch of metal studs. I glued these strips over the bodice, trying to follow the pattern of the reference images I had while also covering the boning channels. For the collar, I sewed together a bunch of trapezoids from the corset fabric and covered it in pleather traingles.
I made the bracers from the same metal studs and strips of pleather I used for the bodice. I glued them onto some zip ties to make them stiffer and added lacing rings to lace them on with ribbon. I tried using hooks and eyes for the closure, but they were too difficult to put on and take off that way. I spent a long time trying to find stretch lace that looked like what they used for her sleeves on the show, but eventually gave up and cut up some fishnets. The skirt is just a basic circle skirt I made from some stretch pleather. I didn't even add a waistband since the top is hidden by the bodice.
In the show, Discord has leather boots, but I didn't have the budget for a new pair of boots or the time to try and make shoe covers/gaiters so I just wore some heels. I also didn't bother to try and recreate her iconic hairstyle, as my hair is too thin and short on its own, and I didn't want to wear a wig. Other than those two things, I think this costume turned out pretty close to the original. I really enjoyed making the corset, and while the bust is wonky and there are some wrinkles due to the stretchiness of the tulle, I'm happy with how it turned out. At some point, I may remove the bust cups and turn it into a more wearable corset.
I had a bunch of black velvet and random brass findings so I made choker and belt.
I used to work at a fabric store that would give employees free fabric and patterns as long as you displayed the stuff you made for a while. For the first display, I used Mccall's 8078 and Mccall's 8071 and for the second, I used Vogue 1809 and Mccall's 8207.
I used this pattern for the rabbit and this pattern for Frog and Toad. The bear pattern I made up.
12th-16th Centuries ⚜ 17th-20th Centuries ⚜ Multiple Periods ⚜ Youtubers ⚜ Shops ⚜ Books
I've been interested in fashion history since I went to see the Marie Antoinette movie in 2006. I searched everywhere for more information on 18th-century European fashion and began following several blogs. Over time, I've gained interest in other periods and regions, but early modern European fashion is my main interest.
On this page, I want to share some of the various websites, books, and other fashion history resources I've found over the years. Sadly, many of these websites no longer update, but there's still lots of good information available. As fashion history has become more popular in the past few years, lots of great fashion history channels have popped up on YouTube as well.
