Building your historical wardrobe

By now I have a lot of historical clothes in my wardrobe, and I usually talk about having what I consider a good 16th century wardrobe and a good 18th century wardrobe. On the way there are some things that I have learnt and here I will try to give you some advice when you plan on doing an historical wardrobe. There are plenty of advice out there on the importance of fabric choices and the right underpinnings, I'm going to talk more about other choices you can make when building your wardrobe.

1. When will you wear your historical clothes?

 Will it be for a fancy party or will be clothes that you need to wear a full day and do chores in?

My 18th century wardrobe grew out of my wish of going to fancy parties. I started off with silk gowns and fancy trims. This also means that I had no problems making tight corsets, or stays, and bumrolls and panniers. Those are underpinnings that I can wear for an evening, but it's nice to get out of them after a couple of hours. It's also the kind of clothes that are a bit complicated to put on, it definitely helps to have access to a fullbody mirror and a friend or two.

On the contrary when I've made my 16th century clothes I know that the events that I am most likely to attend are fairs and markets. At those events I will be in my clothes for a lot longer time, and I will probably do more than just stand around, sit or dance. I have chosen to do clothes that are not quite as tight as my 18th century clothes, and I am staying away from the silks and fancy details, preferring to make clothes that are more working class or lower upper class compared to my 18th century wardrobe.

My instinct for 18th century clothes is still "Oooh, that's pretty I want to wear that", while my 16th century  is more along the lines of  "I need this to be comfortable".

2. Make more shifts and chemises

When starting an historical costume you should always start with the underwear, but once you have done that first layer, you should make another one. If you are just going to an evening event one shift or chemise is enough, but as soon as you start attending events that are longer than that it is so nice to be able to change your shift every day. For Medieval week in Visby I brought four shifts with me, which also made it possible to wash and dry one while I was wearing the others. A basic shift can be worn during many eras as well, the Viking shift that I have made can work up until the 16th century, and my oldest 18th century chemise, with a drawstring around the neck, has doubled as a 16th century shift just as well. In fact both the Viking and 18th century shifts are constructed the same, it is just a matter of different arm lengths and how big the head opening is, and if you have a drawstring you can adjust that size.

Since the shifts are usually under all the other clothes I have no bad conscience when sewing them by machine, and zigzagging the raw edges instead of felling the seams.

3. Mix and match and make separates

I like to vary my wardrobe, and think it's boring to show up at events in the same clothes. Instead of making a full new outfit every time I have now built my wardrobes so that I can mix and match pieces.

For the 18th century this is pretty easy, since the gowns and petticoats are separate. As it is I only have two different skirts, and a white petticoat that can be used as an outer skirt.

 The same skirt is used with both my 1760's pet en l'air and over pocket hoops, but I've also worn it my 1780's anglaise, over a bumroll. Pocket hoops and bumrolls are totally different, but with some creative use of safety pins, and enough width in the skirt, it can be use for both.

Two of us are wearing pinned on sleeves

For earlier centuries, when it was still a matter of full gowns instead of separate gowns and skirt it is
trickier but still possible.  I can transfer my social class to a working woman and just walk around in my undergown, which means that I have two outfits, even if only planned to make one full outfit with both undergown and outer gown.

Loose sleeves that can be pinned onto the gown are great to add variety to your medieval wardrobe. They are easy to make and don't need a lot of fabric.

Sleeves can be seen as an accessory, which brings me to my last point.

4. Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize

Or simply learn how to style your clothes in different ways to create variety. I skipped on the accessories when I made my first costumes, it was the gown that was the main purpose with a costume project. It was thanks to the Historical Sew Monthly that I started to make accessories, and realized that it was fun to switch them around and style outfits differently. For the 18th century wardrobe I have 3-4 different caps, 3-4 hats and two aprons. For my 16th century wardrobe I have two hats, 2 different veils and a wulsthaube, and can play around with them. Here it is also possible to make a few generic accessories that work over several time periods, I'm using my plain linen apron for everything from the 15th century and onwards, while a smocked apron or an apron made of printed cotton is more limited in use. The veils can be used for all things medieval, and even double as an 18th century fichu in a pinch. When it comes to styling different head covers, whether it is a veil or a cap, are great for hiding your hair so you don't have to worry about making a complicated historical hairstyle.

Here is an example on how I have styled my base 1520's wardrobe in three different ways.

My full outfit represent lower nobility and landed gentry. I wear a smocked shift, furtrimmed gollar, a hairnet and the skirt is long. The undergown doesn't show.

I changed from a smocked shift to a lownecked gathered shift. I switched the hairned for a wulsthaube with veil and added a hat on top. I hooked up the skirt of the outer gown so that the undergown is visible. Now I looked more like a trossfrau than a respectable lady.

Finally I took off the outergown and only wore the undergown and shift. I also removed the wulsthaube and just wrapped the veil around my head. Now I look more like a working woman.

 So to summarize here are my advice on building your historical wardrobe.

1. Adjust it to the kind of historical event you will wear it to. This affects how comfortable and sturdy you want to make the clothes.

2. Make more than one shift/chemise. You can never have too many, and if your wardrobe is made for an era where the shift is visible, it is an easy way to change your outfit.

3. Mix and match pieces. If you are making more than one outfit, make the pieces interchangable so you can create combinations of the items that yo have.

4. Add accessories. Different caps, veils, fichus, purses and other accessories are great to bring variety to your wardrobe, and are usually cheaper and more easy to make than a whole new outfit.