The Costume Maven

If there is one thing as a little girl that I wanted more than anything from a Disney movie was the library from the Beast's castle. The sight of all those books and the information that was just waiting for me to open the cover is still with me to this day. To put things into perspective here, I typically read a book a day... sometimes more if it is on the weekend. Even as a technophile, I still love my books and collect books for my hobbies. Maybe someday if I can have a table sized screen where I can do multiple tasks at once while working on a costume, I might change my mind. For now, I do research online but most still comes from books that I either purchase or get from the library. I wanted to share some of the books that I am using currently for historic costuming and general sewing references. As a friend recently pointed out to me, there are people who would like to take up sewing but don't know where to start. I'm lucky in that I was taught sewing at a young ...

I recently started joining the local Society for Creative Anarchism (SCA) group to meet up with like-minded individuals interested in historic costumes and research. There is an upcoming event with a middle eastern theme and I have nothing to wear! So of course that meant frantic research into what middle eastern costume I wanted to make, draft the patterns and begin work. I finally settled on Ottoman Empire (Turkish) costume consisting of shalwar, gomlek, entari and caftan. I did quick and dirty research and The documentation that I found the most helpful are the following: https://serenesabiha.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/aripattern.pdf http://baronyofatenveldt.org/uploads/library/Ottoman%20Coat%20Handout%202011.pdf http://www.katjaorlova.com/FemaleTurkishGarb.pdf Linen gomlek before the added neckline facing. The first link has a great measurement chart that is helpful for keeping documentation of your measurements. I used the gomlek (or women's shirt) pattern and fo...

In the past month or so, I have done a lot of ironing. Typically, I don't do a lot of ironing unless I am working on a sewing project or if I have to do a quick touch-up on a blouse after it has been through the wash. I have a new project in the works, so I currently am ironing yards of fabric. I lost count after approximately 30 yards. Don't ask me why I was trying to keeping track anyways. Yegads, what is that?! As I was ironing some washed canvas, I looked down and noticed what looked to be a rust stain on the fabric. I checked the iron and the iron also had a stain on it. I never had any build-up on my iron before so I didn't know what was going on. My first reaction was that, somehow, my brand new Rowenta was rusting! After that initial gut reaction, I calmed down and did my research. Turns out, build-up or stains can occur on your iron and that Rowenta makes a product to clean the faceplate. I went to Joann's the next day got the Rowenta ZD-110 (Joann...