You have fallen in love with late period costume and have seen amazing portraits of Kings and Queens that inspire you to create, but your bank account isn’t that of royalty. What do you do?

First, make decisions regarding what is the most important to you. What are your short term goals verses long term aspirations? Be realistic with your experience level, time to create, and budget for materials. Set your budget and stick to it.

Things to remember:

That portrait you love? Its representative of someone wearing their very best, something that in today’s dollars could cost the equivalent of a car or house! Unless you have several thousands of dollars lying about, you will not be able to make an outfit that is equivalent and looks as good as the picture. But don’t give up! You can start saving and build the skills to make this outfit down the road for less than jumping the gun and trying right out of the gate.
Make a folder or Pinterest board with portraits that inspire you. Look at what these portraits have in common. You might be surprised at what you actually like. Is it a particular color? Bodice type? Style of sleeve? It might not be all the bling that is attracting you.
When you have found a specific time period that sparks your interest, try to find paintings depicting what the working class was wearing during the same time period. Despite what we have learned in movies, they didn’t wear ugly clothes covered in mud all the time. Just like today, middle and lower class people cared just as much about looking their best.

For instance in my costuming journey I fell in love with a portrait of Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo,by Allori,c.1570/ After researching fabrics and the elements of this dress I realized the following things:

Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo, Alessando Allori,c.1570

I would need 6 yards of silk satin for the doublet and underskirt.
35 yards of gold and silk trim for the doublet.
6 – 9 yards of silk taffeta for the over gown.
4-5 yards of linen for undergarment plus more for linings and interlinings.
More gold and silver bullion and other metallic threads than I can comprehend.

Doing this dress with any degree of historical accuracy would break the bank so it became my 10 year dress project. Little by little saving to buy fabrics that are close, and learning how to make the trims to save money.

Second, polyester, nylon and acetate are the devil. I can hear you saying, “But I can’t afford silk and this is so pretty!” I’m with you! Here is the sad, sad truth I have learned from experience: you will spend lots of time making an outfit only to find that is so hot in summer you might die and provides no warmth in winter. The beautiful pattern on that upholstery fabric does not make it worth wearing a gown that is 30 pounds and causes heat exhaustion. Passing out is not attractive. I live in the south United states which has more in common with the temperatures in northern Africa than the northern Italy that I portray. The average temperature in July in my area is 87°F, in Cairo Egypt it is 82°F verses 77°F in Florence Italy. ( www.holidayweather.com)

Follow the latitude lines. Africa and the Middle East – not northern Italy.

Choosing fabrics

Natural fibers that were available in the 16^th century include wool, silk, linen and cotton! Yes, cotton. When you know what fabrics would have been accurate for the outfit you are making, then you can begin to figure out what is the best to choose for your location and social level of outfit.

Get to know your local fabric stores. Get out and feel the fabrics and get familiar with what 100% linen, silk and wool look and feel like. This will help you be able to spot good deals and avoid tricky polyester when you see too good to be true pricing. Thrift stores, garage sales, and estate sales can be great places to find fabric treasures but only if you are familiar with quality fiber fabrics already. Many fabric stores will give samples- get some and burn test them! Here’s a handy burn test chart.

http://www.thesewingdirectory.co.uk/identifying-fabric/

White or bleached Linen is the best choice for your undergarments. The very first costume investment to make- before any fancy things – is a good linen smock / camicia. Linen is absorbent and cool. It will help protect your over gowns from body oils and help keep them clean. There are many vendors at large events with good deals on linen, but online is wonderful too. http://www.fabrics-store.comhas the lowest prices I have found on light weight linen. Their medium weight linen works well as outer garments and they have linen canvas for interlinings. Added perk, they give you frequent shopper points that add up to discounts later. They also sell it by the bolt for a discount, so if you find a buddy or two that can equal big savings. In all my research, I have not found any evidence of a pure linen dress. However, there is an extant wool and linen blend dress in Pisa, Italy. This is where you use your brain and make a reasonable substitution – you live in a super hot climate and have access to linen or wool so you have to choose which fiber to go with.

If linen is out of budget, white cotton is a good substitute for undergarments. Muslin can be found for around $3 per yard in the quilting section of your local fabric store.

Remember when I said cotton was a period fabric? It is! Read more here http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/library/fibres.htm and here http://costumedabbler.ca/cotton

Just like above, choosing between linen and wool, sometimes the wallet forces a sacrifice. While not accurate for outwear, cotton is a period fiber that we now have easy access too. Its not as breathable as linen, but the price tag is considerably less. Stay away from the cotton broadcloth though! Find the cotton twills and poplins. These are sturdier fabrics that will look more like clothes instead of a costume. As always, check the fiber content as polyester tries to sneak into everything. Along with the big chain stores, http://www.fabric.com has good deals on cotton poplin.

Wool is a great choice for outer garments and comes in many weights some of which are suitable for summer. It’s especially good if you plan on being near open fires, as it self extinguishes. For light weight wools look for terms like wool broadcloth , tropical wool, summer suiting. 100% wool can be very pricey, but there are deals to be found! Check with online sellers right at the change of season for bargins. www.fabricmartfabrics.com frequently has special deals on wool and its worth it to be on their email list.

Silk … ah yes silk. Good silk can be expensive. Usually this is an item to plan on saving for – but keep your eyes peeled! Ebay is an excellent resource for this, you can set a search for say “silk taffeta”, “silk damask”, ” silk duponi” and receive emails whenever a listing matches your parameters. You can find some good deals this way. Save searches with misspellings. Sometimes you can find a bargain because an item was listed as silk tafeta! http://www.silkbaron.com is a very good source for silk at reasonable prices.

Don’t forget the power of coupons! Both Joann’s and Hobby lobby have coupons online and on their apps that will save you a bundle!

If you are in the Atlanta area, Fine Fabrics in Norcross, GA is a wonderland of linen, wools and silks for low prices. And if you budget can handle more, Gail K Fabrics is almost across the street.

Trim

Trim for late period garb can kill a budget faster than the fabric. Since you are reading this, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that buying real gold trim is not an option. Yes there are imitation metallics available at the chain stores, but trying to sew it around curves and corners is a horrible experience and they look fake and none to cheap anyway. Here’s where a little elbow grease can go along way. More on that in a bit!

Bias tape. No, I don’t mean the stuff in packages at the store, the polyester devil has gotten into those. You can make your own bias tape out of any fabric! Cotton velvet, silk satin, anything! Yes, those are expensive fabrics but with 1 yard of fabric you can make about 20 yards of 1/2 inch wide trim! Cut bias strips, fold the edges under and iron. Voila 20 yards of trim for $15 isn’t too shabby!

Here’s a video on how to make continuous bias tape ( you tube is your friend!)

And another on doing mitered corners with flat trims.

When working with large quantities of trim, it is a good idea to hand baste them in place before sewing down either by machine. Especially if using something wiggly like satin.

Fingerloop braid is extremely accurate, easy to learn and with cotton crochet cotton 40 yards can be made for less than $10. Here’s how to do it: http://fingerloop.org/

Weaving. If costuming is your *thing* getting a small loom is good investment. Trim for an outfit can run around $100 when purchased, for the same price or less you can get an inkle or box loom and weave your own! Weaving your own can seem daunting at first, but it pays off in the long run. Teach a man to fish, etc.

No Trim At All. Really! There are lots of examples of even fancy silk dresses made with no trim at all.

Building a Wardrobe

Remember back there when we made Pintrest boards or folders with inspiration portraits? Its time to use them again. If you are like me, there is a lot to pick from, but for starting out in wardrobe building pick something narrow that can be built upon.

Camicia/Smock

Italy had a few different styles, but a basic square necked camica/smock will work for almost any 16th century European dress and requires very little fabric. The Elizabethan costume page has an easy pattern generator to make one. http://www.elizabethancostume.net/smockpat/ For a simple gathered neckline camicia https://tiedtohistory.com/product/gathered-neckline-camicia-pattern/

Sottana/Kirtle

A basic sleeveless sottana ( kirtle) is a good place to start, its like the blue jeans of the 16th century and can be worn alone or layered with many things to make it work for a lot of outfits. This is a garment that you could make in cotton with basic trim- or no trim and use later with fancier outfits too!

Baroness Leda Sand’s flat drafting a kirtle bodice instructions

Construction stitches and techniques

Sottana construction example

Sleeves

Sleeves that tie on can be worn with several outfits. For my persona I discovered that white sleeves are very common with many styles of dress. Making one pair of nice sleeves in white means I can switch them between outfits and save time and money making new sleeves every time.

You have a basic kirtle and sleeves. YAY! Now you have an outfit and can layer it to create other outfits. Add a jerkin or over gown and you are fancy for court or ready for cold weather

Shoes

Good shoes are something not to skimp on. You are going to be doing a lot of walking and beauty doesn’t have to equal pain. Shoes can be quite the investment, but ebay is your friend. Find a brand or style you like and set a search on ebay. I have one that sends me all listings for Børn shoes and Børn Mary Janes in my size. With this method I was able to find period approximate shoes for around $20 instead of $100!

Jewelry

There is tons of great renaissance jewelry available theses days, but we are working on a budget. Simple pearls are a good place to start, and you don’t have to settle for fake! Ebay has loads of freshwater pearl necklaces available for less than $5. Pearls look great for mundane life too.