I love some vintage sewing

I’ve been working on a pretty ambitious Halloween costume for the past few weeks (pics to follow this weekend!) and as a result have been doing some browsing online of costume sewing and vintage sewing.  I’m especially interested in Regency and Elizabethan costuming, but I’m also drawn to 50’s vintage patterns.  Maybe it’s the idea that if I were to sew these patterns I could actually wear them in public places and feel well-dressed.  Either way, I’ve found some really great websites in the process and I felt like it was my duty to share, here are the latest and greatest in no particular order:

Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing – The title is a play on words, Gertie is working her way Julie and Julia style through the 14 sewing patterns in a 1952 learn-as-you-go book “Vogue’s New Book for Better Sewing” and her daily posts are not only witty, but her sewing is downright impressive.

The Historical Sewing Blog – These two ladies are master costumers and tend to focus on Victorian and Civil War era dress-making.  There are tons of pictures of their personal costumes as well as from Costume College, which I would love to attend someday.  Just think, you get to dress in period clothing every day and learn about sewing!

The Period Movie Review – I cannot say enough good things about this website, tons and tons of popular movies and tv series (lots of BBC!) are reviewed on historical accuracy and costuming from old black and white favorites to the most recent Austen films and even several sci-fi/fantasy films.  If there is a period movie you really like it’s probably here and many have in depth costume photos as well as production photos taken during filming but never seen on screen.  It’s very interesting to read about which movies were more accurate than others in terms of what people would have actually worn and general costuming details that help develop characters.  Definitely worth checking out, it’s probably my favorite new blog of the moment.

Ok, well enjoy checking these out and let me know if you see anything you like!