Welcome

What's not to love about ruffle collars?

Welcome to the home for all my research and projects on daily life in premodern and early modern Europe!  While my main focus is on re-creating the fashion of the Italian Renaissance, expect to find occasional posts on other topics- clothing from earlier periods and other regions, food, etc!  I'm learning as I go, and projects don't always turn out as planned, but I hope my experiments can help you to learn something, too!

I learned to sew as a child, and have always loved the fashions of the past, but didn't start trying to accurately recreate medieval and early modern fashion until quite recently.  The most helpful sources for me have been dress diaries, so that's what I intend to do here, along with posting my research in order to show why I make the choices I do when creating garments.  I hope this helps you to make your own historical wardrobe, or at least understand what went into making the things people wore!  Check out my projects page above for dress diaries. 

Mid 16th century Venetian- seriously my favourite
dress I've made yet!

Don't feel comfortable with sewing, or don't have the time, but still want a pretty dress for a medieval or Renaissance event?  Need a surcoat to wear over your armor?  Ready to up your RenFaire game, but don't know where to start?  Just want to look really cool for Halloween?  I take commissions!  Please don't hesitate to contact me!  I also plan to set up an Etsy shop for the basics and accessories- link coming soon!