Customer Reviews

Historic Costumes and How to Make Them (Dover Fashion and Costumes)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book gives a extremely brief overview of many styles of clothing throughout the last 1200 years. If you are after detailed instructions on how to make medieval clothing, then this book is not for you. However, if you are an accomplished tailor and can work from line drawings, you have the right book.
I did not find this book particularly helpful with how to make the clothing, but it did show me what styles were around.
Be aware that this book gives no measurements nor types of materials used, nor does it assist the serious re-enactor.
This book is aimed, in my opinion, at someone who is planning to attend a fancy dress party and who intends to wear the outfit they make once only.

If you're more than a beginning seamstress then everything makes sense and it easy to follow. Gave me a lot of great ideas on how to design and make some SCA garb.

This book is mistitled - it is designed for people putting on plays rather than those genuinely interested in historic costumes. It contains patterns that are just plain wrong and is full of incorrect information. The whole concept of made-up patterns seems largely pointless to me. Even if you are putting on a school play, why not use the correct cut and construction? The real patterns use much less fabric than the made-up ones in this book and are generally no harder to put together.

On the plus side, I can see that the opening on the use of colour and design to help the audience focus on the important characters would be useful for novices.

However, overall, my recommendation to re-enactors and anyone else interested in authentic costuming is save your money and avoid this book.

I was pleased with the number of patterns and detailed instructions in this book. The patterns need to be enlarged or drawn to scale in order to use them. It would be very useful for anyone who makes costumes or who is interested in fashion.

This is an ok book. It gives you ideas and the patterns are very basic. There are better books by dover on this subject.

This small book met my expectations and I have made a couple of garments from it. It is very fiddly to enlarge the patterns and you have to be able to figure out most of the sewing details for yourself. A good resource for a costume maker's library and a good overview of several centuries of historic garb. It's a book for people who sew frequently and are keeners.

The Book came in promptly and was in excellent condition. It was a gift for my granddaughter whose Major is Drama and she is going to do her Master in Costume Designing. One of her teachers suggested a "Library of Books" so I add to them when I can. I can truthfully say in my several years of dealing with Amazon.com and their suppliers I have never received anything but what has been promised.
Happy New Year to All

This book has a nice little selection of patterns and is perfect for stage and maybe even Live Action Roleplay costumes, Members of the SCA might find it useful for the creation of basic items. Just be careful as the patterns are just drawings in the book and you will need to size them for your self to the correct dimensions of who will be wearing the outfit.

Overall I like this book.

There is more to Historic Costumes than Medevil times, but that is all this book covers. I was not happy with it and returned it. Improve the description so that it specifies the time period covered, and it would be a great book.

This book is a great resource for designers. The text gives lots of clues to creating a garment and the patterns are wonderful for draping.