costume reference links

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Costume / Fabric Reference Sites

  • Centre Nationale du Costume — French Canadian site about theatrical costumes. Some beautiful stuff. Site is in French.
  • Costume Classroom — Online costuming courses, some are offered all year. Classes taught by Lea Dread, Jennie Chancey, Marna Jean Davis, Nicole Kipar, Juanita Leisch, JP Ryan, and more.
  • Costume Design Page — Costume construction tips ~or~ "Everything you ever wanted to know about costume construction and wish someone had told you ten years ago, dammit."
  • Costume Gallery — Over 25,000 images of costume online. You must purchase a "Library" membership to view all of their documents and images.
  • Costume History Links — This page, titled "Costume History," has links to many articles.
  • Fabric Glossary — List of fabric terms from Medieval through mid-20th centur.
  • Fabric University — Dictionary of fabric terms, fabric history, etc
  • HEARTH - Home Economics Archive — Has online home ec books from 1850 - 1950
  • Historical Clothing — "A bibliography of sources for the design and construction of clothing throughout history."
  • Internation Flat Pattern Repository and Exchange — Updated 08/2007 As of 08/2007, site seems to be gone.
    "To acquire, catalog, database, preserve original patterns and distribute copies of garment patterns that have historical, research or practical value to costume & fashion designers, cutters, re-enactors, historians, vintage clothing reproducers, sociologists and anthropologists."
  • Northern Society of Costume & Textiles — A group in UK that "was founded ... to encourage the study and preservation of costume and textiles." They sell patterns made from original clothing, including a dress that belonged to Charlotte Bronte.
  • Paula Burch's All About Hand Dyeing and All About Dye New 08/2007
  • Quickie Textile Guide New 08/2007 — Handy-dandy guide to determing the fiber content of textiles.
  • Rit Dye - Dyeing Techniques Updated 08/2007 — Rit's site lists not only all their colors, but also how to mix them to create custom colors.
  • Sew-Whats-New.com — General sewing site that has articles, sewing lessons, book reviews and more.
  • Textile Reference Manual — Describes the different kinds of textles and their properties. Also links to articles about textiles.
  • Threads Magazine — Lots of good articles on sewing, including basics, garment construction, etc.
  • Visual Dictionary of Fashion — From Kent State University. All kinds of information on fashion from the 18th through 20th century. Lots of good stuff here!
  • Weaving, Lace and Related Topics — A site with documents on weaving, lace, etc. Includes the "On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics" — books, manuscripts, illustrations and more.

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