Chatting About ALL of My Historical Sewing Patterns | 18th Century, Victorian, 1910s, Corsets, Stays

This was such a fun idea! A lot of these have definitely been on my wishlist for awhile. Also, just noticed your mountain dulcimer in the background; it looks just like mine! Do you play?

Ooh, this was such a great video. I know that I will be referencing back to it often as I consider patterns to purchase for different items. Thanks so much for sharing, Gracie!

this was a really fun and helpful video! I have made the folkwear walking skirt and found it a really nice and easy patten to make, I would highly recommend it. Also I've been looking for a smoking jacket pattern for ages and the black snail one looks perfect so thanks for the recommendation :)

This is not much of a review. Your comments are superficial. "I think it's nice." Why show patterns about which "I really don't have much to say." Why did you buy it? What caught your eye? If you made it, was it true to the image? Were the instructions helpful? How was the fit - what body type was it made for? For what level of skill is it intended? If you abandoned the project, was it a flaw in the pattern? Did you make alterations, what it an inspiration for a project? You mentioned a very few items of interest, but there needs to be more content. You seem to have more knowledgeable than you shared here. I would be very interested to learn more about your experience.

I've made the folkwear pattern up as a history bounding. It's not as great as Truly Victorian's walking skirt but it's still a nice skirt. I also have a riding habit patter (from mill farms) that I really want to start but need to make my stays first (larkin and smith pattern)

This was really good thank you. Yes the American Duchess Stays are extremely short in the waist I had to add 3 inches to them as I'm long in the chest.. short in the leg short. American Duchess did a Blog post on how to adjust the Stays which was beneficial as a go along with their pattern.

Ok but how tall are you? Lol. I have the AD outlander stays (actually, I have the same three from AD) and I’m ridiculously short waisted.

I am using the AD fully boned stays pattern - in the video Gracie described them as the 1760s stays - as the base pattern for a modern take on stays right now and goddamn, that waist is so short! I made a cardboard mockup and when it was time to start drafting for the fabric version I extended the waist down to where the tabs normally end. I don't think I'm particularly long-torsoed either, though it could just be one of my many proportionate oddnesses I wasn't yet aware of (for someone who looks pretty average, I have a lot).

This was a fun overview! I also really enjoyed the cameo of Oli's thumb, made me chuckle!!

(LoL ... commenting as we go) I actually have the American duchess patterns you're showing and I'm starting on the shift now. I already made the bum roll. Next I was going to make the stay. I'm very interested in watching a tutorial on that from you. Would you recommend just lengthening the ends?
I have never made a stay before and it will be my first. I've watched your other videos on stays and I was inspired to actually plan one. When I received my Janet Arnold book it was a bit daunting so I bought the pattern that you have in hand.

I recently made a pair of stays from that Butterick pattern (but I made them with machine and whatever materials I had on hand, so not at all historically accurate). And it really is quite a decent pattern! It fits, and I love that the shoulder straps are adjustable, and you can either lace down or lace comfortably and wear the stays as a day-to-day "cottagecore" garment (which is what I do).

The only problem I had with this pattern is that the stays are cut rather low neckline-wise, and I have a very very short chest area, so it looks almost indecent if I'm not wearing a bra underneath the shirt/dress. Plus the bones at the top are only horizontal, so they tend to fold accordion-like to reveal my boobs like I was a saucy Oktoberfest maid. So it might use some neckline adjustment as well as adding a couple vertical bone channels on top of everything else, so that they criss cross and do not let the top fold.

Otherwise it was really a very nice experience and you are left with a nice wearable and comfortable pair of stays! I would rate this pattern something like 8/10.

Too bad we couldn’t really see the patterns. It would have been nice if you could have at least put them up close to the camera and hold them there for a while so we could see them!

At the Sign of the Golden Scissors/Larkin and Smith is not out of business. They will be reopening under new ownership this year and patterns will be reprinted.