Category: 17th century

17th century, Bodies and Stays, pattern, Seventeenth-century fashion, Stuart

Top 5 Books for Making 17th-Century Dress – New YouTube Video!

Sarah Bendall

I've decided to launch a YouTube Channel where I will be talking about all things early modern dress, fashion and material culture. I've just released my first video on my top 5 books for those wanting to make 17th-century dress. https://youtu.be/_ubdtSEiXVg?si=8uwFzwoJHdLsILIs Please like and subscribe!

17th century, Research, Seventeenth-century fashion

Did Seventeenth-Century English Women Wear Drawers?

Sarah Bendall

A question I see pop up often, and one that continues to spark much debate in online costuming communities and between historians of dress is: Did early modern women wear anything under their skirts? If so, did they wear drawers? Susan North's recently published book, Sweet and Clean?, is one recent scholarly text that has… Continue reading Did Seventeenth-Century English Women Wear Drawers?

17th century, 18th century, Manuscript / Archival Research, Research, Seventeenth-century fashion, Stuart

Second Book Announcement: The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens

Sarah Bendall

I’m excited to finally share that I’ve signed a contract with Bloomsbury Visual Arts (an imprint of Bloomsbury Academic) for my next book, The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens: Gender and Work in the Royal Wardrobe and the Fashion Marketplace The book examines the lives and changing work of the women who made, sold,… Continue reading Second Book Announcement: The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens

17th century, 18th century, Manuscript / Archival Research, Research, Stuart

Quilted Petticoats in the Seventeenth Century

Sarah Bendall

Quilted petticoats in England and America are usually attributed to and discussed in the context of the eighteenth century. This is likely due to the fact that all the earliest surviving quilted petticoats (to my knowledge) date from this period. Quilted Petticoat, c. 1740-60 (made), 1870-1910 (altered), British. Victoria and Albert Museum, T.430-1967. I am… Continue reading Quilted Petticoats in the Seventeenth Century

16th century, 17th century, News and Media, Research, Research Publications, Seventeenth-century fashion

Shaping Femininity Book Launch Recording

Sarah Bendall

Shaping Femininity's book launch was held online on 4 November 2021. Chair: Rebecca Unsworth (Birmingham Museums Trust) Discussants: Hilary Davidson (University of Sydney / La Trobe) and Erin Griffey (University of Auckland)   To watch the whole launch see the video below: https://youtu.be/JE5Z0BLKHnU

17th century, Bodies and Stays, reconstruction, Research, Seventeenth-century fashion, Stuart

Sittingbourne Bodies Pattern, c. 1630-50

Sarah Bendall

To celebrate the upcoming release of Shaping Femininity I've decided the post the pattern that I made of the garment when I examined it in 2017. A pattern for this garment has since been published by the School of Historical Dress in 2018's Patterns of Fashion 5. The School's pattern is much more detailed than… Continue reading Sittingbourne Bodies Pattern, c. 1630-50

17th century, Jacobean, Research, Stuart

Seventeenth-Century Waistcoats for Women: Jacobean Fashions

Sarah Bendall

The waistcoat is by far one of the most common pieces of clothing I have come across in the records of seventeenth-century women. While women did wear gowns during this period, if we look across the social spectrum we can see that waistcoats and petticoats were by far the most common garments that were worn… Continue reading Seventeenth-Century Waistcoats for Women: Jacobean Fashions

17th century, Bodies and Stays, Jacobean, Manuscript / Archival Research, Research Publications, Stuart

The Life and Times of Theophilus Riley: Citizen, Civil War Conspirator and Body-maker.

Sarah Bendall

  In 2018 I spent two months in the UK going through records relating to tailors, body-makers, and farthingale-makers at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Drapers' and Clothworker' Companies in London. While doing my archival research at the Drapers' Company hall, I mentioned to the archivist Penny that the unusual name of a… Continue reading The Life and Times of Theophilus Riley: Citizen, Civil War Conspirator and Body-maker.