Costume and Living History Book Reviews

Looking for a book? Here are some that I've reviewed. I started doing these because historic costume reference books are a slightly niche market--containing everything from dense scholarly works to un-sourced popular titles--and you can't always browse them at the library or local book store.  Hopefully, my little descriptions will help you find a title to suit your needs, or suggest an interesting read.

Books are listed in approximate chronological order under each theme.

Making Clothing

• The Medieval Tailor's Assistant by Sarah Thursfield (c.1200-1500)
• The Queen's Servants by Caroline Johnson (c.1490-1520)
• The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing Sixteenth-Century Dress by Ninya Mikhaila & Jane Malcolm-Davies
• The Typical Tudor: Reconstructing Everyday Sixteenth-Century Dress by Ninya Mikhaila & Jane Malcolm-Davies
• The Tudor Child: Clothing and Culture 1485-1625 by Jane Huggett & Ninya Mikhaila
• Creating Historical Clothes: Pattern Cutting for the 16th to 19th Centuries by Elizabeth Friendship
• Period Costumes for Stage and Screen, 1500-1800 by Jean Hunnisett
• Corsets and Crinolines by Nora Waugh (c.1500-1925)
• The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking by Lauren Stowell & Abby Cox
• Corsets: Historical Patterns & Techniques by Jill Salen (c.1750-1917)
• Regency Women's Dress: Techniques and Patterns 1800-1830 by Cassidy Percoco
• Period Costumes for Stage and Screen, 1800-1909 by Jean Hunnisett
• The Dressmaker's Guide by Elizabeth Stewart Clark (c.1840-1865)

Garment Research

• Historical Costumes of England, 1066-1968 by Nancy Bradfield
• Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold
• Patterns of Fashion 2: Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction c.1860-1940 by Janet Arnold
• Patterns of Fashion 3: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women c. 1560-1620 by Janet Arnold
• Patterns of Fashion 4: The Cut and Construction of Linen Shirts, Smocks, Neckwear, Headwear and Accessories for Men and Women c.1540-1660 by Janet Arnold, et al
• Patterns of Fashion 5: The content, cut, construction and context of bodies, stays, hoops and rumps c.1595-1795  by Janet Arnold, et al
• Costume Close-Up: Clothing Construction and Pattern, 1750-1790 by Linda Baumgarten and John Weston
• Costume in Detail: 1730-1930 by Nancy Bradfield
• The Dress Detective by Ingrid Mida and Alexandra Kim
• How To Read A Dress by Lydia EdwardsThe Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives by Barbara Burman and Ariane Fennetaux
• What Clothes Reveal by Linda Baumgarten (late 18th century)
• Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette by Kimberley Christman-Campbell
• 19th Century Fashion in Detail by Lucy Johnston
• From Field to Fashion: The Straw Bonnet by Anna Worden Bauersmith (mid-19th century)
• Paisley, Plaid and Purled by Anna Worden Bauersmith (mid-19th century)

Making Accessories

• The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty by Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox
• Fanciful Utility by Anna Worden Bauersmith (mid-19th century)

Textiles and Printed Fabrics

• Textiles in America, 1650-1870 by Florence M. Montgomery
• America's Printed Fabrics, 1770-1890 by Barbara Brackman
• Designs for Printed Textiles in England From 1750 to 1850 by Wendy Hefford
• Wearable Prints, 1760-1860 by Susan W. Greene
• Dating Fabrics, A Color Guide 1800-1960 by Eileen Jahnke Trestain
• Textile Designs: Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns Organized by Motif, Style, Color, Layout, and Period by Susan Meller and Joost Elffers

Quilts

• Facts and Fabrications by Barbara Brackman.
• Quilts from the Civil War by Barbara Brackman
• Civil War Quilts by Pam Weeks and Don Beld
• Civil War Sampler by Barbara Brackman
• The Civil War Diary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs
• Encyclopedia of Applique by Barbara Brackman
• Patterns of Progress by Barbara Brackman

History

• Women's Work--The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
• Tudor Children by Nicholas Orme
• Ladies in Waiting: Women Who Served in the Tudor Court by Victoria Evans.
• How To Be A Tudor by Ruth Goodman
• How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England by Ruth Goodman
• How To Be A Victorian by Ruth Goodman
  

Living History

• Civil War Women by Barbara Brackman
• Easy Street by Ann-Elizabeth Shapera
• Living History: Effective Costumed Interpretation by David B. Allison
• Past Into Present by Stacy F. Roth