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Tag: Rennie

finished corset

The Secret of the Single Layer Corset

Somewhere in the Victorian era, people started coming up with ideas for making corsets more comfortable to wear. Gigglishiously ironical … More

Lizzle and Piggy in the same bodice

More Shape Matters: Why the Same Waist Curve Doesn’t Work for Every Body

I had this horrible, recurring experience with some of my oldest costumes: I’d put a zillion hours worth of work … More

1500s, Bodice, Corsetry, Elizabethan, Geometry, Patterning, Rennie
bodice, side front

How to Sew Ye Olde Ren Wench Bodice

So, you’ve got a basic ren wench bodice pattern.  Yay! Now it’s time to pick some fabrics and sew it … More

Finished bodice, worn by doll.

How to Draft Ye Olde Ren Wench Bodice

Remember a while back, I posted directions for a Basic Conic Block draft? Everyone was sort of like, wow, missa, … More

A completed charm. The Lobster Claw allows you to clip it into your knitting or crochet, or to clip it to a loop tied at the end of a ribbon to make a laundry-friendly (ie, removable) aiglette or to pretty much anything else!

Make Quickie, Removable Aiglette

Aiglettes are a great way to give a renaissance costume a very finished look (and keep your points from flopping … More

1500s, Beginner, Jewelry, Rennie

Shape Matters: Why the ultra-basic corset draft doesn’t work for every body.

I made my first Elizabethan corset back in the dark ages of internet time, when it was still pretty common … More

1500s, Bodice, Corsetry, Elizabethan, Geometry, Patterning, Rennie

You say “yard waste”, I say “free, eco-friendly corset boning”

So I was out trimming the privet hedge the other day, like you do (she says, sounding perfectly British about … More

Boning, Corsetry, On the Cheap, Rennie

Recreating the Alcega Farthingale for Modern Bodies

The surviving pattern published in Juan de Alcega’s ‘Libro de Geometria, Practica y Traca’(1589) represents almost everything we know about … More

1500s, Alcega, Elizabethan, Geometry, Patterning, Renaissance, Rennie, Theater

How to Reblock a Straw Hat

The world is full of straw hats. They are almost never the size and shape you’d like them to be. … More

Hat Making, Hats, Millinery, On the Cheap, Remake, Rennie, Theater

Comparison of Different Boning Materials for Use in Sixteenth Century Corsetry

File this one under “possibly useful to some one, at some time, somehow”: this is a series of pictures of … More

1500s, Boning, Construction, Corsetry, Elizabethan, Patterning, Rennie, Theater

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