Rus Male Costume  http://www.atinet.com.au/~quarfwa/Miklagard/Costume/Rus/Trader/Rus_description.htm#Tradernonjava (URL no longer working) by Peter Beatson documents his reconstruction of a 10^th Century Russian Traders costume, based on grave findings in Sweden. (no longer at this site)

Commercial Patterns for Period Recreation

Folkwear http://www.folkwear.com  has long been one of the best pattern companies for historic and ethnic patterns.  Back when the “Big Four” pattern companies were making “historic” patterns that made any costume historian writhe in despair, and when historical pattern companies geared towards reenactors and theatre gave instructions too vague and confusing for non-professionals to follow, Folkwear was happily making multi-sized period accurate patterns that any home sewer could do.  They continue to make them, and have recently added a group of 1910’s-1920’s patterns, like the cocoon coat at right.

 

Laughing Moon Mercantile http://www.lafnmoon.com/index.html is one of the most promising of the new pattern companies that have sprung up on the net.  Making it’s specialty in women’s clothing 1870-1914, they have some of the easiest to follow, and reasonably priced patterns for these complex garments.  Their “Ladies Victorian Underwear” pattern (see at left) includes two corsets, a chemise and drawers, multi-sized from size 6-26, all in one $12 pattern. 

Past Patterns http://www.pastpatterns.com/ is a much larger company with a huge range of both male and female patterns ranging from 1830-1940.  Primarily devised for reenactors these patterns have high attention to period detail, and are not suggested for the faint-hearted stitcher.  However, they are the only company I know of that takes authenticity to the degree that they actually make a pattern for 19^th century men’s underwear (see at right).

 

 

 

Wingeo http://www.wingeo.com/ has one of the broadest ranges of patterns, covering assorted male and female clothing from the 10^th through the 20^th centuries.  If you can get past the poor illustrations on the pattern covers, you may find why the contents of the envelopes earn high recommendations by costumers and have won various awards from the National Costumers Association. 

Simplicity http://www.simplicity.com/ used to be the most backward of the “Big Four” pattern companies when it came to costume patterns, but that has all changed.  If you haven’t seen their catalog lately you may not know that high quality costume patterns (like #9686 at left) have now become such an important part of their catalog that they publish a bi-annual pattern magazine just for costumes. 

 

Their success has helped force the other three Butterick http://www.butterick.com , McCall’s http://www.mccall.com , and even Vogue http://www.voguepatterns.com to follow suit.  Butterick now has high quality Regency (see # 6630 at left) , Civil War, and bustle gowns, and McCall’s has an Italian Renaissance gown that is decent (!) Even Vogue has run amok with reissuing their best vintage patterns from the 1930s to 1960s. While there are still plenty of the bad t-tunic and darted bodice type “historic” patterns to be found in the pages of the main pattern companies, they are no longer the only ones available.

 

 

There are many other companies, whose main purpose is making patterns for small segments of the reenactor market, including those below. The GBACG Great Pattern Review has detailed reviews by San Francisco Bay Area costumers of many of these patterns plus patterns from about two dozen other companies and books.  See also the GBACG “Buying Patterns Online”  for links to these other vendors.

Sense and Sensibility http://www.sensibility.com  makes Regency and Edwardian women’s patterns.

Patterns of History Broken Link has 1835-1899 reproductions of garments in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

La Mode Bagatelle http://lamodebagatelle.com/ sells Pre-Raphaelite, and Regency pattern wardrobes.

The Recollections of J.P. Ryan http://www.jpryan.com/index.htm has Georgian era patterns.

Ageless Patterns http://www.agelesspatterns.com has late 19^th Century styles for men, women and children.

Alteryears http://www.alteryears.com/ makes Renaissance patterns for both male and female, and in both English and Irish styles for Ren Faire people.

MoiRandall’s http://members.aol.com/randwhit/moirandall.html has more Ren Faire type patterns.

Buckaroo Bobbins http://www.buckaroobobbins.com/ has easy to use late 19^th Century Wild West patterns for men and women.

Period Patterns http://www.mediaevalmisc.com/patterns.htm has many detailed late Medieval and early Renaissance patterns, but a reputation for scanty instruction sheet information.

Hard to find Patterns You Can Get Free on the Net

Stitch Boy Home [site no longer online] by Stitchboy has PDF patterns and instructions for the eight most common styles of men’s stretch swim trunks. 

Islamic Clothing Free Patterns http://www.modestclothes.com/patterns.htm  by Shazeeda Shakoor has pattern diagrams for chador, khimar, abayah etc.

Duello Gloves http://www.glove.org/ by Franchesca V. Havas, has a pattern and detailed sewing instructions on making a 1640 pair of men’s embroidered dueling gloves.

Tin Box Patterns http://www.nwta.com/patterns/tinbox.html has free PDF files of  Colonial and Revolutionary War period military items. 

Patterns for 16th century Men's Costume from Germany [site no longer online] is pretty self-explanatory. (No longer at this site)

Women's Clothing Patterns and Household Design Templates from St. Petersburg's "Neva" Magazine 1905-1913 http://www.costumes.org/pages/nevamag.htm on my own site is also fairly self explanatory, but it should be noted these are “overprinted” patterns, with the instructions in Russian.  I have made a duster coat from one, but it was a challenge.

Computer Pattern Systems

eGroup Pattern Making Software http://groups.yahoo.com/group/patternmakingsoftware is devoted to user discussion of various computer pattern systems.

Costume Computer Software Consortium http://www.costumerseye.com/ccsc.html includes several costuming programs, including the CAD based Custom Pattern Maker program.

Andy Nyugen’s Homepage http://www.panix.com/~aqn/ has free online custom pattern generators for men’s pants and vests, as well as women’s slopers. Pattern Drafting and Software [site no longer online] does the same.

Pattern Maker http://www.leenas.com/index.html allows you to download a demonstration version of their software before buying, and has instructions in multiple languages.

 Pattern Drafting http://www.lyonslpgas.com/sewscape/pattdraft.html has short descriptions and links to many of the other pattern systems sold.