I have been sewing for as long as I can remember, but I only got serious about during middle school. I started with cosplay (Toriel from Undertale was my first!), but soon shifted to making elaborate Halloween costumes. I found that I really liked making long skirts that were of the Victorian/Edwardian era. I had made one Edwardian suffragette costume before the pandemic lockdown went into effect during my spring break of my freshman year of high school. I was stuck inside my house with nothing to do. Well, technically I could have been doing schoolwork, but I was wayyyyy to overwhelmed to do anything. In my extreme sloth that was brought upon by undiagnosed autism, I began to watch every sewing video on YouTube.

That’s when I found YouTuber Bella Mae, who was a cosplayer with a focus on historically accurate dress. She started making the ballgown from the 2015 Disney live-action remake of the original 1950 animated classic Cinderella. I was immediately hooked, as it had everything I could ever want in a dress: excessive poofy skirts, layers of ruffles, beautiful blue hues, and fabric that seemed to float in the air like it weighed nothing. This was the dress for me. It awakened my inner princess, who had long been smothered by society for being “cringe” and “childish”. With this gown, I could elevate my princess dreams into something that would be respected. View Bella Mae’s Cinderella ballgown ‘Making of’ playlist here.

Watching her series got me hooked on historical costuming. Of course, as a 15-year-old, I did not have the patience to devote the required 2,000 hours of my life needed to make Cinderella’s gown, no matter how badly I wanted it. Soon, I found YouTuber Bernadette Banner, who I quickly fell in love with due to her realistic and historically accurate approach to historical costuming. She encouraged my sewing journey and inspired me to try my hand at making my own more complex historical garments. Of course, I was attempting something very ambitious for someone of my skill level, as I had only managed to make a couple of medium-difficulty patterns before, but this was very advanced stuff.

My first foray into truly historical sewing was for Halloween 2019, as a 1913 British suffragette costume, complete with sash, hat, and shoes. It was a fun project, though I do wish I had taken more pictures of it and procrastinated less, as I wanted to add more details to the outfit and made the proper undergarments. Alas, this was my first thing that I made where I tried to make things historically accurate, so it’s understandable that it wasn’t perfect.

Fast forwarding to Halloween 2021, when the world finally started to open back up again, I decided to create another costume. I have been obsessed with Sherlock Holmes since I was a little kid, so naturally I had to make an Irene Adler costume. Since A Scandal in Bohemia, Irene Adler’s first and only appearance in the Sherlock Holmes short stories was published in 1891, I had to find a pattern that stayed true to that era. I used Butterick’s B6537 pattern to create the dress. I wish I could have spent more time on getting the fit right and making the proper undergarments (i.e. corset & petticoat) but I procrastinated. Again. Also, I could have zhuzhed it up more, as it looks pretty basic. More lace or contrasting fabrics would have worked well.

The next year, Halloween 2022, I decided to torture myself by drafting my own pattern. I used The Dressmaker’s Guide By Elizabeth Stewart Clark as my bible when making this dress. (Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print, but there are some promising Reddit threads.) It took me a while to draft the dress, but I learned so much about drafting, especially digital patterning in Adobe Illustrator. I actually am super happy with how this turned out. I wanted it to be an exact replica of Queen Victoria’s wedding gown from 1840. I looked at a lot of reference images to get it just right, and I think I did a pretty good job! I just wish I could have spent more time on the Order of the Garter accoutrements, like the armband and the pin for the sash. I ended up creatively using a rhinestone chain to give elements of shine. I also wish I could have made both petticoat and corset so that it had a better shape. Overall, I am quite happy with it.

For my senior prom in May 2023, I decided to make my own gown. I was heavily inspired by Francois Boucher’s 1756 portrait of Madame de Pompadour, and wanted to create a dress in the robe a la francaise style. I had never done 18th century dress before, but I think I did a good job. This time, I actually made the undergarments! I made a stay, panniers, and shift. It was a lot of work, but I think it paid off because the dress has a good silhouette. I think I bought like 15 yards of teal taffeta, and I only used like 10 yards (!). My only regret is not putting more fabric roses on the skirt and bodice and truly doing my hair and makeup in the 18th century style with pomade and powder.

Now that we’ve finally reached the end, I have some sad news. I have done more sewing projects since then, but none to the scale of these dresses. College has taken up so much of my time, and while I don’t regret the time that I’ve spent learning how to be a successful adult, I do miss being able to spend hours upon hours making dresses. I have bought so many patterns that I haven’t touched yet, and I’m hoping that I’ll have more time in the future to make more. Hopefully, writing this for the world to see will shame me into sewing something grand again.

I also love seeing other people’s sewing projects, so share any pictures that you have of your sewing projects with me via email! I really just want to yap about sewing with other people. Talk sewing to me! :D