Making a Velvet Coat || How to get started on a historical sewing project

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I'm really excited to begin work on the Victorian Marshall & Snelgrove velvet coat I picked out last month.

I'm also excited to show you my process from the very beginning of a project. How DO you get started on a big project like this?

Spoiler alert: step 1 is NOT selecting a pattern.

So this month I'll start to show you how I go from inspiration pictures to figuring out how I'm actually going to do this.

Love, Cathy x

** Online resources about the coat: **
V&A Collections Record for the coat
https://tinyurl.com/2seb9ss5
More about the coat and its context:
https://tinyurl.com/46p4nvcr

** Books featured: **
The gorgeous Jeanne Paquin dress with the nifty mauve velvet jacket is from:
Jan Glier Reeder, "High Style: Masterworks from the Brooklyn Musuem Costume Collection" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010)

Drafting books:
1895 - Charles Hecklinger, "Keystone Jacket and Dress Cutter" (Dover Fashion and Costumes, 2006)
1897 - T H Holding, "Late Victorian Women's Tailoring: The Direct System of Ladies' Cutting" (R L Shep, 2001)
1901 - "Turn-of-the-Century Fashion Patterns and Tailoring Techniques" by SS Gordon with a new introduction by Kristina Harris (Dover Publications, 2003)

Some of these can be hard to get hold of or very expensive if you do find a copy, especially on Amazon. I recommend checking abebooks.com and bookfinder.com regularly for second hand copies at a reasonable price.

The Keystone Guide from 1895 is digitised and available free here:
https://archive.org/details/keystonej...

** Stock footage and images **
Morris & Company printng chintzes at Merton Abbey, c.1890 (public domain)
Morris & Company weaving at Merton Abbey, c.1890 (public domain)

** Music list: **
'Delicate Transitions' by Gavin Luke
'Supine' by Peter Sandberg
'Reconcile' by Peter Sandberg
'Renewal' by Aerian
all from EpidemicSound.com

Edited by Sophie Black at @triskellepictures
   / @triskellepicturesuk  

You can also follow me and see some of my own sewing on Instagram (currently taking a break though):
  / cathy.hay  

Your letters and cards are welcome at Mr Worth's old place.
7 Rue de la Paix
Paris 75002
France

If you're in the UK, I also have an address here:
1 Northumberland Avenue
Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 5BW
United Kingdom

Please don't send parcels - the fees to have them imported/forwarded to me are expensive! Contact me first if it's something special or important.

Thank you, thank you, to everyone who has sent something to me. It is deeply valuable to read your words in your own handwriting and hold them in my hands. It helps me to connect to who you really are, and what you really need from me. I read, enjoy and treasure every one. Thank you.