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Edwardian Fashions: A Snapshot in Time from Harper's Bazar 1906

The Schiffer Series:

Back when books on collecting antique and vintage fashions were filled with grainy black and white pictures, Victorian & Edwardian Fashions for Women: 1840-1919 was born. Brimming with full color photographs of existing garments, as well as black and white and color period illustrations, Victorian & Edwardian first hit the shelves in 1995. It was revised in 2002, and remains great eye candy. It's also a helpful, general guide to the period, and offers collecting tips, too.

Following up on Victorian & Edwardian Fashions for Women, Vintage Fashions for Women: 1920s-1940s is again brimming with full color photographs of existing garments, alongside some period illustrations. You'll also find collecting tips and a good general overview of the period.

The final book in the Schiffer series for women, Vintage Fashions for Women: the 1950s & 60s is packed with full color photographs of existing period garments and accessories, a general overview of the period, and collecting tips. There are also special sections on mass-manufactured garment labels and paper clothes.

In the style of the other Schiffer books, but dedicated to children's fashions, The Child in Fashion: 1750-1920 is heavily illustrated with full color photographs of existing garments, alongside period illustrations. The text is a bit more extensive in this book and covers not just the history of children's clothes, but the history of childhood. The focus here is less on the 18th century (portrayed almost exclusively with reproductions) and more on the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Pattern Books:

Containing selected scaled patterns from The Voice of Fashion - a Victorian-era dressmaking magazine - 59 Authentic Turn-of-the-Century Fashion Patterns is a bestseller. The patterns include skirts, coats, a cape, and a nightgown - 31 patterns for women, in all. In addition, there are 21 misses and girl's patterns, including one for drawers and a chemise. Finally, there are 2 patterns for boys and 3 for men, including a boy's kilt, a man's dressing robe, man's nightshirt, and coat. All the patterns date to 1890-1896. General instructions for enlarging the patterns are included.

The follow-up book to the previous title, Authentic Victorian Fashion Patterns: A Complete Lady's Wardrobe includes scaled patterns for women's garments from the 1890s. Patterns include a riding habit, a tennis outfit, undergarments, and day and evening wear. General instructions for enlarging the patterns are included.

Assembled from Civil War-era issues of the popular women's periodical Peterson's Magazine, the bestselling 60 Civil War-Era Fashion Patterns contains scaled patterns for women's and children's clothes, including dresses, jackets, caps, capes, a boy's knickerbocker suit, vests, drawers, pantaloons, a smoking cap, and more. Includes general instructions on enlarging the patterns.

A reprint of an 1895 tailor's book, The "Keystone" Jacket and Dress Cutter features 80 scaled patterns, women's suits, riding pants, tailored blouses, vests, and more. General instructions for enlarging the patterns are included.

Other Fashion Books:

This highly popular guide is a reprint of a 1905 sewing manual, illustrated with black and white drawings - and, best of all - period black and white photographs. Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques offers a terrific look at how garments were put together at the turn of the century. See how dust ruffles, boning, period tailoring, and small built-in bustles were made, among many other things.

A collection of images of corsets and girdles, Bound & Determined: A Visual History of Corsets, 1850-1960 is already a bestseller! It covers some 18th century and earlier corsets, but focuses mostly on the the Victorian era through the 1960s. Also included are some scaled, period corset patterns.

A collection of period photographs from the 1850s through the 1910s, Victorian Fashion in America: 264 Vintage Photographs offers a true-to-life view of what real people wore. The books also offers information on dating period photographs.

Historic English Costumes and How to Make Them is a reprint of a book written in 1913 by Talbot Hughes - an artist, historic fashion collector, and costume historian whose collection eventually went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. The book offers a general guide to fashions from ancient times through the turn of the century, with sketch drawings in black and white. There are also over 30 black and white photographs of items in his collection, donned by teens era models. About 65 pages of the book is devoted to scaled patterns.

This reprint of the Home Pattern Company 1914 Fashions Catalog contains over 600 black and white illustrations featuring fashion on the eve of World War I. Look for evening gowns, day dresses, underwear, outwear, hats, shoes, and much, more more.

The Collector's Guide to Vintage Fashions is no longer in print, but is still a great resource for collectors. There are chapters on fashion histories (including corsets, hoops, bridal wear, bonnets, Neo-Victorian fashions of the 20th century, christening gowns, and fashion plates), as well as chapters on collecting (including how to shape and build a collection, caring for and displaying historic fashions, provenance, organizing and keeping records of a collection, labels, and I.D. tips). And each page is loaded with color photographs of existing period garments.

About Kristina

Kristina Seleshanko has taught women's social and fashion history, as well as orchestrated a number of museum exhibits. She's the author of 26 books - many published under her maiden name, Kristina Harris.

Kristina has written about historic fashions for magazines such as Sew News, Victorian Decorating & Lifestyle, Collector's News, Antique & Collecting, True West, Country Victorian, and many others. She was once the Editor of the Costume Society of America's national newsletter.

About the Titles of My Books

Some readers have complained about the titles of some of my books. Yes, it's true; sometimes the titles are not as accurate about the content of the book as they could be. But please don't blame li'l ol' me! Publishers choose the titles to their books - with or without the author's approval. Hopefully, the descriptions of my books make the contents more clear than the titles do.