Reviews (10)

Best shopping guide yet!
This book is fabulous.Not only does it explore (and I use the word "explore" because these listings go way beyond mere addresses and phone numbers) about 500 vintage and contemporary designer resale stores all over the U.S., Canada and Online, but with the information offered on each store (what kind of merchandise is carried, price range, return policy, store owner's personal collections, description of the store itself, etc.), I feel much more confident about shopping for my newest passion, vintage clothing (almost like the authors are holding my hand and walking me thru).I also found the section that describes designers from the '20s to the '80s, along with an explanation of what was going on the world during those times, fascinating. The glossary of fashion terms is also helpful, and I loved the listings of vintage expos all over the U.S.The quotes from costume designers, and learning about vintage pieces worn by Hollywood celebrities, is definately a fun bonus.Bravo!

This book is not worth the money
This book is basically just a list of resale stores in some bigger cities. The same information could be obtained in twenty minutes with some basic research.

Costume Design Apprentice says: Best Book Out There!
I LOVED this book, not only was it extremely informative, but it was very practical-the $ labels were the best!I used it on a very important project and it didn't let me down once!This resource was very helpful.It is a book for anyone who has been bitten by the vintage-shopping bug.Happy shopping! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiques / Collectibles    2. Fashion & Accessories    3. General    4. Reference - General    5. Reference - Guides (General)    6. Textiles & Costume    7. Travel   

Reviews (5)

the american quilt: a history of cloth and comfort 1750-1950
This book expands on the history of the quilt with other interesting events in the era.If you like quilting and history you will enjoy this book.

For quilt enthusiasts and collectors--a valuable volume
The quilt, as a craft, is a well-explored area for authors. Quilting, you needn't be told, is enjoying a huge popularity with television shows, websites and shops for fabrics in almost every town. Even a friend of mine in a small village in the Black Forest of Germany quilts enthusiastically and wanted to visit American quilt shops on her first trip to the USA.
Splendid, exquisite, the best quilt book....
This book was given to me as a gift.How fortunate that I had such a friend!The most beautiful quilt book, the best selection of quilts, the best range, the best details, the best photography, the best printing, and comprehensive scholarship text to boot (I just can't get past the pictures).Includes some familiar quilts, but also many, many, many wonderful ones not seen elsewhere.I have a wall of 25 years of well-loved quilt books and I rate this at the top.Splendid.Exquisite.Be so fortunate. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Americana    2. Antiques & Collectibles    3. Antiques / Collectibles    4. Antiques/Collectibles    5. General    6. History    7. Quilts    8. Textiles & Costume    9. United States    10. Antiques & Collectibles / General    11. Quiltmaking   

Subjects:  1. Antiques & Collectibles    2. Antiques / Collectibles    3. Antiques/Collectibles    4. Beistle Company    5. Catalogs    6. Collectibles    7. Halloween    8. Technical & Manufacturing Trades    9. Textiles & Costume   

Reviews (3)

Great costuming source
One of the best!Truly unusual designs for creative figurative art dolls. Highly recommended.

A good example of Erte's work.
With this book you get a glimpse into the master's mind at the birth of Art Deco and beyond.Erte's designs flourished in the mid-20's,when the Deco age was new, but you can still sense a taste for the noveau and baroque ages in his art and gorgeous designs.Erte was a pioneer artist untill his death and anyone seeking to learn true fashion design will benefit from the vision of Erte.

Erte - Cheap Thrills!
Erte is one of the most creative designers of all times - drawing upon many cultures to create outfits that are simply gorgeous. This book is a very cheap way of studying some of his designs.Well worth the price! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art & Art Instruction    2. Erte    3. Ertâe    4. Fashion    5. Fashion design    6. Harper's bazaar    7. Individual Artist    8. Textiles & Costume    9. Art / Fine Arts    10. Erté    11. Inter-war period, 1918-1939   

Reviews (1)

A very pleased customer
This book is not only an introduction to the amateur covering basicgrading techniques on simple garments. It is a complete guide to gradingwomen's clothes covering every possible style for the misses and juniorsize garments. Additional information on grading women and menswear sizegarments is also included.Read more

Subjects:  1. Art & Art Instruction    2. Clothing Design    3. Clothing and dress measurement    4. Clothing and dress measurements    5. Dressmaking    6. General    7. Pattern design    8. Reference    9. Technical & Manufacturing Trades    10. Fashion & beauty industries    11. Fashion design   

Reviews (6)

Medieval Costume and How to Recreate it
This book is a "dreams-answered" book on medieval clothing design and sewing for me. Finally, some tricky things in medieval clothing design were explained or sketched. This along with some historical information makes it a superior book.
Potentially useful, if you're careful how you use it
As other reviewers have said, Hartley's book is aimed at theatrical costumers, not reenactors.Because of that fact and because it was written long before archaeological research began to correct long-held misapprehensions about medieval costume, its advice about how a particular costume was made is often quite wrong.But Hartley's book does something I've never seen before in any book on medieval costume--it urges the reader to look at period artwork and think about what the person wearing such a costume in the artwork would have been doing and what tools he or she would have been using while doing it.This insight is, in my opinion, worth the meagre price of the book.

Great for theatre costumes, not for historic recreators
This book is very nice if your goal is creating theatrical costumes. There is very little for the serious costumer. The book is written at a very high level, with emphasis on creating something that looks like the period costume, rather than accurately recreating a historic costume. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiques & Collectibles    2. Antiques/Collectibles    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Civilization, Medieval    5. Clothing and dress    6. Commercial - Fashion Design    7. Fashion    8. Great Britain    9. History    10. Medieval, 500-1500    11. Social life and customs    12. Textile Arts - Costume    13. Textiles & Costume    14. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    15. Costume    16. Handicrafts    17. c 1000 CE to c 1500   

Reviews (2)

A must have reference.....again
Eileen Jahnke Trestain has done it again--this book is the followup to her 1800-1960 book and together they are the definitive guidebooks on dating fabrics from the last 200 years.This book picks up where the first one left off, bringing us from 1950 to the present with an equally well researched information in an easy to use book.
Fabric origins, discussions of quilting and clothing trends
Fabric collectors as well as practicing quilters will surely relish Dating Fabrics 2: A Color Guide 1950-2000: for here are many keys to fabric origins, discussions of quilting and clothing trends, actual size prints to aid in accurate identification, grouped by date, color and style, and much more. Blending a history with photos which are easily compared to fabrics through lay-flat spiral binding and a hardcover edge for easy filing, Dating Fabrics 2 is the fabric collector's essential reference.
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Subjects:  1. Color in the textile industries    2. Crafts & Hobbies    3. Crafts / Hobbies    4. Dating    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Quilts    7. Quilts & Quilting    8. Sewing    9. Textile fabrics    10. Textiles & Costume    11. United States   

Reviews (10)

Good overview of what's underneath
I think this book could have been more in-depth and would have benefitted from more illustrations, but it's a good startng source for reenactors, fashion historians, and people writing about various historical periods. Amazing and interesting overview of what's under there and down there through the ages.

Disappointing Omissions
In agreement with some other posters, I found this book disappointing. One obvious omission is covering the Middle Ages to 1939 and not mentioning "codpiece". It would have been more useful as well separated by men's/women's over each time period.

Interesting info, but lots of omissions.
There was some interesting stuff in here, but unfortunately a lot of omissions.Helpful for the items it discusses, but LOTS of generalities.Also, it really sweeps through too much history at once.And it focuses more on men's underwear than women's, which as a romance writer is a problem for me. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiques / Collectibles    2. Beauty & Grooming - Fashion    3. Great Britain    4. History    5. Reference    6. Textiles & Costume    7. Underwear    8. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    9. Fashion design    10. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles    11. United Kingdom, Great Britain   

Reviews (2)

Excellent pictorial monograph
If you are interested in flight jackets, their design, styles and art work, then this book is for you.There are literally hundreds of colour and black and white photographs of aviator leather jackets.World War Two jackets are covered in detail as are Korean and Vietnam period flight jackets.The book is well set out, has large high resolution photographs and is a well constructed hardcover.The only fault I could find with the book is that in many of the photographs it fails to identify the jacket type and specification.It also does not deal with jacket construction or design.As with many of Maguire's books it has excellent reference photographs and information on who used or wore the artical in question, but fails to provide detailed information on the item other than the basics. Still, it is worthwhile addition to a library, although the book is expensive.

WWWWWWW OOOOOOOO WWWWWWW !
Perhaps I enjoyed this book so much because of the fact that it's main focus is the WWII era of flight jackets and that is my favorite area as well. If you want historical jackets (KOREA AND WWII), get this book, but if you want just modern jackets then shop elsewhere. Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Antiques & Collectibles    3. Antiques/Collectibles    4. Flight jackets    5. History    6. Military Science    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Textiles & Costume    9. United States    10. Air forces & warfare    11. History of specific subjects    12. USA    13. Uniforms & insignia   

Subjects:  1. Antiques & Collectibles    2. Antiques/Collectibles    3. Beauty & Grooming - Fashion    4. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    5. Textiles & Costume    6. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    7. Art Forms, Treatments & Subjects    8. Costume   

Reviews (20)

Do yourself a favour, wordsmith
Several reviewers have reported Norris's work as containing many inaccuracies. Be that as it may (and I don't have the time or inclination to research this, especially given the dearth of available clothing from this period), this book is an excellent source of inspiration for the fantasy writer.
Wonderful book, excellent resource
The pictures are beautiful!the historical descriptions are detailed and informative with good representations of materials used and the purpose of each item/article of clothing.

A beginning
I too am always looking for the one book that does it for me. This was my 1st Norris and it was hard to read, didn't have the info i needed and did'nt sight references but it must have done something right. It got me started researching, reading and experimenting. Norris sights Norris. He has the expert at the time the books were written. If you keep that in mind and love history, you can see how we got off base and why. It is a beginning book on basic costuming history. It is repeatative and rambling but valuable for values sake. If it's all you can afford go for it,you will be entertained and inspired. If you need to be exact. Go for something else ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Clothing and dress    4. Design - Textile & Costume    5. Europe    6. History    7. History - Medieval    8. Medieval, 500-1500    9. Textiles & Costume    10. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    11. Costume    12. Dressmaking & tailoring    13. Fashion design    14. c 1000 CE to c 1500   

Reviews (1)

Authentic 1930's fashion illustrations
This is a very good reference book. It does not show you the littledetails that photo books of fashion can provide, but the illustrations giveyou a good feel for the attitude of 1930s fashion. It is full ofpen&ink style renderings of men,women and children's clothing. Thedrawings are also copyright free.... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Architecture    3. Art    4. Beauty & Grooming - Fashion    5. Clothing and dress    6. Fashion    7. General    8. History    9. Pictorial works    10. Textiles & Costume    11. Art / Clip Art    12. Costume    13. Fashion design    14. Illustration & commercial art   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Antiques & Collectibles    3. Antiques/Collectibles    4. Beauty & Grooming - General    5. Catalogs    6. Collectors and collecting    7. Diet / Health / Fitness    8. Dress accessories    9. Fashion & Grooming    10. History    11. Textiles & Costume    12. United States    13. Vintage clothing    14. Costume    15. Fashion design   

Reviews (3)

Very Informative
A Stitch In Time is a very good read. Review of A Stitch in Time
This is an extremely lively and readable account of changes in the U.S. apparel industry.It challenges the prevailing assumption that the industry is doomed to move offshore in its entirety. The authors arguepersuasively that there will be a continuing need for apparel production inthe U.S. by firms that cooperate more closely with retailers, and meet thedemand for timely production.In addition, the authors present afascinating history of the industry and a wonderfully detailed discussionof its changing technology. This book is useful to those interestedspecifically in the apparel industry, but also as a case study of how newinformation technologies are reshaping U.S. industries more generally.

A welcome in-depth look at the effects of the IT revolution
The book goes beyond the hyped-up jargon of e-commerce and information technology and instead provides a nuts and bolts understanding of theactual impact of these trends on businesses, workers and the Americaneconomy.While it focuses on just one industry (one with which we can allidentify, as consumers of clothing and customers of the Walmarts, J. Crewsand Dillard's of the world), it gives a much broader understanding of thetrends and forces that will eventually shape most industres, and affect whowins and loses in this emerging "IT" economy.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Clothing trade    5. Data processing    6. Earth Sciences - Geography    7. Industries - Retailing    8. Management    9. Manufacturing industries    10. Retail Management    11. Retail trade    12. Strategic Planning    13. Technical & Manufacturing Trades    14. Textile And Clothing Industries (Economic Aspects)    15. United States    16. Business & Economics / Retailing    17. Business strategy    18. Business | Management    19. Distributive industries    20. Domestic trade & commerce   

Subjects:  1. Antiques / Collectibles    2. Beauty & Grooming - Fashion    3. Clothing and dress    4. England    5. Fashion    6. History    7. Textiles & Costume    8. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    9. Fashion design    10. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles   

Reviews (15)

Excellent resource
Very informative.Excellent historical reference.Describes the hows and whys of fashion evolution the 13th through the 15th centuries, very well.An informative and interesting resource.

Makes me want to sew even more!!!
I use this book as a refrence for all of my hopelades and Surcotes, and several of my men's things.I love this book!!

Great book for beginning researchers!
Absolutely love this book.Though it is simple, I feel it's one of the essential clothing books if you're doing recreations.The layouts are great, the explanations well-done, and there are easy-to-follow diagrams for patterns.Documentation in the form of illuminated manuscripts and rubbings from funerary monuments, etc, also are VERY helpful.Personally, I don't make a single thing without consulting this book at least once! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiques / Collectibles    2. Clothing and dress    3. Crafts & Hobbies    4. Fashion    5. France    6. Great Britain    7. History    8. Hobbies/Crafts    9. Medieval, 500-1500    10. Textiles & Costume    11. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    12. Costume    13. England    14. Fashion design    15. c 1000 CE to c 1500    16. c 1500 to c 1600   

Reviews (16)

Basics with an open mind
This was my 2nd book from Norris and his style does take you back. If you read the introductions you see that it is a book about Norris as an expert sighting himself. What you get is a rambling sometimes difficult to follow read BUT... you also get an incredible amount of information on how his genire viewed the fashions. You understand how the myths for the period got started and why. You get visuals of all kinds. Men's,women,lace,braids, trims... they may not be in any order but...The plates,pictures and references can lead you to where you want to go on the internet or in the library AND give you all the inspiration you need to start something in your studio!I can't live without this one! Keep an open mind and study study study.

An entertaining introductory volume.
I found this book very informative and entertaining.The costume information is voluminous, the illustrations are clear, and there are brief historical notes on the famed personages plus amusing anecdotes.There are also contemporary quotes on fashion and behavior. A Valuable and In-expensive Book for a Costumer's Library
I have read in the following reviews of this book, that it is inaccurate and offers little in garment construction information. Let me say that I have found this book highly useful and refer to it frequently along with my Uffizi Museum book, National Gallery book, and Janet Arnold's: Patterns of Fashion. I bought this book originally from the Huntington Library giftshop. This book offers a brief overview of Tudor Fashion from all the most important countries and regions in Western Europe, English fashion of the time receiving the most attention. There is a brief section in the back on dyes and colors (mainly for England). The line drawings are all in black and white. There are historical quotes of descriptions of outfits worn at noteable occasions (Queen Margot of France, my favorite). The sections on Spain and Italy I found interesting. I particularly enjoyed the drawn cataloguing of jewelry, gloves, hats, shoes and swords for each country. There are even a few drawings of corsets and farthingales. I have found this book to be a good resource to add to my collection of research materials. If you have an eye for detail and the desire to experiment and or research further how things were made, you will enjoy this book. This is not a "how to", but a good idea book. I don't regret it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 16th century    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Clothing and dress    4. Commercial - Fashion Design    5. Crafts & Hobbies    6. Fashion    7. Great Britain    8. History    9. Hobbies/Crafts    10. Medieval, 500-1500    11. Textiles & Costume    12. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    13. Costume    14. Fashion design    15. United Kingdom, Great Britain   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Display of merchandise    5. Fashion merchandising    6. Industries - Retailing    7. Marketing - General    8. Technical & Manufacturing Trades    9. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (14)

Great for Research
Very detailed, lots of images.Values a bit on the wishful side.Great for collectors, costumers, dealers as the research possibilities can be as simple as using photos, to actually reading the informative text.
pics pics pics
if it is tons of pics of hats you want this is it!

vintage hats and bonnets
a realy beautiful book .full of hundreds of illustrations and a good source for a budding milliner ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiques & Collectibles    2. Antiques / Collectibles    3. Antiques/Collectibles    4. Catalogs    5. Collectors and collecting    6. General    7. Hats    8. History    9. Prices    10. Reference - Price Guides    11. Textiles & Costume   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Antiques & Collectibles    3. Antiques / Collectibles    4. Antiques/Collectibles    5. Beauty & Grooming - Fashion    6. Catalogs    7. Clothing and dress    8. Costume    9. Fashion    10. History    11. Sears, Roebuck and Company    12. Textiles & Costume    13. United States    14. Antiques & Collectibles / Textiles & Costume    15. Fashion design    16. USA