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I do not knit, but I have seriously considered learning how, exclusively so I could make one of these.

We have a surprising number of these knitted jackets in museums, most of them of Italian origin, most likely from Naples or Venice. According to the V&A, it seems that they were made in workshops as individual panels that were sold as sets that could be sewn together at home. I'm partial to the green and gold ones, like this one from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

clevelandart.org

Knitted Hunting Jacket Italy, 17th century | Cleveland Museum of Art

Knitted Jacket

1600s-1690s

Italy

Knitted silk jackets were fashionable in the early 17th century as informal dress. This example is very finely knit by hand in plain silk yarn and silk partially wrapped in silver thread, in contrasting colours of blue and yellow. Characteristic of this style of jacket, it has a border of basket weave stitch and an abstract floral design worked in stocking and reverse stocking stitches. The pattern imitates the designs seen in woven silk textiles. The jacket is finely finished with the sleeves lined in silk and completed with knitted cuffs. Along each centre front, a narrow strip of linen covered in blue silk has been added, with button holes and passementerie buttons, worked in silver thread. The provenance of the jacket indicates that it is probably Italian.

Victoria & Albert Museum (Accession number: 473-1893)

Le Bon Ton, Journal de modes. September 1854, v. 37, plate 7. Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library

Was sifting through some late 16th/early 17th century stammbucher (basically little scrapbooks that people would collect cards, stamps, drawings, etc in, especially while travelling; their friends and family could also add little entries to your book, like memories, poems, drawings, or well wishes) in online libraries, and thought I'd share some fun images of people doing who knows what. Bowling for ladies? Running from cupid and getting tied to trees for it? Rolling around your really bendy dude? Just another Tuesday in 17th century Germany.

1860s summer dress

La Compagnie du Costume

Hello, yes, it's me with three 1850s transformation gowns, a wrapper, and all the accessories for them, all needed just five months from now.

“How’s your WIP going?”

"Have you made any progress?”

“How close are you to being done?”

This is magnificent!

Holy shit, y’all have got to see this art deco dream of a quilt from Reddit:

One of my favorites. Still planning to make my green version someday.

yellow silk evening dress with oak leaf design

c.1902

House of Worth

Fashion Museum of Bath

bodice, waistcoat

c. 1615-1618

linen, silk, silver, silver-gilt, metal, hand-stitched

Glasgow Museums

ⓘ A sewing machine is a device that provides a several-fold increase of the speed at which you can make mistakes

Back in 2015, I made this skirt for an 1860s ballgown. I wanted to make a daytime bodice to give the gown more wearability outside of formal events, but I had run out of fabric and since the fabric had lived in my stash for years, it had been discontinued long ago.  I had a minor fabric miracle when I discovered some similar plaid taffeta on Etsy! I scooped it up and decided to make an 1850s bodice, since tiered flouced skirts like this were super popular then.

This bodice ate fabric, and I think I used three or four yards in total because the sleeves are massive and multi-layered. There is a black lace/fringe trim on the bodice, which you can’t see very well in pictures but is lovely in person.

The cap and bodice were made to accompany the new ensemble. The cap is made entirely from things found at Walmart, and the materials for the bonnet came from my fabric stash.