Body Shaming and Normalizing Altering Your Clothing

Dealing with inevitable body fluctuations while making historic costumes isn’t easy. Many garments will go years between wears, leading to frustration when we discover they no longer fit. I’ve been amassing self-made costumes and clothing for almost 20 years at this point, and many of my favorite pieces never see the light of day for this reason! As I’ve started to pull older garments out to use as examples in my videos, I’ve seen a number of comments about their poor fit. As ideal as it would be that they fit me like they did 5 or 10 years ago, it’s just not feasible. Even with as fast as I sew, I can’t make a whole new ensemble every time I need something. And nor should I! I do try to alter my garments when I am able to, but again, I’m fortunate enough to have the time, knowledge, and extra fabric to do so! But alterations aren’t always a possibility and certainly aren’t always a “perfect“ fix. Antique clothing often shows evidence of hasty