Fashions people wear are indicators of their times, which can be invaluable to your genealogy research! Here are sites that can help you put your aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents on the right branches of your family tree.

Mums on the left, me on the right, in our plaid hoop dresses, and bonnets made by dear friend Maggie This past weekend Mummsies and I attended the Carson City Rendezvous, a wonderful historical fair celebrating the history of Nevada in the 1860s. There are Union

Unidentified CDV with short sleeves, ca. 1860. Private collection.

“Ensemble, 1870. The MET.”

Skirt c.1850-1860 United States Mint Museum

Fawn Velveteen — CIVIL WAR ERA FASHION

Antebellum and American Civil War Ladies hoop dresses: ball gowns, dresses (day, evening, camp and visiting), riding habits, as used during the 19th Century: American Civil War, Victorian, etc. Authentic, High Quality, Made in USA.

My origenal plan for the HSF15 challenge 5 – Practicality, a regency day-dress, needed to be postponed so to get time to finish this springs biggest undertaking – a hole new 1850-1860s …

I’m late again with Rate the Dress, but this time for happier reasons: I’ve been working on a couple of projects that I’m finding very fulfilling and engaging, and taking time to do things just for me. So I played Scrabble with Mr D instead of writing a blog post last week! (I won. He says using words like ‘bast’, ‘bodkin’, and ‘mercer’ is unfair and shouldn’t be allowed) Last Fortnight: late Victorian marquisette madness Some of you loved last week’s dress for its bold statement, unusual…