Kickstarter Update: Trims, Frills and Furbelows - only 5 days to go!

Thank you for helping me get this project past the first stretch goal! I am so happy to be adding purses, pockets and reticules. Here is the latest draft table of contents for my Kickstarter Book, 'Trims, Frills and Furbelows' . As one subscriber said,

"it will become a standard reference for those who study such material"

Even though I enjoy sewing historical costumes, I have found over the years that I much prefer researching the finer details of trims and am so looking forward to sharing all my research with you.

I still need your help funding this project - every cent will be used towards the project and all the extra costs of camera lenses, tickets, accommodation, car hire, travel insurance, and more!




I am looking forward to making fly fringe and tapes for this project on a reproduction English tape loom this summer. This will be a nicer alternative to my clover beading loom. This box is patterned off one in Colonial Williamsburg.

Kickstarter Update: Trims, Frills and Furbelows - only 9 days to go!

Thank you so much for your support of my project - and for getting me so close to my first stretch goal - if you can help spread the word who knows where this project will end! It would be absolutely amazing if it ended up with both an extra chapter and a second book.

As you can see by the table of contents image attached below, there is a lot that will be included in this book, including scale patterns you can use for your own projects. Please let me know of any other trims you would like to see added to this book. Curators in the UK are working with me right now to identify the best garments from their collections to use as examples and I welcome all of your suggestions of other collections to visit.

Remember, as written in the original campaign information, this A4 book will contain

• full-length colour photos of each garment used, 
• high-resolution close-up photos of trims showing front, back and inside the garment showing how it was attached, and 
• step-by-step photographic and written construction tutorials for each trim 

A few extra tiers have been added to the pledges and you now have the chance to add a 2018 Calendar to your rewards.

Many thanks, again, for joining me on this journey!
Aylwen Gardiner-Garden 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1245085016/trims-frills-and-furbelows

Wait, there's more?

I'd like to announce two new goals that I am going to try to reach with this Kickstarter Project. 

To reach these goals I need your help spreading the word about this project with your friends or reaching out to blogs who might be willing to let its readers know more. All the help I can get is very much appreciated and I've enjoyed receiving your feedback for this project.

Please share this link: http://tinyurl.com/kickstarter-tff

Stretch Goal #1: reaching $10,000 AUD activates an extra chapter in the book: Reticules, pockets and purses.

Once this goal is unlocked Aylwen will add an extra chapter for no extra charge for ALL BOOK BACKERS on reticules, pockets and purses and will include lots of colour photos, embroidery designs and patterns for making your own.

Embroidered silk reticule to be included in extra chapter

Stretch Goal #2: reaching $15,000 AUD activates a new companion book: Gentlemen's Fashion of the Georgian Era

Once this goal is unlocked Aylwen will offer you a completely new reward - a long awaited and requested "Costume in Detail" book on Men's Fashion of the Georgian Era. Aylwen will take photographs of men's garments both inside and out and include close-up photos of finer details and trims. This book will be available for order as soon as this stretch goal is unlocked and will be selling at the same price structure as Trims, Frills and Furbelows. A limited 10% discount will be offered to those subscribing to both books before 19 December 2016. 

Amongst garments already selected for the book on
Men's Clothing is a rare pair of men's drawers from the 1780s.

19th Century Trim Kickstarter Project

I've put together a Kickstarter project to write a book on Regency-era trims. I'd love your support over the next 30 days.

Please support this production of an illustrated book showing examples of extant trims and tutorials showing how to make them. This will be your go-to book on trims, frills and furbelows from the 18th-19th Century.

Why is this project different?

Padded hemlines, decorative furbelows, pleated applique trims, cut-outs, ruffles, piping, soutache, buttons....oh my!

There are many books available with a broader scope of different fashion eras, but Aylwen's goal is to focus on trimmings of the late 18th century and early 19th century and expand on the details of technique. There is a growing group of costume enthusiasts who wish to enhance their Jane Austen, Regency, Empire and Biedermeier gowns and learn how to make all the lovely trims you see in the pictures. This full-colour A4 book (21.0 x 29.7cm OR 8.27 x 11.69 inches) will study the construction details of historic trimmings so they can be added to skirts, bodices, and sleeves. You will see close-up photographs of both the front & back of the trimmings and step-by-step pictorial instructions showing how to make the trimmings so you can add them to your garments without needing to buy any new patterns. Aylwen already has permission from some collections in the United Kingdom and Australia to take photographs for publication and if funding is generous will be able to pay for rights to use photographs from other institutions.
As an extra thank you, Aylwen is making e-books available for Kickstarter subscribers only and will not be offering e-books for sale after this project closes.

How will the book be set out?

This A4 book will contain

• Full-length colour photos of each garment 
• High-resolution close-up photos of trim showing both front and back (where possible without damaging a garment) and inside the garment showing how it was attached
• Step-by-step construction tutorials using photographs of an actual reproduction
• Stepping you through making a neckline trim and a hem frill.

About the Author

Aylwen Gardiner-Garden is a historical costumier, experienced historic dancer and professional events organiser based in Canberra, Australia. She is Director of Jane Austen Festival Australia and is currently studying textile conservation. She has won awards for costuming at Your Wardrobe Unlock'd, and was especially pleased that her first costume to win an award featured an intricate regency trim. Aylwen sometimes thinks others must think her rather weird when she describes one of the greatest thrills in her life is to be working out how a particular trim is made. Aylwen teaches regular historic sewing workshops from her home studio, at Jane Austen Festival Australia and has taught in the US, UK and Germany.

Aylwen in her award-winning dress

   

How will the funds be used?

The funds raised with this Kickstarter project will enable Aylwen to

• travel in June 2017 to conduct research and take photos of a wide range of garments in the United Kingdom - including garments from the Charles Wade Collection, the Hereford Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Chertsey Museum,
• pay for some of her accommodation during the research period,
• take high-resolution photographs of both original and reproduced trims, 
• reproduce trims for how-to-do-it instructions, and 
• self-publish an A4 (21.0 x 29.7cm OR 8.27 x 11.69 inches) full colour 100+ page bound book, to be posted out to Kickstarter supporters in December 2017 before launching it to the general public at Jane Austen Festival Australia in April 2018.

Some of the trims that will be featured in this book.

How will you keep the subscribers updated?

Subscribers to this project will be updated weekly on the progress of this project through the blog and Facebook page with daily updates during the initial research period in the UK.

How can I help?

Thank you for your help! There are a few things you can do:

• Back this Kickstarter project early so that others can see this is a popular project and likely to succeed, 
• Share this Kickstarter project on facebook, live journal and other social media platforms, 
• Send emails to family and friends who may be interested and explain to them that you really want this book to be published and that we need more backers to reach our funding goal, and
• Let Aylwen know how she can improve this campaign!

Remember: funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing. No one will be charged for a pledge towards a project unless it reaches its funding goal, so thank you in advance for sharing this with your costuming friends over the next 30 days.

Risks and challenges

The biggest challenge with this project is getting the full amount raised to get it off the ground. Aylwen needs to raise funds now to purchase return airfares from Australia to the United Kingdom at low rates as discount seats are selling fast. Permission has already been granted to access certain collections, to take photos and publish them in this book. Aylwen is an experienced desktop publisher having worked on over a hundred books in the last ten years and is looking forward to completing this project.
Aylwen will be relying heavily on people sharing news of this project with their friends in forums and on social media to meet her target. Please share this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1245085016/trims-frills-and-furbelows