At the Sign of the Shoe and Shears - Sweet Shoe Historical

06/21/2026

Winning at thread chicken! I have 2" left on that length of silk thread, and my sleeve is closed up. Done like dinner, my alterations are finished. I can go knit for a bit!

06/20/2026

Hot off the work board, one pair of breeches for Mr. Fenwick. Im about a month later than planned, but work at the hardware store and life got in the way.
I hope they fit. They will likely fit, I had a fitting, but still

06/07/2026

Eight hours later, eight buttonhole, the inseam stitched and lining felled in, and one knee band finished.
I have another knee band, the dog ear pockets, and then applying the wristbands and finishing of more buttonhole, eyelets, and many buttons. I might be a bit longer than Thursday...

06/07/2026

Today, and likely Thursday too, finishing breeches for Mr. Fenwick. These will ALWAYS take time to build because so much has to be done by hand to fit properly. They aren't "bang out in a weekend" things.

Hopefully by end of day Thursday, I'll have a box to mail out!

05/27/2026

Today was spent making a watch pocket and building waistbands. These aren't cut with a curve, rather, my last bit of stitching was to fell the lining in and shape the top edge at the same time. A bit of steam and I'm finished for the day while these dry and relax into their now shape.

04/03/2026

$14cdn in cotton, 6 hours of work, and 1940s pattern nabbed off the vintage pattern page and I have a new vintage inspired apron for working in the kitchen. A bit of ric rac and a button from the stash. Thread from another project.
The 1940s are highly architectural in their pattern making. This was made from just a yard of cloth, cut well with very little scrap.

03/26/2026

Hello new viewers to the page!

Thank you for stopping by. I am watching all the really cool living history happening at celebratory 250th events in the US through the photos you post. I am loving seeing the clothing I create out "in the wild" as you present your programming.

Currently, I am not taking orders from the US due to ongoing fluctuating tariffs imposed by your administration. I live and work in Canada. I'm also missing out on attending events in the US for similar reasons. If things change, I will once again open the order books for my friends to the southwest.

I'm still building clothes, but am taking this year to work on things for my family and close friends, so look forward to seeing some items that range the full historical and vintage gambit. Give us a follow, and keep in touch. I intend to outlive the current shenanigans!

Send a message to learn more

01/10/2026

Hot take: if your site has been at the forefront of what ever era is that you do, the staff who make that material culture curation happen should be highlighted in your online and published materials.

Fabulous costuming should be recognized! Both curatorial, and design and build staff!

I'm so tired of seeing all this work being overlooked in favour of management and marketing departments. If you value it enough to use it in marketing, give the credit!

01/04/2026

A great blog post on early 17thC English men's wear by the Costume Historian.
https://costumehistorian.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-clothing-of-husbandmen-1600-1660.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawPHVPBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEejIP7FHrJqOmg6i7hpaCulekBZVducgr601Da_jT8AGcwsOts2zNvuYVsUf0_aem_gkS9eCYCEP6k1YkI7nKyMA

William Harrison in 1577 described the “common sort” of Englishmen as “daie labourers, poore husbandmen and some retailers (which have no ...

01/01/2026

My coworker asked me the other day what my dissertation was about. What sort of nerd was I. I have been thinking about my answer to her over the last couple of days, because I gave her the 3 second version due to customers.

The 3 second version: I study visitor experience and interpretation, but also clothing, because clothing is our intimate understanding of the spaces we inhabit and interpret.

What does that mean in a broader context? Well, as humans, we build spaces that are comfortable to our bodies. From the clothing we wear, to the houses we live in. Its all about how the body experiences life in those spaces. When living history interpreters deal with the “Aren’t you hot in that?” question, we have to stop for a second and think…often times, everyone is hot, it’s a hot day. Other times though, because we are wearing the clothing that was designed to be worn in the historic spaces we are interpreting, we are actually more comfortable than the visitor. I am personally more uncomfortable when my clothing doesn’t work as it should, than I am due to weather, either historically, or modernly.

Also, how do humans interact with spaces? Interpreting in a historic setting can be easy when the material culture is correct. The interps just live in the space and it becomes better interpretation because of that living. The same goes for clothing. If you build the clothes for the interpreter the way clothing was made, and it has the correct fit, it is only going to develop that perfect patina of heritage through wearing. Our bodies make the interpretation work far better than anything we can do to manually distress clothing.
So I guess my thesis is, build everything as correctly as we can for the period, and then put a body in it. Only then will we achieve really great interpretation.