Combined book offer: The Tudor Tailor & The Tudor Child

Enjoy an exclusive saving when you buy these books together. The combination listing for The Tudor Tailor and The Tudor Child offers a considerable discount on buying them separately.

Both books are also available to buy individually. Please click the links above for more details.

Book 1:

The Tudor Tailor by Jane Malcolm-Davies and Ninya Mikhaila

• 160 pages, some in colour
• 36 patterns with comprehensive step-by-step instructions
• 80 historical images
• Detailed line drawings and diagrams by Michael Perry
• Photographs showing finished reconstructed garments worn by real people
• Paperback
• 9in x 11in (20.5cm x 28cm)

This book includes 36 patterns for men and women’s clothing and headwear. Highly researched and historically accurate patterns enable you to make a wide range of garments, such as doublets, hose, bodies (or corsets), kirtles, gowns, hats and headdresses - even undergarments. There are also ideas for embellishment such as ruffs, cuffs, collars and embroidery. Advice on choosing materials, construction methods, and an insight into the Tudor tailor's sewing kit is also included.

The full range of Tudor society is represented, including lower-class and middle-class clothing as well as the more sumptuous costumes from the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. In addition to the patterns, there are detailed drawings of each costume and information about historical context.

The first four chapters provide a social history of clothes in the 16th century, drawing on both contemporary research and primary sources such as ordinary people's wills and surviving royal records.

Book 2:

The Tudor Child by Jane Huggett and Ninya Mikhaila; edited by Jane Malcolm-Davies

• 160 full-colour pages
• 40 patterns with comprehensive step-by-step making instructions
• Instructions for knitted items, including a waistcoat, petticoat, stockings, caps and mittens
• Over 65 historical illustrations
• Detailed line drawings and diagrams by Michael Perry
• Photographs showing finished reconstructed garments worn by real children
• Paperback
• 9in x 11in (20.5cm x 28cm)

The Tudor Child provides a survey of babies’ and children’s clothes from the late 15th century to the Jacobean era, with an emphasis on the 16th century. More than 40 patterns are included for making garments for newborn infants to children aged 12 years, including underwear, boys’ and girls’ garments, headwear and knitted items. Children of various social status are represented, from the lower and middle classes through to royals.

The book begins with a demonstration of maternity wear with illustrative photographs. Patterns are given for linens needed for newborns and the childbed, along with a detailed exploration of the popular 16th century practice of swaddling.

Some patterns are based on historical portraits (which are shown in the book), while others offer more usual garments of the sort worn by Tudor children. One section describes standard garments like doublets, bodices and sleeves, including patterns and fitting instructions for children at various ages. This section also discusses how garments like skirts were constructed to allow for growth and later ‘letting out’ as children grew. These garments can be adapted for various social classes through the choice of fabric and finishings.