Combined book offer: The Typical Tudor & The Tudor Child

Enjoy an exclusive saving when you buy these books together. The combination listing for The Typical Tudor 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 Typical Tudor by Jane Malcolm-Davies and Ninya Mikhaila

• 216 full-colour pages
• Patterns for over 50 garments with comprehensive step-by-step instructions
• Over 140 historical illustrations
• Instructions for knitted items, including stockings, caps, sleeves and garters
• 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)

The Tudor Tailor’s latest book builds on the research carried out for The Tudor Tailor (2006) with a focus on ordinary people's clothing in the 16th century. At 216 pages it is significantly larger than previous works and includes sewing and knitting patterns for more than 50 garments appropriate for lower-class and middle-class people.

A statistically rigorous analysis of over 57,000 items of dress drawn from wills, inventories, probate accounts and household expenses identifies the most popular garments with trends in textiles and colours.

Little-known images from museums, churches, private collections and archives serve to illustrate a range of garments in detail while more familiar pictorial sources are presented as evidence for construction techniques.

Detailed drawings and diagrams show styles of clothing, headwear and other accessories appropriate to ordinary people. Photographs of reconstructions illustrate how the garments contribute to accurate clothing ensembles for specific date ranges.

Book 2:

The Tudor Child written 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.