How To Find Historic Costuming Friends

Six years ago I visited Colonial Williamsburg. While there I purchased a hat and pattern to sew an 18th-century dress. I shared the outcome at Halloween with rousing success. Then two years went by before I presented Becoming Jane.  I loved the research and the process of creating historical clothing. But I didn’t do it year-round because what was the point?  No one close shared my interests and there was nowhere to actually wear the garments. That changed when I moved to Texas and found the D/FW Costumers Guild.  Now I create clothing of various eras on a regular basis. The outfits are often my most read and pinned posts. Yes, even though I am primarily a home and garden blogger. Time and again many readers have voiced they wished they could attend similar gatherings. So I am here to help. Here is How To Find Historic Costuming Friends.

How To Find Historic Costuming Friends

Do you enjoy any one of the following:

• Reading classic literature from authors such as Dickens, Austen, or the Brontë sisters?
• Visiting museums
• Touring old homes
• Attending picnics, teas, or themed dinners
• Cooking or baking
• Viewing old movies
• Seeing plays, operas, or symphonies
• Fashion from different eras
• Sewing, needlework or crafts
• Watching BBC productions or period films
• Playing board games or cards
• Croquet, fencing, and other genteel exercises

If you said yes to any of the above you would probably enjoy the company of those who often like to recreate outings or host gatherings from another time.

Lovely Themes

For instance, many of you loved it when I created a Dickens-themed Christmas in my home in 2017.

Or hosted a Regency Era Valentine Tea.

At each of those events, among others, my guests were not wearing historical fashion. But they truly enjoyed the historic pursuits. Indeed costumes are not a requirement for any of the events the D/FW Costumers Guild plans. Yet you may find it adds to the camaraderie of attending such events. So here is how you can find like-minded individuals in your area. Here was our Napoleon Tea that I hosted.

Find Your Tribe

Facebook, Instagram, and Google are your friends. Simply typing in keywords or phrases of interest into the various search engine will produce results.

List of Costume Guilds around the US and anywhere else with pages on FB.

This list is routinely updated by Val LaBore who is the administrator of the Historical Pattern Reviews 1700-1929 site on FB. She also blogs at  Time Traveling in Costume. It is current as of today’s date, 5/30/2019. If you would like to download the entire list just click on this link: List of Costume Guilds around the US and anywhere else with pages on FB

Costumers Guild West (CGW-Los Angeles area, CA)

https://www.facebook.com/CostumersGuildWest?fref=ts

Historical Citizen’s Association ( HCA- Los Angeles area, CA)

https://www.facebook.com/HistoricalCitizensAssociation?fref=ts&hc_location=ufi

San Diego Costume Guild (SDCG-San Diego, CA)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/333057183295/

Greater Bay Area Costume Guild (GBACG-San Francisco area, CA)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/gbacg/

Puget Sound Historical Costumers Guild (Washington state)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PSHCGuild/

Costuming in Seattle-(SITU-Somewhere in Time, Unlimited–Seattle, WA)

https://www.facebook.com/CostumingInSeattle?fref=ts

PDX Time Travellers Costume Guild (Metro Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, WA)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pdxttcostumers/

Dallas Fort Worth Costumers Guild (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)

https://www.facebook.com/dfwcg?fref=ts

Kansas City Costume Guild (KCCG -Kansas)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1476051839276430/?pnref=lhc

Central Florida Costumer’s Guild (CFCG-Florida)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cflcostumers/

Washington DC Area Costumers  (Washington, DC)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/116081508728053/?hc_location=ufi

Empire State Costumers  (NY / NJ)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/EmpireStateCostumers/?pnref=lhc

Keep Going

Gilded Age Society  (NJ / northeast coast of the US)

https://www.facebook.com/GildedAgeSociety

Living History Company (ST LOUIS, MO)

https://www.facebook.com/livinghistorycompany?hc_location=ufi

Costumers Anonymous of North Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1524589397804130/

RennFire /Fire-Friends in Recreation & Education)  (Phoenix, AZ)

https://rennfire.org/ (under construction)

FB–The Tudor Project & More https://www.facebook.com/TheTudorProject?fref=ts

Oregon Regency Society

https://www.facebook.com/groups/orregency/

Australia (NSW, Brisbane & Adelaide chapters)

www.acg.org.au

London, UK (c 1851 lower classes)

http://www.raggedvictorians.co.uk/

Images of the Past- (Dunedin, New Zealand) http://imagesofthepastdunedin.webs.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/653012421463709/?fref=ts

Greater Columbia Fantasy Costumers’ Guild

https://www.facebook.com/groups/653012421463709/?fref=ts

Great Basin Costume Society, Reno, NV Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/greatbasincostume/

Minnesota Society of Costumers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mnsoc/

Orange County Costume Guild (Orange, CA)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/928240833878510/?pnref=story

You’re Almost There!

Saint Louis Ubiquitous Tailoring Society – (St Louis, MO)

http://casamai.com/slcg/index.html

Ohio Historic Costumers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ohiohistoriccostumers/

Australian Costumers Guild

https://www.facebook.com/AustralianCostumersGuild/

Houston Regency Society, Houston, TX.

https://www.facebook.com/houstonarearegencysociety/?fref=st

Pittsburgh Historical Costume Society

https://www.facebook.com/groups/503568133133509/

Washington Regency Society, Seattle/Puget Sound area.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WaRegency/

Northwest Colonial Reenactors Association.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/136052949792662/

St Louis Georgian Sewing Society

https://www.facebook.com/groups/307273439757841/

Indiana Historical Costuming Society

https://www.facebook.com/groups/277359459785045/

Regency Society of Virginia

https://www.facebook.com/varegency/?fref=gc&dti=370047653021278&hc_location=ufi

Edwardian Society of Oregon

https://www.facebook.com/Edwardian-Society-of-Oregon-240988932761685/?fref=gc&dti=370047653021278&hc_location=ufi

18th Century Society of Colorado

https://www.facebook.com/groups/18thCS/?hc_location=ufi

TTCG GROUP; Time Travelers Costume Guild

https://www.facebook.com/groups/pdxttcostumers/?hc_location=ufi

A True Rabbit Hole

Be forewarned, once you begin traveling down this joyful journey you will find wonderful groups, events, websites, and blogs. Perhaps in the future, if there is an interest, I can create a post that includes my favorite sites. I personally love everything from the Medieval time period through the 1960s so my interests are wide and varied. This is quite evident on my Historical Fashion Pinterest Board.  As an interior designer, I not only enjoy costuming but learning about various decorating styles.  Both my husband and I are avid travelers and plan at least one historic themed trip a year.

My next big event will be attending this year’s Costume College. This year the guest speaker will be Marion Boyce the costume designer for Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I love both the set design and costumes of this lovely show.

Hope to see you there!

Laura