Rebecca Olds of Timesmith Dress History offers lectures on 18th century women’s fashions
I am Rebecca Olds, a freelance dress and textile historian
offering research, teaching, making and interpretation services
to museums, heritage sites, private collectors,
living historians and re-enactment groups.
Where can I find workshops on 18th-century gown making?
Right here! Rebecca Olds at Timesmith Dress History teaches workshops on 18th century gown making?
Bookings for 18th century gown-making workshops in 2027 are open now.
I am also taking enquiries for lectures and research consultancy work in 2027.Please note that my order book for bespoke gown commissions is currently full but I expect to re-open my order book in May 2027.
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Gown in a Weekend: Re-creating Isabella Mactavish Fraser’s 1785 Wedding Gown — 29-30 June 2019, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
Photo credit: Simon Lees 2019. Edited by Lauren Stowell.
I specialise in the cut and construction of women's clothing during the “long 18th century” — the golden age of the mantua-maker! I research how clothing of this period was made, seeking to understand how mantua-makers were trained, what skillsets they developed, and what their experiences may have been as makers and businesswomen.
While it was economic, social, political and cultural changes in France and England that first gave rise to the development of the mantua and the mantua-making trade, I am particularly interested in how mantua-makers in Scotland and the Low Countries (now the Netherlands and Belgium) both adopted new styles and adapted cutting and construction techniques to serve the practical requirements and fashionable tastes of the women they clothed.
The histories, industrial production and uses in clothing of tartan (Scotland) and linen (both Scotland and the Netherlands) are also important components of my research and teaching outputs. I examine political, economic, social and cultural contexts through the lenses of women’s labour and embodied experience.
Learning through reconstruction: using a test gown to demonstrate cutting and order of construction employed in the making of the Isabella MacTavish Fraser gown.
I welcome consultancy work from museums, heritage sites and owners of private collections of historical dress who seek to better display, understand or document objects of historical dress in their collections. I can work with your team to produce full written descriptions of style, cut and construction and, where needed, make accessories or underpinnings to better display original garments. and can assist curators with writing interpretative panels within exhibitions.
I am a seasoned interpretor of 18th century clothing and the mantua-making trade, delivering on-site events featuring public demonstrations of dressmaking techniques and practices. I am skilled at engaging with visitors while making a complete 18th century gown, whether working solo or leading a team of stitchers. Every event is tailored to the requirements of the venue, be it in conjunction with a current exhibition — as I have done in Edinburgh for National Museums Scotland’s “Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland” (2019) and the National Trust for Scotland’s “Ramsay and Edinburgh Fashion” (2024) — or to enhance interpretation of people and events — as for Paxton House’s “Parallel Lives” project in the Scottish Borders (2023).
I particularly enjoy making reconstructions of historical dress that serve to illustrate the original form of garments that may have experienced significant alteration or deterioriation in the centuries since they were made. Providing a replica that can be examined and handled by the public, when the original cannot, helps make precious, fragile objects (and the skills involved in making them) accessible to new audiences.
Left: 1785 wedding dress of Isabella MacTavish Fraser in the Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, the only known surviving gown made of “hard tartan” pre-dating 1800.
Right: the re-creation of this gown made by my team of historical dressmakers in June 2019 as a live mantua-making demonstration in the National Museums Scotland, part of the public programming for the museum’s major exhibition “Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland”. The photo at the top of this page was taken at the beginning of that event.
I offer hands-on Workshops so that you, too, can learn the ways of the mantua-maker. Click Guest Speaking & Teaching to invite me to speak at your event or to teach your group.
Meanwhile, my hands-on ‘experimental history’ approach to my research produces a variety of hand-made items made using "original practice” techniques — 100% hand stitched with period appropriate textiles. Such items are available for purchase and include unfitted garments and millinery, already made up individually in just one size. Feel free to Contact Me to enquire what items are currently available. In some cases, you can order something similar to items I may currently have, made up to better fit you and suit your tastes.
Photo credit: Barbara Olds 2020.
I also run a limited Order Book for personal commissions, making completely bespoke fitted garments, such as stays and gowns, suitable for living history, reenactment and high-quality social costuming.
If you would like a custom garment and are willing to do the stitching yourself, I offer custom pattern drafting services for Stays and Gown Bodice Shapes.
The mantua-maker’s art: cutting shapes on the body. Photo credit: Mike Redgate 2021.