Making An Egyptian Sheath Dress: Part 1

Hello friends! I’m finally making my Egyptian sheath dress. I’ve wanted to make one for quite some time, but other things received my attention. This is the case for many projects I’d like to do. Such is life. 😉

I’ll be breaking this project up due to time management. Today I’ll share the first steps to making this project come to life. I’m excited! Here we go!

Y’all know historical costumes are my passion. I want the costumes I make to be more historically accurate than not. I’ll admit I am lazy when it comes to hand sewing everything as it would have been done at the time. 🤷‍♀️ It just takes so dang long. Hence, I say mostly accurate.

You can probably guess by now the first step to making an Egyptian sheath dress is to research. I can get carried away with this step. It’s just so fascinating. Make sure your sources are legitimate. There’s a lot of information available, but it’s not all reliable. Museums are a great source. Research for a costume is like detective work. Things to look for:

-Type of fabric and thread that was available and commonly used from the period. (Example-linen, wool)

-Silhouette (Often hugged the body.)

-Garment Construction (cloth that was folded, knotted or pinned.)

-Accessories available/popular during the period. (All kinds of jewelry, Gold, semi precious stones, beads)

-Fabric choice/accessories for lower class verses upper class. (Fancier materials for upper class, common materials for lower. Wore similar styles and accessories otherwise. Lower class often wore the loin skirt alone.)

-Shoes, if any, used during the period and their construction. (Sandals made from leather/reeds.)

-What colors/patterns were available during the period. (Earth tones, natural colors. Patterned fabric was uncommon.)

Once you’ve completed your research, it’s time to buy your supplies. We’ll continue this process in my next post. Thanks for reading! XOXO!