By Two Cats in Time, Inc.
About The Extant Garment Project
The Extant Garment Project is an ongoing labour-of-love by Two Cats in Time, Inc., a small vintage/historical dressmaking & tailoring business. No matter how well cared-for and conserved a garment is, one day it will be dust. Our goal is to preserve the garments in our collection in digital perpetuity, while also providing resources to the fashion history/historic sewing/vintage shopping/etc. communities. Each garment is researched as thoroughly as we can and gone over with a very careful fine-tooth comb - by which we mean 'camera' - and a direct pattern is taken from it through non-destructive methods. Each garment has its own page and there you'll find photographs of the original, our detailed notes - including condition, research, and any known provenance - and the single-size pattern (with instructions) of the original garment.
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We hope that you will join us by building on our research and sharing sources with us so that we can benefit the fashion history and historical sewing communities by being as accurate as possible.
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Visit the Contact Us page to share information & sources, ask questions, and Subscribe and follow us on Instagram to be kept in the loop on the project's progress! You can also give a monetary gift to the project to aid us with things like sourcing research material, purchasing items for the proper storage and conservation of the garments in the collection, acquiring more garments, purchasing fabrics & notions for testing the patterns and reproducing the garments, and being able to devote more time to the project
Important Note
All of the patterns available through this website are taken exactly from actual vintage and antique garments. As such, they are available only in the single size of the individual garment. There are a number of fantastic texts (both vintage and modern), blogs, and videos available out there which can instruct you on how to resize these patterns to fit you. In fact, there are so many good, easy to follow tutorials out there that we don't feel the need to add our own version to the mix. Instead, check out our resources tab for some of our favourites as well as searching for some on your own which you may prefer.
Also, we are aware and sensitive to the fact that many extant garments can be culturally problematic. In the case that we find a garment in our collection falls under this heading, we will still research the article of clothing to our fullest ability and effort include how it is a problematic garment in the research notes we make available. We will document these garments in a free exchange of information in order to educate as well as to open up the floor for discussion with the intent of continuing to learn and expand our own knowledge as well as that of the community.
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​*If there is enough interest, we will also consider in the future creating multi-sized versions of some of these garment patterns for sale. However, in the event we are able to go that route, please rest assured that this will not include any of the garments which are deemed problematic. Branded/labelled garments will also be excluded from this potential for-profit collection.*