Feature Friday: Laura Nicolin Patterns
The enduring appeal of costuming is the ability to take a piece of your imagination and turn it into a tangible reality. And this month’s feature, Laura Nicolin, specializes in helping that process along with her beautiful and accessible patterns!
Though she has a background in cosplay and fantasy costuming, Laura’s true love is historical clothing, specifically the Belle Époque. “I started making historical costumes back in 2021, when I decided to join a Belle Époque event,” she shared. “I remember that I spent two months in my studio making that costume. I was lacking everything: no corset, no petticoats…I just had a pair of shoes.”
But it didn’t take Laura long to build up a beautiful wardrobe and start offering her customers the same opportunity to create their own historical reproductions. Her patterns are designed with an emphasis on helping other sewists achieve the same level of detail with ease. “My main focus is to make things as easy as possible,” she said. “I want my customers to have fun while sewing a historical garment. This is why, along with the sewing patterns, I always attach a step-by-step tutorial and I offer further assistance if needed.”
Laura shared a bit more about her pattern-making process and the work that goes into it. “I can’t say that my patterns are 100% historical accurate since I give life to illustrations that were never turned into an actual garment,” she explained. “I have to think like a historical seamstress and how she would have made a garment. I have to consider which improvers should be worn under a skirt, how the corset will shape the body, how to make the bodice fit well. This is achieved by a lot of research and by studying actual historical sewing patterns, plus owning a tons of books about historical fashion helps a lot (I actually love to collect them!).”
“Sometimes my customers ask me where I find the inspiration in reproducing a garment: the truth is that I like to be chosen by a fashion plate or a sketch from an old fashion magazine,” she added. “It’s like they call me to make them live again. Even though I have little to no choice about the design, the most challenging part of my job is turning a sketch into a finished garment to be reproduced by others. Pattern-making is a hard job but historical pattern-making is for super heroes.”
But that doesn’t stop her from pushing her craft forward with new projects. “One of the most challenging projects so far is my 1906 Bathing Suit,” she shared. “From the pattern to the embellishment, everything made me feel like I was asking too much from my sewing skills. Reproducing historical garments from fashion plates is like a mystery game that you have to solve. The dress opening gave me sleepless nights and endless hours in pattern testing, but at the end I can say that I’m satisfied with the finished dress.”
You can find all of Laura’s patterns in her Etsy shop, www.etsy.com/shop/lauranicolin, and you can find out more about her on her website, lauranicolin.com. There she has a blog where she details some of the process and inspiration behind her patterns and new projects. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram (@nicolinlaura) for even more inspiration!