The Cutters Guide
The Cutters Guide is a great place to get inspiration for new designs as well as browsing one of the
largest collections of rare 19th and 20th century costumes available.
Get inspired!
-
Couture Fashion Photography Female
Classic fashion photography from the 50’s through to the 80’s sprinkled with some great reference books.
-
Couture Fashion Photography Male
Classic fashion photography from the 50’s through to the 80’s.
-
19th Century Female
Primarily Victorian fashion plates. An excellent point of reference.
-
20th Century Female
Covering the first 5 decades of the 20th century, a mixture of publications to glean from.
-
Pattern Guides Female
19th – Early 20th century pattern books plus a few more recent publications – a must for cutters.
-
19th Century Male
If you’re designing or just curious this is an invaluable resource of reference material.
-
20th Century Male
Some of our favourites are stored here, covering the first 5 decades of the 20th century.
-
Pattern Guides Male
A precious library of men’s patterns books spanning over a century.
-
Adverts
Though quirky, these gems say more about our past than most reference books.
-
Australia
The first 50 years of the 20th century captured by professional and amateur photographers.
-
Catalogues
200 years of everything that you could wish to purchase. Want to know how much a pair of boots cost in 1904? Click here.
-
Children's
Want to know how to dress young Penelope and Reginald for the spring of 1870? Look no further.
-
Film Fan Magazines
Not just for geeks, this section is fascinating…
-
Footwear
Step into the world of old cobblers.
-
French
Reference books, fashion plates etc etc. Some exquisite downloads to be found here.
-
Military and Uniforms
This Military and Uniforms category covers a vast spectrum of mankind’s desire to dress for the kill.
-
Misc
As the name suggests shaman to policemen…
-
Music Fan Magazines
Smash Hits magazine from the 70’s through to the 80’s.
-
National Geographic
Over 250 magazines covering 1890’s through to 1970’s gives sometimes a less obvious insight to our history.
-
Periodical Publications
Fashion, photography, history and so on. Discover the unexpected…
-
Photos
Some of it’s raw and whilst some frivolous some are candid whilst others are contrived.
-
References
Book on costumes, history, cowboys, samurai hats, lingerie, cigarette cards and much much more.
-
Ancient Civilization
Reference books on the lives of our ancestors.
-
Art
Primarily publications about painting on to canvas rather than windowsills.
-
Textiles
Over 2 millenniums from the 4 corners of the globe of the fabric that goes to make what we wear.
-
Knitting
From Julius Caesar to Donald Trump our leaders have always secretly hidden their desire to do something more inventive with their large or small fingers.
-
World War II
Everyone’s favourite and still at number 1 after 80 years and counting lets hear it for WW2
“This one’s going to run and run” Ich bin ein Berliner
“The first episode was a great war but this one beats the lot, can’t wait for the sequel” Tommy Gunnehart
-
The British Empire
What did the British ever do for us?
“Warm Beer” Well apart from warm beer…
“Dodgy Cuisine” Yes, apart from bad food…
-
Corsets
Want to have the waist of a 22 year old?
Corset you can…