I think about historical plausibility a lot.  Historical costumers worry about accuracy, but I think that ‘accurate’ often gets confused with ‘common’.  Just because most seamstresses did something one way, doesn’t necessarily mean that one or two might not have done it completely differently. Lots of things happen today that aren’t mainstream.  Even with the plethora of information on the internet today, people sew, and create, and live in ways that aren’t documented.  It is reasonable to assume that historically, there were also seamstresses who created in unusual ways, and used unusual materials. The costumer who asked me about 18th century masquerade outfits also asked about ideas for making her dress on a limited budget. I’ve been turning the question over in my mind, and last night (well, 4am in the morning) I had an epiphany.  Why not use muslin/calico? Raw, unpatterned cotton calico (which American’s call muslin) existed in late 18th century Europe.  In fact, huge amounts of it were imported, because many countries had passed laws making it illegal to import patterned calico …