ABOUT THE TEAM

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Meet Cathy

“I created Foundations Revealed to help us all work together to realize our costume and corsetry dreams.”

British costume artist Cathy Hay is the creator and publisher of Foundations Revealed, which was born out of a grand wish to help other dressmakers to connect with each other, stay inspired and positive, hone their skills together and realise their sewing dreams.

She is a member of both the Costume Society in the UK and the Costumer’s Guild West in the USA. Her own website is cathyhay.com.

Christina liston

Chief Operations Officer

Christina has been re-enacting and making costume for over 20 years, and wrote her dissertation on the relationship between changing religious and political norms and dress in the 17th century. More recently she has worked as a Project Manager until joining Foundations Revealed in 2022.

MORE ABOUT CHRISTINA

Perin Westerhof Nyman

Editor

Perin is an academic dress historian and historical costumer who works under the screen name Isobel Northwode. She completed her PhD, which examined late medieval and early renaissance Scottish Clothing, at the University of St Andrews earlier this year.

MORE ABOUT PERIN

She lectures in historical dress reconstruction in the Costume Studies program at Dalhousie University, Canada, and designs historical clothing and characters for 3d digital reconstructions of historical sites in Scotland.

Her favourite pastimes include hand-stitching and sketching, and she also enjoys wandering around big box stores in full historical dress.

Some of her work can be found at:

https://www.perinwesterhofnyman.com

Meet the Mentors

LOWANA O'SHEA

Lowana O’Shea is the designer and corsetiere behind celebrated Australian slow fashion label Vanyanís, specializing in exquisite corsetry, bridal couture and luxury ready-to-wear fashion.

MORE ABOUT LOWANA

Lowana opened her School of Couture in 2015. Driven to preserve the art of corsetry, Lowana passes her skills to a new cohort of emerging corset makers and gets a thrill every time she sees her students succeed and flourish. She is passionate about empowering her students with the skills they need to continue their sewing independently, providing the guidance and support she wished she had when starting her own journey. Lowana’s skills have been hard won through over a decade of study. She is known for her meticulous attention to detail and love of subtle (but extravagant) details in her work, and we are delighted to have her loving, supportive energy on the Mentoring team to help you move forward with your sewing.

Community Concierges

Maeri

Maeri Certo is a corsetry & historical costuming enthusiast who dabbles in retro/pinup styling more often than historical dress. As a Foundations revealed Community Concierge, Maeri is excited to support this creative & caring corner of the internet and help other Stitchlings embrace their passions.

Her current passions include her millinery & costume design business Certain Sundries and expanding her personal collection of vintage-inspired clothing & lingerie.

MORE ABOUT MAERI

Andrew

Andrew is a Medieval History student studying at the University of St Andrews, but originally hails from California where he grew up on a horse ranch.

His crafting career began with an apprenticeship with a local saddle maker, where he worked restoring antique saddles and tack. Since getting interested in historical costuming, much of his research has revolved around recreating and testing historical equestrian wear and tack with the aid of his horses.