Just by looking at his clothes, one can tell a lot about a person, the society he lives in and his place within that society. Fashion also reflects the passage of time and the replacement of one generation by another. Taking these observations as a starting point, a specialized team try to recreate the costumes seen in old paintings and such. As part of this exercise in experimental history, authentic instruments, dyes, fabrics,... are used, as well as authentic sewing techniques. (Happily, artificial fur is used as a replacement for the real thing.) Meanwhile various experts and historians discuss the wider cultural context.
For instance, the recreation of the sumptuous green gown worn by the wife (bride ?) in the fifteenth-century "Arnolfini Portrait" introduces a reflection on the international wool trade and its influence on the emergence of a wealthy merchant class. (The reconstruction of the richly adorned sleeves constitutes a technical challenge of its own.) The fact that the resulting gown turns out to be quite warm, confirms the scientific hypothesis that contemporary climate was cooler than it is now.
The portrait of a mischievous looking young woman called Dido Belle leads the team in an entirely different direction, since the sitter occupied a highly precarious position which straddled both slavery and aristocracy. The discussion of Dido Belle's clothes, which may have been some kind of fancy dress rather than a regular outfit, touches upon themes such as Britain's role in the slave trade, the use of slaves for the production of crops and textiles and the othering of persons with a different skin tone.
Other episodes too touch upon topics of abject cruelty or heart-rending sadness, such as the story of the foundling institutes. Many desperate mothers - almost all of them illiterate - left some kind of fabric with their babies, in hopes of a later reunion. However, in most cases the little strips of fabric just faded away in an official file, while mother and child were forever separated.
Like I've already mentioned, much of the series consists of the recreation of items of clothing such as dresses or coats. The specialists doing the actual sewing impress by their patience and know-how. Their finished products look splendid, both in terms of beauty and of verisimilitude.
I warmly recommend "A stitch in time" to all viewers interested in history, the evolution of Western clothing styles and the recreation of historical costumes. The series will also appeal to all those who like beating leather into submission with a hammer - and who doesn't ?