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I'm a huge historical costuming nerd and 18th century is a favorite period of mine. American Duchess' patterns with simplicity are a fabulous place to start.

Use 8579 for your stays, pocket hoops, and chemise.

Watch this video from AD to get some tips about the stays before attempting to make them. They have some tips that Simplicity's pattern instructions simply don't have.

Use 8578 for your gown

For extra help with the gown, you can always check out AD's Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking. It's aimed at hand sewing techniques but has some invaluable information for how it was done back then, and very clear step by step photos and instructions that can help you if/when the pattern throws you for a loop. It also has excellent instructions for how to get the gown to fit properly.

There are plenty of hairstyle tutorials too so find one you like and don't neglect your hair after you've made your beautiful gown. :) It completes the look!

Check out the recent American Duchess book. She skips over a lot of info, not the method for the dresses and accessories are there. There are some Simplicity patterns associated with the book, too, but I'm not sure what Simplicity has done to them since they've been submitted. Definitely look up reviews before buying any of them. There have also been a series of posts on the American Duchess blog about patterns for stuff not included in the book. I linked to the one about stays.

As for patterns themselves, give Reconstructing History a miss. They are poorly graded. I haven't used them, but the JP Ryan patterns get good reviews.

If you're comfortable with flat pattern drafting, then there's a book by Elizabeth Friendship called Creating Historical Clothes that will guide you through using body measurements to create patterns. It doesn't tell you how to put them together, but if you have a difficult to fit body, you might find it a good choice.

The best thing would be if you could find a group with people who are already familiar with sewing for the period and who can help you out. Eras with only handsewing approach things differently than eras with machine sewing, so there can be some things that will take modern seamstresses by surprise.

Frustratingly not a lot of sources cover the 1640s. A good start would be 17th Century Men's Dress Patterns by Susan North and Jenny Tiramani. It breaks down several first-early second quarter extant doublets including all their construction and details as well as necessary techniques, as well as some breeches and a few other accessories. The Modern Maker Volume 2 does include some tidbits including a doublet from Anduxar's 1640 Tailoring manual, but I don't know that it would be helpful precisely as some of the details don't seem widely applicable to English clothing, but it might be helpful with changing some details such as raising the waist and making a different sort of laps or tabs.

I think another really good start would be to take a look at the Victoria & Albert Museum's collections. They have several impeccable extant pieces that are exemplars for the era you're after. You'll notice they're pretty distinct from earlier doublets in many of their features (placement of side seams, types of skirting/laps, method of attaching to breeches, shape of the center front bottom, structure, style of wings, types of fastenings, height of waist, shape of seams, type of collar, type of collar fastening, shape of back pieces, and so on), and then not long after your target range doublets start to disappear.

Here are a few good pieces to check out:

Doublet #185-1900

Doublet #177-1900

Suit #T.28&A-1938 (which if you want something possibly a little behind the times, this suit would be excellent to emulate).

Suit #T.58 to B-1910

Crocheting is probably right out, as it wasn't much of a thing, though apparently the author of the Modern Maker has sorted out a way to do it very finely so it looks like needle or bobbin lace.

Here are the pair I made based off of this one at the MET. These are the fourth pair of 18th C stays I've made. :-) I keep getting slightly better each time.

Do NOT listen to the others that say zip ties - what they most likely mean is Duct ties. Duct ties are awesome - and what I use- but they are thicker and come in longer lengths than zip ties. Duct ties can come in lengths up to a yard (I heard of a magical 48" long duct ties pack once but I've not personally seen it) and are available in the same section as zip ties, normally, at your favorite hardware store. You will need heavy duty scissors to cut the ties to length and you will need a nail file or one of those sandpaper cubes to file the ends so they don't poke through the fabric.

As for a pattern - I've tried the Simplicity Pattern 3635 and it came out too big - despite a fairly decent mock up. Make it at least a size smaller than you normally would because you want to be squished. As u/stringthing87 stated, JP Ryan is also a very good pattern - I've used the gown pattern from JP Ryan and love it.

You will want to get a copy of Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion (https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Fashion-Construction-Clothes-1560-1620/dp/0896760839/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0W87GRAAK069HWTTFWD3)

There are a series of 3 outfits in that book that belonged to some Swedish nobles (the Sture family) in the 1560's that will give you a fairly good pattern for the clothing that you want.

Those pants are called "pluderhosen" and are pretty tricky to construct. I'm someone with a decent amount of historical costuming experience and I'm just now starting the project to make these after building 4 pairs of simpler pants to work on building up the techniques. I'm fairly satisfied with my most recent version which is based on some of the more simple versions in the Meyer fechtbuch that lack panes, and that might be a good place for you to start as well.

These pants are quite the engineering project, so you'll have to carefully read Janet Arnold's notes and take care to make sure that you understand the correct techniques. There are a large number of gathers and these all must be hand-sewn or the garment will not work. Keep in mind that there is a form-fitting inner lining, an overly large lining layer that is gathered at the waist & leg cuff, and another somewhat fitted (in the crotch) outer layer that includes the panes.

Yes there is a codpiece. It's fairly substantial, but it gets hidden somewhat by the puffs of its inter-lining and it gets somewhat buried by the volume of fabric that surrounds it.

The length of the pluderhosen seems to vary between just above the knee and just below the knee. Longer seems to be more popular with younger, more flashy men and shorter seems to be the more conservative version for the period you're interested in.

Patterns of fashion also has a pattern for a shirts and doublets that should provide a similar fit to the ones seen here.

You may also want to pick up Matthew Gnagy's "The Modern Maker vol 1: Men's doublets" (https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Maker-Mens-Century-Doublets/dp/0692264841). The book describes all of the steps for constructing a doublet (they're more complicated than you might think), though the pattern provided by that book is Spanish and is from a few decades later than the Meyer Fechtbuch.

The two big details to keep in mind are 1) doublets stop at the natural waist (belly-button level) not your hips (which is where modern people usually wear their pants) and 2) the German doublets have a more squared waistline compared to English, Spanish, & French doublets of the era.

The "extra" piece of clothing over the doublet is a jerkin. In German, these get called a "ledergollar." They were frequently made of leather and slashed or pierced. There's a nifty one in Patterns of Fashion that you could use for a pattern; though the original was meant for a child.

The hats of the 1570's aren't the "pizza hat." Those are the really large hats from the earlier "landsknecht" era. By the 1570's the hats are smaller (like in picture #7 of your album), though a lot of woodcuts from this era show a different style called a "tall hat." The floppy hat that you linked (pic 7) is probably a variant of the flat cap. There are some flat cap patterns in Patterns of Fashion, though IIRC, those all require a bit of a gather, which is probably not quite how to make the one that you linked. Tall hats are kind of a cross between a bowler hat and a top hat. They're constructed using wool felt that is shaped over a hat block. You could also get away with a knit and fulled wool flat cap for this period.

You should look into the "one hour" dresses. They were super popular in the 20's, can be made into day dresses or night dresses depending on the notions and trim, and are incredibly simple to make; Closet Historian and Morgan Donner both have videos of them making them! But if you don't want to look into that, personally I'd pick the afternoon dress. They're really comfortable, and a lot more forgiving of mistakes compared to a lot of the evening wear options.

As for foundations, you want a bandeau bra done in the 1920's style (Long Haired Flapper has a good video), and a pair of knickers (you could opt for Cami-Knickers, too, if you'd rather have a one piece). Longline high waisted girdles are optional imo.

I have a pinterest board that has some undergarment examples if you want to look through it for ideas. But the point is largely to give yourself as straight and boyish a figure as possible- which is exactly what 1920's undergarments were designed to do in most cases... Though how much shaping you actually need is largely dependent on how loose your dress is in the first place. But in general, anything that helps you achieve at least some bust reduction is A+ regardless of whether you go with the Evening, Afternoon, or 1 hour dress.

In terms of additional resources, while I personally hate the book, 1920's Fashion: The Definitive Source Book is fairly easy to get through the Inter-Library Loan system and is perfect if you really want a massive amount of visual references in the way of fashion plates from the era. Because that's all the book is.

Thanks! I'll answer your questions with some depth.

1. The maille is actually the most affordable flat ring I could find - it's the 44" haubergeon from GDFB. I got it through Kult of Athena here: http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=AB2462. The maille is gorgeous, it stuns people when they see it up close.
   
   

• Couple of fair warnings - I am only 5'6" and 140 lbs. so I am on the small side. Maille is interesting in that it form-fits as the rings space themselves closely. So this could fit someone slightly larger than me, but if you're big I would advise giving yourself some space.
  
  
• Next warning - the maille comes absolutely drenched in nasty oil. While it prevents rust, it will soil your clothes. I put the maille in a little bit of soapy water in a bucket, sloshed it around, and dried off just to remove some of that excess oil. But the shirt I wear is 100% dedicated to the maille as it's now quite nasty looking. Even the pants got really nasty which made me pretty sad. So buy a shirt or gambeson to use solely with your maille.
  
  
• Final warning - this stuff is heavy. The shirt weighs 19 pounds. I mean it genuinely feels dense when you pick it up. That said, when it's on you it distributes the weight fairly well. Enough that I can jump around and stuff. But god, what a pain on the shoulders. You may consider padding your shoulders if you intend to wear it for hours on end. And be prepared to test your endurance. That weight will catch up with you after a few hours.
  
  

2. The boots are a now discontinued Slavic design from Armstreet, custom to my measurements. I highly recommend their garb department! Everything I've ever got from them has been nothing short of amazing. I've used these boots heavily for 2 years and they look almost new. All I use is a bit of Bickmore leather lotion every 6 - 12 months and make sure to wipe the boots down when you get home from an event.
   
   
3. The garb is all purchased. The shirt is a linen piece by GDFB from Kult of Athena. Great quality, but it looks like a modern Indian shirt if you don't cover it up.
   
   Pants are the Flax Norman trousers from Armstreet in wine red. Custom made to my size, beautiful through and through.
   
   The mantle is actually the first piece of costume I ever bought. It's a leather hood from the Colorado Renaissance Festival. I get a lot of compliments for it!
   
   
4. I'll definitely see about shooting some photos. Right now all my stuff is dirty and needs washed though. It's nothing special - suit up in your soft kit from head to toe, boots included. Then put on the chainmail according to this video. Once the maille is on, belt it tight enough that it takes some of the weight off your shoulders. Then put on the baldric, attach the sword. Put the hood on and put the gauntlets on. Then the helmet. Et VOILA!
   
   There's no pointing of armor here, no padding, nothing special. I am looking to get some steel demi-greaves for my upper legs and knees. I got one too many wooden swords to the patella when fighting the kids. And I think a little more steel would really up the 'knight' look.
   
   Let me know if you have any other specific questions, happy to answer!

I have a book called The Dress of the People by John Styles that’s super informative. I got it through my local library.

https://www.amazon.com/Dress-People-Everyday-Fashion-Eighteenth-Century/dp/0300121199/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=the+dress+of+the+people&qid=1570843221&sprefix=the+dress+of+the+peop&sr=8-1

You may also check out Colonial Williamsburg’s website or The School of Historical Dress.

If you narrow your focus to a geographical area it will make things easier on you (France, The UK, the Colonies, etc.).

Also you can ask a librarian at your local library to help you (many libraries allow you to do this via email as well). Just make sure it’s an actual library and not a clerk. You can ask for the reference desk and say you need help with research for school if you’re not sure.

Peachey Press does a good range of books on costume of the Tudor/Stewart period. The one I have is this one:

http://www.stuart-hmaltd.com/stuart-clothing-users-guide.php

I've also used a brilliant book for medieval outfits

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-Costume-Recreate-Fashion-Costumes/dp/0486429857

Hope those are useful.

Don't be intimidated by stays! A lot of people are worried about building corsets, but many garments feature trickier sewing. Linda Spark's book might use a victorian corset for the example, but it has a lot of good tips for working with corsets in general, and fitting them. Reconstructing History's 1740s-90s stays pattern is nice, and the company is very responsive to any inquiries you might have during build.

See if you can get your hands on one of Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion books, specifically Vol. 1

This volume has patterns from 1660-1860, so it's much wider a range than what you're looking at, but it'll definitely have detailed and exceptionally authentic regency patterns. Janet Arnold's books are known internationally as being some of the most historically accurate, and they're very in depth. It should have everything you're looking for :)

Sashes were a common part of military uniforms. They were often made from silk for higher ranking officers and wool for lower ranking officers. As you can see in other pictures of Frederick II, it looks like he favored some sort of silky, textured sash with a thick, long fringe. You could probably get a similar effect from something like a lightweight grey scarf or pashmina.

The book "Evolution of Fashion" is also a great resource for historical pattern shapes: https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Fashion-Pattern-1066-1930/dp/0896760995

I got these trousers for my husband in the grey mist colour. The top fit good, but I had to take in the seat and the thighs, and change the shape of the leg because the silhouette wasn’t quite Regency.