Sempstress

Nothing makes a pant look as fantastically olde-timey as a fall front. Unfortunately, a real fall front is a pain in the patouty to sew (trust me), and it’s not something that can be added in after the fact in any sort of historically accurate manner. Fortunately, if you’re not 100% concerned about authenticity, it’s easy enough to add a mock fall to existing pants…. Read the rest of this entry »

Ankle measurements are useful for knitting custom socks (why, don’t you?), making jewelry (specifically anklets), and fitting big-poofy-gathered-at-the-ankle style pants (clowns, harem pants, etc).

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Calf measurements are used for tall boots, tall spats, and jodhpurs and fitted crop pants.

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Knee measurements are used any time a garment fits close around the knee.  I mostly seem to use them for making gathered bloomers and knickers.

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Thighs happen.  I’ve personally always found that a bit disappointing, especially when I try to find pants that fit.  If you’re making a bifurcated nether-garment of any sort, and you want it to fit over your thighs, it’s helpful to have a proper measurement.  This measurement is also used in many men’s short-pants throughout history (canions, slops, etc).

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The Inseam is the classic measurement used by tailors everywhere to hem a pant.  It runs along the inside of the leg, from the crotch to the welt of the shoe, and has been the source of a lot of humor about pant fittings. Because of that, many of us use the, ahem, “less personal” Outseam measurement….

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Measuring the  Waist to Ground Length correctly is crucial for several things.  Most obviously, it’s used for making skirts that fall fully to the ground.  It’s also the measurement I rely on for estimating fabric use in historical work, as the vast majority of the fabric is in the skirts.

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The Waist to Full Hip measurement is used to fit pants, fitted skirts/dresses, and very long line corsets.  It’s the secret measurement that lets you make patterns that keep skirt hems and prints level on figures with a pronounced tum or bum.  (For historical purposes, making patterns up using a modified Waist to Full Hip measurement taken over hip pads/skirt supports can be used to keep hems and fabric patterns level.)

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The Waist to High Hip measurement tells us how long the curve between the waist and the curve of the hip is.  It’s used in making pants and fitted styles of  skirts and dresses that fit properly, and is extremely important in creating long line corsets that are comfortable to wear.

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The Full Hip measurement is, as advertized, the measurement of the fullest part of the hips.  For some of us, this sits down on the thigh, and causes us to flee in horror from any pair of jeans that boasts of being “cut slim through the thigh”.  Beyond being crucial to making sure that a pant or a fitted skirt fit well, the Full hip measurement is important in extreme long line corsets of the Edwardian period.

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