Sempstress

There seems to be some confusion these days as to where waists are located.  Taking a waist measurement at the proper place is a crucial step in pattern making, especially for historical periods that emphasized the waist as a central point of the feminine silhouette.  We’re going to talk about the right way to take a waist measurement, as well as some “cheats” for specific body shape issues. Read the rest of this entry »

The bust measurement is probably the most important measurement when it comes to making any torso garment fit a woman.  Whether you’re making a sixteenth century corset, a modern jacket, or a 1960s trapeze dress, if it doesn’t fit correctly at the bust, it doesn’t fit.  How do you get the right measurement? Read the rest of this entry »

After years and years of showing the entire internet how to draft patterns to my measurements-du-jour, I’ve decided to start working with a model.  There’s a couple reasons…  Firstly, I already have more costumes than I possibly know what to do with.  I have so many that I’m trying to come up with ways to get rid of them, without actually taking the huge, ego-wrenching risk of putting things on ebay and finding out that my treasured work is not worth a 25$ bid.   Read the rest of this entry »

The surviving pattern published in Juan de Alcega’s ‘Libro de Geometria, Practica y Traca’(1589) represents almost everything we know about the farthingale. Most articles on recreating the Alcega farthingale focus on faithfully reproducing the pattern based on fabric widths. Honestly, though, calling this a “pattern” is a bit of an overstatement: the book was more intended as a series of cutting diagrams to help tailors avoid waste. The problem is, Alcega included some rather sharp commentary on on what he considered the proper size for the bottom hoop of the farthingale, but no real information on the size of the intended wearer. Complicating things further, modern bodies aren’t build quite like the popular model of the 16th century. So what’s a costumer to do? How about some trigonometry!

Trust me, this won’t hurt. Read the rest of this entry »

File this one under “possibly useful to some one, at some time, somehow”: this is a series of pictures of corsets I’ve made over the last several years. Each one shows me standing in profile, next to my dress dummy. This makes the changes in my shape imposed by each corset fairly obvious, and the pictures all together give you a pretty good idea what different types of boning and styles of corset can do for a girl. Read the rest of this entry »

To Pattern the Brim

To make the Brim pattern, you will need:

• a Flexible Ruler
• a Regular Ruler
• Paper (notebook/printer and larger)
• a Head (the one the hat is meant for)
• Scissors
• a French Curve (optional, but nice)

Read the rest of this entry »

This is a very popular style of bodice amongst the english during the Elizabethan period. It shows a distinctive inverted arch to the neckline. Read the rest of this entry »

The kirtle is sort of a general purpose under-dress. The pattern
being drafted below is actually somewhat earlier than the elizabethan period
– I’m basing the seam placement on Fouquet’s The
Virgin of Melun. Read the rest of this entry »

So, you’ve bought, begged, borrowed, stolen (I hope not), or been gifted with a dress dummy. It came with directions about how to adjust it to your size. The instructions they gave you were for modern clothing, and you wanted the dummy for to make ‘bethans. Read the rest of this entry »

I noticed a while back that most of the bodices in Alcega’s
book and several other period tailor’s books show a slight backwards S curve
at the front edge. That seemed like it would accommodate the bust and belly
a little, and I was feeling like being comfortable, so I decided to give it
a shot. I included a picture of what was left of the fabric after I cut the
pieces, because it looked surprisingly like bodice cutting diagrams shown in
period resources. The last picture is a boning diagram, just in case anyone
was curious.

Results and Notes:The resulting corset was quite
comfortable, and gives a very nice line. I was pretty happy with it. I didn’t
get that terrible sinking feeling you can sometimes get from a heavily boned
corset with a straight front

Would I do it again?: Yes. In fact, I’m actually planning to repair the one I made (the boning wore through wool surprisingly quickly, much to my dismay). But, honestly, to do it right I’d have had to remake all of my bodices with a curved front, and that was like work. Not sure I’ll do that. Trimming things gets complicated.