Sunday 29 June 2014

gentleman's toiles

week II  - Northern College of Costume.  1830 Gentleman's outfit - toiles.


 Not a powerful lot to show for a challenging week. This was a preparation week - finishing drafting, drawing up, constructing toiles, a first fitting, and redrafting. In amongst this we also fitted a day of fly fronts and split fall samples. Add into that waistcoat collar and buttonhole  traumas plus a visit to the Quilting Museum to see the costume exhibition, and it seems amazing that it was only 5 days.
In fact it was so engaging that I forgot to take photos of most of it- again. Did get the camera out but not much further....

Main task of the week was finishing drafting and assembling the Cossack trousers, waistcoat and frockcoat for the 1830s gentleman's outfit.  We were working from the patterns set out by R I Davis in  Men's Seventeenth & Eighteenth Century Costume: Cut and Fashion   which are long lists of  dot to dot  coordinates and instructions with line diagrams. Should end up something like this from the V&A.
 Getting started was scary - there was maths involved but thankfully  a logic in the construction  which helped. The drafted patterns were then transferred to calico,  cut out, marked up and assembled into the toile (test garment).
pattern for the frock coat










brave soul!






  The deadline for this was Thursday when my poor victim was coming in for the first fitting. This should have been traumatic as most of the measurements were guess work.( the one we actually had was wrong!) but it went very well. Some parts  - neck lines - have to go out a bit, the shirt collar redone completely, some parts have to get longer - the waist of both trousers and waistcoat plus the coat hem, and  we are creating a side seam in the coat to give the torso more shape.  These adjustments have been made on the pattern pieces and some have been redrawn ready for  next week when we make up the trousers for real.  I'll show the fabric and details of the design and construction in the next post.



The other practical this week was samples for trouser fastenings; button flies and splitfalls.  Guest tutor Julia took us for this - we made calico and woollen cloth samples for the flies and just a calico for the splitfalls.
Flies seem to have an accepted standard layout but the splifalls seem to be more of a moveable feast, the principle remains but the number and placement of buttons, plackets, etc, can changeable. Where the photos  for the wool cloth flies and the splitfalls are I don't know! - just imagine them - like the example from Augusta Auctions, beautiful, precise, immaculate - I wish! The idea is that there are flaps that crossover and fasten with buttons behind the front panel that covers all the draughty bits and buttons up like a bib front. The 2 buttons either side at the waist are for braces.

example from Augusta Auctions

 The first revision is done - replacing the shirt collar was completed yesterday - lounging on the sofa, munching raspberries and cashews, watching a borrowed film- The Company of Strangers- worth a watch if you are after something intriguing and quiet rather than dramatic.

Sunday 22 June 2014

man's shirt c 1830s

Northern  College  of Costume, York.  Summer Course- wk 1 -shirt


Actually started! This is a costume course - not a 'lets make a historically accurate garment down to the very last detail' course. Modern machines and techniques are used so don't expect a purist's outcome. In other words - overlocked and machine sewn.
From V&A, earlier but similar

project one -  gentleman's ensemble c 1830s


Waugh, Norah. The Cut of Men's Clothes, 1600-1900
First the shirt - this was based on the Norah Waugh pattern for the 1700s/early 18th C. The cuffs are changed to  fitted ones and a stock at the neck rather than cravat. It is fitted at the neck and cuff, quite tight at the armhole - but  most of the rest is just gathered in almost all directions- and with gusset mania .  There is a huge amount of fabric in the body and sleeve- it is hard to imagine it 'fitting' anyone except the Michelin man.

Also, being a forward thinking and highly organised person I did take a camera everyday to record the process - then forgot to use it. The construction images are from a mini version done yesterday as a 'revision' exercise.

Task one -
First scaling up and drafting. This was simple enough - it is all right angled blocks - although my fabric pieces tended to change shape somewhat after their experience of the industrial overlocker. Must remember not to giggle.

 The construction  should have been straight forward enough as well but there were one or two tricks and ideas (and gussets) to play with-
frill and placket on my small version
A small  dart into the centre front at base of the neck opening was new idea 1 for me. This gives a small allowance for the placket and it worked well. Having the placket behind the top fabric was different- the buttons on the chest are hidden.





New idea 2  was to  put in a  gusset into the shoulder seam at the neck.  This  gusset is folded into a triangle and  opens out the seam to give some shaping at the base of the collar to allow for the slope of the shoulder line. On the photo, to the left of the frill, the folded gusset is quite clear, sticking up above  the flat line of the shoulder seam.




underarm gussets, raw edged and partly felled
On to gussets 2. This was not a thing I was looking forward to but it went well - just had to be careful about leaving seam allowances at the first and third corners  and lining up the seams at right angles. Locating the second part of the underarm to complete the  gusset (corner 3 &4) did get a little confusing - first find the back of the sleeve in all of those billows of fabric!
Another folded gusset  (number 3s) opens the  bottom of the  side seam.


The rest was familiar territory, which means it was more frustrating to make errors.
I had a proper Wednesday which  was frustrating - it was collar day. The process is simple enough but there was plenty of fight left in the shirt. There is gathering all round the neck, with tucks at the shoulder on the gussets. Problem one gathering evenly, problem 2 stopping the fine fabric of the collar from rucking and pleating as I was machining, and problem 3, of course remembering to fold the top placket back underneath the shirt front before attaching the collar. Once all of this was sorted out ( unpicking skills to the fore) the iron decided to strike and mark the fabric as it was pressed. It will come out in the wash, it will.....

After this it was sleeve plackets and then cuffs. These we cut with a slight flare to go down onto the hand and to be buttoned at the wrist. Guess who got the buttonholes muddled?  My model - the Phantom Man of Mystery -will use cufflinks now. I shall cite one of the V&A examples if challenged.










Now that the shirt is done the rest of the ensemble was begun - Cossack trousers (pleat fronts) waist coat and frock coat, had to be drawn out and pattern pieces made. Ron Davis' patterns were the guiding light for these, they are not hard but do require some maths, precision and care - all of which were in short supply on a Friday.  A minor concern is the elusive nature of my male model - only 3 confirmed measurements ( or is that sightings?) - I am beginning to visualise him as somewhere between the Cheshire Cat, fading in and out of existence leaving only traces, and the Scarlet Pimpernel, - we seek him here, we seek him there....  We have done best guess patterns based on a similar guy and will run up the toiles next week  for a fitting. It is going to be an interesting time!
Photos and reports on these next week.......













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Sunday 15 June 2014

1795 Round Gown - the accidental dress.

This is a dress that never was meant to be -it is  an accidental dress; I couldn't think my way through a construction so decided to make a mini version to test ideas.
Sensible decision?
 Seeing as it wasn't meant to be happening most of the making hasn't been recorded.






 Moving on from the chemise a la reine-
my illustration for my chemise a la reine based on a
Gallerie des Modes original.
KCI round gown 1795ish
 it seemed right to stick to the drawstring idea but move it on 10 or 20 years.  The KCI (Kyoto Costume Institute) has a lovely light linen example - printed with carnations-  but as usual in these things a full 360 eluded me, so had to make up the back.

 The gowns have a lot in common - the drawstring reigns supreme and while the round gown skirt  has more fullness at the back  but is gathered all the way round.  The sleeve is still shaped and in two parts,  but I can not see clearly enough to see if the shoulder strap is still a separate piece or not. The  shapes and fitting, however,  are changing; the back is cut and fitted and the waist is migrating  rapidly upward.


The model I chose to make is a real hybrid - or transition piece. The back is panelled and  semi fitted, the separate shoulder strap is now part of the front bodice piece, leaving a diagonal seam on the back  It is still depending in drawstrings for fitting at the front and has a decidedly fuller back skirt. For mine the bodice and skirt are made separately and joined at the waist.


bodice pieces
 The dress began with the bodice - shoulder seams and bodice front first, because I wanted the neck complete to start making the channels for the drawstring. The bodice is lined and the channel is made by the stitching for the neck edge  and a second run of stitching parallel to the edge. The drawstring is threaded between the 2 layers of fabric and tied at the centre front. But where to attach the strings? Some seem to go all of the way round the neck, others just the front neck. Mine are anchored to the seam allowances for the front bodice piece so only that central area is gathered.  And then to lace ruff or not?  No - this is an accidental dress not a full production piece.


rounded sleeves!
cuff and top stitching along front seam.
The side back panels were then sewn in place  and sleeves made up.  These  were fun - I top sewed the seams running up the arm - it really did make them rounded tubes - they very nearly managed to stand up but kept over balancing.  A simple binding was added as a cuff rather than the pleated example on the KCI dress. ( colour - the one on the left is accurate - it is the vile berry cloth I've used for linings! The more attractive rusty red is because of the late evening sun)




With the bodice complete the skirt was sewn up and attached.
About 3/5s of the volume is gathered and stitched down at the back. This looked so heavy that I introduced a couple of small pleats  on the centre back panel - a bit counter intuitive but it did work.  The front section was loosely gathered and sewn on.  The  channel for the waist drawstring was made using the seam allowances - folded upward inside and top stitched. Not ideal  or elegant but it served. I tried adding tape covering the seam and threading the string behind that but the additional bulk prevented it from gathering evenly.

A spot of hemming and it was done.  As a round gown - it functions. As an attempt at an accurate round gown - oops.
 Do not like the waist - the raw edges should be buried between the lining and top fabric- it should look effortless. ( the desire to see the mechanics and bones of  construction came much later!). The back should be more exaggerated - a real diamond with points at each corner- mine belongs to a slightly later period.






Was this wise to make? Ummm. It has tended to reinforce the problem areas and to confuse further.  It has also highlighted the 'maternity' quality of the style. Poor Gwen does look as if there are only a few weeks to go!  I hate the feeling of dissatisfaction with decisions made, even compromises should be happy ones.

 " 'Never mind' said the HMIs. 'Never mind.'"

Problem is - now part way through making a full size version of a round gown for me and am getting that same sinking feeling......
Time to go and attack a bush in the garden - something is bound to need brutal cutting, slashing, sawing, or  at least hitting!
 Oh, Happy Sunday!



























































Sunday 8 June 2014

chemise a la reine update.... A few hours later

Just couldn't do it, just couldn't leave it.  Kept it at bay by gardening etc, but then it rained. Trapped indoors with a nearly right costume and all the doings ready to hand......

Version II - muslin frill gone, lace attached. Did take over an hour to do but fortunately it was a good long shower. This time did remember to add a sash - a silk scarf. 



The lace is a straight strip so needed to be gathered slightly over the shoulders and back to give a frill rather than a collar.
I'm afraid it isn't antique - old nylon, but at least it isn't bright white and has a slightly yellowed pattern worked through it.







The scale of the new frill has changed the look of the dress. It may still be quite Edwardian but id less top heavy. The distance from neck to waist looks longer and the front pleating is visible without the monster overhang.  Okay the sash is a bit of over kill but the dress does look happier overall.








Every solution  does involve creating new problems- The shoulders are more exposed now - does the gap at the top of the sleeve look too big? More smocking? Yes, it does but not tonight now the light is fading. With the upper section narrower it should give that bell like shape over the elbow. The ribbons need to be on the lower gather aswell. I am reluctant to do too much to the sleeves - they will never work properly until Gwen gets arms, but still....

Does it look more like the original portrait of Marie Josephine? I think so.


































































chemise a la Reine - Gwen style.





This week's effort was meant to be light relief – I think you can guess what happened.
I picked an iconic garment from the 1780s; the chemise a la Reine. You probably know the dress even if the name is unfamiliar – think English country house portraits with white fluffy dresses, frothy at the neck with big coloured sashes and ribbons. The setting may be countryside, the lighting dramatic. Big picture hats, and occasional dogs or children.

This had begun life as a  'gaulle'  (robe a la gaule), a loosely fitted  dress of layers of muslin usually worn with fichu and apron. It was picked up as an informal relaxed style by Marie Antoinette and popularised by her, she even sent examples to the Duchess of Devonshire and Mary Robinson in England. It became known as a chemise a la Reine,  an insult - the Queen's underwear. This did not stop the dress becoming popular wear at  Petit Trianon and amongst the fashionable classes. The queen was criticised for  this - it was not suitable or appropriate for one of her status. Even the fabric was seen as unpatriotic,  the expensive cotton muslin had to be imported at a time when the home grown silk industry was in decline.

The basic idea of the dress is very simple- think sundress with sleeves. It is a large tube gathered at waist, neck and sometimes inbetween, to fit.  It has shoulder straps  and sleeves which are gathered at various places. Some have flouncy necklines, some lace, while others are left plain. Lots of ribbons and large sash complete the look. For 'simple' garments some examples are extravagant and flamboyant  expressions of wealth

There were many examples to select from,  Vigee LeBrun painted many of the grand ladies in the dress, remember the infamous one of  Marie Antoinette?, but this is the one  that appealed the most. –   a rather detached looking French lady and I liked the sleeve details. 

This portrait is of  the Countess of Provence, Maria Giuseppina of Savoy (known as Marie Joséphine in France)  dated 1782. ( Wikipedia is not flattering but in outline - she married  Louis Stanislas- younger brother to Louis XVI. They  escaped the violence in France and established a court in exile,  and following the death of the Dauphin her husband was declared King Louis the XVIII, she died in Buckinghamshire in 1810!).

There are many blog sites describing the making of the chemise but the only pattern guide I have found is a diagram from Norah Waugh. Unable to print it out, I measured off the screen, (umm) and drew up a rough outline of the main parts with 'hopeful' if not aspirational measurements.
 Norah Waugh's has 3 rows of gathering, the top neck edge and the 2 channels marked, Marie Josephine  only has 2 rows on the body, the top of the sleeve has a tighter band (can not make out how this is done), and a lace collar. Could not see the bottom of the sleeves so  prepared to make this up - as if the rest was incredibly accurate!

This an approximation of Waugh's outlines - I was able to cut the whole body out a single piece so the only seam is centre front. The circumference  of the tube is 1.26m to fit a bust size of 43cm! The sleeve looks huge -  45cm wide and the top of the sleeve is flat, the cuff is curved, which feels odd. So far it looks easy, and quick. Time to get real - fell seams ( I did French) = 2 rows of stitching, rolled hems on every raw edge, each gather needs a casing = 2 rows of stitching, and it all adds up.

The muslin I had is a gentle yellow tone rather than white, quite nice quality, evenly woven without slubs or snags. Meant it looked nice as it unravelled.

Making up -
The back neck edge is gathered onto a fixed band of cotton
tape to give some stability. The front neck edge is folded to give the dip to the centre front and used as a channel for the first drawstrings- these run from the armhole forward, I made eyelets so that the ribbon 'strings' could come out to the front to be tied. The waist channel (5 mm cotton tape) was marked and  stitched to the inside and the front seam closed upto Gwen's waist level. The remainder of the front opening was hemmed and folded under.

This was the body of the dress done.  Next was the shoulder pieces, These were adapted to fit Gwen but the rounded 'serifs' top and bottom were kept - these gave a rounded transition from shoulder to front and back neck.


 In the first image the sleeve is pinned in situ to get an idea of the space the strap has to fill, In the second the strap is drawn onto fabric and problem one is found - should the front be gathered right to the armhole or just to the edge of the shoulder piece? Opted for the second in the interests of reducing bulk. The bottom photo shows the sleeve coming up from below and attached to the strap lining piece. to the right is the front - seam done and the allowance folded upwards. The top part of the strap is already attached ( along blue line) and waiting to be flipped over to be edge stitched down onto  the same seam line as the lining. This encloses all the nasty raw edges. Sounds like a headache? Not really, just takes some planning, fiddling and patience. The result works well, no raw edges inside or out to worry about.
  Have you noticed problem 2? Forgot to reduce the top of the sleeve. Lesson - big, BIG stitches preferably in neon colours if ever you want to unpick on muslin. Having done some damage attempting to unpick the sleeve  an executive decision was made - live with it, reduce the top sleeve width by other methods.
Sulking gently it was neck line time - and no lace to suit! The modern stuff was toothpaste white or just not long enough so.....
Introducing extant example from Manchester -take a look at this site for fantastic firsthand details and images, This had a flouncy double frill at the neck,  so cut on a curve rather than a straight  gathered strip. This gobbles up huge amounts of fabric and is a pig and a half to hem. Nevermind. Bit of grit and a packet of biscuits ( plain and not greasy) and it was done. Done and then some - it is too much. And it is a nightdress. Hum. Not quite so bad with the waist drawn in but still..... problem 3.

Solution time.
Problem one sorted en route - only gathered the front neck edge on strings.
Problem 2 - needing to draw in the fullness at the top of the sleeve - smocking to the rescue. Did 2 rows of simple square smocking at the top of the arm ( mark a square and pull the opposite corners into the centre and secure. You get a four petalled flower on the stitch side and a square puff on the other. Just repeat.)  Probably should have done 3 or 4 rows for a denser effect but they can be added at will.

Problem 3 - uber frilliness. The fault lay in fully opening the neck gather and stitching the frill along its length - 25cm worth.  Solution was logical, less gathering . So unpicked the front,then gathered half of the neck edge and secured it.  Re attached the frill taking  11cm  off its length each side, neaten, and rejoice. The reduction in the amount of fabric in the frill  has helped a lot.

All it needs is sleeve gathering channels - surface mounted  muslin strips this time. I did experiment with more gathering rows but it became too congested - There is also the option of adding lace frills if it feels unfinished.
Washing time to get rid of the blue marker and then photoshoot!   Done. (not done - see the following posts!)
Odd thoughts - in the photos it looks Edwardian.But so did the Manchester one. I think the proportions may be out - more hip and less bust required?  The frill is too wide  -compare to the portrait- volunteering to re-hem all of that on the bias? - next lifetime may be. Meantime out with the bum rolls. Could possibly just roll the hem again? NO.
 Time for tea.
 But maybe the length of lace I just found could do the neck line better........ These are just details  the dress itself has worked well. There maybe an occasion to try the third row of gathering on the bust line in the future -  but it is huge - the volume is immense - 3 or 4 lengths of fabric for full size! No wonder they were considered as frivolous expensive things.....

Stray thought -Just trawling through images with no idea of the stories and history behind the people shown, so do tend to see them just as pictures – more likely to assess painting style and dress than anything else. By finding out more about the sitters, these are now dresses worn by people- not sterile museum exhibits. I started feeling uncomfortable about seeing them entirely as artefacts particularly as so many came to violent ends- what they wore only a few years before became less important. It is a little relief that this lady survived the Terror- imagine if I'd picked the next portrait along - Princesse de Lamballe - Marie Josephine's sister.

Sunday 1 June 2014

LACMA 1790 tailcoat - disaster


A productive and busy week. Completed a commissioned drawing which was pretty concentrated work, made an appalling fabric choice and set out to try the Los Angeles Museum of Art's (LACMA) pattern for a French 1790 tailcoat. This I thought would be a counterpoint to the ladies jacket completed a couple of weeks ago and a way of consolidating some of those new techniques. Oops. In fact, OOPS.

    Click on the picture for the LACMA collections page or on the link for the patterns page. Of course this  is the last one listed-
 
The LACMA download includes gridded outlines to scale up, very brief notes, and one drawing of the centre back detail. It looked enough – having worked from Janet Arnold Fashion and from the NSCT pattern sheets- this was familiar territory and usually what I don't know someone else will tell me about. The usual sites offered general information  - http://www.marquise.de/ has a useful over view and some tips but the example she makes is from earlier in the century.   It was still useful to get me started - the general garment did not seem to alter much over time, just the styling and details. My general research led me in to allsorts of odd corners, how to get curled not flat revers, how to do the rolled collar, welted pockets,  more Garsault- L'Art du Tailleur (1769), but I have survived.
 
 
a close match?- David. Louvre


The fabric was lovely, at least to look at, a purpley maroon with a top layer of fine soft gold and a woven pattern of trailing flowers. What I didn't appreciate was the low ironing temperature, its indestructible belief that creases are bad and the world should not have corners, and as for its ability to fray, to split at seams, to distort – utterly world class. The lining was the vile berry stuff used for the pink and dotty pelisse, so at least it was a known pain to deal with. Enough moan.


I think the pictures tell the story of its construction quite well - step one was making the pocket - and yes it is a proper opening one! From then on it was flat lined through out the major construction, back first then side and shoulder seams. Padding, interlining etc were tried one mad afternoon on the fronts but discarded - they were impossible to manage at this scale and attempted to bully me - never goes down well. At this point all was rosy. It seems so long ago....

It was collar time. The lapels form part of the front; there is a seam down each side roughly under the buttons and the points are curved back to make the lapel. This where it all goes wrong - the angles are not right, the roll back is too large and in getting that seam to sit in the right place the fit of the back is lost. This became apparent later; it was initially disguised by the Battle of Pad Stitch. This was pointed out as the traditional way of getting layers of fabric to fold or bend - as in a shawl collar or rolled lapel. Good little me tested it  and then applied. On one side the pad stitch is through an interlining and the underneath fashion fabric - not ideal but it seemed to work until the fabric started to separate and break up. On the other there is a pad stitched interlining sandwiched between the fashion fabric. This was fine with the bottom layer but was not strong enough to resist the top layer's desire to bounce back. The back of the collar was done in one rather than 2 pieces, for reasons of sanity, and pad stitched to death or at least until it stopped arguing.  It is not pretty from the inside but the stitching is hidden by the collar fall from the outside.
Sleeves were added - standard 2 parters, but at least I remembered to add the cuffs first. This is another part I am not happy with -  the proportions are wrong and I wasn't really sure of the construction details. They are best guess solutions but I do like the buttons.


 You can see how differently the coat sits now- the whole front has distorted - never mind, it can only get worse. Some of the seams are fraying as the gold thread gives up, and the top fabric is giving more than the lining so there are bumps and rolls forming. Can't win every time. Pah.










The final offering -  Don't look too closely.

 Some of the details still do please. Why I thought the pockets have to be for real I do not know- they are finger sized! and not big enough. They should fill the space from elbow to back button, but the urge to open them  and play is irresistible.
  What has been surprising is the button eating potential of this design. To date it has 12 on it, but there should be nearer 20. And as for the collar and lapels -  after an evening of quiet, calming meditations the collars are curving. It was 10 minutes first thing this morning with death threats and a steam iron that persuaded them.
Ok, I hate the fit - the distortion is so annoying but the gist of the coat is there, even though it is far more Sir Percy Blakeney dandy in it's exaggerations than respectable Frenchman. This is something I will have to come back to, hopefully with a fabric than doesn't think it's Tigger ( The wonderful thing about Tiggers
Is Tiggers are wonderful things.
Their tops are made of rubbers
The bottoms are made of springs.
They're
Bouncy,
Flouncy,
Trouncy,
Pouncy,
Fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!!!


The wonderful thing about Tiggers
Is I'm the only one
)

As long as the last line is true....and it didn't mention fraying..
 It has been abandoned outside all day - just went to fetch it in and there was a big happy bumble bee sat on one of the back buttons - somebody likes it!    Well, stap me! (is that right?)