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.

Bunny- sitting 2

Second bunny-sitting  garment.

Having fallen out of love with the purple velvet I spent this week trying some of the planned amendments out on a second Gwendoline spencer. (Gwendoline is the mannequin)

I had taken a piece of midweight plain fabric as an emergency travel stash on the bunny-sitting mission, quite textured, parentage unknown, loose weave. This was flexible enough for most things but prone to stretch and fray when bullied.

 

The old gwen pattern was redrawn  on paper, sliced and sellotaped back together to give the base shapes. It needed a tighter back with more visible seams, the shoulder further down, the back seam closer to the centre line to give more of the diamond shape to the back panel, the fit on the shoulder was suspect as well.

 

 The adjustments are moving in the right direction – the seams are further back and more shapely, the sleeve is more fitted and the front dart gives a sleeker fit. The back seems to big again and hangs quite boxily, not as smartly as the front.

 

Some extra fitting was needed ( helped by Bob the cat), the length of the shoulder had to be reduced to pull the sleeve head up onto the point of the shoulder and then the back was made narrower with a centre seam and a separate side back piece made.  The back seam is tapered so it is no longer hanging on the grain, this fabric will distort but I didn't have enough with me to cut a new piece. It will have to be declared another design feature not a half resolved problem.

    The result was nicely unfussy and clean. And then I went and had another look at the Met Museum's collection.( metmuseum, images and details)   What is it about the decorated pelisse? I like plain, I don't own anything with a flounce or frill, but these guys are entrancing. Don't look at the back, that is over the top in a majorly dramatic way, but the front – relying on the difference in texture rather than colour to create ornament is rather lovely. The style of the braiding is military-ish, influenced by the frogging and decoration on a hussar's jacket which was so popular at the time. The lines exaggerate the tight waist and wide shoulders, things I am trying not to do on Gwen, but still wanted to have a go. I tried buying but colour matching was a problem, the bought was too clean and bright, too perfect. So back to the crochet hook, one advantage of having a selection of vintage yarn.  Making the braid and then applying it has doubled the construction time but the cats enjoyed it! The pattern is from the Met example but modified, the central panel is lost and the number of twists  reduced, but the double crochet chain is not too far away from the ladder style braiding used. While the colour is not the same as the ground the contrast is quite mild and not too intrusive. The back is entirely made up. Just take a look at the Met link and you will see why.

The quietness of the fabric colour and the defined shapes work well on Gwendoline, she seems more in keeping with the clothing this time, the seaming gives a reason for the wide shoulders but nothing can be done for her posture.

As after thoughts go this has been quite a good one, the shapes and fit are better. If this is good base then experimenting further will be made much easier. Looking again at some of the extant pieces more extreme armholes are a possibilty. On some the sleeve is set incredibly far back, leaving a very narrow centre back panel. And of course the fullness and style of the sleeve and collar are to be played with as well. I still like the outer wear best for some reason, seeing as the dress and spencer have evolved from the same pattern  this seems strange and illogical.  Lots to do. Should I top stitch around the neck line to stop the facing rolling outwards? Back to saying  Ummm........