Of lovely April
days, invasion of cat, white pelisse, and other many distractions. This is the blog
as it was meant to be!
Last week-
The making of the
white pelisse-
The sun has shone, the
grass and weeds are happy. The bees buzz, there are butterflies, the
garden is in its purple Spring phase. I might have been
distracted from costuming but I have been refining copies and
interpretations of fashion plates to show the latest additions to
Gwendoline's wardrobe as well as constructing 18th Century
items for myself, so it has been busy.
I decided to use a clingfilm base and made Gwendoline a masking
tape shell. This was sectioned into pattern parts and then cut and flattened
to create templates- and it worked! There is very little gaping, or
bowing, or pinching – all without any fiddling, adjusting or
cheating in any way. Umm, wow. Don't worry, it won't last.
This of course has lead
to unwise decisions, there is no point having patterns that will only fit once, I wanted to find out how flexible this approach would let me be – 1820s shapes- lower waist, broader
shoulders, exaggerated sleeves and decoration. The fabric is curtain
offcuts – trying to look like a heavy weave cotton or linen but I'm
thinking that the closest this has come to nature was being sat on by
an invading cat. ( I yelled, it went from snooze to panic in one
move, did a complete circuit of the kitchen tops and windowsills at
full pelt before escaping out the backdoor, fled through the hedge
and off down the road.... leaving me with hairy fabric and chaos!)
One idea arising from the gingham frock (last week) was
using the smocking as a substitute/sculptural form of gathering, so
set out to try a Juliet style sleeve with the repeated gathered
bands down the arm. I also wanted to do more with pleating on the
bodice. Even my favourite pelisse has gathers above and below the
waistline. This fabric is quite stiff, it will bend and flex but
goes clumpy and lumpy on curves and bulks up very quickly. The
pleats in the back look good but have left the waist heavy, a wider
waistband than originally planned might be needed or else the
waistline is going to end up the thickest part of the whole garment! |
| last week's progress |
Having faith in the
pattern pieces makes such a difference – and saved so much time. No
repeat fittings, unpicking and realigning. Getting from 'what shall I
do now?' to having a believable bodice took less than an hour. The
smocking took about the same. If I had a brain I would have done the
smocking before making up and attaching the sleeve. But the sleeve
was a bit of a guess, I knew I wanted more fullness at the back
rather than the front, and that Pingu arms must be avoided. So I began
with a basic gathered sleeve shape and made the curve at the top
steeper and off centre . It did take some minor fiddling as the
fabric protested about curves but it sits reasonably well, although
many sins may be lost in the puffiness. And of course the piece I
cut as a pattern is now firmly attached !.
This week-
Overall the pelisse has worked quite well- the good times did not last The collar was a problem, it still tries to stick straight out rather than relaxing on the shoulder. Repeated washing did not help it, the fabric has a great deal of 'boing' - it tries to reset itself to flat each time. The radial pin tucks have helped a little and something to experiment with later on. Fears about the waist at the back were well founded, it is thick and seriously needs stiffening. Perhaps come at it from the end - put a bow on the waistband cb so the bulk becomes deliberate ( see little blue example above).I do wish this stuff would make its mind up - it bends when I don't want it to and is too stiff when I want it to bend.
As a relatively plain pelisse it is fine, the gathers in the sleeves give it more character and style. The gathering on the centre back should perhaps only be attempted with finer cloth. Poor Gwen does not look terribly happy it. It does nothing for her figure - the extra bulk on the waist is not good , there is nothing voluptuous or even jelly-on-a-plate-ish about her to give definition, she ends up looking like a tree trunk. In the plates above, the waist is so narrow in comparison to the shoulder/ sleeve line, and Gwen goes in just a little and out not a lot. I do wonder about making her a set of stays /padded bodice- can't pull her in but might be able to push her out. ( I'm sure I thought this before sometime - a little set of transitions with bust enhancer?)
One moment - repeated washing? Knowing how much I enjoy domestic chores you will have realised this had to be an emergency. Well, first the 'sharps' needle I was using was very sharp and I hadn't noticed, second time was due to creating drawings in pastels. The washing has caused problems, now the lining is not happy at the armhole, causing the wrinkling seen above, a bit of unpick and pull will hopefully sort it but this garment will remain untouched until the pastel phase ends.
Distractions-
1. Pastels- not a medium I usually use but... apart from the dust .....they are quite fun.
2. The fake book. - it started with a charming photo posted on facebook from the Australian Jane Austen Festival in Canberra. In the general flow of very learned conversation we decided the photo looked like a book cover, couldn't resist it, and.... Last time I caught up it was either Mr D would emerge a la wet shirt, or she had just shoved him in. The drawing took over a morning and then working out the editing programme took about the same. (Gimp2 - a free download, complex but very good)
3. Gave up putting it off and set up a website- AARGH.
Pastels were easy, Gimp is straightforward. If I had known how to do this it would have been simple! Used Google sites, free, supposed to be an easy site builder, self hosting, and well I'm googled for almost everything else. Looking back, once the mind shift was made, it was straightforward enough. Over riding the templates was the most frustrating thing - typing in black, size 12 in default font to find it published in blue, boxed in a corner and.......
Hopefully all sorted, hopefully,.... Feeling very exposed at the present. Be warned - will have to start experimenting with promoting it next....
And totally recommend
BBCs "At Home With The Georgians: A Man's Place.
So much more than important people and oh look at the houses. Well done to Amanda Vickery.
