Projector
I’ve never scaled up a pattern from a book. This year, I made a point of acquiring all the biggies of the historical costuming library like Janet Arnold and Jean Hunnisett. They’re chock filled with patterns on teeny grids that you’re supposedly able to use. But how? Nobody would fill me in on that part. I’ve been in the dark.
Having recently figured out how to use my LCD projector with my desktop computer, I decided that “projector” meant “enlarger.”
First, I scanned Jean Hunnisett’s pattern for reproducing Elizabeth I’s Darnley bodice, which is a classic high-neck, closed, front-fastening bodice. This seems like an awfully good base for an 1580s bodice a la Lettice Knollys.
Projected image of Hunniset pattern
Next, I arranged the projector in front of an empty wall, where I’d taped some old xmas wrapping paper (only paper I could find). Then I projected the scanned image from my computer to the wall.
Tracing the pattern image was made more difficult by the fact that the wall is textured. Ugh. But I got the basic shape sketched.
I took the resulting “pattern” back to the sewing room, smoothed the lines, cut it out, slapped it on some muslin, eye-balled some seam allowances, and basted it together.
The first try was weird. The back was waaaaay too small, like, Barbie doll size small, yet the front had a good 4″ extra. I thought the back piece looked odd. So I added a ton of inches all around on the back and trimmed a little from the front. Re-basted. Now the back was way too big. The front was ok. Took a lot out of the center back, re-cut, re-basted.
It looked a little wonky, but kinda sorta in the right vicinity. I left it on Lola and went to bed. Oh and I hadn’t tried any of this on me in my Renaissance corset yet — I’d just done a vague test-fit on the dressform wearing a Victorian corset. So I knew there was much work to do.
Enter Sarah, who is, of course, a goddess and rocks my small, dark world! I am really fucking lucky to know and be friends with brilliantly knowledgeable, talented, and generous people like her and Kendra. I owe them so much. Seriously. I owe Aouda to Kendra, and I’m gonna owe this ren gown to Sarah. I quite literally Could Not Have Done It Without Them. It’s like some crazy wonderful bonus that they’re both fun, cool gals who I really enjoy hanging out with! What did I do to deserve this???
Ok, enough gushing, back to the dress diary :-)
Sarah arrived Saturday afternoon and fitted my mockup on me over my ren corset (which, while fitting properly, is so goddamned uncomfortable because it is tab-less that I absolutely have to make a new one, dammit). She moved the shoulder seams around, she darted the back and drafted it right out, she re-drew the waistline, and she did all kinds of other magical things I can’t begin to explain. We made at least two more mockups over the course of the day, and the last one was killer. She also drew out a perfectly wonderful pattern from it, so I am perfectly set to make an awesome bodice!
YAY!!!
The mockup photos are shown on my dressform with a Victorian corset, so the fit doesn’t look as spectacular as it does on me in the right corset, so just trust me. Also, the collar and skirtings are only pinned on, but they fit. I drafted the skirtings all by myself Sunday after Sarah left, and they’re based on the Knollys portrait.
Then I drafted the sleeves. I used Hunnisett’s “large Elizabethan sleeve” and instead of fucking around with the projector, this time I used Different Tools. I covered my cutting table with a cardboard “cutting mat” (the kind sold cheap at any sewing store). The mat is printed with a 1″ grid. I laid the tracing paper over this. I covered this with tracing paper. I’d bought a big roll of it at the art store (it’s a little narrower than I’d prefer, but it does the job).
Then I counted the squares in the grid of Hunnisett’s pattern and counted out the squares on my paper. With a lot of counting and using the French curve, I managed to transfer the sleeve shape from the book to the paper.
Finally I cut it out in muslin, basted it together, and pinned it to the bodice mockup.
Sleeve mockup
Kinda hard to tell what it’ll look like because the muslin is so soft and the final sleeve will be much more stiff. I may poke around The Stash and see if I can find scraps of something sturdier for the next mock.
The basic shape here is what I want, but I think I need more fullness in the sleeve head and a tad more at the wrist. I might take the overall width down for the inner sleeve and then expand for the outer sleeve — this one is right in-between and not quite big enough for what I want the entire thing to be. But very close.
Other things accomplished this weekend — farthingale prep. I scaled up the Spanish farthingale pattern from The Tudor Tailor, using the same tracing-on-grid method. I still need to make the size fit me, as that pattern is intended for a person slimmer and taller than me.
Sarah and I went to Orchard Supply Hardware, where she steered me towards a nifty 3/16″ vinyl-coated cable to use for farthingale boning. It’s heavy and doesn’t kink up, has a curve but not a tight coil, and it was 89 cents per foot. I needed 13 yards (39 feet), and I had a 10% off coupon, so it seems like a good deal compared to hoop steel. (Note: I just calculated same amount of 10mm hoop steel, that’d be $36.12 before tax and shipping; I paid $33.82 for the OSH stuff, so not a massive savings, but not bad either.)
She also showed me the famous cable ties. They look quite sturdy and are not as bulky as I feared. However, a pack of 10 was $5.99, and I’d need at least two, probably three, so that’s $12 minimum before tax. It was $13.79 to bone the first ren corset with steel from Farthingales LA, including tax and shipping, plus it took less than a week for the order to arrive. Thus, no savings on the plastic vs. steel. Besides, I’d have to cut and file the cable tie ends so they don’t poke thru the fabric; steel comes smoothly pre-tipped.
Still, interesting to finally see what everyone was talking about. And if I get tired of steel someday, I’ll give it a shot! I’m just so partial to steel in corsets. It feels good. I feel secure. Maybe it’s from when I weighed more. Maybe it’s just because people told me to use it and I did. Maybe it’s because of all those plastic-boned Frederick’s “corsets” I used to have in my goth-clubbing days — I knew they weren’t real corsets, but I bought them anyway and wore them and they kinked and bent and gave up the ghost after two or three wearings. I dunno why, I just like steel. Give me a corset that feels like armor or give me death! That’s my prejudice and I’m sticking with it ;-)
So now I’ve got a bunch of lists of things to do for this Renaissance gown and some stuff I still need to buy for it. But I feel really good about it now! I’m jazzed. I feel like I can do it, like I can even get an untrimmed, no ruffs, no hat version done by the SCA 12th Night event of Sarah’s, which she totally got me excited about going to! Thomas is even gonna go, and we’ll stay the night. It’ll be so fun!
I’m going to practice ye olde Basic Faire Accent even. I love playing the part in costume. It’s so much more fun to be dressed up *and* in character. And Renaissance character acting was what really got me into costuming in the first place. So there’s a whole homecoming thing going on in my head that makes me happy.
This gown originally started as a way to ‘return to my roots,’ where Thomas and I met, and where I first started costuming. Well, we may not return to the exact scene, but we’ll go somewhere similar, and play around with our old parts, in new and improved garb. That’s all I really want — a return to the spirit of the thing.
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