Centuries-Sewing

Tag: pattern drafting

  • Kirtle Sew-Along: Measurements and Adjustments

    Kirtle Sew-Along: Measurements and Adjustments

    Pattern Adjustments and Mock-ups

    To me this is the annoying and tedious part of sewing, but once it is done we will have a bodice pattern that fits and we can use for various projects. If you already have a block pattern by all means use it. I’m starting from the beginning because this is stuff I wish I knew when I was starting out.

    Materials:

    Pencil
    A small scrap of cardboard
    Tape
    Measuring tape
    A long Ruler
    Paper to trace your pattern on
    Muslin or calico for Mock-up(s)
    Scissors
    Narrow Elastic or Ribbon
    Tracing Wheel (optional)
    A pin

    Measurements:

    To start we need a few measurements, so take a second to change into a fitted knit top and if you wear extra support under your garb put that on too. I’m wearing modern jeans to show where where your waist is not.

    Natural  waist: ________ Take string or narrow elastic and tie it snug around your waist, wiggle around from side to side till it settles.  Make sure it isn’t twisted like mine is. This trick for finding the waist doesn’t always work, so a second way of finding it is to look at where your elbow falls, that will roughly tell you where your true waist is. (Thank you Elizabethan Costume facebook group for teaching me that proportional trick.)

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  • The Queen’s Servants Pointed Hood, or my Induction into a Secret Gnome Society.

    The Queen’s Servants Pointed Hood, or my Induction into a Secret Gnome Society.

    Since getting The Queen’s Servant’s I’ve been coveting the pointed hood with a sort of fiendish glee, it also might be an under layer to the strange headdress in Holbein the Younger’s drawing.

    A month ago I scaled up the pattern and made a mock-up. It was huge, it devoured my head. I have a normal size head, but the hat made it look like a peanut.

    Not the look I want. Just no.

    Thinking perhaps I scaled it up wrong I set about slashing the pattern and scaling it down to no avail. I took in the mock-up 3 or 4 times before toss it in the corner.

    It was Franken-hood. I don’t have any photos of the monstrosity.

    Tonight I decided to try it again, I took 3 or 4 measurements and scaled the pattern up to my head depth and jaw level.

     

    The red line shows where I pinned along the seam line.

     

    It wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t happy with the shape in the back, it didn’t look cute, it looked like I had a copernican attached to my bun.

     

    Tudor hood mockup adjustments
    The green line shows what needs to be tweaked.

    Much cuter. But something niggled at the back of my mind. Why was the scaled up pattern from the book so big? I went back and looked at the scale ratio and reread the instructions, then I noticed the little line drawing on the side. The round hood had the front folded back. This wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the book, and it is hard to see from the photos when everything is black velvet on black velvet.

    So I scaled up the original pattern again.

    Tudor Hood Pattern Comparison

    Another round of pinning and I have this when I fold back the front edge and let it form the frontlet.

    Tudorhood-3.0-folded-back
    The yellow line shows the depth of the fold.

    Much much better. The simple version in the book doesn’t look like it is worn with a separate frontlet, so I am going to use the frontlet pattern as a facing for the turn back portion of the hood.

  • Sewing Projects on my Plate

    I’ve been sick the past week with one of those hit you in the face colds, I haven’t been able to sew or do much else. It is finally clearing up and I can sit at the computer without a sinus headache starting every ten minutes.

     

    Stuff on my summer sewing list:

    Final bits of Steph’s test kirtle, and send it off.
    Draft out hard copy of her skirt pattern so I’m not redrawing it every time on the fabric.
    Cut and sew her wool petticoat.
    Green wool kirtle for her eventually.
    Olive drab over gown for her eventually.

     

    Things I want to make for me

    Black Velvet Tudor hood from the Queen’s Servants  – I roughly scaled it up, made a mock-up and it is huge on me.. need to do lots of tweaking.
    Finish my herringbone wool kirtle, I’m up to the eyelets which are taking forever.
    English Fitted Gown out of black wool.
    Ruffs
    Another kirtle with a video on how I make them
    Everything I know about sleeve tutorial
    Another Tudor Gown.. I have 8 yards of navy wool, but the question is do I want to line all of it or just the bodice and sleeve area?

     

  • Scaling up Historical Patterns using Radial Projection

    As requested, I finally got done editing and doing the voice over for the tutorial I shot back in September.

    I hope everything makes sense and it isn’t too boring!

  • Green “Tudor” Gown bodice mock-up 2.0

    Green “Tudor” Gown bodice mock-up 2.0

    Working on the sleeves a bit more, I’m getting close!

     

     

     

  • I am waiting with bated breath

    Patternmaking in Fashion
    Patternmaking in Fashion

    A few days ago I was catching up on the posts over at Fashion-incubator and saw that the site owner, Kathleen Fasanella had given a nice review of the book “Patternmaking in Fashion step by step”.

    (And because of the title I have had the New Kids on the Block song stuck in my head. I was never a fan of them growing up, but still the horrible music stays with me.)

    Amazon has it for only about 10 dollars so I placed an order and for most of today been stalking the ups tracking number. The book does not deal with historical clothing in any way shape or form but I am trying to expand my drafting knowledge.

    I already have Jack Handford’s “Professional Patternmaking for Designers: Women’s Wear and Men’s Casual Wear“. Which I’ve read through several times and find most of it well explained. The line drawings at times and the text are not always enough. I had some confusion with the bust apex measurement and how they related to one of the drafts, but after reading it over a few more times it started to make sense.

    Unfortunately, Handford’s book on grading seems no longer easily affordable or available and I have yet to come across any affordable alternatives. If anyone has any book suggestions for pattern grading please let me know in the comments. =)

    For now I’ll go back to refreshing the ups tracking number every 2 minutes.