Dress diary of a Fitted English Gown - part 1

[janestarz]

Welcome to my newest Dress Diary! Of course, as usual, the start of this dress diary was preceded by a long, rambling post discussing a variety of topics because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. It included the whole history of my lovely purple lambswool dress, which was a previous dress diary in itself. I shall not be repeating the ramblings here, but you're welcome to read them through the above link if you wish.


The character who wears this costume has evolved since I first started playing her. The setup was that as she progressed in her skills, she would get more bands at the hem and the evolution would end with a big, bulky black robe. Plans have changed a wee bit, because, if I may use historical figures to illustrate my point: although Henry VIII would look good in big, bulky robes, Anne Boleyn might not.

For this project I have chosen a fitted English gown as my "big bulky robe", the pattern from The Tudor Tailor, which is an awesome resource. My main concern was that the fitted gown might not fit over the bulky skirts that would be underneath. I had some interesting comments that helped a lot, and I felt confident enough to start on the project! I hope you will bear with me as I'm making myself the Fitted English Gown from the pattern on page 81 of this book.


Three rulers and a vase of coffee should do it for me.

I started drafting a pattern from scratch. In previous projects I copied and scaled up 800% since all patterns are to scale, but I used measurements from my basic blocks to set up a few basic lines. The waist-to-neck measurement and waist-to-underarm measurement were copied from the basic block I drew in school (I am studying to become a custom dressmaker).

For the underarm width measurement of the front bodice, I took ½ front bust measurement (from side seam to side seam, over the widest part). This would ensure the Epic Boobage would fit into this gown.
For my waist measurement I took (¼ waist)+1

I have no idea, and as far as I could tell the book did not include this, how much ease these patterns are drafted for. It does mention that if your measurements are off by 5 cm to the standard size of the patterns, you should draw them to your own size. I am not very familiar with historic garments, nor is the re-enactment scene very big in the Netherlands. I am a larper myself, but I dabble in historic clothes because I enjoy their shape and it adds an edge to the larp character. (This gown is meant to become as historically acurate as I can make it, but with some allowances for larp-use).

What I can see on the various images I have found on the web of these kinds of garments is that they're drafted with significantly less ease than we would use for an outer layer these days. In school, I learned to have 4 cm ease on the waistline for coats, and 2 cm for blouses. In any picture of these fitted gowns, there's probably 1 or 2 cms ease. They're quite tight, and this is understandable if you're pinning your gown to your kirtle. You don't want unseemly bulges, after all. Hence, the very modest ease I'm adding to my gown (3 cm overall on the waist).



I traced my pattern with purple chalk and pinned the whole thing together. At this point I'd like to point out I've never taken any classes on how to scale up from books, or how to determine the shoulder angle. It's all a very mathematical degree of guesswork, with a semi-rocky balance of school dogma. This is my way of saying "I haven't the foggiest how this works, but I'm doing my best at a semi-educated guess".
The thing about drafting basic blocks in school is that we draw darts to get space for breasts. The thing about historic patterns is that they rely on the fabric's natural stretch to accomodate at least in part for the breasts, and that the rest of the natural stretch is used for a smooth fitting. This is a whole other science which I am sure takes years to master!



With the new house, we also obtained a full-length mirror and I could abuse the top drawer of my filing cabinet pattern cupboard in combination with a sturdy book that doesn't droop in the middle with a 2 second timer on the SLR camera to get some interesting shots for the dress diary. Here you see me marking the neckline on Mockup 1.

Another, very interesting thing about historical patterns is the center front. This gown was drafted with a straight center front on the straight of the grain but as you might see in above picture, this got me in trouble above the breasts. I could open up the armscye, with horrible results, or just cave and make a curved front on the gown. I understand from the other patterns in the book that this is sometimes done with doublets and kirtles, and as long as I use reinforcements it's probably not going to stretch at that point.



I was at least smart enough to fit the gown bodice over the actual dress. This is Mockup 1, with the bottom edge flipped up. The armscyes needed more room in them at the bottom, the waistline needed to be higher overall, and the center front needed a curve.
There's still some minor pulling of the muslin at the breasts. This can be due to the fact that it's actually a wee bit too small. I did overlap the center-front seam a bit in order to pin it closed, so there's going to be a bit more room there in the final version.



This is where I was at this morning: Mockup 2 (with actual camicia and dress underneath)

I noticed that ironing the muslin makes the fabric a bit stronger, less flexible, and you can see that the front of the bodice is actually nice and smooth. The curved center front seam is looking very nice indeed, but the curve was off by a centimeter. I folded over the pinned seam and drew the right curve in.
The waistline can actually be dropped a bit more, 2 cm at the sides and 3 in the front.

In this second mockup I gave the back a centimeter extra on each side. I forgot to do this at the front, but it doesn't look like it needs more room there at this time.
Actually, to me it looks like the back width at the shoulderblades could do with a cm less, so I'm curving the armscye into the bodice more there for my next mock-up.

And another thing: the back shoulder is too high near the neckline, which makes it pucker strangely. The weight of the garment might pull this smoother, but I think I'll just drop the top of the shoulder near the neck by a centimeter or two for a smoother line. It doesn't look very amiss in the front (Lord knows I need the front length to cover over the Ladies!) but I'll drop it there by a centimeter as well.

And that's all for this installment! I hope I marked all the things that need adjusting for now.
Because you just don't know how wool will behave when compared to cotton muslin, my third mockup will be out of some leftover plaid wool. I'll include sleeves and the skirts, and make it a third-grade steampunk attempt just to see how it all behaves. If all goes well, I'll have an extra garment and I can check the fit of the gown all in one go.

Your comments are very welcome!

x-posted to dressdiaries

Comments

[galacticempress.livejournal.com]

Hello, hi. (Sometimes I read dressdiaries. I do not make comments.)
About shaping over the breasts but making shaping without a dart.

If you manipulate the dart on a muslin around as if the breast were the face of the clock. About o-ten-hundred or twenty-two hundred hours or fourteen-hundred or o-two-hundred hours the excess fabric of the dart that is pinched out will disappears in the armhole.
You may be curving the side seam of that pattern piece. The curve on a seam that began straight is the point of the bust just relocated.

[absintheskiss.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on dropping the neck at the back, it needs to be a little shorter.

What are you planning on making the dress from? The reason I ask is that I learned a couture technique for darts that is used for skirts, and may be useful for easing excess fabric that normally would be done with a dart. The technique is for a dart free skirt, but the weave of the fabric has to take the gathering and steaming for it to work, so wool may be best. It is not remotely historically accurate, but for LARP I am sure you can be forgiven...

Try it with a wool scrap, see what you think. For my instructions I will choose a dart width of 1cm. Play with it, the distances I give can be changed according to what the fabric can do.

1) Mark where your dart would normally go as usual on the seam, but you don't need to mark the point. Then, make a further mark 7cm on either side of the dart. You should have four marks in total. Two for the dart, and one ether side. The total distance between the outer marks will be 15cm.

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2) Sew a gathering stitch on the machine between from one outer mark just inside of the seam line. Leave long threads either side.


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3) Carefully draw the fabric in using the gatheing stitches until the distance between the outer marks is now 14cm, thus gathering in the dart. Make sure the gathering is even. Secure the threads by hand.

4) Steam and press the gathers so they 'disappear' into the fabric.

5) Continue garment construction as normal. The stitching will be hidden within the seam so when constructed, no gathering or darts should be seen, just subtle shaping.

It is a wonderful technique, but you do need to play with it a bit as different fabrics gather in different ways, so one fabric you only need 5cm either side, or as much as 10cm. If the distance that would be darted is quite wide, you can either have more distance on either side, or split it into two or more darts for a gentler effect, depending on the seam you are using it on.

Hope this makes sense.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Yes it does! I have the same "Couture sewing techniques" book you have, I believe, so I'd come across this technique though I didn't think of using it in this project.

I know that the invisible dart technique for skirts can have some pretty awesome results -- although I'd personally be scared they'd stretch right out again! -- but I wonder if it would also work for a dart in the side seam. I wonder how much the grainline would matter. The darts on a skirt waistband would be perpendicular to the standard dart to the side seam of a blouse.

Perhaps I don't need this technique in making this fitted gown, but should I need it, I'll be sure to give it a try! Thanks for reminding me!

[absintheskiss.livejournal.com]

They wouldn't stretch out again, as you keep the stitching in when the garment is made, and that acts as stay stitching.

Glad you liked the reminder.