Dress diary of a Fitted English Gown - part 2½

[janestarz]

After the many comments I got on Part 2 of this dress diary I decided to try everything on again. The waistline seemed too wide, which caused the gown to bulge unflatteringly in stead of following the contours of my body.

Truth is: I have a modernist view of fit & ease, and as such I thought I could get away with a modern fit. You all have shown me the error of my ways.

I had decided to take some space out of the waist before continuing. Because the gown is still not hemmed, this was still possible, though a little cumbersome.



I took 2 cm out of both side seams, of both exterior and lining. This accounts for an overall decrease of 8 centimeters around the waistline. Think that's a lot? Just read on, it gets better!


Here's a hint: I'm pointing right at it!

Just to prove I do have a waistline, I took a picture of myself in a purple turtleneck and the purple gown that will go underneath everything. ((A Florentine, I believe -- historical accuracy is more an inspiration than a goal to be attained for me, as I make larp clothes. I find that this bears repeating again and again as the nice people from the America's find there's nothing better than historical accuracy, while we European mongrels only take your word for how much fun that can be. No offense, it just bears repeating. Historical accuracy is not what I personally aim for, but it's a good inspiration and I admire your efforts! *smile* ))

As is not quite apparant in the above picture but bears mentioning is that I am extremely tall with a long torso and though this waistline looks like it's in the right place or a bit low for the gown's supposed heritage, it's actually higher than the point where I place my hands on my waist. It's some five centimeters higher than my navel. Fear my extreme height. (Or don't. That's okay.)



It's kind of hard to take pictures of myself in the atelier, lighting conditions aren't the best but please bear with me. The above pictures are with the new, smaller waistline. It looks better, to be sure, but there's still a lot of ease all around and it's not quite as flattering as I'd hoped it would become. A step in the right direction, yes. Are we there yet? No.



Next, I pinned the entire thing down, probably catching the gown underneath as well, as tight as it would go. My fingers point out exactly how much the panels overlap: 9 centimeters. That's quite a lot of ease!!



Excusing the horrible self-timer pictures with the not-quite-good lighting conditions, we can see that the gown is more tightly fitted across. The waistline is now a lot more flattering and the pleats are forced to open even more because the gown is following the waistline of the gown underneath and the bulky skirts right beneath it.

Lesson learned? I think so. Modern ease is bad for period garments and no amount of "it will probably work out" is going to make up for it!

But what to do next? I really want to start on my actual gown in the actual fabric, but the truth is that I don't have a well-fitting pattern yet. I do still have 2 meters of this plaid wool left, so technically speaking I could redraft the pattern for the bodice (taking 9 cm out of the width, making sure the collar is adapted to this alteration and taking the back waist up a centimeter) and try the bodice part again. I should probably flatline the plaid wool with some linen to make sure it behaves the way it is expected. This means I could also try out a new, wider sleeve pattern that will accommodate the camicia better and will allow for pleating at the sleevehead.

Any words of advice are welcome!

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Part 1
Part 2
Cross-posted to dressdiaries

Comments

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Kijk, dat ziet er al een stuk beter uit!
Wat ik mij alleen afvraag: als je het voorpand 9 cm smaller maakt, klopt de zijnaad dan nog wel? Theoretisch trekt de zijnaad dan naar voren en je mouwen ook. Als je een patroon smaller maakt haal je meestal evenveel uit voor- en achterpand.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Je kan wel zien dat de stof bij de mouw meer is gaan trekken dan in de andere foto. Nu zijn de mouwen zeker nog niet goed dus dat is ook nog aan verandering onderhevig.
Ik wilde die 9 cm ook niet alleen uit de voorkant halen, maar het is nogal lastig afspelden als je het zelf aan hebt, dus ik denk dat een volgende versie ook gewoon op meerdere punten kleiner wordt. Ik zit alleen nog even in dubio of ik dit al in de uiteindelijke stof ga doen of weer in die bruine plaid.

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Als je nog 2 meter plaid hebt zou ik het lijfje opnieuw maken. Je rugpand wordt namelijk ook kleiner als je de 9 cm verdeeld over voor en achter. Dat kan weer nadelig zijn voor je bewegingsvrijheid van je armen.