GFD fitting
Aug. 21st, 2010 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzAfter a morning of leisurely sewing, taking pictures of sewing, and pre-washing my linen, I visited Twilightbanana and Steelweaver in their new home in Delft. The A20 was packed with traffic, making me late, but I drove there almost instantly. I pride myself on not having a navigation like TomTom because it'll make me lazy. I'm pretty darn good with maps, if I say so myself.
Their new home is so nice, and perfectly suited to them. It's larger than their last apartment and as a result it's far less cluttery, allowing space and light and places to sit without wondering if there's a pile of fabric that's now homeless because you've just taken their chair. (I often feel this way about my own home, especially during larp season when gear and kit just clutter up every available space and you can't find the whip to tame it with either!)
I brought their kitteh Aeryn a papyrus plant, which got her to puke all over the floor, but as soon as those formalities were out of the way we started fitting the GFD, or 'gothic fitted dress'.
Looking at dresses from a historical perspective we can see that clothing changes over time. Hemlines would drag in one century and be up around the knee the next (I'm talking male's hems, obviously, since nobody but peasants would cut their hems above the ankle if you could afford the weavers and seamstresses to make you trip over your sleeves, after all, and be a total shof-off).
From the loose t-tunic dress of the earlier middle ages, dresses became more fitted during the 12th and 13th centuries. From the paintings, bronze and marble statues and tomb-coverings, we can see that the dress would lace or button up in order to allow the wearer to get in and out of it. In paintings, women would look a little 'slouched' (also known as the Gothic slouch, which has nothing to do with modern gothics but just the name of the era) with a large tummy to show off their fertility. Breasts would be pushed up, sleeves were tight and sometimes buttoned.
Modern interpretations of this era call the dressed "cotes" "(fitted) kirtles" or Gothic fitted dresses, GFD for short. It's all about shaping and fitting. And after about three to four hours, interrupted by dinner, Steelweaver had sewn me into two rectangles of linen so tightly that my breasts were compressed a little, but very supported by the flimsy linen. It might even have given me more lift than my modern bra's -- which isn't all that strange. Having worn corsets, the feeling of tightness around the midriff wasn't completely alien to me and the fabric was actually caressing me more than restricting me. Light a tight, lover's embrace. I can't wait to have a lined woolen gown embrace me like that, because I can imagine how it feels.
Steelweaver was a champ, prodding, sewing, poking and pulling. The process involves fitting the linen around the body, making the wearer lie down, sew tighter, hike the front panel up, sew tighter and hike some more. My boobs were trying to escape through the armhole, so I was holding one in place through the neck opening while Steelweaver sewed on that side. At some point, the support was distinctly lopsided, but she fixed that rather deftly.
Around nine I went home, with a linen pattern for a GFD. Now to even out the pattern, make the armscyes a little smaller, draft myself a sleeve, and make myself a GFD.
I'll post pictures once the dress is finished.
In the interest of historical nobility: any recommendations on Dutch noble houses that have their heraldics in orange and blue?
Their new home is so nice, and perfectly suited to them. It's larger than their last apartment and as a result it's far less cluttery, allowing space and light and places to sit without wondering if there's a pile of fabric that's now homeless because you've just taken their chair. (I often feel this way about my own home, especially during larp season when gear and kit just clutter up every available space and you can't find the whip to tame it with either!)
I brought their kitteh Aeryn a papyrus plant, which got her to puke all over the floor, but as soon as those formalities were out of the way we started fitting the GFD, or 'gothic fitted dress'.
Looking at dresses from a historical perspective we can see that clothing changes over time. Hemlines would drag in one century and be up around the knee the next (I'm talking male's hems, obviously, since nobody but peasants would cut their hems above the ankle if you could afford the weavers and seamstresses to make you trip over your sleeves, after all, and be a total shof-off).
From the loose t-tunic dress of the earlier middle ages, dresses became more fitted during the 12th and 13th centuries. From the paintings, bronze and marble statues and tomb-coverings, we can see that the dress would lace or button up in order to allow the wearer to get in and out of it. In paintings, women would look a little 'slouched' (also known as the Gothic slouch, which has nothing to do with modern gothics but just the name of the era) with a large tummy to show off their fertility. Breasts would be pushed up, sleeves were tight and sometimes buttoned.
Modern interpretations of this era call the dressed "cotes" "(fitted) kirtles" or Gothic fitted dresses, GFD for short. It's all about shaping and fitting. And after about three to four hours, interrupted by dinner, Steelweaver had sewn me into two rectangles of linen so tightly that my breasts were compressed a little, but very supported by the flimsy linen. It might even have given me more lift than my modern bra's -- which isn't all that strange. Having worn corsets, the feeling of tightness around the midriff wasn't completely alien to me and the fabric was actually caressing me more than restricting me. Light a tight, lover's embrace. I can't wait to have a lined woolen gown embrace me like that, because I can imagine how it feels.
Steelweaver was a champ, prodding, sewing, poking and pulling. The process involves fitting the linen around the body, making the wearer lie down, sew tighter, hike the front panel up, sew tighter and hike some more. My boobs were trying to escape through the armhole, so I was holding one in place through the neck opening while Steelweaver sewed on that side. At some point, the support was distinctly lopsided, but she fixed that rather deftly.
Around nine I went home, with a linen pattern for a GFD. Now to even out the pattern, make the armscyes a little smaller, draft myself a sleeve, and make myself a GFD.
I'll post pictures once the dress is finished.
In the interest of historical nobility: any recommendations on Dutch noble houses that have their heraldics in orange and blue?
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-21 08:10 am (UTC)Ik ben benieuwd naar de foto's.