Never, ever, make tough choices under pressure. And especially not when your self esteem is low. It’s too easy to transfer that into your work and when you are dealing with cutting materials it can leave you in a worse position.

But I think I can do what I need with what I have and even retain era appropriate piecing. Not my preferred era appropriate piecing but still, provable.

It’s not that “piecing is period” (although it is) but the manuals are very clear about how to piece, and you can work out why when you have the text and fabric widths to go by.

When it comes to the most precious fabrics you get more piecing, which is frustrating for a modern aesthetic, but was just how it was for a tailor who was allowed to keep scraps (and cloth of gold could be melted down) but was constrained by mercantile practices and sumptuary laws.

My skirt back panel needs a wedge shaped piece at the side. I can either cut that with a horizontal cut through it, or I can cut it off the grain.

Excuse my really rough editing here, I plan on making a nice version of this whole process for my own book.

I’ve used dark pink to show the piecings for the side piece for the front skirt, and blue for the back skirt. Piece “c” overlaps piece “b” and there are rules about what is prioritised and here it’s piece “c” because it only overlaps at the hem of piece “b” which can be easily hidden.

So that’s an example of cutting pieces horizontally. We tend to think of Vasquina as under garments but this is velvet, and so meant to be seen front and back.

By the 1600s there are more books full of more garments and this layout from Burguen overlaps even bigger pieces but doesn’t show how to cut them, they were cut as needed from what little is left over.

The Northern European books have fewer examples of frocks but in both the Enns and Swabian books the upper puffs of sleeves are cut off the grain. These match the sleeves of the 1578 loose gown in Patterns of Fashion though the grain is indicated as true.

The same gown even has a huge notch in the back, and a girls loose gown even has a join across the front and back a little below the armscye.

Most of the really intense piecing is in cloaks, this one from the Swabian book I suspect was covered in trim like many of the examples in art and as extant garments. I think the piecings wind up only on the right back.

I’ve chosen to ignore recycled garments, though I’m essentially doing exactly that…. Okay. I’m going to imagine I’m a tailor charged with updating a frock for a new style- which is absolutely what I am doing. While my inspiration frocks were later I made a slightly earlier style.

My velveteen is so dense that I should be able to get away with a different direction, and my sleeves are going to hide a lot of the side anyway.

Okay.

So what I really need to do now is remove the fused fabric on the back of the liste and bortgin as far too rigid. It’ll be a bit of time with the iron and careful peeling back as I go, so a bit of pinning.

I may need to use my studio table for this. It’s a nice day so it’ll get a nice bit of airing too.