some gems from the manual

The science and geometry of dress

by Jackson, Louisa L., Mrs. [from old catalog]

Published 1876

We cut on the fold due to wide fabrics, this explains why cutting fronts is best done individually.

Yes! The side is where you can do some final fitting tweaks. But it was better to adjust everywhere else first.

How to space buttons for a large bust- it depends on the button size.

The crossdart! (Fish dart) And how it was used and how the third dart came about (I think seen in at least one PoF garment).

Tips on how to draft a princess dress. I am so happy about the polonaise comments! I have been wondering if there were rules about this but no 🙂

 

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dress form extreme make over

This particular form has a few features I have, a pronounced upper ribcage curve, high bust, round ribs. Her hips are a bit too round in cross section but that is easy to adjust by dialing the front and back dials a size larger and the side dials a size lower.

 

I used very taper shoulder pads to fill in the upper side of the bust, a corset is meant to lift and support so I want this in the same position as I want to achieve.

The padded bra is foam bonded to lycra based fabric so is very soft. I also filled in the gap between bust point and edge of should pads with a bit of foam.

And then a lycra shell was stretched over and basted at neck before I started basting through all layers including the velour form cover.

I darted to the armscye and took a dart out of the back panel on each side.

 

And voila, a form that is me but exaggerated (also at a height for wearing heels, I should have dropped her down for the photo but hey.

The form has a slight belly which is good for spoon busk corset types, but not so exaggerated as to not appeal modernly..

Making the tools

As per my previous posts I now have the tools for the 1876 drafting system.

https://archive.org/details/sciencegeometryo02jack

The science and geometry of dress
by Jackson, Louisa L., Mrs. [from old catalog]
Published 1876

I printed and used contact spray to lay them on the inside of a cardboard box my new mirror came in. So nice to have an honest mirror that I can also move for best light/view 🙂

So I think I got the bodice close, in comparison to the size of the dart anyway. If I have any concerns I know I can redo them using the miniature dart form.

Last night I also padded and resized a dress form to be the ideal shape. Which means today actually draping and drafting 🙂

 

1876 tools

I am not completely convinced the size is correct but I have isolated each tool from:

The science and geometry of dress

by Jackson, Louisa L., Mrs. [from old catalog]

Published 1876

I only know the dart and the skirt tools are correct for printing- as pdfs. The waist and curve… not so sure. I need to really go through the full text to make a bodice pattern to check the placement. Anyway. If you have photoshop you can rescale the files anyway. If you have a pdf viewer choose “poster” as print type and it will automatically print to size.

thumbnail of tooldartrule

The dart is true, I have seen these only in printed form inside books so had no idea just how big they are. I think in terms of centimeters. The curve feels far too big, I scaled to match the 1,2,3,4 as inches. (since trying, these are indeed quite large.)

 

(I have switched out these files to be more accurate! These are mini tools meant for teaching, so only the “standard” marks are true, I will be marking additional sizes as the scale proper becomes more accurate)

thumbnail of 1876minitoolfront thumbnail of 1876minitoolback thumbnail of 1876minitooldart thumbnail of 1876minitoolsidecurve

These were very hard to figure out. I scaled using the waist length as true to size so is scaled so the distance between each “inch” is one inch.

 

thumbnail of tooldressskirtrule thumbnail of tool

These two were much easier. What I love about the first skirt tool is it does show some care in deciding on the angle of the side of the skirt gores! The rest of the skirt is basically as per “Nora” (as seen in Patterns of Fashion) but this is about the angle from waist to hip, aso that is very cool 🙂

I also spent the noight padding a form to my most ideal “Victorian” shape. So I can make corset and bodice patterns that give a very good exagerated ideal form. Not easy when I have a shape that simply has not been fashionable. Okay. c1480 and say 1550-1610 in Cleves and Spain. But that’s kind of it.But that’s for another post. I need sleep!

Oh look, the perfect book!

https://archive.org/details/sciencegeometryo02jack

The science and geometry of dress
by Jackson, Louisa L., Mrs. [from old catalog]

Published 1876
Topics Dressmaking

 

So this is really interesting and does indeed help explain the fish dart in some garments.

Why?

The basic pattern blocks for bodices were still based on ones from the 1860s. This is to say the end at the waist. I’m started printing the pages up . The first section is for the basic bodice block, then there is a saque, next up are basques (ie bodices that extend past the waist.) So this is very exciting 🙂 My printer is liking the pages so that is also good!

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era: c1840

material: cotton with padded front

found: 2004

I am fabiliar with padding being used in some later gowns- mainly areound the front of the armscye to help reduce wrinkles, but this is quite different. Also effective! This era is post romantic stays with the long rigid busk that pushed the bust upwards, and the start of the opening busk and slightly lowered bust that came with it. This padding helps maintain raised bust, or creates one.

Other construction notes are to follow the pattern direction- the waist is on the grain, only diverting in the front point. this helps stabilise the waist.

While this is a cotton bodice, the lightness of the construction can be seen across most garments from this era and beyond. all the support of skirt shapes and body line is created in undergarments.

rock the frock-1840s

era: 1840s

material: cotton mull or muslin

found: ebay 2005

 

This kind of sheer dress is on my “most looked for” list when I hunt out, and this is just so perfect an example but with such clever sleeve details so as to make this one likely to be moved into the “must make” folder 🙂 I have a gown I could make over into this 🙂 time to get that dress back into my site pages too.

rock the frock- 1870s

era: 1870s

material: silk

found: ebay 2004

   

Okay, this is just very cool and beautiful. The skirt is lined in a matching glazed cotton and the back has a closing that will avoid any gaping appearing- possibly needed due to the very short center back peplum.

The sleeve shape is very full at the upper part which suggests this is possibly very late 1860s or very early 1870s.

rock the frock- 1880s

era: 1880s

material: wool

found: ebay 2004

 

Oh my. How beaituful The skirt has a plain front with very sharp pressed pleats in the back that each show off the woven design beautiful.

The hanging tabs can be seen in garments from at least the 1860s but this half skirt made from them replaces a traditional apron type of drapery.

rock the frock -1870s

era: 1870s

material: silk taffeta

found: Contentment Farm Antiques, 2004

   

 

Gown with two bodices, day bodice and dinner bodice. Two toned, close tablier, ruching, it all fits with the very end of the 1870s.

So glad that there is a watermark on these images!

http://contentment.typepad.com/contentment_farm/victorian/

They have some very nice archives. I recognise a few of the other garments in here! I’ll probably get to them as I go through year by year in my own archives 🙂