I have been writing my 16thC book, and I have a frame for my 19thC.

I cannot afford to publish, and unfortunately in this age unless you have marketed as a business your work will not be respected (the flip side of the coin of people wanting everything for free is that when it is, it’s consumed then forgotten.) So I am looking to a publishing platform that will at least give some support to my work but where I do not need to deal with money.

I adore books like Period Costume for the Stage and Screen, and I have seen stunning work from modern patterns. But because I started so young with contemporary fashion plates and patterns (I was in primary school) I do instinctively spot a reproduction from the real deal almost immediately. And it has everything to do with how we work modernly. Not just the pattern but the order we cut and assemble and fit. It doesn’t detract from the beauty of the work, but I can just see where 100 years of shifting aesthetics and construction have removed us

What is causing a stumbling block is I want to illustrate everything and my pen work has not been a priority recently. I don’t want to use photos if I can as that subconsciously leads us to think modernly.

Another stumbling block is time. I have very little time each day where my health allows me to do anythn=ing and that has to be partitioned. For the last two years I have not balanced that well at all.

But rib separation aside some recent supplementation with iron and B12 seems to be helping (most pills don’t seem to be absorbed, but Iron melts are fizzy fun!) and a faster infusion rate for my antibody treatment also seems to be a big help. So I am awake for longer 🙂

So today I need to follow up on some responsibilities before doing some more work on this drafting/draping books.

I’ve been trying to ease out of pain relief for my separated rib but I still need some help. But sleep is getting closer to normal again which is nice 🙂

I spent the day working on a few documents and also got a new keyboard! It’s like a weird combo of chiclet style but with a bit of depth. Anyway it’s quiet and I can see the buttons a bit more easily and the function buttons are huge!

I also spent last night organising all the antique cutting books in order and am super happy with my own theory of drafting and draping for all of the Victorian era.

And today picked up the boo on the Gilded Age in New York. So far mostly what I’ve read in snippets from other sources but it is a beautiful book. To be honest I’d love to see a book of this size and quality just for Worth in New York. It’s a big enough topic and I know I wouldn’t be the sole purchaser. I think some of the gowns that are too fragile for display really need to be recorded in detail but that would require specialist restoration.

But that would be my dream book. There are extant items I’d love to see more of but many of these don’t even have high quality images in books.

But that is another topic 🙂

Yesterday I lucked into 14m of about 115cm wide cotton (shot green and off white) for $3/m so that’s my lining sorted forever. And found some lengths of vintage fabrics at the Hospice Shop in New Lynn (they have a length of satin faced nylon knit, and some replite textured vinyl and some veloury surfaced interlock for cheap for patterning too.)

I grabbed the 4m of silk taffeta (actully a dupion but super non slubbed, shot wine and cream- sill use it to line my ropa) 1.8m of silk satin (it is silk but the particular weave is very old fashioned) and some wool-viscose crepe. The crepe is good for Missy but it may be slightly shy on length and it will need to be dyed.

So I also grabbed enough purple boucle wool for a Darkwater version of Missy’s coat and skirt 🙂

Oh! The silk satin might make my doppleganger doublet! Jerkin and doublet combo I mean. Hmmmm. And yes I have big ass glass pearls like that.

I am too sore to want to care about this too much…

not sure what sharing setting have changed.

lots of  updates in the background, making sure they stay stable 🙂

I’ve been planning a guide on my site for making the infamous double darted bodices you throughout the era. They are such a foundation for fit from the late 1870s even right through to the start of the 20thC.

They hardly change, though they do a slow evolvolution with skirts.

The two side back seams also do a slow evolution with them too. Originally I was going to just drape on my form with photos and present the finished toille then do an earlier and then a later.

But I think I may do a slightly different way this time. One that uses modern draping with a guide to how to use the fabric on the form. I think that would be much more useful, and I have several forms of different shaped to do this, and they all represent different figure types.

To get to this point I did use a few drafting books, a few drafting tools, and then read even more. Then also used the library of extant patterns around.

So last night I also went through all of Der Bazar and grabbed a load of pattern pdfs but also compared a lot of the diagrams and even the fitting guides they use in their book (it’s weird and I’ll have to try it out.

Anyway, when I said I wanted to create my own drafting system, this is it 🙂 ANd I get to explain why many modern dress forms are going to lead to heartache trying to fit this era.

YAY!!!!!!