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!

ahsoka tano progress

Yesterday I mixed and cast latex for my Montral. I need to gather a few more supplies, for supporting and maintaining the shapes nce out of the molds. i also cleaned some leather to back the armour pieces. I also made some card templates of the pieces that were curved too much to match in the chrome tanned leather.

Today I got some of the chrome tanned leather cut to match those templates and also took a pattern of my greaves.

I transferred the card template to the leather using tailors chalk. I extended the lines as a guide for findint eh perfect point. I leave a seam allowance on all edges so I can decide which is the better option once set up for curing.

I folded the leather so I could get perfectly matching left and right sides, and it ensured I got a left and right copy for each side!

I used the flattest piece for the only really flat piece in the armour. It is currently weighted to remain as flat as possible.

 

The greaves were the most complex  to transfer, so I have taken a pattern from the pieces. I first cut along the known joins, then folded the widest pieces in half to fine room for an additional curve to be cut.

I had to label each panel as the pieces are not symmetric, reflecting the curves of a human leg. These line drawings will be scanned and tidied with paths in photoshop tomorrow. Right now thee lines are overly accurate.

Even the knee cap is curved.

The cap and upper decoration are also asymmetric so have to be labeled in a way to remember which side is which.

All these paneled pieces are for the linings, there will be contact adhesive between the outer and inner layers as well as a very open gauze for stability against stretching.

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anne of cleves continues

I did manage all the brocade stitching yesterday. I need to press it before stitching the joins but basically six rows of more than 4m a row through metal brocade was a nightmare.

Yes that is overlocking, no it will not remain for long. I do need to get some tape over the seam allowances but this keeps the edges stable until then. It may not be possible to find enough linen to make facings.

I think you may be able to tell the thickness from these photos, but that is a big needle. I need big needles so I can use all my fingers to push the needle through. Usually I can do this in a way that doesn’t require a thimble but this was so grippy… my needles did need to be pushed through at the very end and I can’t use thimbles so I have a bit of healing to do.

note: calluses are not good. They are brittle and less able to resist the pressure from a needle end.

I am looking at a leather thimble for my ring finger though. I sew and write using all my fingers anyway due to how my fingers curve unhelpfully, so I’ll test thimbles on each finger to see what works best.

No I am not able to use short needles please do not recommend ways of using them. I am though looking at just restocking more frequently. Pincushions have the sharpener for steel needles. Well most modern needles are chromed. This means you can’t really sharpen them to the same degree. Also the profile of the points can vary so I need to look to see if there is a specific brand and type that i can continue to buy.

I’ll see if I can get some photos/video of why short needles are so bad for me!

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borders done!

My Anne of Cleves frock has finally got the gold brocade fully stitched. Well it needs tidying, the joins need to be carefully stitched after some good pressing 0

 

Also I booked into Midwinter in Cluain 🙂 It’s semi public, well the A&S vignettes will be and I am doing one 🙂 So hopefully I can share the info and may be able to loan out some gear if anyone wants to help me out 🙂

 

The above sentences are indeed connected 🙂 I can’t talk garb in less than 45 minutes, I really can’t- I try and break things down to not just be understood but retained for later use so that takes repitition and big picture-> little picture-> big picture. But I can do a solo performance piece XD

So the real story of Anne of Cleves shall be told 🙂 I shall be sneaking frock talk into it as I am very excited about it, but essentially after reading through some primary documents (transcribed) that support a lot of suspicions I think I have a nice hook to make it accessible.

So excited 🙂 It will be a performance piece but with some documentation that will be shared both on site and online 🙂

Really excited 🙂

website updates

Oh thank goodness! Last night I was updating my theme (to prevent too many thumbnails being generated when I upload media from an old backup- it’s just easier to import them all) my browser hung. Then I got a 524 error.

uh oh, I thought. As a database error it was likely to be a plugin stuck on a loop… but no. It was my hosts. I just happened to be on he server that needed maintenance last night.

I need a super easy app on my comp to convert US time zones. I am 21 hours ahead of the time zone quoted in the update, but it’s not the same time zone as my server.

Anyway. I was also trying to make tags easier to spot in my theme, but the real problem is that WP doesn’t give you all your tags, just “most used”. I really need to make all my posts about “hisoric guides” easier to find as they are all the pattern drafting and draping systems I use and regularly share with others. It will mean putting them in a category now that I’m using them more.

 

I have been working on my Cleves gown 🙂 And My stickelchen is nearly finished 🙂 The leaves and pearls are all back in place and I ust need to make the wee body for Mr Boo in the middle 🙂

Also I need to punch some more holes in more leaves as I really do need the front decoration to be “I AM NOT A LAUREL” laurel wreath 🙂 Because it’s just silly. Look if you let me use a hearlic device on my goods I’m gonna do it. And push it

Sumptuary laws baby, they are part of history. My Cleves gowns look like they may be sumptuary laws in effect. Which is just very cool. I have some laws hoarded in my files (not easy to read) so want to go through them but some aspects are very obviousgoing by art.

 

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what was that about not handsewing

Yeah, well I tried by machine. It was actually much harder and the result was just not okay. I either had really obvious stitches or had to break out my craft blade to unpick very carefully.

The light heat n bond is kind of perfect though. It is too light to work on its own but works really well to stabilise the brocade. It both retains the curve I managed to pressed it into as well as stick to the silk. But the fabric is much too heavy, so it absorbs the stuff!

Also if anyone has been watching my instagram they’ll have seen the progress of the centrepiece of my stickelchen. My Boo, he is made from embossed copper with silver leaf so is quite fragile. I was going to make his body from pearls but I think I may want to preserve the feeling of softness by either embroidery or more embossing. I have silver thread but nothing to couch.

And yes, I still need to tidy the couched braid as it is a bit wobbly from stretching.

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quiet

I’ve been quiet here as it’s the year anniversary of my Boo passing. Feelings of guilt and sadness and everything you’d expect to hit, hit hard.

It’s also be hot, very hot for Auckland which tends towards humid, and I’ve variously hurt my hands (requiring a lot of steroids) and got some sort of bug that just is there. Just a slight fever.

But today has been a day or starting to reclaim a bit of my normal life again.

Right now I’m uploading photos of my Maleficent horns to create a 3D model. I may plump for some extra space to make best use of the opportunity. But I need to add texture in Sculptris anyway so this should work out. So it took an hour to get those photos.

Also uploading my uploads folder from pre-website attack. I did take the time though to remove all the thumbnails created and that took a while. For some reason the search function in Win10 wouldn’t find all of them in one go but sorted it is. Once the files are back in the right places I’ll be able to regenerate thumbnails.

Also been trying to import instagram photos here for super fast and easy updates, but the plugin needs updating to basically slow the number of requests. So fingers crossed.

insta-blogs

#anneofcleves hem has to be done by hand. As I can’t tell when I’ve overdone things I am just making myself stop after 4m. So I have done 4m today which is 1/8 of the gold hemming. Then need to do the wool guards.

View in Instagram

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