Tallied

The poll showed that scaling/altering patterns came up on top, followed closely by jumps & waistcoats. So, I'm planning on a four part series. First, a history of jumps & waistcoats (to give you fair warning, information is notably limited on these). Next, I'll show how I patterned both of those from scratch based on measurements. From there I'll pull a gown or jacket pattern from a book to alter. I haven't decided what pattern that will be, so feel free to put in your two cents! Lastly will be taking that knowledge to the next level; stays. I've had a lot of individual requests for tips on patterns for stays and it is a very unusual thing to fit. Look for the first installment in a week or two (as soon as I can finish my waistcoat and get pictures of the jumps). And don't worry about the other topics on the poll, they'll be coming soon too!

Voting Season

I've got a back-log of topics and garments, so I'm leaving it up to you to decide what you want to see up next. I put up a poll on the left side, but as it says, you also can respond to this post with whatever else you're interested in! I've done a number of projects in the last month; bedgown, jumps, another quartered-back gown, child's stays, men's waistcoat, hunting coat, breeches, and underbreeches. I've also got a quilted women's waistcoat in the queue as well as a english back gown workshop this weekend. So if any of those interest you or you are looking for something else entirely, please ask! And just so I don't leave you without a picture of something, here is a men's jacket I recently overhauled (it was about 6" too large around). Fun fact is that when putting metal shanked buttons on a coat or jacket, they aren't left dangling. In broadcloth, like this jacket, you poke a hole with an awl through the wool and canvas, stitching the button to the lining and/or running a tape through the loops inside. If it's a less sturdy fabric, you actually make small eyelets!

Riding Habit

Happy Halloween everyone! I have to work tonight, so no fun for me, but I at least will be in costume. But, to celebrate I figured I should get the habit up. To preface, it was patterned at a Burnley & Trowbridge workshop. I have previously posted on the riding habit shirt as well. It's made from a pearl green worsted wool, trimmed with silk velvet, and lined with silk taffeta. Style-wise it's a late '70s or '80s. The peaked cuffs, short skirt (too short for pocket flaps even), lack of skirt on the waistcoat, and the narrow collar really date it. So does the hat, but that's a whole different beast (trust me, that was an unpleasant journey). The buttons are silver twist.

From inside to out the shift, stays, shirt, petticoat, and other basic items have been touched upon before. The first habit piece on top of this is the waistcoat. I used a cinnamon silk taffeta for the fronts, both inside and out. The back is a plain linen. Nothing much unusual in stitching here. Edges are done in the tailor style with a spaced back-stitch (rather than the under-hand commonly used in mantua-making). The fronts were made first and all of the seams fold into the back lining area. Note the back doesn't have vents like men's waistcoats. Even if you choose to put a skirt on your waistcoat, the back stays short.

The buttons are simply self-covered wood. The pattern of the waistcoat is the same as the coat, except for the bottom (since mine has no skirt), and adding a small amount to the coat seam allowances for ease. Note the dart just above the bust line, it should happen at the top of your stays.
The coat is lined in the same taffeta, except for the sleeves which are linen. That wears better than silk and won't be as fretful to replace when the elbows and armpits wear out. The skirts are inserted up into the body with the lining hiding the seam. Unlike many gowns, the armscyes are closed as well. The back seam is back-stitched, the side seams are done like a gowns with top stitching.
The center back skirt has a vent, while the sides have pleats. They sit under the front section, both front and back fold twice so that the edges do not lay on the same side. Buttons are placed on the top and 1" up from the hem.
The collar is also lined with the silk. There is no interfacing in the collar (same goes for men's wear) and none in the cuffs since they are stitched on. However, the front does have interfacing pieces to help support the buttons and buttonholes. The waistcoat has the same. I used Russia Sheeting in this case. I've also used a heavy linen before, but the correct thing would be a buckram (stiffened linen). I haven't taken the time to make any yet, but it's not difficult.
So there it is! I recently finished a men's suit, jumps, and another gown. Once I finally get images of the customers wearing them, I'll be sure to post those! The interfacing in a man's suit does well to inform how riding habits are done as well.

Riding Habit Soon!

This Saturday I'll be back in Indiana for Feast of the Hunter's Moon. If you're in the area make sure to visit and wave me down! I'm almost done with my riding habit for it. I still have to finish the hat (I blocked it today), stitch on the rest of the buttons, make a cravat, and figure out hair. I've given you all a sneak peek, the full inside out to come soon. I've also recently finished some men's small clothes and are ready to start a hunting coat and under-breeches. Add in some jumps and I should have some fun posts coming up soon!

Grand Opening

My Etsy shop opened today as well as my local tailoring business. Here's a peek at what went up today:

I've got some other fun things coming soon as well including some aprons, kerchiefs, hats, embroidery, leather gloves, and hand-painted fans:

Update

Just a quick post for today. I can honestly promise that I will pick up postings soon; I'll be opening shop around September 1st and should have many more projects and much more time! In the mean time, here are a couple of images of the back of my blue linen gown and a couple of a pair of mitts I put together recently. In progress is a pair of leather gloves as well.

Quarter-back Gowns

Alright! Here it is, the instructional post on how to put together a quarter-back gown. I'll include a few asides on how to do the Robe a l'Anglaise, but I don't have any made to show images yet. You'll see two gowns in the images, both made slightly differently, but useful in showing that there's not a single right way to do this.

The first fitting is going to be for the front pieces, the back only if it's quartered, the sleeves, and knowing general petticoat/skirt length. I'll be posting a step-by-step fitting process somewhere in the future, so I'm not going to go into great detail on how to do that yet. Simplifying it, take the person and pin linen (or muslin) to their stays and start drawing lines where you want the gown to be!

After that fitting you'll be assembling the front pieces, sleeves, back pieces separately, and can start on finishing the edges of the skirt.

The front pieces: they should have longer shoulder straps than needed in the end for now (you'll fit that part in the third fitting). To assemble you'll use the under-hand stitch around the neck, front, and bottom to where your skirt will slip in (or all the bottom if you're laying the pleats on the lining like I did- more volume). Unlike modern techniques, you'll lay wrong to wrong side and pin baste some of the central area so they don't shift around. Baste the fashion fabrics seam allowance back first, then pin on the lining seam allowance.

The back pieces on a quartered-back are done just about the same. You can stitch the back seams up first with a back-stitch if you want or not. Otherwise, you'll assemble the four back sections individually just like the front, going around all four sides. *Note that you'll want to leave an extra 1/8" out of the folded edges for seam allowance later* So, make sure you know the back neck height during that first fitting. I also don't know a way to insert that skirt into a quartered back with this method, but the other styles make it much easier. If you want boning in the back of your gown, you'll either make casings on the lining before stitching down, or use the seam allowances for casings. You can see two bones CB in the striped gown. To assemble the back pieces, you'll lay right to right and back-stitch right next to the lining using that extra 1/8" we left out earlier. The side seams come after the second fitting, so don't worry about those yet.

*Side note: for other styles you'll do the pleating and apply that to a lining piece prior to second fitting, leaving the sides wide and not cutting the skirt loose yet or the neck line.

For the sleeves you'll back-stitch the seams, making linings separate from fashion fabric. The sleeve hem will be done with the same under-hand stitch. The armscye of both the bodice and the sleeve is left open and raw. I recently saw a woman's jacket where they used the bodice lining to hide the armscye seam, but it had very odd construction techniques (we're thinking a tailor trained person did it). The actual fitting of the sleeve in won't happen until fourth fitting. If you're worried about arm movement, keep the armscye high on the bottom of the bodice and leave extra on the scoop of the sleeve. You can always trim it down later.

The second fitting is where you'll find where to attach the front to the back. Pin the back to the stays, pin the fronts closed and smooth it around the body. Don't worry too much about evening the side seams until you get it off the person. Then you can measure out their placement and make sure it looks balanced. You'll topstitch the fashion front to the back (through both back layers) with a spaced back-stitch. The front lining will fold back over this seam to hide it and be whipped down. You can now finish the bottom edge and apply the skirt. To finish the skirt, just do a 1/4" roll on the front edges and whip down. The top edge should be folded down before pleating. *Make sure to leave extra length on the skirt to account for an optimal two inches folded down and the fact that it also overlaps the skirt by 1/2".* If you are putting in a pocket slit, follow petticoat instructions and insert it in the reverse portion of a pleat so it's well hidden.

*Side note: if you're doing an english back, you'll cut the skirt free (angle from side seam down to under the outer most pleat) before stitching the side seams. The lining should be left free at the bottom of the side seam to insert the pleated skirt into the bodice.

The third fitting is for placing the shoulder straps, which are attached just like the side seams.

The fourth fitting you can fit the sleeves. This is not only making sure they fit over the armscye and arm correctly, but balance correctly. So, make sure you mark where their seam(s) hit the bodice so the wearer won't have their arms sticking out forward or behind them! You can whip the raw edges in the armscye if you're afraid they'll fray or leave them as is. Same thing with the raw edge folded down on the skirt.

This finished front, while two pieces of fashion fabric, only has one piece of lining. The fashions were attached at the beginning and treated as one. It uses buttons to fasten, which is rare. Most gowns will use straight pins (great if you have a tendency to grow or shrink or lace your stays differently) or hook and thread eyes. Hemming should use as little fabric as possible. Either a 1/4" to 1/2" roll hem or face the hem with twill tape if the fabric is thicker.

Under the Red Coat- the jacket will come up in a later post on construction.

The British are Coming!

I'm still alive, I promise! Things have been constantly hectic for last few months, but I'm really hoping to do a real post next week. This weekend is Under the Red Coat at Colonial Williamsburg (British troops "invade" CW to re-enact the occupation of 1781). So, I've been frantically sewing for that and to keep up with the hot weather since I work outside in the evenings now. While I've been gone I've built a linen quarter-back gown, a silk ruffled fichu, a silk sash, a semi-fitted linen jacket, an apron, and trimmed a hat. I've still got a bit of hemming and one more hat to do before this weekend. I'm sure I'll get lots of pictures of it all this weekend. I'll try to do a few posts on construction soon after. If you're in town this weekend, I'll be the one in a light blue gown trying to pretend I don't know the loud revolutionist red-head (you know we love you Nicki). Oh, and I'm going to start posting pictures of the wedding construction on my other blog soon. I'll make sure to put up a notification on here when I do. First up will be trousers and draping my ceremony gown!