A fitting
Last night I fit a friend for a c15 Venetian gamurra bodice. This was my first solo fitting and I think it went fairly well all things considered. Her shoulders aren't at all even and, due to some back issues, one actually points forward. Thank goodness draping is my strong suit
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She brought over muslin and I cut off a hunk that was long enough to cover her front and back with a small hole for her head to go through. I then chalked out a mutually-agreeable neckline and snipped the muslin for the front neckline and armholes while pinning the sides for a good fit. When the front looked good, I snipped away at the back neckline and snipped and pinned the shoulder straps to eliminate the fabric's bunching in that area. Final adjustments included repinning the sides and cutting off the excess length to create the empire waist. Luckily, she didn't want a self-supporting garment and the process took only an hour or so. Building a toile for a self-supporting gown can take up to six hours because of all the fiddly pinning and basting. It's exhausting for both draper and model.
When she was happy with the toile, I unpinned her and traced the front and back shapes onto pieces of butcher paper for her to use as a pattern with the note that there was no seam allowance included in those pieces.
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