I just want to bang my head sometimes in frustration, so I thought I would vent a little bit here, among those who might understand. ( costume venting behind the cut... )
Oh, gods.. Winter and Savoy! ACK. That's almost as bad as Herbert Norris!
Knowing what we know now about sewing, clothing and the time periods, those authors books are interesting to own because it gives us an insight as to how costuming was looked at in the past. but..eek.
As a non sequiter have you ever done Flemish before?
A weakness of mineheatermccaAugust 8 2007, 19:16:07 UTC
We own Winter and Savoy. I do like and appreciate it for what it resembled when it came out, but, yeah. Nowadays the scholarship and pool of knowledge is both further ahead and more accessible.
I will say that I've made one thing from EC, and I still have it and occasionally drag it out to wear - a heart-shaped, wire-front cap. It's Old Faithful, it's easy, the shape of the wiring is dead-on for my face, and I made it to stay in place without pins of any sort.
Re: A weakness of mineabbybobAugust 8 2007, 19:20:05 UTC
I think I have an old loose gown made from Winter and Savoy, so I completely understand. We own it too. When we do theater stuff (fiance is a director) he uses the pictures in the book for Ideas, but when it's time to start sewing... we put the book away and make more period patterns.
It was one of the 1st costuming books I bought, back in the day.
I break with canon here, because I actually think Herbert Norris is pretty accurate on a lot of things (insofar as "Tudor Costume & Fashion" goes. The other books I haven't read very extensively, nor are they my interest). His major failing is that he didn't cite sources or document anything, so it's not as easy to verify that his research is sound. However, over the years I've managed to find a lot of his primary source material by accident and it turns out he was remarkably on track.
W&S... No, there's little redeeming value there, except if you want to know how to make a ren faire outfit. Which I don't.
I actually am with you in regards to Norris. While he has his quirks, like putting on farthingales on ladies before their proper time, or removing cod pieces, his redrawings have been decent. I use him as a start, then hunt down the rest of the info, which surprisingly, he does give some clues as to where to look. I've always hoped someone could research his info, and give updated info and sources since we have more updated knowledge now.
There are people who sometimes claim that HN created certain looks out of wholecloth. However, those people don't seem to realize that some of his primary source material was destroyed in a World War or two.
I gave my old W&S book to my gm who wanted to tear it apart and use it for something. She liked the book, and I used to, until I found out just how inaccurate it was. Which I think was when I made their simple raglan smock, and wondered why the armpits were digging... they didn't put in a simple gusset! I've hated that book ever since.
Oh, and no, never done Flemish... although there is one jacket style on a peasant I would like to try out making sometime. I would love to find a copy of Drea Leed's book, too.
Knowing what we know now about sewing, clothing and the time periods, those authors books are interesting to own because it gives us an insight as to how costuming was looked at in the past. but..eek.
As a non sequiter have you ever done Flemish before?
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I will say that I've made one thing from EC, and I still have it and occasionally drag it out to wear - a heart-shaped, wire-front cap. It's Old Faithful, it's easy, the shape of the wiring is dead-on for my face, and I made it to stay in place without pins of any sort.
I can't bear to throw it out....
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It was one of the 1st costuming books I bought, back in the day.
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W&S... No, there's little redeeming value there, except if you want to know how to make a ren faire outfit. Which I don't.
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I want lots of footnotes or at the very least a meaty bibliography- especially if I am going to recommend a book to a n00b.
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There are people who sometimes claim that HN created certain looks out of wholecloth. However, those people don't seem to realize that some of his primary source material was destroyed in a World War or two.
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You'd look great in it.
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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder-_The_Corn_Harvest_%28August%29_-_detail_2.JPG
The lady in yellow jacket, with her back to you. The print image I have of this shows some interesting seam lines that I want to explore how it might work to make from a rectangle of wool.
But I need to lose some more weight and stabilize before I tackle it.
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