Dispatch from the Front
17 May 2014 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nuranarThe bandeau is finally done, whoop! It's definitely not perfectionist work, but I'm super proud of it nonetheless. Everything but the binding material is vintage, and all of it is the perfect vintage peachy-pink. The fit is... interesting... but I think pretty accurate. It's the seamed-cup bandeau from Women's Wear of the 1920s. Marked size 34, it fit me (32D/30DD) reasonably well. Although the cup is seamed, it's not very curvy; so when the straps have any tension on them, the effect is flattening. I added a little tuck/pleat at the top of the cup to keep from too much distortion. A D+ has to go somewhere when you flatten it, and for me that was toward the sides. Ahem.
Anyway, I love it. I took pictures, but for now I'm just taking a break after making the first bodice muslin. Verdict? Very bad indeed.
I have two base patterns I'm playing with: a Pictorial bouffant dress pattern fromfancyfrocks's collection, and the Lanvin from Women's Wear. (It's not really a knock-off; the donor said she had it made in Paris by a member of Lanvin's staff. Sounds like a shady business arrangement, but certainly gives me more confidence in the construction and patterning.)
I studied both Met dresses for construction lines. Neither has any visible darts whatsoever; they also both close under left arm with hooks. I also did a lot of measuring and proportions with my dividers, ruler, and calculator. It was so mathematical and awesome. I love doing stuff like that! I now know the hem length, pannier width, hem shape, waist seam in comparison to true waist, etc.
The Pictorial bodice pattern is quite straight, with no darts. The WW20s pattern has bust darts in front, and double fisheye darts at the waist in both front and back. I'm pretty sure the latter would give me the better shape, but the Pictorial was closer to the original, so I just tried that one.
It didn't work at all! There was some weirdness at the shoulders and I made the armholes too small, but that was mostly my messing around. The worst was, of course, the waist and hip. I lack the shoulder width for a true hourglass, but other than that I qualify in every sense. I don't even have a high hip; it's just such an extreme change that nothing below the waist fit remotely close.
I snipped enough out to get a smooth-ish line; but I'm pretty sure I'd have to add at least a center back seam. Even with my bandeau, too, I was getting bust wrinkles when I moved. Most importantly, though, the waist was very big, particularly in the back. And this design is actually fairly fitted just below the waist, for the "belt" of beading has little slack in it. Maybe all the original wearers truly had no hips, or more likely there is some super clever patterning and some hidden darts going on.
In any case, I'll make notes of this pattern (because it might be good for a more shift-like dress in the future), and then just start again with the darted pattern.
Anyway, I love it. I took pictures, but for now I'm just taking a break after making the first bodice muslin. Verdict? Very bad indeed.
I have two base patterns I'm playing with: a Pictorial bouffant dress pattern from
fancyfrocks's collection, and the Lanvin from Women's Wear. (It's not really a knock-off; the donor said she had it made in Paris by a member of Lanvin's staff. Sounds like a shady business arrangement, but certainly gives me more confidence in the construction and patterning.)I studied both Met dresses for construction lines. Neither has any visible darts whatsoever; they also both close under left arm with hooks. I also did a lot of measuring and proportions with my dividers, ruler, and calculator. It was so mathematical and awesome. I love doing stuff like that! I now know the hem length, pannier width, hem shape, waist seam in comparison to true waist, etc.
The Pictorial bodice pattern is quite straight, with no darts. The WW20s pattern has bust darts in front, and double fisheye darts at the waist in both front and back. I'm pretty sure the latter would give me the better shape, but the Pictorial was closer to the original, so I just tried that one.
It didn't work at all! There was some weirdness at the shoulders and I made the armholes too small, but that was mostly my messing around. The worst was, of course, the waist and hip. I lack the shoulder width for a true hourglass, but other than that I qualify in every sense. I don't even have a high hip; it's just such an extreme change that nothing below the waist fit remotely close.
I snipped enough out to get a smooth-ish line; but I'm pretty sure I'd have to add at least a center back seam. Even with my bandeau, too, I was getting bust wrinkles when I moved. Most importantly, though, the waist was very big, particularly in the back. And this design is actually fairly fitted just below the waist, for the "belt" of beading has little slack in it. Maybe all the original wearers truly had no hips, or more likely there is some super clever patterning and some hidden darts going on.
In any case, I'll make notes of this pattern (because it might be good for a more shift-like dress in the future), and then just start again with the darted pattern.