From: owner-h-costume-digest (H-Costume Digest) To: h-costume-digest@lunch.engr.sgi.com Subject: H-Costume Digest V3 #238 Reply-To: h-costume Errors-To: owner-h-costume-digest@lunch.engr.sgi.com Precedence: bulk H-Costume Digest Thursday, October 26 1995 Volume 3, Number 238 Compilation copyright (C) 1995 Diane Barlow Close and Gretchen Miller Use in whole prohibited. Individual articles are the property of the author. Seek permission from that author before reprinting or quoting elsewhere. Important Addresses: Send submissions to: h-costume@lunch.engr.sgi.com (or reply to this message). Adds/drops/archives: majordomo@lunch.engr.sgi.com Real, live person: h-costume-request@andrew.cmu.edu Topics: Re:Rococco ballgown Painted panels tailoring, bound buttonholes... Re: Bound Buttonholes Re: Bound Buttonholes Early Teens Hispanic Costume/Hedgehog Handworks Early 1860's Holiday Celebrations in Old Sacramento 20,000 Years of Fashion RE: 20,000 Years of Fashion Re: Early Teens Re: 20,000 Years of Fashion ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 12:30:32 +0100 (MET) From: Ingela Sjömark Subject: Re:Rococco ballgown Hello! Try Janet arnold's book Patterns of fashion 1 c. 1660-1860 there are some geat patterns in it. What would the world be like, without J. Arnold's books ?? ;-) \ Ingela Sj|mark \ \ Ingrid S|mmerska \ \ \ \ ingela@ludd.luth.se \ \ \ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 07:59:09 -0500 From: Gary Stephens Subject: Painted panels >Date: Wed, 25 Oct 95 18:20:37 PDT >From: ches@tristero.io.com >Subject: Frankish clothing, 800-900 > >Can anyone here help this dear person? >I have this wild idea to make a >series of painted panels to go on their own frame, which will in turn >go around our very ugly, very 20th century tent. I have absolutely >no experience painting anything (unless you count the emergency tunic >I had to make for my Lord Archibald so that he could fight down at >Opening Weekend at TRF -- I learned a few things, like washing the >cotton helps..., even if there is a nasty time crunch, just a few >hours, to make the thing), so if you've got any words of advice for >me, please email me. Our personas are late 15th-early 16th century, >so I am also researching designs from this era to paint. I have always found Liquitex acrylics for textiles to be superior to anything else on the North American market. Being a rather lazy sort, I've never washed any fabric before hand, and to my amazement, never had a problem, having painted, washed and then sold myriad pieces, as well as many pieces in my own home. I've also used quite a variety of fabrics, natural as well as polyester blends. I sketch on in a soft artist's pencil the design I wish to paint on the fabric, not using any sort of stretcher. Course, I don't even stretch my watercolour paper, so why would I stretch fabric? :) I use soft, flat acrylic brushes. I prefer sables. When setting up the materials I'm using, I always have a pan of warm tap water in which to clean and dampen my brush, as well as keep a soft, clean rag by my side to adjust the dampness of my brush. Then, just as I would paint on canvas, I paint with the Liquitex, using a cross-over between oil and watercolour techniques. That is, I work from my coolest, darkest colours to my warmest, lightest colours. However, just as working with a rapid series of watercolour washes, I work very quickly, as initially the Liquitex dries very fast. What you must be sure of is to not get the cloth too wet. That will cause a series of runs, which can be effective if you're trying for a soft wash, but disasterous if you're trying for the hard edges of dry-brushing. I always use a piece of acid free mat board underneath the fabric I'm painting. This is important, otherwise you'll muck up the back of, say, a t-shirt you're painting, or your table. You can even use glazing techniques using the Liquitex and get some truly stunning effects. I know I painted several rare orchid t-shirts and achieved some rather luminous effects, almost comparable to using gum arabic as a medium with watercolour. Part the second is to be sure to allow your fabric to dry completely. I usually leave a piece 24 hours. Acrylics dry rapidly, but I give them the extra time. 48 hours is even better, allowing the medium to cure. Then, to set the paint, I use a medium iron on the wrong side of the fabric. No towel. Direct application. I do use steam. You must be sure it's a medium heat, otherwise you melt the acrylic. What you want to achieve is a certain plasticity that will allow the acrylic to set into the fibres of the fabric. Then, if you wish, you may wash the fabric. My children still have four t-shirts I painted for them five years ago. These t-shirts have been through the wash weekly, in bleach, hot water, dryer. Sullied in sweat, mud, lord-knows-what-else. The colours are still vibrant. The details still excellent. I have found, however, reds tend to fade slightly with time. I have also seen other of my creations floating about town, still looking very good. I also used this method to create chainsaw banners which have survived through scorching heat, pouring rain, packed wet, and every other abomination you could conceive. No problem. Cautions: be sure the acrylic you use is either Liquitex, or an acrylic designed for fabric. Artist's acrylics do work very well, but can be very expensive, and finding the right medium to carry the paint can be tricky. Good luck! Should you have any other queries, please don't hesitate to contact me by e-mail: garys@flexnet.com Lorina Stephens ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 95 08:45:33 EDT From: rosanne Subject: tailoring, bound buttonholes... Hi Alice...I'm a big fan of tailoring and tailoring techniques. Since I'm a theatrical costume designer...I don't get alot of time to use proper tailoring technique. When I'm under a deadline things sort of fall under the "done is good" category and theatrical speed tailoring is the law of the land. Between jobs I do like to indulge my tailoring habit. Alice Morgan writes: Most of the tailoring taught now seams to focus on tailoring for womens garments, and there is very little information on tailoring for mens garments. Its been a subject of interest to me, but I have not found a lot of information yet. me: There are a couple of books out...Classic Tailoring Techniques...both for men and women. I spend alot of time scouring antiquarian bookstores for tailoring books. Right now I'm drafting some suits from _Tailoring the Professional Way_, Poulin. These are pretty standard sack suit patterns from the 40's, but I've used Poulin's draft formulas before for a production of The Importance of Being Earnest and they make up beautifully for sack suits 1890's and beyond. You write: Differences between a man and womans tailored garment: for men, the under collar is felt, while for the woman is the "fashion fabric" same as exterior fabric of the suit Me: I love the look of a proper melton and will sometimes use them on women's tailored great coats. You write: Men's suits will have stiched buttonholes, a womans will have bound. The usual regarding which side the buttons are on. Men's suits are more likely to have a pocket in chest area, since there is less bulk on most men than women in this area. Me: Bound buttonholes, I've always understood to be a mark of custom tailoring rather than gender. You write: They may be other differences. Any one else a fan of tailoring techinues used in the last 150 years? Me: Obviously, I'm a big fan. Women's tailoring drafts also have a few differences....the waist darts surpress more fabric...the sleeve drafts narrow at the cuff more than men's sleeves...and the chest area occationally will have to be cut-slashed-and expanded to accomodate bustier women with a higher waist to chest differential. Rosanne Griffeth Costume Designer SC Shakespeare Co. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 09:13:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Astrida E B Schaeffer Subject: Re: Bound Buttonholes I was making a 1770's man's coat and couldn't tell from photos in my books whether the buttonholes were bound--so I called information, and got the number of the Costume Institute at the Met. The very nice & helpful woman who took my call said that yes, bound buttonholes were perfectly normal for the time period. I don't know how prevalent they were _before_ 1770, but they were in use by then. Hope this helps, Astrida ************************************************************************** Astrida Schaeffer "All life on Earth is a fairy tale in which outlandish creatures pursue impossible lives" - Rutherford Platt ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 09:38:41 -500 From: "Carol Kocian" Subject: Re: Bound Buttonholes Astrida wrote: "I was making a 1770's man's coat and couldn't tell from photos in my books whether the buttonholes were bound--so I called information, and got the number of the Costume Institute at the Met. The very nice & helpful woman who took my call said that yes, bound buttonholes were perfectly normal for the time period. I don't know how prevalent they were _before_ 1770, but they were in use by then." I looked at 1770's men's coats, too, both at the Costume Institute and in Williamsburg. The buttonholes are hand sewn, and then some have a tape stitched around them on the outside. In military coats, the tape is a twill wool or a metallic for an officer. This is probably what the woman meant when you talked to her, but it is not the same as the "welt pocket" sort of bound buttonhole that I'm looking for. I've used tape woven on a rigid heddle tape loom for this purpose. I don't know if that was right, or if only the twill tape would have been used. I haven't tried weaving the metallic tape yet! -Carol Kocian ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 10:42:47 -0400 From: nfn01520@naples.net (Michelle R. Madison) Subject: Early Teens My family has just bought a 1914 Model T Touring Car in pristine condition. I've been trying to research costumes for us to go with the car. I think I have a pretty good grip on "motoring clothes", like dusters, etc. But I haven't had much luck with what to wear under them. Most costume books focus on pre-teens and WWI, completely missing the early teens. The most I've been able to come up with is Hobble skirts for women, and pretty much nothing for men. We're looking for an authentic casual look...something one might spend a day playing tennis, golfing, or picnicing in. Were shirtwaists still worn? What about fuller skirts? Were high top shoes still worn, or was the trend moving more towards low pumps? Were hats still large and overtrimmed? And what in the world did men wear? Were plus-fours worn yet? Thank you so much! It's amazing to find out how little information there is at the local library on this subject! Michelle nfn01520@naples.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ i feel like e. e. cummings at a punctuation festival ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 95 08:24:38 PDT From: julie_adams@corp.Cubic.COM Subject: Hispanic Costume/Hedgehog Handworks Here is the information on the Hispanic Costume book: Hispanic Costume, 1480-1530 Ruth Matilda Anderson The Hispanic Society of America, 1979 ISBN: 87535-126-3 Great examples and comparisons. Full of primary source quotations (translated to English of course. Some Moorish costume. I purchased mine about a year ago from: Hedgehog Handworks Mistress Xena Baxter Wynthorpe and Sir Colin Wynthorpe P.P. Box 45384 Westchester, CA 90045 (310) 670-6040 Ad says: Broider Wul-vegetable dyed lambswool for stitching Trebizond Silk buttonhole Twist Thread, Waterlilies, Watercolours, Wildflowers fibers Real Metal Threads Costuming and Needlework Books Scissors, Fancy Tools, Accessories $5 for a new catalog (refundable) I am not associated in any way to this business.... But you can tell them I referred you.... - --julie adams (mistress julianna) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 02:51:51 -0400 From: EAHAY@aol.com Subject: Early 1860's Holiday Celebrations in Old Sacramento FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HOLLY FEST 1865: THE HERITAGE OF OLD SACRAMENTO Beattie and Hay Productions, in conjunction with Old Sacramento Management, is sponsoring a fun filled holiday season in historic Old Sacramento every weekend in December, culminating with authentic Music Hall performances on New Year's Eve. Actors, living history enthusiasts, and anyone interested in early California history are welcome to become involved. Auditions for theme characters and an Orientation Meeting for participants in Old Sacramento Holly Fest: the Heritage of Old Sacramento will be held at the Old Eagle Theater, across from the railroad depot in Old Sacramento, on the following dates and times: AUDITIONS FOR THEME CHARACTERS: Saturday, November 4, beginning at 3:00 p.m. ORIENTATION MEETING FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS: Sunday, November 5, from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. Also, AUDITIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR'S EVE MUSIC HALL will be held on Sunday, November 19, at 3:00 p.m. at the OET. We would love to hear from anyone with interest and background in *early* 1860's Californian costuming, music, and historical characterization. This is a first annual community event and promises to be a fun-filled celebration of the holiday season and early California history for everyone involved. Interested parties may call (916) 489-7279 or (415) 332-1430 for more information on participant guidelines, compensation and stipends, and registration details. Flyers and posters are available for distribution. Joe Bob says check it out! If at all possible, please forward this "e-nouncement" [sic] to as many living history reenactors as may be interested. Your interest will help revitalize one of California's treasured historic districts, and also make possible the re-creation of more early California events to come. Thanks for your interest and support. Sincerely, Ethan Hay Producer/Director Beattie & Hay Productions P.O. Box 162164 Sausalito, CA 95816 email: eahay@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 23:03:31 -0400 From: Christy546@aol.com Subject: 20,000 Years of Fashion Hi all! Got a question for you. I have found listed in a catalog the book "20,000 Years of Fashion" by Francous Boucher. It is a history of costume and personal adornment. Does anyone have or has any one seen this book? I am wondering if it is worth getting. The info on it says that it is a definitive study of mankind's efforts to cover, decorate, and improve the apperance of the human body. It sounds like it may be a good general overview. I'd appreciate anyone's comments reguarding it. I found this quote I though it was interesting: "The same costume will be Indecent 10 years before its time, Shameless 5 years before its time, Outré (daring) 1 year before its time, Smart, Dowdy 1 year after its time, Hideous 20 years after its time, Ridiculous 20 years after its time, Amusing 30 years after its time, Quaint 50 years after its time, Charming 70 years after its time, Romantic 100 years after its time, Beautiful 150 years after its time." James Laver (1899-1975), British art critic, author. Taste and Fashion, ch. 18 (1937). “The erogenous zone,” Laver wrote, “is always shifting, and it is the business of fashion to pursue it, without ever catching it up.” Thanks, Christy Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions. Coco Chanel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 17:05:52 -0500 (CDT) From: P_SHERYL@KCPL.LIB.MO.US Subject: RE: 20,000 Years of Fashion >Hi all! > >Got a question for you. I have found listed in a catalog the book "20,000 >Years of Fashion" by Francous Boucher. It is a history of costume and >personal adornment. Does anyone have or has any one seen this book? I am >wondering if it is worth getting. The info on it says that it is a definitive >study of mankind's efforts to cover, decorate, and improve the apperance of >the human body. > >It sounds like it may be a good general overview. I'd appreciate anyone's >comments reguarding it. > >Thanks, >Christy Christy, I happen to work in a library so I pulled our copy off of the shelf to look at it. First of all, It is a large book - 440 pages. It seems to have a lot more text that most costume books, but the illustrations are very nice. Anywhere from 2 to 5 illustrations per page. Most B&W but a good number are in color. All are photgraphs of paintings, sculptures, or individual costume items. In other words, there are no drawings to show things - all illustrations seem to be actual period sources. For the 20th century items, there are often color photographs of models wearing actual vintage gowns, etc. It seems to focus mostly on Europe. There is some information about the East, but not a large proportion of the book. To sum it up, I would personally like to own this book if only for the beautiful illustrations. It may be a bit pricey because of the size & amount of photos, but you might think that it's worth it. If you're still not sure, try your local library to see if they have a copy or can borrow one for you through interlibrary loan. Hope this helps! Sheryl J. Nance Kansas City MO Public Library p_sheryl@kcpl.lib.mo.us ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 16:42:28 -0700 (PDT) From: close (Diane Barlow Close) Subject: Re: Early Teens Michelle R. Madison wrote: > haven't had much luck with what to wear under them. Most costume books > focus on pre-teens and WWI, completely missing the early teens. The most You need to check out Dover Publications: Altman's Spring and Summer Fashions Catalog, 1915 Gimbel's Illustrated Fashion Catalog, 1915 The Home Pattern Company Fashions Catalog, 1914 Everyday Fashions, 1909-1920, as Pictured in Sears Catalogs All are great resources for what was worn under, on and over in the mid-teen era! There's also a 1917 and a 1909 catalog too. > I've been able to come up with is Hobble skirts for women, and pretty much > nothing for men. We're looking for an authentic casual look...something one > might spend a day playing tennis, golfing, or picnicing in. Typical sporting outfit of the day: Men: Khaki suit featuring a jacket (unlined) with a belt and patch pockets. The belt can be fastened in front or in back (as a half-belt). The trousers are straight-legged with cuffs. Other popular jacket styles (matched with these same pants) were a round-cut sack style and a "neru" looking military style (stand-up collar). Fashionable younger (under 35) men may also wear white serge (striped) or flannel "outing" trousers matched with a regular shirt, tie and topped with a sweater (cardigan). Sporting women wore a plain waist with a high collar OR a v-neck (buttoned; convertible collar finished with military loops and buttons). This was paired with a plain shite or tan "sports skirt" with patch pockets and very little extra trimming. They could top this with a duster or a belted cardigan. Sturdy low-heeled shoes were the preferred sporting foot atire. Straw or smaller hats on the women, bowlers or straw hats for the men. > Were plus-fours worn yet? Not that I can see. Riding breeches were popular among the motorcycling crowd though. - -- Diane Close close@lunch.engr.sgi.com I'm at lunch all day. :-) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 21:18:15 -0400 (EDT) From: "Katherine L. Rodman" Subject: Re: 20,000 Years of Fashion Christy: The Boucher book is an excellent book to add to your collection. It is the first book that I go to when I am researching any period. It is full of primary research and just a lovely book to own. If you can afford it, by all means buy it. Enjoy! Kat Katherine L. Rodman Gainesville, FL afn25136@freenet.ufl.edu "Historical accuracy and costume design do not neccessarily go hand in hand" John Conklin On Wed, 25 Oct 1995 Christy546@aol.com wrote: > > Got a question for you. I have found listed in a catalog the book "20,000 > Years of Fashion" by Francous Boucher. It is a history of costume and > personal adornment. Does anyone have or has any one seen this book? I am > wondering if it is worth getting. > Thanks, > Christy > > Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions. > Coco Chanel > ------------------------------ End of H-Costume Digest V3 #238 ******************************* A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, send the command lines: unsubscribe h-costume-digest subscribe h-costume end in the body of a message to majordomo@lunch.engr.sgi.com. Thanks and enjoy the list!