From: Gretchen Miller Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 18:51:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: H-Costume Digest, Volume 37, 1/26/94 The Historic Costume List Digest, Volume 37, January 26, 1994 Send items for the list to h-costume@andrew.cmu.edu (or reply to this message). Send subscription/deletion requests and inquiries to h-costume-request@andrew.cmu.edu For archives of this digest, send mail to close@lunch.asd.sgi.com Thanks and Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------- Topics: Costume Workshop (Australia) Comments on Corsets FAQ and Dover Books The welcome message ------------------------------------- From: "Sarah Randles" Date: Tue, 25 Jan 94 11:19:10 EST Subject: Costume Workshop I'm posting this on behalf of Meaghan Waters (Mistress Marguerite de Rada y Silva) who is running this; you can make inquiries to me and I will pass them on. Crossroads Medieval Village Co-operative will be hosting a Costuming Workshop on 26 & 27 February, 1994, at Australian National University, Canberra in the Crisp Building, Rooms G7, 8 and 9 Cost: $10 includes tea, coffee, biscuits and some materials Time: 10 am both Saturday and Sunday 7 pm start for video night on the Saturday Night The year is getting on and there are a few things you've wanted to make but either don't knwo where to start or don't seem able to make the time, or perhaps you've got stuck in the middle of something and don't really know where to go from here, or maybe you just want to get together with a whole bunch of other costumers and have a good weekend. There will be two streams run on the weekend, one will be a schedule of classes conducted by people fairly conversant in their fields. At the same time a room will be set up with a few sewing machines and there will be people available to ask help or advice from. On the Saturday night we'll do the pizza or whatever thing and sit down to a costumefest where all the good (and some bad) bits out of various movies will be spliced together so you can go - "I want, I want, I want". At present we have classes planned on - Sewing Techniques, Women's 14th Century Gowns, Men's Renaissance Costuming, German Renaissance Hats, Colours and Fabrics in Costuming, Medieval Shoe Construction, Fighting Tabards, Gambeson construction, Embroidery in Costuming, Wholistic Costuming, Design your Purgatorio Costume. More classes are planned and there will also be a wide range of resource materials provided to browse through if you are looking for some new or further information. Send bookings or queries to Meaghan Waters, P.O. Box R477, Royal Exchange, Sydney, NSW, 2000, or phone (02) 318 1291 before 9.30pm. For any information on Crossroads Medieval Village Co-operative contact Sarah Randles on (02) 568 2968 before 10pm. Sarah Randles (Bess Haddon of York) S.Randles@uts.edu.au ------------------------------------- From: kweather@llnj.ll.pbs.org (Karen Weatherbee) Subject: Re: Corsetry info Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 23:19:53 -0500 (EST) The main differences in corsets is the style that the body is being shaped to fit. Corsets are not universally interchangeable...for example, a tudor corset won't work under an 18th c. gown. Function of corsets seems to be to (1) provide some support for the breasts & (2) to shape the body into the ideal body shape of the time. A Tudor corset makes the upper torso into a cone shape while the 18th c corset features a bowed front & emphasizes a small, pointed ribcage. The idea of a corset wasn't necessarily to make the wearer actually very much smaller, but to give the illusion of a very small waist & to provide a proper foundation for the dress. Corsets change the natural shape of the body from oval to cylindrical...so the front looks smaller...but the side view actually looks a bit wider. This is not to say that some ladies didn't lace to excess :). When making corsets for wearing today, it is important to let people know that you don't have to do the 'Scarlet O'Hara' 14" waist lacing. A corset needs only to be an inch or two smaller than measurements so it fits snuggly, doesn't shift around, holds the breasts in place & provides the proper dress foundation. The wearer should still be able to breathe & function somewhat normally. ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 94 17:47:13 -0500 From: botteron@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Carol J. Botteron) Subject: FAQs and Dover books? Has anyone put together any FAQs on h-costume topics (aside from the bibliography)? For example, one of the corset experts might want to compile a corset FAQ while the discussion is fresh in our minds. Then when the subject comes up again, that person could just offer to send the file to interested people. Also, where would one write to get a catalog of Dover books? (Dangerous question, I know! B-) ) Carol Botteron botteron@gnu.ai.mit.edu ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 19:28:45 -0500 (EST) From: Kara Leann Weeks Subject: Dover Books Carol, You're in luck! I just got a Dover Catalogue today from a friend who knows my habits. ;) The address is: Dover Publications, Inc. 31 East 2nd Street Mineola, NY 11501 Good luck (hope it doesn't get *too* dangerous!) Kara Weeks ------------------------------------- From: close@lunch.asd.sgi.com (Diane Barlow Close) Subject: The Welcome Message Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 10:36:15 -0800 (PST) Since we goofed up sending out the welcome message to a few of the first list members and we (Gretchen and I) promised to post it here relatively soon, AND since we've been lax in that department, let me post a copy now, so everybody will have one for sure: Last modified: November 30, 1993 Welcome to the historic costume mailing list! ADMINISTRATIVE INFO: For administrative questions, and to be added to or removed from the list, send mail to h-costume-request@andrew.cmu.edu. A digest format is available on request. Send posts to h-costume@andrew.cmu.edu. Archives are available only by direct request to close@lunch.asd.sgi.com. Note that if this list gets too big, we'll go through the proper procedures for turning it into a newsgroup. WHAT WE'RE ABOUT: This list concentrates on recreating period elegance, from the Bronze age to the mid-20th Century. Its emphasis is on accurate historical reproduction of clothing, historical techniques for garment construction, and the application of those techniques in modern clothing design. Other topics appropriate for discussion include adapting historical clothing for the modern figure, clothing evolution, theatrical costumes, patterns, materials, books, and sources for supplies. Topics not suitable for this list include halloween and children's dress-up costumes; for those, try alt.sewing and rec.crafts.textiles. Also inappropriate are advertisements for vintage clothing, for sale or wanted; for those, try the vintage clothing mailing list (see below). Members of the SCA should note that this list discusses historic costume of all eras, not just the SCA period. General conversations about the SCA are not suitable for this list; for those, stick to rec.org.sca. Of Related Interest: vintage@presto.ig.com is a mailing list that discusses purchasing and collecting existing vintage fashions and fashion accessories, with an emphasis on vintage jewelry. To get more information or to subscribe, send e-mail to vintage-request@presto.ig.com. ---------------------------- End of Volume 37 -----------------------