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Post by Mme de Beaufort on Dec 19, 2007 12:57:49 GMT -5
As some of you know, I've only recently received my Mode Bagatelle patterns, and I am planning to throw myself into it after the holidays.
I've been told to start with the bodiced petticoat.
What do you think?
Should I tackle a gown?
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Post by cosmoblue on Dec 19, 2007 13:35:26 GMT -5
I think that if you are going to do the bodiced petticoat as a foundation garment I would make that first so that you have it to fit your gown over. The placement of your cleavage will affect your neckline and bust points and everything. However if you are going to be wearing your white dress that you already have for the Feb ORS event I might start off with an open robe or pelisse to go along with that.
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Post by Mme de Beaufort on Dec 19, 2007 14:00:44 GMT -5
:::nodding thoughtfully::::
Hm. I'll keep that in mind.
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Post by dawnluckham on Dec 19, 2007 15:19:52 GMT -5
Steph, are you going to make a new set of stays? If you are, I'd really suggest you do that first. I've found with my experimentations with women's support garments, each set of stays fits' differently. Some can reduce and redistribute shape dramatically. I had a dress that fit me very well with a push-up modern bra and was incredibly baggy and way too big when worn with stays. I've got 5 different styles of stays for Regency wear (this has been my own little project and experiment). I've got a couple more styles that I'd still like to make. I have my own favourites, which I actually wear (the rest are used for demonstration and teaching). However, each style produces a different body shape. All are period correct, but they all create a different fit. If you're going to go to the effort of making lovely gowns from your beautiful new pattern (and it IS lovely, isn't it? ) I'd really suggest you take care of the under garment issues first. Then you’ll know things like the width the shoulder straps need to be (so they don’t peek out from the neckline of your gowns) and you’ll be able to fit your lovely new garments accordingly.
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Post by dawnluckham on Dec 19, 2007 15:30:17 GMT -5
P.S. There are so many pattern pieces in the La Mode pattern packet, I cut the main sheets apart and used zip-lock bags to put all the spencer pieces together and all the petticoat pieces together and label the different skirt pieces and bodice pieces, etc.
It helped a lot for me to get it all organized so I could find the pieces when I wanted them.
Also, I don’t know if you already do this, but I don’t use the actual pattern to cut my own fabrics. I trace out the size I want from the original patterns and use that size to cut fabric. This also adds to the extra tissue pattern pieces that need to be filed in zip-lock bags.
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Post by Mme de Beaufort on Dec 19, 2007 17:14:49 GMT -5
I ***love**** the tip about bagging the pieces by item. I need to adopt some sort of system because my patterns are getting out of control, and bursting out of their orignal packaging (Tissue never folds as flat as it was originally).
I'm not sure about doing the stay yet. Especially if I just go with a bodiced petticoat. I need to make that first I think, to decide whether or not I need to make a new stay. I completely agree about the straps showing and whatnot. It's a problem I deal with already with my current stay. As pretty as it is, and as proud as I am at how good it turned out, I think it may warrant a replacement with something better.
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Post by Mrs. Goblin on Dec 19, 2007 18:01:49 GMT -5
I second bagging the pieces thematically. I use sandwich sizes for the little pieces (I store the bodice pieces, the underbodice, the beret, etc... in these, grouped as makes sense to me) and gallons for the large swathes of tissue (the skirt pieces, the spencer.) It helps enormously.
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Post by dawnluckham on Dec 20, 2007 10:49:42 GMT -5
I don't want to sound like a spoil-sport, but I don't think you're going to be happy with the support offered by the La Mode bodiced petticoat. I'm VERY busty and I've only just recently lost a lot of weight. I was (erm..) "plump" and VERY busty when I first started working with the La Mode Bagatelle pattern. The bodiced petticoat is lovely as a slip - but as a support garment for a 34 G it didn't do anything at all. And again, you get this mono-bosom/sport bra look, which I didn't find at all attractive.
I did find success with the "Period Costume for Stage and Screen" version of the bodiced petticoat. (You really need to borrow this book from the library if you haven't already seen it!) The petticoat offered in this book works with gussets and it really does offer some lift. I still am much happier with my proper period stays than asking my petticoat to do the work.
If you're going to make the La Mode petticoat, make it in such a way that you can pull the boning in it out easily if you decide it's not what you want in support garments. At least then you can wear it over your stays as a proper period slip and not have the boning poking in funny places.
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Post by Mrs. Goblin on Dec 20, 2007 19:53:21 GMT -5
...I don't think you're going to be happy with the support offered by the La Mode bodiced petticoat. ... The bodiced petticoat is lovely as a slip - but as a support garment for a 34 G it didn't do anything at all. And again, you get this mono-bosom/sport bra look, which I didn't find at all attractive... I will have to respectfully disagree, here. I first made the bodiced petticoat at 38F (or DDD, depending on where you buy your bras) and found it extremely comfortable. I just added a little extra seam allowance to the DD cut pattern. It was both supportive enough for highly energetic country dancing with bouncing and setting steps and all, and gave me some lovely cleavage that I never once worried was going to bounce out of place. It also gave me a very period silhouette, taking into consideration that there are several bosom shapes (depending on from when and where you're drawing your sources) and looked great under the Mode Bagatelle dresses without worrying about neckline synchronicity. As I mentioned before in the nursing thread, I am using a highly modified version of this as my nursing undergarment (at expletive!deleted 44H.) I have no boning in this one (I'm prone to plugged ducts) so I droop in a rather more "continental" fashion, but it stll holds the "girls" in place beautifully. That said, I still want to "trade up" to some real regency stays when I next have the chance, partly so that I know my underthings are "right", but the ease of the bodiced petticoat as a support garment is great, particularly for sillier events, when you're not trying to impress with strict historicity and just want to dance/flirt/eat bonbons. It's a very comfortable choice.
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Post by Mrs. Goblin on Dec 20, 2007 19:58:31 GMT -5
That said, I agree that whatever you do, start with undergarments. If you already have underthings you like and fit well and comfortably, I'd go ahead and try a gown. If not, do undies first, from whatever source. (Just don't be afraid of the bodiced petticoat. And as Dawn said, if you don't like it as a support garment, you can always take the boning out and use it as a non supportive layer.
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Post by Mme de Beaufort on Dec 21, 2007 11:07:52 GMT -5
I will keep that in mind. I'm sure you saw the photograph my my being 'shelfed' out when I sit, that is what I am trying to avoid first and foremost. Then it's the boning that pokes out down on my lower belly, and then the bloody straps that keep peeking out from my neckline.
I may just remake another stay--a shorter one, perhaps to encase my ribcage only. It will be long enough not to angle into me, like the S&S stay does, and short enough not to push my girls up under my chin as it does.
I think, given that this is my first modified corset, that I did a decent job. It hugs me in all the right places, and I'm sort of impressed with myself that I turned a bra-length stay into a full corset with some decent success.
Cosmo got a good look at it back in October. It isn't an expert's work, but I am proud. I used a nice ivory brocade and layered two weights of cotton underneath.
I'm currently visting my sister in upstate New York, and she has a sewing space in her basement that I am green with envy over. A cutting table that's at least 8 x 10 feet, TWO sewing tables with a serger and a nice machine... tons of fabrics in totes, gorgeous upholstery fabrics and jaquards... I'm DROOLING.
I hate that woman. ::thinks of her little oval dining table and sniffs:::
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Post by cosmoblue on Dec 21, 2007 13:42:13 GMT -5
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Post by dawnluckham on Dec 21, 2007 21:08:25 GMT -5
I don't want to speak for Katherine, but I understand she was copying this set of stays: dept.kent.edu/museum/exhibit/nudity/CHS_1963_42_4.htmShe had only seen the photos and not the original stays, which can limit interpretation somewhat. This set of stays from the Kent State "Age of Nudity" exhibit belongs to the Connecticut Historical Society. The originals are cotton (if I remember correctly). The cups have individual drawstrings in the tops. They were made for a large woman (a guess, but I'd say about a modern size 20 in ready to wear sizing). Saundra Ros Altman of Past Patterns is currently working on a pattern for these stays. It can sometimes take a while for a pattern to actually hit the retail shelves, but this one is close to being released, I think. (I'm crossing my fingers for this spring.)
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Post by Mme de Beaufort on Dec 22, 2007 11:10:48 GMT -5
That is exactly what I need.
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Post by Mme de Beaufort on Dec 31, 2007 16:08:42 GMT -5
I really like the tiny straps.
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