Frock Chick

Okay so while looking for photos for insurance I found my first photos of my new Mina bodice and had quite a revelation.

So I find it very painful to do fitting for historic gear. It’s physically painful. 

I have helped that a bit with The Mina because I shaped all panels before putting eyelets in the back so I can lace it closed even during fitting.

But I’m having trouble with boning because well it’s also painful to cut. and to handle in general.

And I realised where most of my fitting trouble is which is the bust.

I need to cord the whole thing!

I want a mid-late 1870s shape and to get that cording is often used in the hip and bust gores.

Of course!

SO this is great.

My Marie antoinette stays need a lot of topstitching before I can bone that too and I may even use a bit of cording in that to soften some of the harshness of the metal stays.

I didn’t account for cording in my pattern but I have a good seam allowance at the sides.

The cording is going to help retain the shape I carefully created in fabric as it collapses off the form.

(Mina is the shortform of my SCA name and tends to be used just as a nickname for me- I like it 🙂 )

I just grabbed a set of a knife and fork from Trademe- mother of pearl handles, silver decorative join to the functional end. Not suse the content of the functional end.

They are really lovely, and fit what I wanted 🙂

I want to make a case for them. So it means having them in hand sooner rather than later 🙂 I am not entirely sure how they are made but I have a few options to work with.

So, why a knife and fork? Aren’t forks out of era. Nope.

My favourite set ever is Italian and is made with rock crystal.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O112430/cutlery-set-unknown/

It seems to have been redesignated later than 16thC but there are similar that are earlier.

http://gyujtemeny.imm.hu/gyujtemeny/kes/1434?i=1377

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wien_Schatzkammer_Deutscher_Orden_-_Essbesteck.jpg

So I originally tried to find modern cutlery I could adapt, but Most just cannot- I need each end to unscrew and have a core to thread crystal on to.. So a look around at further designs:

All from Bildindex, info in photos. All 16-17thC and across the states.

So my theory is that we don’t just see sets of knives in the Trachtenbucher but possibly knife and fork sets.

Mostly the forks are long tined. I personally do not want to run the risk of poking myself in the face with them so I am fine with a smaller tine set further to the end. In the first image there is a case that may be associated witht he matching set.

But now for the cases:

https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj05227007 https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj05227006

These could well be wedding knife sets. There don’t seem to be a top end to the cases. And they seem to be silver.

These do appear to match the sets worn in the trachtenbuch.

These are from Weigel’s book https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Frauen-Trachtenbuch_(1586)

https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj00290368  and https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj00290368

These are from de Bruyn.

These appear on both unmarried and married women, so I think these are a status symbol- I found single knives in cases on working women though.

So, any evidence that these are knives and forks:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/210073?rpp=60&pg=1&rndkey=20140327&ao=on&ft=*&where=Europe&what=Knives&pos=38

This is later, but the case and cutlery are a match.

And

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=1477461001&objectId=35872&partId=1

c1600.

Yes! I can make a case like this from the scraps of heavy russet I have. I think I’ll need to learn some techniques from shoemaking as I’ll want really crisp edges. But I’ll be able to embroider the case 🙂 or… I still have diamon shaped brass stampings I used for my Valois ouches set. They could be shaped to fit.

Anyway. Yay! Now I need to find a matching spoon to carry in my purse 🙂

In order to figure out history of the gown I wound up with dozens of reference notes about the production of garments and how there are multiple copies and why.

I still haven’t found the specific references I want (all secondary atm) but enough to feel confident in several statements made.

But there are some conflicting descriptions of materials, I have my suspicions about why so will also have to discuss those.

So yeah. I can now start the day and do things.

But I also will have my abs juice ready to go today and the latex work of yesterday will hopefully pay off today. Unless it didn’t adhere in what case I get to strip the base back and redo it. IsoPro does work but it is a PITA to time correctly. The latex needs to be clean and dry for the next layer of latex. But with a very damp climate there is a fine layer of moisture on anything outdoors- or in a room without insulation.

What else… Oh yes. I need to bleach my sateen panels for my 1870s gored stays. I worked out what I need vs the original pattern styles so will also see if I can make one in red sateen finally. I have tried to do this in the past and somehow wound up with stays too short.

What I need from stays is less about squish as it is about reducing stress on ribs. My current pain is a very good reminder! My ribs are very long, there is barely two fingerwidths distance at the side of my waist between ribs and pelvis. So this means if I want a wasp waist I either deal with ribs being heavily squished or I make it nip in only at that narrow point. Or I can avoid too much restriction and taper the stays to the waist then flare out over the hip.

This last one is what I find gives a shape that is both acceptable to a modern eye as well as historic. If I nip in only at the waisy it tends to make everything else seem disproportionate rather than drawing the line in.

So today will be spent cutting fabric and bleaching to have a summer and winter variation. There may even be enough silk satin left over, though that feels a bit extravagant!