Tag Patterning

How many tries?

Jennifer Kanter

Started drafting a custom pattern for 16th century pair of bodies, using the bara method.

My tip to anybody doing this: Read the instructions. Then read them again. Making the tapes isn’t hard. No math whatsoever. Just wrap a ribbon around the body, mark it, and fold the ribbon to add more marks per the instructions. It IS however, a very precise process, and it’s easy to make the fold wrong. Ask me how I know…

My first set of bara tapes. Notice these are all hot pink.

The bara method was fairly straightforward once I got the hang of it. Make a starting point on blank paper. Measure out from that point with the specified tape and mark that point. Connect as directed. Repeat. Draft 1 came out like this. I’m a little skeptical because it’s not shaped precisely like the drawing. I suspect alterations will be needed bc of my fluffy fun-sized stature.

Draft 1: Very wide. Very skinny. Very Demure.

After sleeping on it I decided to check my tapes and draft. And then got a message from Mistress Sibilla, expert at this method, noting where it was shaped wrong. So I checked the draft (tapes used correctly) and then checked the tapes themselves. Oops. 2 out of 4 tapes redrawn and on to draft 2.

Draft 2: Much better now that I have my tapes done right

With draft 2 looking more promising, I made a muslin. Meh?

That’s a lot of extra fabric…
After some pinning (thanks, Brian!), it was better, but still not right

I’m going to redraw it from scratch and try again tomorrow. Maybe after making a new chest tape with the girls on lockdown in a good sports bra. Third time is the charm?

Maybe for Ex Opus?

Jennifer Kanter

Two things on deck at the moment…

  1. The construction of a embroidery slate
  2. Drafting a bodies pattern using the Bara method

The Slate

Eleonora’s 16th century gowns often included decorative goldwork embroidery. While making enough for the entire dress sounds dauntingly time-consuming and $$$$ expensive $$$$, making a sample to show I understand the process seems reasonable. To this end, the project that begets more projects has birthed a woodworking exercise: the creation of a period-appropriate embroidery frame.

Images of the embroidery from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 3

After reading up a little on the history of embroidery frames and looking at medieval book and manuscript images as well as modernly available slates, I decided to make one. (Again, a cost-saving measure for an item that seems relatively straightforward to construct.)

So $15 a the hardware store later, I’ve begun making the frame to go with my goldwork project.

Rounding corners & marking for cuts and holes

The Bodies Pattern

The dress project that begets more projects also seemed like it needed some foundation garments. Ladies of the era would have needed a chemise and either pair of bodies or pair of stays underneath. Eleonora herself was found to have many bodies (padded/stiffened bodices) in her inventories, but few stays (bodies reinforced with long slim stiff materials like baleen, reeds, or metal rods). Janet Arnold documented the front-close velvet bodies found under Eleonora’s burial gown in Patterns of Fashion 3.

Guess I need underwear :sigh:

So step one in making the gown is to make the bodies, so the gown can be correctly fitted over the correct foundation garment. Tonight I began that process by flipping back to good old Master Jose and the bara method he details in Modern Maker 2: Pattern Manual 1580-1640. (Yes that’s slightly later than Eleonora’s dress, but it’s a reasonable stretch given that this is based on some of the earliest extant European tailoring manuals and the women’s dress styles are not drastically different in their base construction.)

Tapes being made to begin patterning the bodies using the bara method for the first time

So pattern drafting has begun. Hopefully, I’ll get far enough on one of these to enter it in the Ex Opus regional artsci faire at Market Day. Wish me luck!