18th Century Bodice Progress and Blog Fixes

I seem to have misplaced my basic 18th century bodice pattern. I don't know how things get sucked into a vortex when, hypothetically, they have never left my sewing room, but I digress. After finally trying on my  finished stays, I learned that they now fit perfectly and are the most comfortable pair I have made yet! Which was a relief, even though I still don't think they are very pretty with all the bias piecing. I shall make another pair...one day.

I started trying to reconstruct my basic bodice pattern by trying on a few of my old 18th century bodices, to see if they still fit, and if I even still liked my old pattern (the one that went missing). The waist was too short on the sides and the sleeves needed to be re-drafted, but otherwise the pattern still worked well. I also wanted to switch from having the shoulder strap in one with the front pattern piece to a more authentic separate piece. So I traced the pieces from the bodice that fit the best and then made my corrections. I always think it is easier to start with some sort of pattern, even a bad one, and then fix it. So I cut out my new pattern and an old one piece 18th century sleeve pattern that I had laying around.

The bodice I copied the pattern from, I want to fix up this bodice so that it is wearable as a little jacket because I still love this print! It would be so perfect for 4th of July too with a blue or red petticoat!

Trying on the quickly sewn together bodice muslin of the new pattern told me that, a. I finally had the side waist length correct and, b. the sleeve pattern I found laying around was a definite no go. I also had to adjust the shoulder strap a bit more to be more accurate looking. I don't actually own Costume Close Up, the book in which the Willamsburg Swallowtail jacket pattern is provided, so I will be modifying my own basic bodice pattern to create my version. I have actually never scaled up a historical pattern to use, I work more by modifying my own patterns until they closely resemble the patterns in Janet Arnold or other resources. Perhaps one day I will try just scaling up, but I figure since each woman's clothes would have been draped separately on the body and not cut from a pre-made pattern, that my way isn't exactly inaccurate either.

So I need to create a new 18th century sleeve pattern. Oh sleeves, thou art never fun! I will then make the modifications to the bodice to turn it into the Swallowtail jackets distinctive shape. I want to make a muslin jacket first to make sure I have everything correct before diving into my long guarded pretty floral fabric. I may go get some fun but cheap cotton/linen to make this rather functional mock-up so that if it works I can use it!

In other news, I have made a few small updates to the layout of this here blog! I may keep tweaking a few things, so if something on the page jumps around it is just me moving around code! I want to do a post about blogging soon, as I went from never being able to keep up, to posting at least every other day for over a year! I have been devoting a lot of time to learning about blogging, and have been loving the Blogcademy home school lessons! I certainly have a lot of fun posts coming up on my calender for you all soon!

For now I am off to work, but I may stop at the fabric store on the way home....