Autumn Zebra

This is part one of a two part post, but unlike other series of posts, this one might actually get past the first one, because the item in question is nearly finished, and I like it even if everyone else will probably think it's ridiculous. Currently, I am using the word "smock" to designate any garments of a particular basic type. One of the very common forms that clothing has taken, through time and in various parts of the world, is this "smock". For the basic pattern, the front and back are made of rectangles (with a shoulder seam or one continuous piece of fabric), obviously with some kind of hole for the head, triangular pieces are added at the sides to widen it, and rectangular pieces for sleeves. Underarm gussets may or may not be added, and additional triangles might be added to the centre front and centre back to widen it further. Variations can be made by having tapered sleeves, or sleeves that start rectangle and change to tapering around the elbow. T...

I'm making a 91 piece (minus the waist and hem binding fabric) skirt. It's primarily triangle pieces of scrap fabric, with the biggest pieces in an orange fabric I got several metres of very cheaply. I've just done the first 3 seams, yay! Here are the remaining pieces of these sizes.... And the rest of the pieces... Not pictured are the large orange pieces - which are kind of the base of the skirt, and would make an 8-gore skirt if just sewn together without the other pieces, which I guess are essentially pieced godets? The idea is based on a dress from Northern Pakistan in the "Dress in Detail from Around the World" book (p. 166) which has 524 pieces in the skirt, apparently, and seems to be all one colour, not multiple. See part 2 here .

From this website (http://fingerloop.org/) : Fingerloop braids are braids woven using loops (or "bowes") of string on your fingers. Fingerloop braiding reached a high point in Medieval Europe and England between 1200 and 1600 CE. This braiding technique still survives today in isolated areas of Europe, the Middle East, South America and Japan. Said website had instructions from manuals from the 1400's - 1600's telling you how to make the fingerbraids. It's like more complicated finger-knitting like we did at school. (At my school finger knitting involved only one finger and making loops, which we used to make friendship bracelets, not the more fingers kind of finger knitting.) I always wanted to know how to do more complicated ones, but no one knew. However, I was looking at this because of my 16th century outfit I am making, and these can be used for the laces. I won't explain anything about it because the website is really good and you can just go look a...

As it rains, I wonder whether I would be better off in 15th Century (European) clothing, or not. As I sit here with my butt and lower legs of my trousers still wet 2 hours after coming out of the rain, I consider that a shift, petticoat and dress, of linen, wool and wool, would no doubt have stopped the water soaking through to my skin. In "the past" it was sometime acceptable to take off "dresses" or gowns and sit around in petticoats and whatever else was worn on the top half, so I could be doing that whilst drying my dress. Of course I would have had a long woollen cloak over the top too. I'm not sure if they were lined or not. In any case, I'd like to make some common woman's clothing from anywhere in the 15th to 18th centuries and see what it is like wearing only linen and wool. One definite advantage is the multiple layers on the top AND bottom halves, instead of only a skirt or trousers covering your legs.

The most interesting thing I have found recently has got to be this blog by a bespoke Savile Row tailor - The English Cut . The sad people that you are, I bet you aren't even slightly interested! He talks about the world of bespoke tailoring, what makes a good suit and his own business. For some reason, I think this is the most interesting and amazing entry . Look at that beautiful shoulder seam! I've always been vaguely interested in tailoring and at some point will actually make myself a jacket, but I am currently too scared. It seems so much more difficult than making other things. I also have no idea really how these things are supposed to look or fit. Given that you can buy an absolutely awful, badly made, entirely synthetic jacket from some of the women's clothing shops in town for $300 (even on special), I should be able to make myself both a jacket and trousers out of really nice material (eg. $50/m) and still end up spending less money. The suit is in my head - it ...