The Amazing Maud (The feathered thing on the windowsill that looks like a terrified bird/hedgehog hybrid is my Morris Hat...)
Meet Maud. She is my saviour and I love her to bits. (and she's also proof that I have managed to work the new camera!)
My history of clothes making can be divided into 2 eras: Before Maud (BM) and After Maud (AM)
BM.
I used to make clothes up from commercial patterns from the Big 3 (Butterick, McCalls and Simplicity). I had varying levels of success with these (mostly not much) partly due to the fact that, when measuring myself, I apparently swelled up half a size and grew half a foot and partly due to the fact that I was trying to achieve (at least in my mind) historical accuracy using patterns that weren't up for that at all (I particularly remember the pattern for C18th stays that had ease added into the pattern. For stays!).
Then I discovered 'The Medieval Tailor' by Sarah Thursfield (which I highly recommend and the author is very helpful too) and started trying to make more accurate C14th clothing using the instructions within. The shift went OK (They're supposed to be baggy) The fact that the cote went wrong is not the fault of the book (and I have made clothing using it since which has been fine) but due to me picking a peculiar material (a particularly friable, harsh, royal blue wool), not seeing the reason for finishing the seams properly and doing the whole thing in a hurry. The resulting item frayed constantly (you could track me round the camp-site by the trail of little blue threads), was so 'off-the-shoulder' it was practically on the floor due to a stunningly over-large neckline, hung strangely due to the fabric and, when my 6ft, big built, male friend tried it on as a joke, it fitted him perfectly; not ideal given that I'm a foot shorter than that and, while sturdy, am not huge. I washed it in hot water in a mad effort to shrink it and, contrary to all logic, the bloody thing actually got bigger and weirder and yet I wore it for a good 3 years. Then I applied to Kentwell and realised that I was not going to be able to get away with baggy clothing in the C16th century so I needed help.
Then I discovered 'The Medieval Tailor' by Sarah Thursfield (which I highly recommend and the author is very helpful too) and started trying to make more accurate C14th clothing using the instructions within. The shift went OK (They're supposed to be baggy) The fact that the cote went wrong is not the fault of the book (and I have made clothing using it since which has been fine) but due to me picking a peculiar material (a particularly friable, harsh, royal blue wool), not seeing the reason for finishing the seams properly and doing the whole thing in a hurry. The resulting item frayed constantly (you could track me round the camp-site by the trail of little blue threads), was so 'off-the-shoulder' it was practically on the floor due to a stunningly over-large neckline, hung strangely due to the fabric and, when my 6ft, big built, male friend tried it on as a joke, it fitted him perfectly; not ideal given that I'm a foot shorter than that and, while sturdy, am not huge. I washed it in hot water in a mad effort to shrink it and, contrary to all logic, the bloody thing actually got bigger and weirder and yet I wore it for a good 3 years. Then I applied to Kentwell and realised that I was not going to be able to get away with baggy clothing in the C16th century so I needed help.
Having looked through various web-sites and blogs, I realised I had 3 options: I could get a friend to fit a toile on me; I could get a friend to wrap me in duct tape to make a Dress Form; or I could buy a tailor's dummy. I cannot bear being touched so the first option was right out, as was the second given that someone would have to WRAP ME IN DUCT TAPE!!! This left the tailor's dummy and so I purchased Maud.
There can a couple of problems with using a tailor's dummy, one of the main ones being that pretty much nobody is completely symmetrical in shape like the dummy is, however, I, amazingly, appear to be close enough that it works for me and I can do little adjustments on myself (that is, to the clothing while I am wearing it, not to me physically) due to the fact that, despite being a hobbit in all other aspects, I have the arm length and general flexibility of an orang-utan. (I always knew it would come in useful one-day). The other main problem is that even modern dummies appear to have busts stuck in the Fifties. Maud was seriously pneumatic when she arrived which doesn't really fit with that lovely cylindrical Tudor shape. How then, to Tudorise her? Well, I had a saw...
There can a couple of problems with using a tailor's dummy, one of the main ones being that pretty much nobody is completely symmetrical in shape like the dummy is, however, I, amazingly, appear to be close enough that it works for me and I can do little adjustments on myself (that is, to the clothing while I am wearing it, not to me physically) due to the fact that, despite being a hobbit in all other aspects, I have the arm length and general flexibility of an orang-utan. (I always knew it would come in useful one-day). The other main problem is that even modern dummies appear to have busts stuck in the Fifties. Maud was seriously pneumatic when she arrived which doesn't really fit with that lovely cylindrical Tudor shape. How then, to Tudorise her? Well, I had a saw...
Bilateral boobectomy
Yes, I sawed off her boobs (much to the horror of the neighbour who was in the garden and saw me in full operation.). However, now there was a further problem. I needed some kind of breastage in order to get the correct fit. The answer was...
Breastage achieved. Kind of.
A retired bra stuffed with retired socks. It shouldn't have worked and yet it does. Finished the whole caboodle by covering all the evidence with an old IVFDF T-shirt and, there she was, my new accomplice in the world of fitted clothing.
Anyhow, she seems relieved to have been dug out of the cupboard and repaid me tonight by frightening the life out of me as I walked into my darkened room and saw a figure in the corner...
I have no idea why I named her Maud. She just looked like one.
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