More corset dress drivel.

[pimpinett]

A sketch, this time. The show this weekend was overbooked, so I have another month, and I'm mostly pleased with that.

I ended up rethinking the cut rather drastically after the change of fabric plans. The original idea was full cups cut separately, a v-neck, not too deep, and wide, continuous straps - rather like a pre-1950's bra. Still like that idea, but it wouldn't give the right impression in this fabric, and once I decided on doing some kind of hussar style braid decoration on the front to cover the busk I had to ditch the separate cups.

The current version is very like my favourite dress. I'm totally repeating myself, which is a bit irksome, but it finally feels right again, with the fabric and everything, so I'm going for it anyway. Five panels per side, though, not six as I had planned. The back will be cut like a bodice, going all the way up to the neck, and I don't want to mess around with three back panels right now. With five panels I can cut it much like a princess-seamed bodice with an extra side piece.



Right side is the planned cut of the dress alone around the shoulder area, left side is the planned jacket. I'll do hussar braiding, like on the left. The jacket will have collar and lapels after all, but the funky incroyable kind where the lapels are pretty much separate from the upright collar (I'm telling myself that it will be less of a pain in the ass than I find modern collars and lapels) and a triangular turn-up at the elbow-length sleeves. Part of me wants to line it with a different fabric to get contrasting lapels and turn-ups, but I can't think of any other colours I'd like in the mix apart from the grey of the fabric and black braid, and black lapels seems boring and pointless, so I don't think I will.

Not sure how to treat the bottom part of the jacket in the back - very short, above the waist, I suppose, since the waist and the back lacing is to be the focus, but I'm not enthusiastic about that bit. I would like it to do something interesting, but I don't know what. I think I will see if I can figure out that old-fashioned way of cutting the shoulders, with diagonal shoulder seams that sit on the back of the shoulders, along the shoulder blades, instead of on top of the shoulders. I like how that looks, and I'm guessing that the shaping over the slope of the shoulders that's done with vertical darts on the back in modern patterns, and always look so much like an afterthought, is put into those seams instead. Beautiful and functional.

Am considering epaulets too. I think that's too much cowbell, though.

Comments

[lasergirl.livejournal.com]

I got an interesting sense of deja-vu while reading through this, and looking at your sketch. I did something along both lines (corset/jacket) in separate pieces last year in school. Neither turned out the way I had planned, and by choices of fabric weren't ideal.

I'd definitely like to see how this turns out! Because hey, black braid?? Mmmmmmmmm.

[lasergirl.livejournal.com]

oh, p.s. about those dropped-back shoulder seams. You can join your blocks at the shoulder and draw in wherever you want the new seam line to go. Since your jacket's really short in the back, you might not need a whole lot of shaping anyway. You can also cheat the side seam back as well to give a better impression of a narrow back, as some of the original uniform jackets did/

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

Great minds think alike. :)

I always thought that there had to be more to that dropped shoulder seams than meets the eye, for some reason. I love the look of it, and should be easy to just move the shoulder darts into it - place the point of the dart wherever I'd like the shoulder seam to hit the armscye, and then just move the dart into the seam. I might have to make a toile to see what it does to the fit, but I would probably do that anyway. I should look up how the original way of cutting it was done, though, I really want to know...

[-consume-.livejournal.com]

Did you ever end up finishing this? If not, and you ever feel like resurrecting the idea, here's some possible inspiration for the hussar jacket:



Husaren-Rgt. Nr. 5 'Von Ruesch', Frederick the Great's "Death Hussars".

Yes, Germans are masters of subtlety, I know. But I do like the stark, classic white/silver on black motif they have going on on the usually quite loud and garish hussar uniform. Anway, check these out, you might see something that catches the eye.

http://images.google.co.jp/images?q=death%27s%20head%20hussars&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

[pimpinett.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't taken the time to finish it yet - I really should do something about that. That is one hot uniform, though! Subtle it is not, but subtlety is for chickens anyway. Reminds me of a comparison someone made between brandenburg braiding like this and pre-historic war paint to resemble a skeleton's rib cage - it's easy to see it. I brought a bag of reindeer bones home with me last summer for a more literal take on that, but I still haven't got around to that either.

Thank you!