There are heaps of patterns and guides already, it's just many books are now OOP. Waugh did her (nicely sized) book some time ago, and same with the Danish National Museum (some of which are online as pdfs- and there are a range of garments tidenstoj*- but I understand the books are really huge- or maybe I'm thinking of a Swedish series of books? I know there are many European books not in English anyway) and Blanche Payne. The Tailor's manuals all focus on men's gear and women usually are listed after the clergy and horses. Even two of Arnold's books has men's garments (and there are more male garments than female in the 3rd book.
Anyway, women's extant garments tend to be a lot bigger, so when you are talking a rigid torso and pleated and draped skirts that's incredibly difficult to carefully explore without damage. And so much damage happened to women's dress especially in the 19thC that they often need more restoration. That is if they survive. During periods of heavy fabrics and patterns skirts became very handy to recyle in to church vestments or to redress effigy/figures. The garments LACMA started with are ideal as they can be carefully laid quite flat- and they can also confirm the shapes seen in the tailor manuals at the time. so for those who want more patterns: https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Minister+and+co%2C++ltd%22 3X copies of "Gazette of fashion, and cutting-room companion" 1860s https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22edward+minister+and+son%22 4x copies of Gazette of fashion. 1870s-1881 All seven books focus on mens' garments. http://costumes.org/wiki/index.php/History100pages1893to1898cuttersguide or http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cutters_Practical_Guide Part 1, 1898 edition, The Cutter's Practical Guide to Cutting Every Kind of Garment Made, in a series of parts, Part One. Young Men's, Youths' and Juvenile Garments, Embracing also Treatise on Trousers, Vests, Military Garments, Liveries, etc., etc., etc. Part 2, 1893 edition, The Cutter's Practical Guide to Cutting every type of Garment made by Tailors, With detailed instructions as to their production, Part II, Body Coats of every description, embracing Morning, Frock and Dress Coats, Livery, Clerical, Naval, Military, Police and other Special Garments The Cutter's Practical Guide to the Cutting & Making all Kinds of Trousers, Breeches, & Knickers, to which is added chapters dealing with the cutting & making of Highland kilts, leggings, gaiters, etc. in Gallery View, [Scans by Pat Lamprey of the Lakewood Library] Part 4. date unknown, Livery Garments in all their varieties, including coats, vests, trousers, breeches and gaiters as worn by livery servants [Scans by Pat Lamprey of the Lakewood Library] Part 9,1898 edition, The Cutter's Practical Guide to Jacket Cutting and Making, Embracing Lounges, Reefers & Patrol Jackets, in all their Varieties, Also Including the Cutting and Making of Robes and Gowns, Being Part IX of The Cutter's Practical Guide to the Cutting and Making of all Kinds of Garments Part 10: (edition date unknown) The Cutter's Practical Guide to Cutting & Making all kinds of Waistcoats for Gentlemen, Ladies, Military & Naval Officers, Livery Servants, etc., etc. in Gallery View, [Scans by Pat Lamprey of the Lakewood Library] Part 11 . date unknown, Shirts, Undergarments, Collars, Cuffs, Aprons, and Specialty Clothing for Various Occupations [Scans by Pat Lamprey of the Lakewood Library] Part 12 (Date Unknown) The Cutter's Practical Guide to Cutting & Making all kinds of Clerical Dress [Scans by Pat Lamprey of the Lakewood Library, includes also British Legal and Academic robes] Part 13 (Date Unknown) The Cutter's Practical Guide to Cutting & Making all kinds of British Military Uniforms [Scans by Pat Lamprey of the Lakewood Library, includes also British Legal and Academic robes] https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=UulhAAAAcAAJ&dq L'Art du tailleur. The Tailor's Guide; a complete system of cutting every kind of garment to measure, etc. 2 vol Charles Compaing, Louis Devere Simpkin, Marshall&Company, 1855 - 128 pages https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=TSNhAAAAcAAJ&dq The Art of Cutting Breeches ... Fourth Edition Front Cover George WALKER (Tailor.) There is a huge resource out there, it's just that those of us going out and looking are probably looking for our areas of focus. So I've had most of these links for ages but I don't use them so I don't talk about them. It looks like project Gutenburg has been absorbed totally but the Internet Archive but: https://archive.org/ I do random searches for specific garments and tailoring terms. Ditto for Google Books: https://books.google.com/bkshp?hl *http://natmus.dk/historisk-viden/temaer/modens-historie/ (all links are nicely red and underlined, and the patterns are located at the bottom of each garment page, to the right under a large block of grey- atm. Anyway, that's as much time as I have, but they are out there already, and are really well covered in the V&A books- mainly surface details and cape layouts. Regards, -- http://arrayedindreams.com https://instagram.com/i.chimaera/ https://www.facebook.com/mdb.i.chimaera _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
