I received my copy this morning, and have spent most of the day reading
it. I'm more impressed than I thought I would be. First, the quality of
the book, the binding, the paper, and the photography, is very good. The
first three chapters have a lot of pictures, some I've seen a lot of
other places, and many I had not seen before anywhere else. The color is
good and the photos are clear, even though most are less than 3" across.
The first part of the book is chock full of details and tidbits of
clothing information taken from sources, covering things like the weave
and cut of hose, foundation padding, hair dressing, the costs of
different kinds of stockings, and the colors used for petticoats. Some
of the text is footnoted with sources, some of it is not. It rather
rambles with no set direction, but it's interesting.
There is a useful table on period fabrics, and a short section on basic
sewing techniques like buttonholes and pleats. However, this is not a
beginner's book. You should have a moderate sewing ability, including
being able to draft up the scale diagrams and alter them to fit you, and
construct them with minimal directions. It will help immensely if you
already have some experience with clothing from this period, because a
lot of the instructions given are very scant, and if you don't know what
it is supposed to look like, you'll be lost.
There's a page on how to fit men's hose, which might be useful to some
people I know. However, there's also a picture of a man in hose with
slashes above the knee, and no hint of how they're made. Obviously,
there's slashes, but there's also some kind of lining which isn't
explained. There's a number of other patterns which variations pictured
-- some of which can be figured out by looking at other patterns, and
some of which are again never explained. Mostly, it's sleeves.
The patterns cover a good spectrum, male and female, upper and lower
class, Henrician and Elizabethan styles. I wish some of the accompanying
photos of the modelled clothing were larger and showed more detail.
There's directions for farthingales and rolls, ruffs and collars, and
about ten hats and hoods. My main complaint about the patterns is they
are mostly undocumented. There's nothing on them alluding to a source
garment or painting used as reference. The few exceptions, like the
loose kirtle, are already covered in Arnold's _Patterns of Fashion_.
Finally, the models are all impossibly thin and the patterns are drafted
for the size 12-14 range. If you are larger than that, and a lot of
folks these days are, you are in for a lot of work.
Overall, I was pleased with the book. It's a good one-stop source for
the 1500's if you're going to be doing recreation clothing. If you
already have patterns or a wardrobe you don't *need* this book, but some
of the reference photos might make it worth it. If you've never sewn
anything before, this might be a little overwhelming and I would
definitely brush up on basic sewing and fitting techniques or work with
an experienced helper.
Dawn
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