Kathleen - sounds like you've had quite an amazing journey! I'm impressed! I love going to the period magazines also and like to compare them to photographs of the matching timeframe to see how women interpreted the fashion plates into "real" outfits. Plus viewing websites that have some actual garments. Putting all this information together and coming up with an outfit for myself is the fun part. There's lots of information out there, we just have to know where to find it!
Shirley --- On Mon, 4/28/08, R Lloyd Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: R Lloyd Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [h-cost] books and resources > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Monday, April 28, 2008, 2:10 PM > OK you H-Costume folk, if you will take one more reflection > on Books/Resources from a recently retired costumer,.. > When I began my craft nearly 50 years ago, I soon found > that there were few books or resources for period > costuming available from my local library or even the > college library and bookstore. An early acquisition was a > slim how-to volume by Jonston that based all her 2000 years > of "period design for the making "on a man’s PJ > pattern and a woman’s 4 piece dress pattern. Size was > of no consideration. She even provided approximate > yardage for the work-up for S-M-L. I thought this was > great. To enlarge the reality aspects, I spent days in the > libraries and museums studying the other details that > would bring my primitive designs closer to the reality of > the occasion at hand. Honing my hand/eye skills using the > basic Jonston method, I was soon finding that I could look > at a picture and dissect the 2D design into the necessary > shapes that would recreate the fashion before me. With an > indication of size, I could even do a lot of the cutting > free handed using my tape measure and a vision of the shape > necessary to get the right draping. Wow. I was on my > way… > I was given the one volume edition of Davernport, > discovered Koehler, Barton, Evans, Laver, the Cunningtons > and Gorseline. Non was perfect but each added something > of value, good or bad, to my self education toward the > craft of costuming > About 5 years into my new career, and many shows later, I > encountered Arnold for the first time and was bowled over > by the concept and scholarship she was doing and this > raised the bar somewhat for me toward becoming more > scientific in my own scholarship and craft. On first > observation, I found that I had solved many of my design > problems in the very same way that she had determined by > firsthand observation, and this gave me an affirmation and > encouragement that I was going about my costume > production in somewhat the right manner. > Also, about this time, I encountered Ann > Hollander’s" Seeing Through Clothes" that had a > profound influence on me concerning the facts of > perception and problems of replication when interpreting > clothing and costume from the past. > Following some of her ideas, I began to look for obscure > costume books that might have been on the cutting edge of > what was known or perceived as costume in and of its own > time period. Thus began my significant collection of > Godey’s, Peterson’s, Arthur’s; "The Story of > Clothes" by Agnes Allen, a four volume set of" > English Costume" by Dion Clayton Calthrope, > "Costumes and Scenery for Amateurs", Constance > Darcy Mackay; "Costume Fanciful, Historical and > Theatrical" compiled by Mrs. Aria; Mrs. > Earle’s,Wilton’s, Laver…for just a few. Each is > valued for the view points given and taken of how they > understood what Historical costuming meant for their own > time. > In the early 1990s, my husband introduced me to the > wonderful new world of H-costume. For the very first time > I felt connected to a host of new friends who were doing for > joy or livelihood what I was doing…who knew what the > problems were and were willing to share solutions. It is > hard to imagine interpreting the styles and clothing of the > past without them. > Eons later, we have the wonderful Library that Penny is > developing, Robin’s Medieval studies, Fran’s de-ciphers > of 19th C pattern making, the various Shep reprints. > Melanie’s patterns, Bjarne’s wonderful and inspiring > embroideries, Lorena’s patterns and embroideries; > pictoral work of Sally Keene. The compilations and other > resource material by Boumgarten Bissonet, Drea and > such…all a very rich heritage for the present and for > years to come. Maybe even some of this work will strike > those readers and do-ers of costume craft and history as > outdated or uninformed but for the present, this is what we > have. Rejoice! > Kathleen > Mitchell_______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
