I made a Roman outfit a while ago now. I made my stola from about 3m of 120cm Wide silk, and my palla from 2.5m of 112cm wide fine wool. This was perfectly adequate to obtain the drapiness you see on statuary, myself being about 5'3", and about 100cm wide at the hips. So those do seem like extremely large amounts of fabric. Having said that, if I were any taller I would have had to piece fabric rather than being able to use selvedges as the top and bottom hems (if you get my point). And that would probably increase the amount of fabric needed.
Claire Message: 4 Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 16:04:57 -0700 From: "Laurie Taylor" <[email protected]> Subject: [h-cost] Holkeboer book - patterns question - long To: "'Historical Costume'" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <974a22832bc843f09c51c474acc82...@laurie> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello, I'm looking at the Holkeboer book, Patterns for Theatrical Costumes. I do understand that the book is intended for theatrical use where down-and-dirty is so often the rule of the day. However, I am looking at the first three sections of historical patterns - Egyptian, Greek and Roman, with the idea of these being (or not) a reasonable jumping-off point to cut lengths for hopefully accurate reproduction of the basic garments of those cultures. My students are going to get the fun of being handed these lengths and trying to figure out how to wrap the long pieces to get the correct effect as well as how to tie the ribbons or belts on the Greek chitons. The book states that the patterns are in 1/8 scale, with a few in 1/16. I grabbed a ruler and calculator and did all the math on those first sections. This is what I came up with for yardage for the main pieces in each cultural group. These would all be approximate amounts with some flexibility as suited available fabrics. Egyptian Man's Kalasiris 48" x 3 1/3 yards Man's Schenti 22" x 2 2/3 yards Woman's Sheath 28" x 3 1/8 yards Woman's Kalasiris 64" x 3 2/3 yards Greek Man's Chiton/Exomis 36" x 2 1/2 yards Man's Himation 48" or 72" x 4-6 yards Woman's Doric Chiton 1 76" x 74" Woman's Ionic Chiton 64" x 6 1/8 yards Woman's Gathered Chiton 64" x 6 1/8 yards Woman's Doric Chiton 2 88" x 2 2/3 yards Woman's Himation 60" x 4 yards Woman's Narrow Himation 24" x 4 yards Roman Man's Toga (cut oval) 72" x 6 1/4 yards Man's Tunic 48" x 2 1/8 yards Man's Paenula 58" x 3 3/4 yards Man's Lacerna 38" x 2 1/2 yards Woman's Stola 60" x 6 2/3 yards Woman's Palla 60" x 4 yards Man's Dalmatica 64" x 2 5/8 yards Woman's Dalmatica 60" x 4 1/8 yards Of course, as long as no stitching is done to a cut length, it could well double for different pieces amongst the cultures, i.e. the Greek woman's chitons and the Roman woman's stola could be done from the same piece. So, do any of these lengths seem too long for the garment in question? The Roman woman's stola seemed like an awful lot of fabric to me, even understanding the light weight of the period fabrics. I did use 1/8 as the scale for all of the patterns where 1/16 was not specified. The width of the fabric most often corresponds to the length of the garment on the body, with the yards amount being somehow wrapped around the body. I have tons of fabric to play with, or to permit students to play with, so we can do a lot of this. I'm going to cut a few specific pieces which will even get some non-period trim stitched on as a substitute for the embroidered or woven designs on the ancient garments. Also, does anyone know if there's a connection between Katherine Strand-Evans and Katherine Strand Holkeboer? Just curious. Laurie Taylor (480) 560-7016 www.costumeraz.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
