[h-cost] Charging for sewing
I charge by the job. If I acquire the materials myself, I can usually get a better discount than the person who wants the costume. Since for a long time I always underestimated the amount of time involved, I finally decided to go with a percentage system. I add 33% to material cost for a normal job. If they want something in less than a month I add another 15% expedite fee. But your customer must consider the complexity of the costume you are making. For instance, I once sewed 1240 pearls on a man's doublet. For wedding dresses, a lot of designers add 65-75% to their costs just because the more complex dresses take a lot of detailed hand work. One of the wedding dresses I made had to have German lace hand sewn to the edge of a cathedral length train and aprox 300 pearls sewn on the bodice. So I can certainly see the point. Catalina nunca sin mi vino ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] Charging for sewing
I think that everyone charges for the job, but it is determined by the cost of the labor, so you have to figure out first how much you want to make per hour and then try to come up with a good estimate of the time. If 33% sounds like you are getting a good return for your labor, that's great. It doesn't sound like enough to me, since the labor is usually a lot more costly than the materials, but that depends obviously on your materials. I have a website where I make and sell gothic and belly dance costumes and clothing. I can buy the fabric in bulk at wholesale prices so I might pay $5-20 on materials but charge $50-100 for the garment. On the other hand, if I'm making custom clothing and/or costumes and have to buy expensive brocades, velvets, etc., then I may have to spend $50-100 on materials, although it would seem that the labor for such a garment would also be time consuming. I try to make $20 per hour across the board, but after doing this for awhile, I still tend to underestimate. My problem if that for most of my career, I have been making theatrical costumes in professional costume shops, so I never had to keep track of how long it took to make something, plus one is always working on a bunch of things at the same time. It's only recently that I have started to do sewing out of my home. Sylrog On Jul 22, 2006, at 7:57 AM, Catalina Elvira Osorio Lopez de Xerez wrote: I charge by the job. If I acquire the materials myself, I can usually get a better discount than the person who wants the costume. Since for a long time I always underestimated the amount of time involved, I finally decided to go with a percentage system. I add 33% to material cost for a normal job. If they want something in less than a month I add another 15% expedite fee. But your customer must consider the complexity of the costume you are making. For instance, I once sewed 1240 pearls on a man's doublet. For wedding dresses, a lot of designers add 65-75% to their costs just because the more complex dresses take a lot of detailed hand work. One of the wedding dresses I made had to have German lace hand sewn to the edge of a cathedral length train and aprox 300 pearls sewn on the bodice. So I can certainly see the point. Catalina nunca sin mi vino ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
[h-cost] Flat Caps- was there a response in there?
I am still looking for a pattern for a flat cap that would end up looking like the one in the 1535 portrait of Dona Ana Mauriquez. http://www.artnet.com/Images/magazine/features/jeromack/jeromack10-31-2s.jpg Catalina nunca sin mi vino ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
RE: [h-cost] bodiced petticoats
Howdy, I am a historic reenactor and what I know about sewing is the same that anyone of you out there may know about Christopher Columbus contribution to the Social Security. But I have a BIG problem: I want to build, sew, make, whatever, my own military uniform for the 1797 Spanish colonial times. Is there any help or guides from were to start? Or should I go fishing or golf?? Please help me with this. I really want to properly reenact. Thank you all. JP -Original Message- From: Sarah Nucci [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 6:23 AM To: h-costume@mail.indra.com Subject: [h-cost] bodiced petticoats I'm trying to get the Period Costume for Stage and Screen but between living in a somewhat out of the way area and a full time job (and being out of my bugdet) it hasn't really happened. What I did manage to find is a picture of a petticoat for the last five years of the 19th century in Costume in Detail. The bodice is fantastic in detail for copying - not at all what I would have expected. The down side is that while I can now pattern it and it will fit under the dress I want to make - I can't decide how full the skirt should be. Any idea with yours? Sarah __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] Flat Caps- was there a response in there?
Quoting Catalina Elvira Osorio Lopez de Xerez [EMAIL PROTECTED]: I am still looking for a pattern for a flat cap that would end up looking like the one in the 1535 portrait of Dona Ana Mauriquez. http://www.artnet.com/Images/magazine/features/jeromack/jeromack10-31-2s.jpg *cool* painting! I've never seen that one before. Anyway, best source for hat patterns that I know of is Lynn McMasters http://lynnmcmasters.com/patterns.html susan - Susan Farmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Tennessee Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trillium/ ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
[h-cost] Re: sewing for re-enactment [was:bodiced petticoats]
HAGIOS FENUM wrote: Howdy, I am a historic reenactor and what I know about sewing is the same that anyone of you out there may know about Christopher Columbus contribution to the Social Security. But I have a BIG problem: I want to build, sew, make, whatever, my own military uniform for the 1797 Spanish colonial times. Is there any help or guides from were to start? I would suggest you start with a sewing class and learn the basics of how to read a pattern, thread a sewing machine, and construct simple garments. Classes are often offered through sewing/fabric shops and community center or adult ed programs. Ask around. There are undoubtedly people in your re-enactment group who already make their own costumes. Find them, and ask for help in selecting books, patterns, and materials suitable for your project. If they don't already have 'stitch-n-bitch' meetings where you can all sit around sewing one evening a month, see about starting one. Dawn ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
[h-cost] Re: Flat Cap--when did they fall out of fashion?
Hi So just when did the Flat Cap cease to be worn? In England? The Americas? I'm looking for an end date range... Ta Carol -- Creative Clutter is Better Than Idle Neatness! ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
Re: [h-cost] Re: Flat Cap--when did they fall out of fashion?
cahuff wrote: Hi So just when did the Flat Cap cease to be worn? In England? The Americas? I'm looking for an end date range... Ta Shortly after 1600. The last portraits I've seen it on were about 1620, and usually on lower-class people. Dawn ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
[h-cost] Re: Book software
At 01:00 PM 7/21/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: We don't use a specific book software. We use Access. I know a lot of people aren't fond of it. But, by having a piece of software called Documents to Go on our PDA's we can export a list of books from the Access database to the PDA's including whatever fields we want and voila! An easily carried list of every book in our collection. We know what you mean by buying duplicates. We used to do that a lot. Before we had the PDA's we had to print out the book list and put it in a notebook. We have over 12,000 books in our collection (no, not all, or even most, costume books) that notebook was very heavy. We also use our PDA's to keep lists of CDs/Records and DVDs as well as a few other things. Pierre In February there was a discussion about using software about getting information about published books into an inventory from websites. One, mentioned by Kimiko, was Book Collector, where you enter the ISBN number and the software does the research using amazon.com for example. There was another program mentioned where you type in the book title, but I didn't keep the information for some reason. Can anyone tell me what that program is called? Are these two programs, and any others that people have tried for both Mac and PC? I've been trying to write down the information on my inventory of costume and sewing books, but it's taking forever three nights of work and I only have about 75 of the books listed. And then I'll have to transfer from hand-written forms to software. TIA LynnD Those Who Fail To Learn History Are Doomed to Repeat It; Those Who Fail To Learn History Correctly -- Why They Are Simply Doomed. Achemdro'hm The Illusion of Historical Fact -- C.Y. 4971 Andromeda ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
[h-cost] 1797 Spanish Military
start here; http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/18thlinks.htm#Military%20Dress http://www.war-art.com/ramilies.htm http://www.mtsu.edu/~kesmith/TNARCHNET/Pubs/milcloth.html http://www.artifacts.org/Artifacts.htm Catalina nunca sin mi vino ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
RE: [h-cost] Flat Caps- was there a response in there?
You can try Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1550- 1620 (I am not sure of the dates). She has a flat cap from the grave of one of the Medicis. You could use that and embellish as needed. Men's and women's hats were pretty much the same for this style. Regards- Monica -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Susan B. Farmer Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2006 12:38 PM To: Historical Costume Subject: Re: [h-cost] Flat Caps- was there a response in there? Quoting Catalina Elvira Osorio Lopez de Xerez [EMAIL PROTECTED]: I am still looking for a pattern for a flat cap that would end up looking like the one in the 1535 portrait of Dona Ana Mauriquez. http://www.artnet.com/Images/magazine/features/jeromack/jeromack10-31-2s.jpg *cool* painting! I've never seen that one before. Anyway, best source for hat patterns that I know of is Lynn McMasters http://lynnmcmasters.com/patterns.html susan - Susan Farmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Tennessee Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trillium/ ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
RE: [h-cost] Flat Caps- was there a response in there?
The basic flat cap pattern I use is 3 circles with centers removed (for the brim and underneath part, kind of like a doughnut shape) and one solid circle for the top. From what I could see of the picture , the cap you want seems to turn up on the brim.(?) If so, take wedges out of the 3 doughnuts so they don't lie flat, but make a 3-D shape, like a lampshade. Make sure you interface well, so it doesn't droop. Does this help? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Susan B. Farmer Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2006 9:38 AM To: Historical Costume Subject: Re: [h-cost] Flat Caps- was there a response in there? Quoting Catalina Elvira Osorio Lopez de Xerez [EMAIL PROTECTED]: I am still looking for a pattern for a flat cap that would end up looking like the one in the 1535 portrait of Dona Ana Mauriquez. http://www.artnet.com/Images/magazine/features/jeromack/jeromack10-31- 2s.jpg *cool* painting! I've never seen that one before. Anyway, best source for hat patterns that I know of is Lynn McMasters http://lynnmcmasters.com/patterns.html susan - Susan Farmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Tennessee Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trillium/ ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume ___ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
