Last time I wrote about wanting to make a mantua with my taffeta it was quite hard to get really nifty views. Still true for a few but my word! The Shrewsbury mantua! It looks brand new. And all the wonderful joins are now recorded. And what’s really exciting about these early examples is that they were developed outside the work of tailors.

I think we can recognise how the rules dressmakers/milliners had to follow in not cutting seams to fit- the curved darts do this- but I think it’s always why you get the wedge panels through the sides. Tailors still used side seams, with classic extensions that go to the selvage then over. They had centuries of records of how to do this.

Milliners/dressmakers did not. But they probably had a lot of experience with linen goods.

And the diagonal to straight seaming might be something to pin experiments on.

Because this was all pretty new.

I was only supposed to be looking in my files to really have a bit of fun and recover from a very heavy week of sadness and stress.

I’m actually going to make my Elsa mantua.

I just got way too excited about all this new imagery!