I have been working on some small repair projects, because my confidence has eroded a lot since my fibro Dx. Actually even before because obviously pain and fatigue interfered with how much I could do. I’m down to barely being able to put together a blog post, thus my long patches of silence.

So far I’ve put Sooty back together (still actually sooty but clean and filling replaced.) Put the card holders back into our phone covers- soft vinyl and fabric glue, I really needed to have used some easy peel masking tape.

But today I will work on my sewing machine as there is an issue with the upper tension being way to strong. I need it at 1-3. So I need the repair manual for it. I think I have one already. It has grease rather than oil so I’m a bit nervous about cleaning too much, but there will be some vacuuming going on.

Going very slow and carefully. This involves taking the top of the arm off to then use a narrow Phillips to very carefully adjust two parts of the tension at once. I think it’s the spring that needs changing. It’s quite soft. Probably original to the 1980s. Photo is actually of a toy sewing machine. I actually had one, so it was exciting to find one online. It works btw. It need big batteries so if I get my confidence back up I might be able to work on the wiring to match a modern battery type?

I wish this was a service manual, but I’ve got it all cleaned. Slightly concerned there might be a screw loose in there, but tension is back to stabile on 4. I really need to take the plate off that sits over the dials as well. But for now it’s lint free, upper tension dial resettled. So yes. A break is needed.

I’ve been having difficulty with my pattern book mainly because I want it to be both a manuscript and a useable work to work from. But Gosh. Have a look at this.

Institution: Hessisches Landesarchiv – Staatsarchiv Marburg
Typ Kolorierte Zeichnung
Thema Mode
Zeit 1566
Material/Technik Papier
Sprache deutsch
Identifikator HStAM Best. 3 II Nr. 55

In Stuttgart it was desired that the bridesmaids, who were to be provided in equal numbers by both courts, should be dressed in the same way. Therefore, in November 1565, the bridegroom was sent two sheets of paper on which the front and back views of the two dresses made of black velvet and golden-brown shimmering taffeta desired for the maids were drawn in great detail. Fabric samples and sewing instructions were also given.

https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/mode-in-hessen/#s9

Oh now much would I love to find the instructions! But I have come to a dead end searching.

Of course my “simple” mantua project would turn into something bigger. My focus ever since I fell in love with costume has been on pattern. How simple changes in seams produce extremely different styles.

So when I find garments called “mantua” that look like they are straight from a couple of tailor’s manuals? I get a bit suspicious that maybe the term is being over used.

“Ropa de chambra” have the stitched down pleats, the firmly pleated sleeves, and fairly equal distribution of fabric from front to back. This fits in really neatly with the timeline of manuals I’ve shared:

https://www.thefrockchick.com/category/patterns/tailors-dressmakers/

So I’m tracking down any and every example of the unequal wedge shape extension to only the front panels. There are a number of them. And to help with this I’m also looking at later mantua where the train is even more deviated from traditional tailoring before and after. I still very much need to fill in a few gaps when it comes to legal matters about the production of garments.

While doing this, I’m also looking for stays that will do what I need. My “lovely long lungs” (my radiologist’s words) come with a lovely long ribcage that will distort all stays into the same hourglass shape no matter what. I cannot get my ribs to taper. I learned how to breathe for classical singing and never stopped. It’s how I breathe at all times. Think about how you are supposed to stand with your knees slightly bent so you don’t hyper extend them.

Anyway. The stays I need have some panels that have boning on a diagonal, and there is always a little wedge or curve through the waistline in side-side back panels. And that has given me a bit of confidence in what I have made so far. Those little gaps allow the fabric to ease a little.

My Effigy stays work so well with the boning in parallel with the grain. I’m much more nervous about panels that have bones that end at the waist. Again, with an hourglass shaped torso this means those bones will dig in. But the diagonal lines complicate that a bit more. Potentially with very narrow boning I can use neighbouring channels to prevent that.

So now I’m sorting all my late 17th-1800s extant garments and manuals to look for when the shift from vertical to diagonal channels really got underway. It was fairly early. But I also got distracted by the 1660s shape and how the curved seams were used to help bend the body. It’s very cool, but I need to use some firm cardboard to illustrate it.

So we go from vertical channels in simple panels, to vertical channels but using curved seams to bend the body, to diagonal panels of boning to push the body forward. And I need to find more examples between the latter two.

After a pretty amazing day of collecting information on extant garments and manuals I’m sorting out my timeline of both. It’s a little tricky as many books fit into multiple categories that I’m really thinking about using the Dewey decimal system. Just to save character limits in file names.

I’m sort of doing that by separating out artforms and eras.

Self care sometimes means tidying and reorganising.

Gosh, I have so little energy to even get through my physical files to create online content. But I’ll keep going because my school motto is “Kohia Nga Taikaka.” I was given a chance at 13 that I never, ever, expected and it changed my entire life.

So I want to share my understanding but I also don’t want to share misinformation so I spend even more time trying to prove my ideas are wrong than I do following paths that confirm my ideas. That it’s taken more than 15 years is a testament to just how underserved we are.

External stress is making it even harder to have energy left over.

My “easy” project has turned into a little bit of a research fest. I might have found a copy of an out of print book with two mantua patterns. On the plus side I’ve got enough information to now screen cap larger files to incorporate into both my own project and a resource database.

My research site has a category called “The Baroque Frock” and I don’t aim to do more than others, but I am trying to focus very much on frocks from about 1690 to 1730.

Mantua have a very distinct pattern. And I’m trying to find the earliest explanation for that as it still makes no sense. There are contemporary robes made by tailors with the classic four panel pattern with lines of joins in fabric.

But mantua.

So weird.

Not even related to linen work.

There are extant garments that use a linen type patterning in very expensive fabric, but mantua are just weird.

And exciting for that weirdness.

If I take a moment to consider the standard explanation of how they evolved? It’s incredible!

Linen work uses rectangles with triangles. Front and back usually the same, diagonal of triangle to the straight. So that is what I would have expected when a trade expanded to work with silks and wools.

But no.

Mantua have a single long right angle triangle to connect front and back rectangles.

Why?

Why one side?

Tailors still divided the angles section between front and back, so this is a very cool and very specific solution.

So yes, it now means learning about trades just prior because I think I’ve got a bit of a gap over that time.

I have to admit I really didn’t like c1700 dress.

I wrote a restoration comedy at 17 about Nelle Gwynn. Then wound up playing an over the top character for our restoration comedy pieces at performing art school. Not going to lie; I rocked that character and totally deserved my marks because I took everything I knew about the fashions of the era (c1700) and the actress path as well. I knew that only an established actress would have played the role. An actress who had massive clout to get the best frocks, with her own makers, to steal the scene.

I still am not on board the fashion print train, but extant mantua are just so very delicious.