update of sorts

I have a draft post saved about goal post shifting, as someone who has been involved in multiple facets of costume and community I have a few thoughts.

It boils down to: I am an expert in my field. But I can’t rest on what I learned 10 years ago. I have to keep seeking out new information to be so.

I don’t expect people who don’t have the same foundation to be an expert, but I do expect experts to keep pushing in their field. And anyone who aims to be to do the same. Believe me there is no end point in research. Just endpoints in access.

 

I have also heard it’s harder now to achieve that level. I would argue that it really is not. It has always required a bloody minded persistence to follow paths of unsuccessful research and to find new ones.

There is a lot more information yes, but also a whole lot of new tools to sift through that information. There are now OCS scans of documents in scripts I couldn’t make head or tale of before. With these transcripts I can identify words that were not visible to me a decade ago.

 

Those of us held in regard as experts need to share those tools as well.

 

 

So that’s what I’m working on.  Figuring out how to describe what I do instinctively. But usually it’s started by throwing a word in a search engine and seeing what dictionaries have to say and how many peer reviwed articles it appears in 🙂

 

Also slowly working on finishing work on my Cleves projects 🙂 I think I’m getting a handle on the words of mystery based on breaking down how clothing must function based on how they sit in images.

 

And have a new thing to research so, yay!

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another wrinkle sorted

I have been trying to work out a way to have fancy chemise sleeves as per my Cleves dress and just was getting very lost. Until I remembered that I already have the solution. pins!

This is my c1560s woolen Cologne gown. This is taken pretty much from the de Bruyn Trachtenbuch. So the skirt overlaps at the front to allow it to be worn open or closed. The sleeves are half length with matching hanging sleeves. The sleeves are actually half length and then matching hanging sleeves pinned on.

This is not totally interpretive. Hanging sleeves are listed separately in inventories and it is possible to see the pins in the woodcuts.

(A. de Bruyn, citizens from Cleves.)

Okay so they look more like thumbtacks here, on the far left, but that curvy line is also seen in obviously pinned on fitted sleeves (also found in inventories.)

Note also the watered silk lining on the far left. And what is a likely glossy lining on the far right. Note the turn backs of the sleeves and skirt. And the short sleeves over fitted sleeves. This is a fantastically modular wardrobe,

(A. de Bruyn, citizens of Cologne)

So you can see my wool gown is much more Colone in style but uses the Cleves plate for the pins information. I think other plates show pins used horizontally, which is how I use mine.)

The sleeves for my earlier Cleves dress are probably held on in a similar way. I’m assembling my current cache of images and documents to see if it does have support not just makes sense. It is also helping me figure out how to use my decorative under sleeves as well. No one puts brocade or heavy embroidery on something direct to the skin or part of a washing chemise.

So, very excited, I’ll be able to make more sets of hanging and under sleeves for my earlier dresses which makes them possible to be worn for a week long event.

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