Book review: DIY Couture by Rosie Martin

This was an impulse purchase and I am pleasantly surprised.

http://www.amazon.com/DIY-Couture-Create-Fashion-Collection/dp/1856697991

There are a lot of books of this nature out lately because making your own clothes has caught on with the younger crowd, but I find some of these books rather boring. NOT this one. It definitely takes a unique approach and offers a lot of cool, interesting designs.

It covers 10 basic wardrobe pieces, and eight different variations on each one, so that's 80 different styles to play with. The pieces include:

A straight skirt
The Grecian dress
The skater skirt
A waistcoat
A cape
A slouch top
The goddess dress
A hoody/jacket
trousers
and a romper

The variations follow eight different themes:

The Acid Candy collection: bright and modern
The Monochrome Art collection: black and white and classic
The American Road trip collection: a little boho, country, hippy
The Rude Disco collection: glam and flashy
The Coffee Classic collection: stylish neutrals
The Jungle Punk collection: fun and funky
The Safari Prep collection: earth-tone classics
The Tea Picnic collection: girly and flirty

The beauty part is, there are no patterns. The instructions for constructing each piece describe how to use your own measurements and clothes to draft a pattern, and you don't need anything fancier than a t-shirt or pair of jeans that fit you well.

If you have never sewn anything before, this is not the place to start, but if you have a few finished projects under your belt, most of the looks in this book are within your grasp. The instructions for pattern drafting and constructing each piece are well illustrated and easy to follow. This collection also leaves lots of room for your own ideas and customization. This is a great, inspiring springboard.

The Queens Servants: Rusty gown with W neckline

Yes I have gone a bit crazy with The Tudor Tailor. I just couldn't wait to get the new book - The Queens Servants - at Pennsic, so I ended up paying for shipping from the UK. It was well worth it. They do an excellent job of researching and illustrating the clothing, and the patterns are working out pretty well. 

New pattern from The Tudor Tailor

They have this new full-size pattern for the gown I made, but once again I just drafted the pattern out of the book and scaled it up to my size.

I am fascinated by this W neckline, but it was a bit tricky to pull off. It is trimmed in black velvet. I also stiffened the bodice with reed boning. I'm hoping that with the back lacing, it will be supportive enough. Ideally, I should have made a kirtle to go underneath this gown, and that would provide the support, but I want to be able to wear this alone over a chemise/smock.

Late Elizabethan flounced skirt

So this is the next look that I'm going for, from The Tudor Tailor:

I was hesitant about doing a flounced skirt, which would require a bumroll - it seems odd to modern eyes - but it turned out ok:

 

 

That's the doublet bodice that I made earlier; drafted that pattern from scratch, but it's very close to the one in the book, and I did use the pattern from the book for the medium bumroll.

However, I totally guessed on how to do the skirt. I measured down from the waist, over the bumroll, about 8 inches, made a tuck about 1 inch wide, and ran two rows of loose stitching to gather it. The fabric is a teal-colored wool gabardine that was left over from another project from a long time ago.

Since it's an open front skirt, I might make some sort of forepart to go under it, to hide my corded petticoat. I wish I had the time and fortitude to do something in blackwork, but that's definitely not my strong suit.

The Tudor Tailor comes to life

Progress continues on the late Tudor wardrobe, inspired by this look from The Tudor Tailor:

  

They have published a pattern for it, but I had already started drafting the pattern from the grids in the book - which worked out really well. 

 

I made the kirtle/petticoat out of some red linen that I sat on for a long time. I was glad to liberate it from my stash. The fitted, open front gown is made of a burnout velvet with a fine print that has also been sitting around for a while. 

 

The paned sleeves were the trickiest part, but I like how they look. The tartan bodice looks good on the red kirtle, too. I probably won't ever make sleeves because it's always too hot at Pennsic to wear them. 

Busy as a little bee: Pennsic sewing frenzy

I am definitely leaning to Europe for my new garb. I think I was inspired by watching The Tudors and The Borgias series. I dug into that pile of recycled plaid again and came up with this:

Lady's Elizabethan Doublet

I just draped onto my toile and drafted the pattern from scratch.

I also made a leather version of the Elizabethan pouch:

So the wardrobe is coming together. I just thumbed through my copy of The Tudor Tailor and got some more ideas. I'll keep sewing until I run out of fabric and time.

I don't think I'm going to make anything new Middle Eastern or Japanese, because I have tons of that stuff. I will go through all of that to make repairs as necessary.

Elizabethan costume stuff

I ended up just making an open-front bodice out of the recycled tartan fabric that I had. There wasn't really enough to attach a full skirt.

I drafted the pattern using the finished corset as a guide.

While I was at it, I also cranked out this Elizabethan pouch, using Margo Anderson's Elizabethan accessories pattern:

 

I was one of the people lined up to pre-order this pattern, and I finally used it! I want to make a leather version of this bag, too.

New corset: the time traveler

Made from a piece of linen with an interesting pattern of globes and clocks on it. I thought it looked "steampunky". This time, I did include the wooden busk that I purchased a couple Pennsics ago from ReconstructingHistory.com, and I also used reed/cane boning, which is so light and easy to work with, I might never go back to steel for this kind of corset. 

Still using this pattern from Simplicity:

So far, the best one I've used for this style of corset that is both historically accurate and easy to follow. 

I am working on an open-front gown that is more SCA-period to go over it.