Waistlines: A Little Old-Time Revival (Greek Influence on Fashion)

Give me that old-time revival style!

Greek Revival that is....

As all of us time travelin' sewists know.... women just never seem to get enough of that high-waisted Greek look.

The ladies of ancient Grecian times are well known for draping their Doric chitons so that the weight of the primary fabric folds hung from just below the bust, though you'll find other waistline draping effects on Greek artifacts as well (including the no-waistline look ). Their counterparts in other ancient lands may well have draped their frocks in similar styles, but when it comes to these Mediterranean islands we have access to the detritus of their civilization to paw through, and other places - not so much. Relicts of Greek culture have made their way into modern museums, and that gives us an opportunity to window shop through these styles, and pickup a few pointers when it comes to draping and styling fluid high-waisted dresses and tunics.

An appreciation for all things classically Greek inspired people of many eras to try out democracy, create public buildings with columns, and get down with getting philosophical. It has also led ladies of many succeeding historical periods to pull up their waistlines and let their fabric of their dresses flow smoothly and fluidly from just beneath a fitted bosom. What's not to like about a waistline that avoids your waist? 

This classical raised waist image from ancient times, meant that Renaissance ladies like Madonna Lucrezia Borgia, Intimates of Marie Antoinette at  Le Petit Trianon, Napoleon's Josephine, Jane Austen's heroines, Vionnet's put-away-those-corsets Parisian beauties, and Betsey Johnson's 1970's Alley Cat pattern sewists, could shed their corsets and girdles, breathe a little easier, and get comfortable when they pulled a high-waisted frock out of the wardrobe.

We're still sewing 'em today!

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Feeling Like A Little Greek Inspiration?

Hot Pattern's Trudy, has designed a great top and dress pattern, the Metropolitan Verano Dress that is strongly reminiscent of an updated Greek chiton.


 

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  Resources

Waistlines: The No-Waistline Look http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/11/waistlines-designing-without-no.html

I love using layers in Photoshop! Usually I create my illustrations from my own art work, but it's also fun to incorporate other people's creations as well. In my Greek Revival illustration above I borrowed and incorporated the following free downloads...

http://openclipart.org/detail/181828/rhodes-cerf---rhodes-deer-by-waielbi-181828

http://openclipart.org/detail/22619/chiton-(clothing)-by-warszawianka


heborgias.wikifoundry.com/page/Italy+-+Famous+Renaissance+Women

Drill for Structure (Pearly Wannabe Jacket)

Early on, when I began blogging about my Pearly-Wannabe jacket project, I noted that one of the features was drill utility fabric, which I'd used as an interlining between the two layers of fleece that make up the front and back of the jacket.

I didn't start out doing this. As I've mentioned before, I've made Butterick 3573 (an out of print pattern, but highly available on the web) in double layers of fleece a number of times, both in the original pattern jacket length and as an extended weight sports vest.

However something about not only extending the jacket but also slashing and spreading the front for added fullness changed the character of the double layers of fleece. The garment took on the character of a nice warm blanket. A nice Snuglie! as a friend in Sewing Lab commented.

Time for a visit with Auntie Seama Rippah. (That gal will be expecting overtime after this project) I ripped up the hem again (remember my challenges with how to bind the hem in the last post?) and interlined the inside/lining layer of fleece with the utility fabric drill * up to about the bust level. I then channel stitched the drill down to the lining layer. So if you peep into the inside, you'll see what looks vaguely like decorative stitching patterns, hiding my structural secrets.

The result? The fabric takes on a new character, hanging in an almost wool-like manner and with plenty of shape and structure.

Keep your Snuglies for watching late night t.v!

* I had drill on hand because I use this heavy twill-weave fabric to make the pocket bags in trousers and pants. Fashion fabric in pockets may look and feel elegant, but my pockets see hard use. They need sturdy fabric in this no-show area, to support the weight of the two sets of keys and cell phone I invariably carry.

Modifications Retard Progress! (Pearly Wannabe Jacket)

The Pearly-Wannabe jacket, I've been blogging about recently, was a challenging project. There as so much I was trying to do. Some ideas worked, some didn't.

I was reminded of a line from a WWII British novel by D. E. Stevenson (Listening Valley). During a card game ( no video games or pre-recorded movies for entertainment in those days folks!), one of the young officers says, "No more mods (modifications). Mods retard progress!"

Of course, I'd created all my mods up front. Looking back on the project I'm guessing I would have been safer just doing button on/off sleeves on my original pattern. My mods definitely got in the way of speedy sewing. But.... well it was a lot of fun imagining the results.

One of the mods I had planned was to bind my hem edge with bias trim made from the flowered home dec fabric. Sounds cute, don't you think?

In practice what happened was that, even when I weighted down the bias trimmed two layers of fleece with leaded drapery cord, I still just ended up with a great, heavy, bunchy hem. But I persevered. I hand stitched. I kept re-laying it out and stitching it again. I made sure things lined up. Then I re-pinned and did it again. I added vents to make it hang better.

And no matter what I did, that hem just looked bunchy, heavy and yucky.

I heard myself saying, Well gee, I've put so much time into getting this hem right. I've got to get this bias trim to work out. And suddenly I remembered a conversation from my very young adulthood.

A work mate was explaining why she was sticking with her lousy boyfriend, Well, see, Jimmy and I have been together for five years.

Yeah, you know what I did then. I unpicked that bias trim and used it to simply turn up the hem behind the bottom edge of the jacket. (I stitched in the heavy drapery cording as well, to make a nice stable hemline)

No bad boyfriend hems in my wardrobe!

Jacket Features (Pearly Wannabe Jacket)

My Pearly-Wannabe Jacket
This not exactly mainstream garment,
suites my arty-romantic California style

In previous posts, I debuted my Pearly Wannabe Jacket and discussed my experiences with the base pattern.

Of course.... I made quite a few alterations to the base pattern -Butterick 3573, a tried and true( T&T) favorite of mine.

Out of Print, but plenty of vendors
still carry this big seller fleece jacket pattern

Jacket Features

1) Button On/Off Sleeves. These were the most important of my original goals for the garment, allowing it a double life as jacket or vest.

2) The Pearly's! I used quite a lot of repurposed / recycled men's shirt buttons both as decoration and also to support the garments usefulness.

3) Separating Sports Zipper keeps me cosy

4) Double layer of fleece front and back is warm. Drill utility fabric, used as interlining, gives it solid structure and keeps the jacket fabric from looking like a blanket.

5) Weights in hem and along the edges of the center front below the zipper give the jacket a more solid feeling as well. I used a combination of pennies and drapery weight cording. A pants hook just below the end of the zipper, helps the jacket to close more neatly, and hang better.

6) Tucks in front and back give a little shaping. I slashed, slit and added to the original pattern shape to add in more fabric that I then tucked back in.

7) Home dec fabric is used as an under collar, for trim and for the button on/off wings. This heavy weight cotton fringes nicely. Integrating the pinks and blues in the home dec fabric with the red plaid fleece, gives me lots of wardrobing options. It means this jacket goes with shirts and blouses that include a variety of colors.... blue, white, red, pink, yellow, green etc.

8) Shirt weight cotton lines the wings and is used in decorative finding.

More on these details to come

El Debut: My Pearly-Wannabe Jacket

Yes, I double-checked 'el debut' really is the Spanish version of the word we often think of as French for 'presentation'

I have been working on this jacket for probably six weeks now. I can't even begin to catalog what went into the creation and imagination of this new adjunct to my wardrobe, though I plan to highlight some of the sewing techniques and items I used in this blog. Several of them were new to me and I plan to use and try them again in less complex projects.

Nor can I say that this garment is absolutely finished. Note the piece of floral binding still hanging down from one of the faux pocket flaps in front. And I keep finding other places I want to add buttons. I don't even dare show you the back! We are not talking a mainstream piece of clothing here, yet it's definitely something I plan to wear in my everyday world.

This Pearly-Wannabe garment (you know about the Pearly's right?) has button on-off sleeves, so that it can live life as either a vest or a jacket. I'm hoping that will make it a useful travel garment.

I'll share more on this creation over time. The base pattern is one I've sewn many times in the past, but altered tremendously for this garment.

After working so long on the Pearly-Wannabe, I'm craving some plain, basic sewing time. I'm already working on a pink flowered shirt (that's where the binding that's going on the faux pocket flap and the lining for the button on/off sleeve wings came from) and have a pair of very simple black linen cropped pants cut out as well.

This jacket, no matter how much she wants to be one, doesn't really qualify as a Pearly. For one thing, all the Pearly clothes I've seen, are solid black, then trimmed with elaborate patterns of buttons. Also the Pearly roles are inherited. And they're British!

What can I say? This gal's a California Pearly!

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For more on Pearly's

http://www.pearlysociety.co.uk/Main%20page.html