Period Pattern projects: 1930s evening dresses and a 1920s mannequin replica

[labricoleuse]

For the 1930s, half-forms have become full-form projects, since bias-cut dresses can't function on the half...


1930s evening dress styles
Drapers from left: Amy A. Page, Amanda Phillips, Jacki Blakeney Armit


Close-up of research for Jacki Blakeney Armit's dress;
she created the pattern with a discharge bleach technique
after the dress was finished.


I splurged on this replica of a 1920s mannequin head
(from Dress Form Mall on eBay)
so i'd have something to photograph hats on besides dolly heads.
Isn't she cute? (Her hat is a vintage evening hat.)

Comments

[devikat.livejournal.com]

Yum!!!

Also, what happens to the dresses after the fact? ...I'd noticed that sometimes (not just the bias cut) it's made as a whole outfit, and wondered if that was always an option? Why make half? ...because, theoretically it's symmetrical, so it would take less time, while still gaining the same experience?

[I ask mostly because if I were to some how, miraculously, to be able to attend said classes, I'd probably want to make a whole garment - to my size - and keep it (supplying my own materials, of course). It just bugs me some times to makes stuff with no purpose in mind... I understand if it's not allowed though.)

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

After the fact: The students photograph them with a studio backdrop for their portfolios and keep them. Some students have chosen to make whole dresses for any number of reasons--one sold them on eBay afterward, sometimes they make them for friends or themselves, etc. So, it is always an option to make the entire piece.

Why make half?

Lots of reasons!

First, the intent of the class is to explore draping a period shape without the pressure of it going onstage, and without putting labor time into things like closures--these students have full graduate courseloads, assistantships, and mainstage responsibilities. Believe me, most of them want to save as much time as possible and the level of quality expected for finishing work...well, most are glad to save that time and do the half form!

Another big reason: it's cheaper to pay for half the fabric, especially on the earlier periods that take yards and yards and yards. All students supply nearly all their own materials for these, and with something like ten per semester, it adds up fast. (That's why the one student was experimenting with investing in the whole gown and then selling it, to try to recoup materials costs.)

Also, a caveat: it can be a fine line to make things for oneself. Some students make them wearable in their own size now and then, but too much of that and our program director's likely to criticize the lack of patterning for different sizes and shapes. Our graduates are expected to leave the program able to drape and tailor for any body shape, not just their own. Sometimes they make them for one another, or to fit actors in our company, and so forth.

I also think our director would argue that, rather than being "with no purpose in mind," that the half-form products of the class serve the purpose of higher learning, which is the primary goal. Students often talk about how freeing the half-forms are, in that they feel MORE inclined to experiment and take risks with the draping, which is something they aren't as free to do when they're working with "real" stuff.

So, that's a really roundabout way of trying to answer all your questions with a maybe-sometimes-kinda. :D

[devikat.livejournal.com]

No, that helps! Awesome.