balance measurements

I've been out of town the past couple of weeks mentoring and teaching, with another week to go so I haven't had much time to post.

I have had time though, to think a lot about some things that crop up again and again in teaching:

a lack of clear and up-front discussion about how the drafts need to be changed for balance, figure irregularities and just plain old bigger sizes.

I thought I'd talk a bit about balance first.

Balance is the way a garment hangs on the body. An example of bad balance is if your coat tips up in the front, hitting your seat behind you and causing drag lines from the hip up on the diagonal toward the chest. It means that your front balance is short.

Now I know that if you read some of the old texts very thoroughly, you will find some information but rarely is it in plain, easy to understand language. The measurements required in some of those books also require the use of specialized measuring tape equipment that sadly has disappeared.

I know too, that many more modern texts are dealing with learning to draft primarily for the RTW market and that is a different situation from what I need to do and what I need to teach.

One of the basic balance measurements can be a measurement from nape to CF waist- it can tell you a great deal about the front length required on a pattern. It does not tell you a great deal about the person's back, but you would still be taking a nape to waist back measurement and between the two can make pattern adjustments.

This page from a German text, pictured above, gives instructions for taking two important "help measures" for balance. Similar measurements are also mentioned very briefly at the very end of "The Art of Fitting Gentlemen's Garments".

The difference is that in the German text, they don't just leave you hanging, wondering how to apply these helpful measurements, they do show the average, the long back/short front person, and the short back/long front person as well as the changes required in the patterns to achieve a well balanced garment.

This is essential knowledge in making individualized patterns- I cannot tell you how many people are drafting up the basic formula for varying sizes and shapes but not using some kind of measurement for balance. They are frustrated in their process because the garment doesn't fit right or sometimes at all, and they don't realize what needs to be changed at the pattern stage.

So, why is that? Balance applies to women's wear too, and most of the measurement sheets for women have a number of balance measurements taken but not for the men, so I encourage people to take the extra measures, apply them and it will make a huge difference in both the fitting stage, and in your end result.

1914 sack coat

For those out there who enjoy period drafts, I'm posting a draft from The Sartorial Art Journal of August 1914 which ties in a bit to the Extreme Style postings.

I don't think this draft would give as extreme a shape as depicted in those pictures, but I haven't tried it out. If you do try it let me know.

I hope it is legible- I'd like to set up a proper photo taking method for these old journals- I don't want to try to flatten them into a photocopier or scanner because some are fragile.

There's another project for the New Year.

Teaching Patternmaking

I've been thinking a lot about this recently because I am doing more and more of it.

There seems to be a definite lack of instruction available regarding menswear. So, why is that?

My guesses are:

Most community college courses focus on women's wear.

Tradition- menswear/tailoring was traditionally taught as a one on one situation: ie apprenticeships.

Loss of information.

Lack of interest.

In regards to the first, I guess since women tend to spend more money on a wider variety of clothing and ever changing styles, the colleges are figuring that's where the money is. It is a rare student who wants to do anything different and if they do, they have to have the strength of their convictions to forge ahead- often with minimal to no guidance because the staff isn't trained to teach menswear.

Tradition- has it hindered or helped? Apprenticeships were the norm in tailoring but over the past century and specifically the past 50 years, the independent tailor has been replaced by MTM (made to measure) and RTW (ready to wear). The tailor's children (boys) were often expected or encouraged to learn the trade, but the clothing world has changed, and job options have opened up for many people so fewer continued with the tradition.

This has led specically to a loss of information. From what I can see, most information both in the traditional construction and in patternmaking was passed on verbally and by physically showing the student and without anyone to teach, the information is not passed on.

Lack of interest.

Well here's a story: I was being interviewed for an inhouse article about myself and my job, and I asked to see the rough copy before it went to print. In regards to why I specialize in menswear, this is what I read:

"So why choose to do boring suits when you could have been making fabulous ball gowns".

Well, that about sums that up.

It is a pretty sad state of affairs really.

Where am I going with this?

I could rant about it all, and believe me I have, but instead I am trying to figure out how to focus my instructional methods- and so far I have a pile of notes and drafting paper strewn about, (no help from my cat), and wondering how best to affect change.

Happy New Year

We've been having a bit of R&R&R around here over Christmas: rest, relaxation and recreation and as 2010 draws to a close, I'd like to wish you and your families

Happy New Year!

All the best for 2011.

Thanks for reading, and I'll be posting soon...

Terri

Extreme styles#2 Drape

These designs, available from Chicago Woolen Mills in their 1943 booklet should make you give your head a shake! There's a lot of online discussion about drape so this should add fuel to the fire.

Above you can see the basic drape model in full colour along with the description

NOTE: when ordering, observe that these DRAPE MODELS have extra wide shoulders, fullness across chests and in sleeve heads. They tailor best in the softer fabrics.

Not too extreme a look- broad shoulders, nipped in waist, strong and ready to take on the world kind of look.

Then we have these two pages of Extreme Drape Models for Young Men. Interestingly, they come with warnings that you may not order trousers wider than specified in the chart because of the War measures in effect, but wow, I guess the jackets were exempt- maybe they could lay them out with a narrower trouser and use the same amount of fabric as in a regular suit- I don't know.

Quite the silhouette though, don't you think?

I'm out of town for a week so I'll catch up with you later.

Snowmageddon

Wow, there's been a lot of snow in the area although we only received a measly 20cm or so. The picture of the parking meter was taken in London, and the city was basically shut down for the last two days.

The winner though, was Lucan Ontario, just northwest of us about an hours drive away with snowfall accumulation of ............wait for it..........177cm........... seriously.

As I mentioned yesterday, we missed the brunt of the storm.

When the sun came out this morning, I put all other tasks aside, put on my skis and took advantage of the balmy -13C temperature and went out for a little glide close to home. It makes winter more bearable when you can go out and enjoy it.

Extreme styles

I have been collecting reference materials for a number of years now and as I was organizing things the other day I stopped to leaf through some of these catalogues and books.

I try to photograph or photocopy the more fragile examples so I don't have to worry about them becoming more damaged and I thought I'd share some of the things here with you.

We often think of extreme fashions as being something limited to our own present time because we don't often see examples of earlier times.

I wonder what people thought of these possibilities that were available to order in this 1914 Bannerman Tailoring of Chicago catalogue.

Obviously someone used the book as ascrapbook and interestingly they seemed to paste over most of the really interesting fashion plates and left the basic looks untouched- co-incidence? Who knows, but you can see some of this look developing earlier and I think the "novelty" drafts in The Blue Book of Men's Tailoring shows evidence of this direction in fashion.

Enjoy and I'll post more later.