On Wed, 31 Aug 2005, Cin wrote: > >Now, about that top point. Don't try to do it on the machine! Yes, it can > >be done, but it requires a lot of finagling and can cause a lot of > >frustration. Consider that the people who used this construction were > >working by hand -- this was never designed to be done by machine. It's > >much, much simpler by hand. If you do it by machine, you need to do a lot > >of marking of seam allowances and turning points and so forth. All very > >exact -- too much like machine quilting for my taste ;-) > > Everyone has a technique or 2 that they dont like or havent yet > mastered. Perhaps Robin & others is missing out on a very nifty trick > that will make this a tad easier. If setting a gore (godet) by machine > is good enough for the couture industry, it's good enough for me.
Let me rephrase what I said, then, since I see that the idea of "easier" came through much more strongly in the paragraph quoted than the overall point I was trying to make in my post. Setting a gore by machine is quite a good choice if you are doing (modern) couture work and/or want a (modern) couture effect. Once you're mastered the technique (very well described in Cin's post) it is easy enough to do. However: The original poster was trying to make a 13th century garment. The best way to get a 13th c. effect is to use 13th c. techniques. If you use a modern machine technique to set your gore, you'll get a modern (pointy) gore, which appears *not* to be something that is found in medieval clothing. The best way to achieve the medieval-looking gore is to use the medieval method, which is hand-sewing. As you said, with practice, you can certainly get nice, clean, perfect (modern) gores on machine. But for the original poster, who has not already learned that technique and is starting from ground up, I would still advise putting the time and effort into learning a technique that is more likely to be period rather than learning a modern one. If she doesn't already know the machine technique, it would indeed be fiddly and require lots of marking and turning and such; learning and perfecting this technique will be useful only if she wants the effect it can give. The usual disclaimers apply: This is what works for me, and for my approach. I realize I do a lot of things differently from others on this list, because my purposes are different. (I also have pretty much abandoned using modern measuring systems, anything requiring computation on paper, and anything resembling pattern drafting.) Someone whose aim is to get a reasonable-looking garment for event wear using the techniques they're already familiar with, or who is making other compromises (e.g. in materials or layering) for practical or budgetary purposes, will find different approaches that suit their needs. This is just fine, as far as I'm concerned. I hope that readers here understand that I will tend to answer questions about medieval clothing in terms of medieval techniques and medieval effects; modern adaptations are then up to the judgment and choice of the individual. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
