I made a "Mary Tudor" dress using the book and was pleasantly surprised. Nice french hood patterns.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dawn Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 2:13 PM To: Historical Costume Subject: [h-cost] Tudor Tailor -- another review I received my copy this morning, and have spent most of the day reading it. I'm more impressed than I thought I would be. First, the quality of the book, the binding, the paper, and the photography, is very good. The first three chapters have a lot of pictures, some I've seen a lot of other places, and many I had not seen before anywhere else. The color is good and the photos are clear, even though most are less than 3" across. The first part of the book is chock full of details and tidbits of clothing information taken from sources, covering things like the weave and cut of hose, foundation padding, hair dressing, the costs of different kinds of stockings, and the colors used for petticoats. Some of the text is footnoted with sources, some of it is not. It rather rambles with no set direction, but it's interesting. There is a useful table on period fabrics, and a short section on basic sewing techniques like buttonholes and pleats. However, this is not a beginner's book. You should have a moderate sewing ability, including being able to draft up the scale diagrams and alter them to fit you, and construct them with minimal directions. It will help immensely if you already have some experience with clothing from this period, because a lot of the instructions given are very scant, and if you don't know what it is supposed to look like, you'll be lost. There's a page on how to fit men's hose, which might be useful to some people I know. However, there's also a picture of a man in hose with slashes above the knee, and no hint of how they're made. Obviously, there's slashes, but there's also some kind of lining which isn't explained. There's a number of other patterns which variations pictured -- some of which can be figured out by looking at other patterns, and some of which are again never explained. Mostly, it's sleeves. The patterns cover a good spectrum, male and female, upper and lower class, Henrician and Elizabethan styles. I wish some of the accompanying photos of the modelled clothing were larger and showed more detail. There's directions for farthingales and rolls, ruffs and collars, and about ten hats and hoods. My main complaint about the patterns is they are mostly undocumented. There's nothing on them alluding to a source garment or painting used as reference. The few exceptions, like the loose kirtle, are already covered in Arnold's _Patterns of Fashion_. Finally, the models are all impossibly thin and the patterns are drafted for the size 12-14 range. If you are larger than that, and a lot of folks these days are, you are in for a lot of work. Overall, I was pleased with the book. It's a good one-stop source for the 1500's if you're going to be doing recreation clothing. If you already have patterns or a wardrobe you don't *need* this book, but some of the reference photos might make it worth it. If you've never sewn anything before, this might be a little overwhelming and I would definitely brush up on basic sewing and fitting techniques or work with an experienced helper. Dawn _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
