Speaking in ignorance except as a costumer who worries about vulnerable
seam-ends
If "fine drawing" doesn't refer to what Cynthia describes (and for costumes in
this general period I have done those catch-stiches to stabilize the pleat),
then...
it might be a reinforcing stitching buried in the seam crease.
I do this at exactly this point, the lower end of the CB seam just above the
pleat opening.
It has to be done from the outside.
I take a small running stitch (small but not the same length as the stitching
already in the seam because doubling the thread thickness in the stitching
holes would be counterproductive), alternating stitch placement from one side
of the seam to the other. I've never tried an AASCI drawing before, but--
assuming a vertical seam in the center of this diagram, the stitches would run
I_
_I
I_
_I
with the vertical part of the stitch inside the seam turnback and the
horizontal part bridging the seam. Even if this stitch is done with double
thread (which I use) it is virtually invisible once pulled (drawn) snug, but it
adds good reinforcement to the vulnerable base of the seam, which can subjected
to stress if the wearer sits wrong or if the fit of the body of the jacket is
close-fitting. And as the quoted directions suggest, this stitching has to be
done from the open end of the seam to the closed end so it doesn't distort the
lie of the seam.
I have no idea what this kind of stitching is called, but if somebody says
"Yes, I bet that's fine-drawing," I'll willingly call it that!
--Ruth Anne Baumgartner
scholar gypsy and amateur costumer
-Original Message-
>From: Cin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Feb 8, 2006 2:19 PM
>To: h-cost <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [h-cost] re: fine drawing?
>
>> I'm trying to translate instructions from _The Cut of Men's Clothes_ for
>> the assembly of an 18th century coat. (page 88 of the recent hardcover
>> edition)
>>
>> "The backs are joined together by backstitching on the wrong side and then
>> fine-drawing on the right, working from the skirt opening upwards."
>
>Dawn, Bjarne,
>
>I assumed that norah Waugh was using modern (possibly tailor's)
>terminology to describe what she saw. The expression wasnt in my
>jargon, either.
>
>I took it to mean blind catch stitching. I got an mid-19thc mans
>frock coat in my collection out and examined it. (Oldest relevant
>thing I have.) It has that same small inserted bit i the skirting,
>near the CB. The amount of skirting is obvious much less than the
>1750s. The tailor of this 19th c jacket, formed the pleat, then,
>working from the inside, did a catch-stitch abt 1/2 to 1 cm from the
>fold to permanently shape the pleat. (Cant quite tell without ripping
>the lining.)
>Cut of Men's Clothes says to so this working from the hem towards the
>waist. I my experiments, I discovered that doing so keeps the hang in
>the right spot as errors magnify going hem-wards.
>Here's an amazingly bad ASCII drawing:
>
> inside of garment
> /--cb--\ right side pleat
> catch stitches at this point ^\ /
>
>-
>
> outside of garment, viewer would be here
>
>Clear as mud?
>
>Originally, I thought it might be tailor's jargon for a french seam,
>but, as I had cut the jacket, the skirt almost-CB seam was hidden
>behind the pleats.
>
>Why dont you ask the Savile Row guy who runs to the cutting &
>tailoring blog? Post the answer for us, too.
>--cin
>Cynthia Barnes
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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