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Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts

20 November 2017

Continental stays 2: The Garsault stays pattern

image from Garsault showing multiple views of stays pattern
M. de Garsault, Art du Tailleur
(1769), plate 12 (detail).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.
The stays in Garsault's 1769 "Art du Tailleur" are of a very different cut compared to Diderot's 1771 pattern. Garsault's cut has a more comfortable fit in the lower back, and can be adjusted to improve bust support.

Garsault doesn't depict individual pattern pieces, but we can use his illustrations and written information to alter another pattern into his cut.

06 October 2017

Continental stays 1: Diderot à la Waugh

Waugh's Diderot stays pattern
Waugh's pattern in
Corsets and Crinolines, page 40.
Norah Waugh's classic book Corsets and Crinolines (1954, reprinted 1987) includes her "Pattern of stays from Diderot's L'Encyclopédie".

Comparing Diderot's plates to Waugh's pattern, I found that she'd not just resized it for real bodies, but also taken some liberties in redesigning the stays. Here, I'll describe some changes she made, and how they can be reversed for a more period accurate cut.