Happy New Year from Goodly Raiment!

This blog has barely begun, and I'm awaiting the New Year with great anticipation. I did a lot of creative crafting and sewing in 2012, including developing patterns!

In the New Year, I plan to discuss more costume history, but I also want to share how to make patterns for various types of things, including garments.

Nightshirt: front view

To begin, let me share with you some photos of a piece I was commissioned to make for Christmas: an Old West-style nightshirt. I've made Old West shirts before, but never a nightshirt.

Looking for nightshirt patterns was a nightmare! The few things I could find labeled nightshirt were all too short for the comfort of the man whose present this was to be. And none of them had the kind of detail I wanted. Most of them had either modern collars, or, worse yet, no collars at all! What I really wanted was a band collar.

Nightshirt: back view

After searching pattern catalogs in vain, I did some research and decided to develop my own pattern. Basing it on drawings of Old West shirts I'd seen in various places, I created a nightshirt pattern that would be long enough to come about mid-calf on its intended recipient.








This nightshirt included a lot of firsts for me:

Nightshirt: collar detail showing matching plaid across front

• First time working with flannel 
• First time matching plaids
• First time matching a pocket design to a shirt front

Matching the plaid was probably the biggest challenge. Making sure I had the fabric in the correct direction was another. As you can see from the design, the NorthWoods fabric has the animals both right side up and upside down. That created its own challenges. To make matters more difficult, the animals placement didn't repeat on closely spaced regular intervals. They were much farther apart in their order than was apparent on first inspection.

Nightshirt detail showing pocket & cuff

Another challenge was matching the pocket to the shirt fabric. My first effort failed miserably! In order to be sure I had it correct, I had to create a transparent pattern piece, so I could see where the animals were. Can you see where the pocket is in the photo? It's right above the cuff. When you look inside the pocket, it's the same as outside! 

I really enjoyed shopping for the fabric and buttons for this shirt. Finding buttons that have the look of animal horn was a delightful surprise. The flannel is lovely and soft, and, best of all, the recipient and commissioner were both pleased with it!

Check back often for details on how to develop pattern ideas and make your own patterns, as well as get ideas for your own garments and accessories!

Is there anything you want to see in the Goodly Raiment blog in the New Year? How about in the Goodly Raiment Etsy Shop? I'm open to suggestions. Please post them here, and let me know what you'd like to see!

Thanks! Have a wonderful & healthy 2013!

Happy Boxing Day!

Americans have never picked up on the great British tradition of Boxing Day, for some reason. What a pity! Boxing Day is the time to remember all those who are so helpful during the year: postal workers and delivery people, shopkeepers, gardeners, ministers, co-workers, tailors and dressmakers...in fact, just about anybody who isn't family or a close friend. Most member nations of the British Commonwealth still celebrate Boxing Day, as Americans did for some time after the birth of the United States.

Boxing Day continues the Twelve Days of Christmas, those celebrated in the ancient Christmas song. Instead of running the twelve days before Christmas, as most stores and even television networks would have you believe, the Twelve Days don't end on Christmas! They continue through New Year's to Epiphany,  January 6th, celebrating the arrival of the Magi to Bethlehem, bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

For those of you who try to keep the traditions of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, or Victorian eras alive, enjoy the Twelve Days of Christmas! Don't let all the sales and returning of gifts that aren't quite right destroy what is supposed to be a joyous time of reflection and family. Take time to appreciate each other, and to remember that Christmas is just the beginning of Life!

Happy Boxing Day!

What Is a Costume?

When people think about costumes these days, a few different things can come to mind. Halloween is an obvious one. So are movies, TV, and theater. Historical clothing is often referred to as costume. So are pieces of ethnic clothing.

But what about our everyday wear? When corporate America gets dressed, isn't it wearing a kind of costume? Construction workers have their own costume, as do soldiers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, medical workers, bankers, retail employees...everyone wears some kind of costume, if you think about it that way.

While it's true that most people don't go to work dressed like a pirate or a Roman emperor, we all wear some kind of costume every day, even if that costume is just torn jeans and a T-shirt.

Over the course of this blog, I'm going to be discussing what costume means to me, and discuss various techniques of making costumes and accessories similar to the ones I sell at my Etsy shop, Goodly Raiment. I have a great interest in many of the different definitions of costume, though my personal preferences run to historical, theatrical and ethnic. (Please note that theatrical can also encompass fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk.) I hope you'll join me in a conversation about all kinds of costume and accessories, from every era, time, place, or imagination!