five gore vs 9 gore

"Kitty In Somerset, PA" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

um, 9 gore uses more thread ;)

well, yes & no. gores allow a full hemline without having to pleat huge amounts of fabric into the waist area, so you

*could* make a skirt larger by adding gores, but you can do the same thing by changing the size of the gores themselves. a 5 gore skirt doesn't have a center front seam, so it gives a smoother effect to the front of the skirt. ok, 7 & 9 gores don't have centerfront seams either, but there are more front seams to spoil the smooth flat front effect. they do give a wider circumfrence to the hemline (usually) though.

for the 1890s effect i'd stay with either the 5 gore or 9 gore, but i think the 5 gore would look better for a dressy occaision. lee

The more pieces, the more time and thread to sew it. Barbara in FL

"Kitty In Somerset, PA"

if the gores are all the same shape then sure adding more can increase the size, and for us larger gals, more vertical lines. (FYIvisually you need

2 vertical lines to counteract each horizontal line)

If the shapes are different then you can get in trouble. I can see one difference between a 5 gor and 9 gore right off,in the style of skirt you are thinking of the: nine gore has side seams. If you need the extra fiting there over curves it would probably be easier to make it there, or if your fabric is too narrow. (the straight of grain is at the side, this is also where you would make any width adjustments so adding a seam would be easy.) The 5 gore skirt has one front panel, two side panels, and two back panels. The side panels wrap around the body from princess seam to princess seam. All of the panels except the two back have only wearing ease, the fullness is all in the back. (my pannel is about 2.5x wider than it needs to be, I either pleat or gather it. It is more of an A-line though, so naturally it does get fuller near the bottom, I'm refering to ease at the waistband.

Hope that helps, Raelynn

Yeah, I didn't see that. maybe I should go with a 7 gore skirt. three for the front, four for the back. this would leave me with the seams where I am used to having them.

Oh, wow, did anyone ever put a pocket in a formal skirt or dress? I think I'm going to, I MISS pockets when I don't have any. LOL

If the 7-gore skirt has three in the front and four in the back, would you not have side seams, which is where pockets go? Emily

I offered to put side-seam pockets in DD's wedding gown, she declined. ;-}

yeah, that's what I figured anyway. sounds like the best way to go.

Most side seam pockets don't show, it seems to me, but if it does, I could always vercro 'em shut. LOL RRRRIP!!, HONK!!, RRRRRIP, (stuff, stuff, stuff) Kitty

"Kitty In Somerset, PA" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

:) there ya go! compromise.

side seam pockets should work. if i remember correctly Victorian women had openings in seams where they could reach a pocket underneath, either in the slip or tied on over the slip. anyway, the actual pocket wasn't sewn to the skirt. and yeah, i put pockets in dressy stuff. i *need* pockets :) lee

Lee noted:

anyway, the actual pocket wasn't sewn to the skirt. and yeah, i put pockets in dressy stuff. i *need* pockets :) lee

I guess it is a matter of "when you live in casual clothes, then any formal wear is to formal without a pocket. teehee. "Here, Your Majesty, I have a hankie, in my pocket. Lip gloss? Safety pin? no problem! Four course dinner? kitchen sink? sure, I just discovered Colonial pockets, I can cover all that stuff." I've been in love with the idea ever since I first read about them. Only problem is I like the smooth fronts of the 1890's and a real good colonial pocket would have stuff all across the "lap". so that sort of limits me. teehee Kitty

Kitty In Somerset (The City of Motels!!) wrote: ...

All the time. Every formal outfit, or lower garment of any persuasion.

My crimson CW gown has seams toward the front sides, and that's where I put the pockets (IIRC there are no side seams). After coveting another dress with strings of little pearls along the seams, I added some to this one. At a ball someone saw me fishing out a hanky or lip balm and said, "wow, I want pockets too!"

When I modify a RTW dress I usually have enough in the matching shoulder pad covers to make at least half of the pocket. (Power shoulders here, too.)

HTH

--Karen M.

that's a good idea for RTW, and actually you only need enough of a strip of fashion fabric to disguise the seam, about an inch wide and the length of the pocket opening, then the rest can be muslin.

And here I sit in a RTW skirt (full, full, full) and no pocket. think I must just be lazy, since it is obvious I knew there was a way. LOL

Been thinking about this. (Hey, I went riding today--had to gather wool on some topic!) When I've had a limited size of fabric and wanted to make a nice full skirt, I've pulled out the ol' geometry schoolin' and figured out how to make the waist one size and the hem another much larger one. If you cut your fabric into three almost-triangles:

_______________________ | / \ | | / \ | | / \ | | / \ | | / \ | |_/_________________\__|

it would have a clunkier look than if you made several more. (Allowing for seams and all that, too. Dunno about historic accuracy. Some of the nicest outfits I see at CW events are made from fabric that never would have been around in the

1860s. HTH

--Karen M.

Didn't 1890 clothes feature a lot of fullness in the back? A bustle need not be stuffed with cotton . . .

Joy Beeson ;-)

If the dress has a waist seam, pockets can be supported by the waist seam the way pants pockets are supported by the waistband -- but in-the-seam pockets in a dress with no waist seam distort the hang of the dress when anything heavier than a hanky is in them, because they are supported on only one side. When a dress or gown has no waist seam, I put on huge patch pockets, which hang straight because they are sewn to the dress on both sides. These are sometimes supplemented by elastic-wrist sleeves.

Historically, dresses and skirts had slits through which one could reach into a pocket worn under the skirt. This was particularly useful when hoop skirts were in fashion.

Broadfall pockets are marvelous for skirts, because they allow you to adjust the waistband through four full inches. I've been trying to figure out a way to apply that to dresses.

Joy Beeson

teehee, how inovative. A game (hunting) pocket in a formal gown.