A small tip :-)

I use clothespins for this; just snap one on the necessary place. Hard to miss a clothespin!

Jean M.

Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, By Janet Arnold. The yummiest book in my whole 3000+ book collection (not all costume books, mind!). £75 from Amazon UK.

Ms Arnold spent years digging into various archives, ferreting out information about the organization of The Great Wardrobe, and how Elizabeth treated its contents as National Treasure like the crown jewels rather than personal possessions. It was much dispersed in the years following her reign, and by The Great Fire, most of it was long gone. Along with it went her thrift (some items spent over 20 years in the wardrobe, being remade, altered for style and fit, and were then passed on to others).

Most of the pix are high definition black and white photos of portraits, but there are a few of real garments from the era. Unfortunately because of the way her wardrobe was dispersed later, there is no complete garment that can be traced back to Elizabeth herself. It's fun to see how garments in portraits can be linked to things in the wardrobe accounts, but sad that nothing can really be identified. Partly this is due to the nature of the descriptions in the accounts (incomplete and/or using unfamiliar terminology).

This is a great book for dipping into, even if one doesn't want to sit and read it from end to end - difficult because of the sheer size! It's almost as big as an atlas! Definitely a book to read at a table, not in bed.

And for my book wish list: hm... Has to include

Who Murdered Chaucer, by Terry Jones et al The Corset: A Cultural History by Valerie Steele Clothes of the Common Man 1480-1580: Making the Garments: Vol 2 by Jane Huggett The Medieval Tailor's Assistant: Making Common Garments 1200-1500 by Sarah Thursfield

There are a lot more on my Wish List at Amazon UK! :) This one isn't: Moda a Firenze 1540-1580: Lo stile di Eleonora di Toledo a la sua influenza, by ORSI LANDINI, ROBERTA, BRUNA NICCOLI

I'm chasing down a European site as it might be cheaper than dragging it back from New York!

Kate - Are you ready to tell us about the new book that you got for Christmas? You mentioned it over in the Shed... I'd never heard of it before, my library doesn't have it and with a $165 (USD) price tag I don't think I'll get my hands on a copy any time soon. But I could enjoy it vicariously through you!

-:¦:- ·.·´¨ ¨)) ¸.·´ .·´¨¨)) ..·´ Chris ((¸¸.·´ ..·´ -:¦:- ((¸¸ ·.·

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com Washington State, USA

"Kate Dicey" wrote

OK - I just have to find a way to at least LOOK at this book... Thanks Kate!

Order it through your local library! :) Then you can get a decent look at it and decide if it's something you really neeeeeed rather than just want!

"Kate Dicey

No one seems to have it! Not at the Seattle Library, Everett, Renton, or my local library, Sno-Isle... The University Bookstore doesn't even have it and they usually have EVERYTHING! Guess I'm just going to have to put it on my "buy" list and see if it ever gets prioritized to the top! It does sound like an interesting book...

Amazon wants a cool US$165.00 for it...........wow.

Worth every cent.

I have the Ladies Wardrobe and the Underpinnings. I haven't started on them yet as the Simplicity project is incomplete. I'll finish it first! :) They look MUCH better (and in some ways easier to use!) than the Simplicity one...

I've seen advice somewhere that the men's pattern can be scaled down to a Youth size, if the smallest size is still to big, but not right down to a child size: proportions are different pre-puberty, don't forget. You might do better to draft one from scratch, as it'll take about the same length of time as getting Margo's pattern to fit anyone not really man-shaped yet!

You could start with something like this and add the details you want:

top and sleeves could be adapted quite easily, and if the kid is small enough, then the skirt part could be adapted with it to give the look of something like this (see the infants in white at the left): wore things like this up to the age of six or so, when they were 'breeched' - put into breeches! Here's another one that hasn't reached beeches yet! Bit older than the babies, as you'll see...

Kate Dicey wrote in news:43be32bb$0$63051$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader04.plus.net:

Kate, do you have Margo's pattern sets? i'm thinking of getting those (including the men's, hoping i can grade down to kid size...). did you review them or are you still working on the Simplicity gown? lee