Renaissance shirt question

You just need to fit the pattern to him. There is no one universal solution; it depends on what is causing it. My shirts used to ride up in the front because of a abundance of mammary tissue and not enough fabric to gracefully skim them, and my solution was more length and width in the front to allow the fabric to drape instead of bunch up. If you have a little guy who has well-developed muscles from being on swim team, you might need to add more in the shoulders and neck.

Here's a great page on how to read the the strain lines on the garment and subsequently alter the pattern to fit.

Samatha Hill -- take out TRASH to reply wrote in news:4a1ff470$0$95492$ snipped-for-privacy@news.sonic.net:

taking this in mind, would simply lengthening the back & shortening the front, so as to move the shoulder seam more forward help with the pulling? lee

Hmm, I was just thinking that the reason for this may be the back neckline not being low enough. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from being an expert, but if all the other things seem to fit, then perhaps that might be the solution.

Just my 2 c. ;-)

U.

Dear Lee,

I've made dozens of these shirts. If you alter the back, you'll make the problem worse. If the shirt is riding up in front, you need to cut the front neckline a little bit deeper, and the back should be straight across. I haven't made any children's shirts; all the ones I've made have been for adults, and the measurement for the neck hole is seven inches cut straight across, then 1/2 to l inch scooped out of the back, and 3 inches scooped out of the front. Try working with cheap fabric first, and you don't need to go through all the steps; you just have to get the neck right, so probably a toile down to his belly button should work. Have him run around in it to see if it stays put. If it needs to be altered, do it in the cheap fabric by adding or subtracting until it fits right. Remember, to be authentic, all the pieces have to be rectangles, so make sure that your alterations can be cut that way.

Teri

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@x5g2000yqk.googlegroups.c om:

thank you Teri. i may have cut almost an inch deep neck on the back of his old shirt & on a little guy that's probably way too much. i'll make a muslin mock up of the neckline as you suggest. i knew it was something fairly simple, but i just couldn't remember what needed to be changed to fix it. now i need to source some good bottom weight linen (twill maybe) for his britches. lee

"Ursula Schrader" wrote in news:gvrq4i$q40$ snipped-for-privacy@news01.versatel.de:

thanks, Ursula. yes, i think i need to play around with the neckline. it was easier to costume him when he was less active :)

Wow, he could walk at 10 months already? Christine walked at about 18 months, but it seems she's taking her time with everything. Anyway, that kilt looks really cute on him, though I wonder how you managed to stay it on the kid. Glue? If it wasn't for the straps on her dungarees she'd be without all the time, her hips are so slim. Well, must be so with all small children, I guess.

He looks really cute with his curls and in that skirt. It was in ye olden dayes that all kids wore dresses, didn't they? You could tell them apart by the pattern of their caps or bonnets or whatever it's called. Weird, and today the little ones are dressed like grown-ups. I frequently see very tiny babies in sort of grown up clothing; girls that can't even crawl yet in skirts and boys in pants and sweaters, and their kidneys are exposed to the cold. But I'm rambling, sorry. Very pretty boy, and if he's only half as active as my DD is, you've got a lot on your hands. I've heard, though, that it gets easier when they start to use their brains for remembering words like 'forbidden' etc. ;-)

And he likes going with you to Renaissance fairs? We used to get into Viking re-enactment before DD was born and were a bit unsure if to continue. DH said that it would be great for a kid (which was what I used to say, too, before DD was born). I have some doubts, but since we are so busy with home and weddingd and other stuff, we didn't find the time to continue. The 'clan' we used to visit has dissolved and so far we have found nothing in our close vicinity. Well, I'm rambling again. Good luck with that shirt, anyway, and keep us posted what the problem was and how you solved it.

U.

"Ursula Schrader" wrote in news:gvtltd$p0i$ snipped-for-privacy@news01.versatel.de:

he was walking (& climbing stairs. eee!) at 6 months. he started walking by pulling up on things at 4 months. it's really not a good thing having such a tiny walking child. he climbed his first tree at 13 months & was at least a meter & a half over my head. however, he didn't talk at all until 28 months, & that was after a few months of speech therapy. he didn't do any cooing or make noises as a baby. the kilt was pinned, & i'll admit that i tacked the pleats to make dressing a bitty toddler easier :)

kids wore dresses until 4 or 5, for ease of toileting, after that they were dressed like miniature adults (including corsets for the girls). he was very good as a toddler at not getting into things... i didn't 'baby proof' the house. he's a bit less cooperative now :p

there was a couple years when he was 5 & 6 that he found the Renaissance Faire a little boring. last year we decided he was sensible enough to try letting him roam on his own... only because he has been attending this faire since pre-birth & everyone in the cast & booths, and our friends, knows him, and many eyes would be keeping track. so i bought him a watch & gave him money for food & water, and had him check in with me every 2 hours (unless i ran across him in between & granted extentions). it worked out really well. he's very shy when he has us to hide behind, but on his own he will go talk to people he knows all by himself. he spent a lot of time with the glassblowers, talking about how glass works, with the herbalist talking about plants & catching frogs & turtles in puddles (which is why his clothes need to be sturdy & easily washed. he gets typically boy grubby!). lee

Dear Lee,

From your speech patterns, I think you must be in the UK, so I don't know how useful this website will be. But when I was teaching, I garbed the docents at the Daniel Boone Home, and also made costumes for the theatre. I used James Townsend & Son for my re-enactment fabrics. It has canvas and heavy weight linen for bottom weights (at least it did 6 years ago; now I'm retired). You might also search for "re-enactment fabrics" to find closer companies. I don't go to the faires myself, but I have friends who wouldn't miss one, and some of my students would spend months working on their costumes. It was fun.

Teri

If you find a *tightly woven* linen twill, be sure to post! I've bought a linen-cotton twill, and Russia (hemp twill) and both were loose enough to make great towels. The cotton-linen wore out in hardly any time at all, and the loose weaving makes the Russia thick and warm, which isn't exactly what I want on days when white jeans are appropriate.

I may resort to Towsend's gray haversack linen again; it was as ugly as a mud fence, and I used up all the scraps patching it, but it was really comfortable in hot weather. I didn't even mind much getting doused with water: linen doesn't feel nasty when wet, and dries quickly.

Teri wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@h2g2000yqg.googlegroups.c om:

actually, i'm from New York, upstate & i live in NH right now :) i find James Townsend & Son to be a very dangerous catalog... perhaps if i stay on the fabric page it won't eat my whole wallet. the nice bit about reenacting (and owning an 1815 house) is that we're not fazed at all by little annoyances like losing our electric for 8 days in the ice storm. just light up the fireplaces, pump water with the hand pump in the basement (so much nicer than pulling buckets from the well) & cook with either the gas stove or a tin kitchen & cast iron in the fireplace. who needs a generator? ;) it's just an extention of the reenactment fun. i just need a pedal operated sewing machine. i have to knit when the power is out. thanks for the suggestion. lee

Joy Beeson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

oh no. that's not sounding good!

this sounds suitable for little boys who like puddles. i will let you know if i find good linen twill though. how about real handkerchief weight or not fuzzing top weight linen as well? 3 ounce linen is *not* handkerchief weight & i don't want half of my shirt in the dryer's lint basket either :p linen should be a long staple fiber so i really don't get the fuzz. lee

I found my 1894 White treadle SM at a flea market. It cost less than the Singer treadle. It only took a day or so to clean and oil, and it had a manual and 2 bobbins with it. I no longer have it, but it was a beautiful machine! Barbara in SC

Dear Lee,

I taught at Syracuse University for four years. I was born and raised in Massachusetts, and my Grandmother lived in New Hampshire (Chester). So I'm familiar with the area. And yes, your speech patterns are northeastern. I've lived all over the country, but I still get pegged as a New Englander. I wish Townsend had more than grey linen for bottom weights. They used to carry much more than that. And yes, I find that catalog dangerous, as well. Staying on the fabric page is impossible!!

Teri

Teri wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@x6g2000vbg.googlegroups.c om:

oh, Chester is right next door... well, maybe there's a town inbetween. it's a cute small college town. the linen i used for his 3 year old Tudor dress was shocking pink originally. i overdyed it green to get the brown, which made the green & gold trim stand out really nicely. i can't remember if i used more of that linen for his brown trousers or if i found brown linen somewhere... still, i can use grey linen, or dye it. linen takes dye really well. lee

I was wondering if you could add about 1/2 inch to the back shoulder and remove the same amount on the front shoulder. It works on my tee shirts and might work on your shirt. The net result is that you brought the shoulder slightly forward and by doing so lowered the neck in front that half inch. Juno

A Golden Autumn Silence

Once upon a stormy time, a long, long time ago, the autumn leaves came crashing down in half a foot of snow. "Sparking wires," said the scanner, "sparking wires, wires down. Stop reporting one by one, it's the whole deleted town." I'm sure talk got more lively, but that's when mine went down.

Gasoline won't run the siren, the pagers worked just fine. Firemen were needed everywhere, at dawn, I got back mine. When the sun came out next morning, it melted all the snow. That was sure a blessing: just chop up trees, and go! When everyone needs water, firemen don't need snow.

And then the house got quiet. No clicks, no whines, no drone. And then the world got quiet. The chain saws buzzed alone. I wanted to write how fine it was. My typer did not moan. I have a treadle sewing machine, a treadle iron -- lingers And seams in polyester just won't yield to fingers. At last, one day, a NiMo truck went by at walking speed I clapped my hands -- if they hunt for breaks there can't be much we need It must be soon, they must be near the end of their attack, And sure enough, in two more hours, sweet cacophony was back.

Re: the storm of Oct. 4th 1987

I always lengthen the back of the pattern and take away the same amount from the front to prevent my blouses, shirts & dresses from drawing the front up to the neck and "choking" me. I don't remember who first gave me the idea. Emily

The long fibers are broken up so that they can be processed on machines designed for cotton. This is called "cottonization", and manufacturers are very proud of it. When I googled in the vain hope of finding a page explaining it, I found that hemp, abaca, and other bast fibers are now getting the same treatment.

The previous time I googled "cottonize", I learned that flax-seed growers are working on a way to extract short fibers from straw that is now a disposal problem. If they are successful, this will make linen much cheaper in both senses of the word. It's been long enough that there should have been some progress by now, but I no longer remember enough keywords to find out.

We already have a word for non-linen fiber derived from flax, but nobody advertises their "cottonized linen" as "tow". One page I flipped past referred to it as "cottolin", but I think that that also refers to a blend of cotton and cottonized linen. In either sense, cottolin is nice stuff BUT IT'S NOT LINEN!!!!!!!!

Growf. I might as well complain about calling flannelette "flannel", or calling cheap fabric "muslin". Humpty-Dumpty is in charge.

Retronym: one site appeared to be using "lines" to mean real linen.

Joy Beeson