Initial Ideas
I approached this week with a very solid idea of what I wanted to do right off the bat: instead of memories from my own life, I’m going for nostalgia for a historical time period with a character in period garb. A big part of my life is cosplay and historical costuming; I do everything from patterning to construction in real life, and my ideal niche in the games industry would be character garment work. I’m fairly new to historical costuming but it’s been a growing interest of mine, and I’ve been collecting inspiration for late 18th century gowns for a long while…so why not create one digitally?
I’ve also been wanting to learn Marvelous Designer (3D textile program) since I started sculpting, as it’s such a good overlap between my patterning/sewing and 3D skills, so this is the perfect time to tackle it. I plan to create a bit of an amalgamation of elements from some of my favorite pieces, drawing mainly from this dress from the Met Museum.
Patterns
I have a fair amount of experience patterning non-historical garments, but when it comes to accuracy in shapes and construction, I turned to several of my owned pattern books. There are two similar gowns from publications by Janet Arnold and Norah Waugh, so I plan to translate them to Marvelous Designer garments and see which one has the better look. For undergarments, I already have a stays pattern that I’ve developed and made in real life, and borrowed a pattern for a bum roll/skirt support from Scroop Patterns. I feel confident that I can free-pattern the petticoats and skirts, as they are generally rectangle shapes constructed mathematically. Hopefully once I have the foundation pieces done, I can spend some time adding embellishments and details.
Bibliography
Arnold, J., 2005. Patterns of Fashion 1. New York: Drama Book Publishers.
Met Museum, 2015. Robe à l’Anglaise. [image] Available at: <https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81105> [Accessed 13 October 2021].
Waugh, N. and Woodward, M., 1968. The cut of women’s clothes, 1600-1930 [by] Norah Waugh; [completed and] with line diagrams by Margaret Woodward. London: Faber.
Enayla 