I toyed with making this a pre-step. In the end, I decided that pre-treating your fabric and cutting your pattern is actually very important to your finished product and can affect the overall garment and should be included as a step unto itself.
Choosing a Pattern
There are many various patterns out there from a few vendors that do a good job. My advise: you get what you pay for. If you are looking to make a costume, go ahead and buy a pattern from a company that makes costumes. If you want to reproduce 18th century clothing, buy a pattern that cites its sources.
You can also create your own pattern using any of the various books I've mentioned in previous posts. You can find a multitude of tutorials on how to blow up a book patterns through a simple google search, so I won't go into it here. A friend of mine uses an old overhead projector to display the pattern on the wall and then traces onto pattern paper based on the required size.
If you want my two cents, I'll let you know what patterns that I use.
Selecting and Treating Your Fabric
The most fun, yet stress-inducing part of sewing is choosing the fabric. Use natural fabrics that are suitable for your impression. Avoid synthetics as much as possible (a small percentage occasionally can't be avoided in some wools). Before going out and buying that fancy silk brocade, decide who you are going to be portraying and what that person would be wearing.
Honestly, silk sucks. It doesn't breathe as well as linen and wool, and you can't do immersion laundering on it either. My two cents, linen and wool are your best friends. They are suitable to most classes and are generally durable fabrics. Linen is great in the summer for cooling and can be washed by hand or in your washing machine (if you're confident in your stitching). Wool regulates the body temperature, lays great, and is very easy to work with.
**As I rule, I do not fully immerse my coats for washing because it removes the stiffness from the buckram. I will spot clean the outside or odorous parts, and, if required, replace the lining to rid the smell.**
If you plan to wash your linen garment, wash your fabric before cutting the exact same way that you plan to wash your finished garment and hang to dry. Linen will shrink a bit, but not that much. I do not wash wool, but if you think that the color will bleed from your body heat, it's a good idea to soak your wool in hot water and then hang dry to remove that excess dye.
Tracing Cutting Your Pattern
None of my pattern pieces have seam allowances. I draw them on myself at 1/4 inch to be more consistent with extant garments. Modern patterns use 5/8 inch seam allowances, which is too big for the 18th century (you can use whatever seam allowance you want; it's really your preference). Not only that, but outside edges of wool broadcloth garments should be left raw and have no seam allowance in the 18th century fashion. Here is my pattern process:
For Linen or Worsted Wool (Fabric that Frays)
1. Lay out fabric in folded in half length ways (making a long, thin rectangle)
2. Trace the true pattern pieces pieces using tailors chalk, charcoal pencil, or heat erasing quilter's pen, etc. starting with the large pieces of the body, then the smaller pieces.
3. Add 1/4-inch seam allowance to all sides of true pattern pieces.
4. Pin all pattern pieces and cut
5. Repeat for the lining
For Wool Broadcloth (Fabric that Does Not Fray)
1. Lay out fabric in folded in half length ways (making a long, thin rectangle)
2. Trace the true pattern pieces pieces first using tailors chalk or a charcoal pencil starting with the large pieces of the body, then the smaller pieces.
3. Add 1/4-inch seam allowance to only the inside seams of true pattern pieces. Any seam that is not joined to another i.e. lapel seams, skirts seams will be cut at the true pattern piece line.
4. Pin all pattern pieces and cut.
5. For the lining: Repeat steps 1 and 2, but at Step 3 add 1/4 inch seam allowance to all sides for the lining. Pin and cut.
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