www.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk SUMMER 2015 COURSES TAILORING STITCHES c.1400-1800 2 Day Course - 23rd to 25th May This course will cover the evolution of tailoring and students will work samplers of key techniques such as buttonholes, seam construction and padding from each century. Seventeenth and eighteenth century garments from the School and Hopkins Collections will be available for close examination while colour images of earlier garments from the Janet Arnold Archive will be used as references. TUTORS -Melanie Braun & Claire Thornton THE NATURE OF FABRICS c.1400-1800 2 Day Course - 30th & 31st May Using extant textiles and garments c.1400-1800 from both the School and the Hopkins Collections, this course will introduce students to the various fibres and weaves of the fabrics used on dress throughout this period. The most common uses for a range of textiles such as linen, fustian, cotton, wool and silk will be explored, including those with metal threads. From plain woven textiles to the most complex velvet weaves the fabrics covered will be those worn by all social classes. POCKETS for MEN & WOMEN c. 1600-1900 2 Day Course - 6th & 7th June Try to put your hand in a naked man s pocket and Lucy Locket lost her pocket are two old phrases that remind us of the importance of pockets during this period of history. Whether worn as a separate bag or incorporated into the construction of garments, pockets of all kinds will be explored on this course. Extant examples of both kinds will be available for close inspection and students will work samplers of various cut and construction techniques.
THE ART OF DRAPING 1910-1940 2 Day Course - 13th & 14th June An exploration of the methods pioneered by Madeleine Vionnet and Madame Gres in the early 20th century. Students will make a muslin half-sized toile from the pattern of a Vionnet dress, a half-sized bias-cut toile in silk and samples of important construction techniques. Early 20th century garments from the School and Hopkins Collection will be available for close examination. TUTOR - Claire Thornton THE ART OF THE SEAMSTRESS c.1500-1900 2 Day Course - 20th & 21st June The traditional role of female seamstresses was to make all the linen garments and accessories worn with outer clothing. Using extant and reconstructed examples of shirts, smocks, and accessories students will produce pattern layouts for several widths of linen and make a sampler worked in a variety of stitching techniques including 16th century Italian shirring. 180 / 120 concessions FULLY BOOKED THE CUT & CONSTRUCTION OF CORSETS 1880 90 6 Day Course - 22nd to 27th June Students will learn how to take measurements and draft a pattern from an original published pattern. Each student will make a toile and work a sampler using the appropriate materials and stitched on mechanical sewing machines. Details such as flossing, fitting metal eyelets and steam moulding will be covered. 540/ 360 concessions 8 Places BUSTLES 1885-1890 5 Day Course - 29th June to 3rd July In the late-nineteenth century women wore ever-changing supports under their dresses to adhere to the fashionable silhouette. Each student will make a full-size bustle using an unpublished pattern in the private collection of Luca Costigliolo. There will be extant bustles, dresses, chemises, corsets and petticoats from the School and the Hopkins Collections in the workroom, to show what the bustles were worn with. 450 / 300 concessions 8 Places
THE 1540s ITALIAN SOTTANA 6 Day Course - 6th to 11th July This course will explore the cut and construction of the mid-sixteenth century Italian sottana (kirtle). Students will draft a pattern based on extant garments in Florence and Pisa, using Janet Arnold s unpublished patterns and notes of the Medici grave clothes and research by Thessy Schoenholzer-Nichols on the sottane in Pisa. Each student will then make a half-scale toile and a sampler of construction techniques. 540 / 360 concessions 8 places FLAT PATTERN DRAFTING 2 Day Course - 18th & 19th July This course will introduce students to the basic principles of drafting a pattern by drawing onto paper or fabric. The evolution of the art of flat drafting since the medieval period will be explored with a selection of historical pattern layouts and an explanation of how to read patterns and how to recreate them. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MEN S BREECHES 3 Day Course - 7th to 9th August A practical look at the cut and construction of men s breeches focusing on the evolution of shapes. To test the all-important fit of the breeches for riding horses there will be a saddle in the workroom. Surviving examples of breeches from the School Collections will be available for close examination. Students will draft patterns and make a toile and stitching sampler.
MAKING, STARCHING & SETTING A RUFF c.1580-1620 2 Day Course - 15th & 16th August Students can each make a small linen ruff or darted band, which they will then starch and set into shape. Both surviving and reconstructed examples of the laces and embroidery used on ruffs and other fine linens will be available for close examination. TUTORS - Jenny Tiramani & Hattie Barsby 8 Places Available - 180 / 120 concessions THE NATURE OF FABRICS c.1800-1900 1 Day Course - 22nd August Using extant sample books, textiles and garments c.1800-1900 from the School and the Hopkins Collections this course will introduce students to the various fibres and weaves of the fabrics used on nineteenth century clothes. The most common uses for a range of textiles such as linen, cotton, wool and silk will be explored, including those with metal threads. From plain woven textiles to the most complex velvet weaves the fabrics covered will be those worn by all social classes. 90 / 60 concessions FULLY BOOKED - WAITING LIST ONLY THE ART OF FELT-MAKING FOR HATS FROM THE 16TH TO THE 19TH CENTURY 3 Day Course - 4th to 6th September A practical look at various traditional felt-making techniques practiced in Europe, focusing on the British hatting industry before the advent of industrialisation. During the course of the weekend, each participant will have the opportunity to make their own hand-felted, blocked wool hat based on historical sources, make a hatband and a sample of thrumming. TUTOR - Rachel Frost www.thecraftybeggars.org
FREE CLASS WEEK - 18th CENTURY WOMEN S DRESS - 10th - 14th AUGUST FULLY BOOKED - WAITING LIST ONLY This summer we are offering another chance to come and do a course with no fee to pay. We realise that there are people who cannot afford to come to our courses, especially if they live a long way from London and have to pay for travel and accommodation as well. At the same time, we are trying to build up a School collection of reconstructed clothing from many different periods so that we can demonstrate the dressing process and the way clothes were worn in the past. The class will be run exactly as our other classes are, with no more than 8 students to one tutor. The difference will be that students cannot keep the pieces they work on to take away at the end of the class. Instead, they will stay at the School with documentation about who worked on them. We are making a complete outfit of clothes for a woman in the 1780s. During the two free classes held in 2014 the tutors and students made a linen shift, a horsehair rump, a pair of linen stays, a pair of silk pockets, a pair of linen mittens and embroidered panels for a pair of shoes. We have a quilted silk petticoat, a silk petticoat and a pair of embroidered garters under construction and will be making the silk gown, kerchief, cuffs and hat this year. This variety of garments enables students to experience and observe a large range of techniques, as well as offering them the chance to watch fittings and understand the layers of dress in this period. Students may keep all toiles/samples at the end of all the courses except those attending the free course. All materials will be provided. To purchase a course please go to the online shop - https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/ CONCESSIONS - Unwaged, full-time students, over 61 years of age, receiving jobseeker s allowance, income support or disability benefit All fees are non-refundable. If you cannot attend we will endeavour to fill your place and return the fee. However, we cannot guarantee this. This is the only way we can keep our classes to 8 students or less per tutor and budget to keep the high standards of teaching to which we are committed. To book a place on the free course please write to us at info@theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk. Places on this course are for those who qualify for our concessionary prices or those who can demonstrate hardship. The School of Historical Dress, 47 Charles Square, London, N1 6HT Company Registration Number: 7017312. (England and Wales) Registered Charity Number: 1142188 The School of Historical Dress aims to be an equal opportunities employer