#echojar

Hello!!! This is a such lovely ask, thank you for thinking of me! Not sure if I've mentioned this before but I always feel so very happy when a friend tells me that they saw something they think I'd like or that reminded them of me. 😁😁😁

And that was an excellent choice! I heard about Spiritfarer a while back from a Waypoint review and it sounded wonderful, hence it being on my wishlist. I haven't gotten it yet because am actually taking a break from getting new games at the moment because I wanted to spend more time reading (especially because Total War Warhammer III is coming out this year and when it does that is going to be my life for a while lmaooo) but it is definitely on my list.

The second, larger problem, is that as a nonbinary person, I have a “nonstandard” body. I’m dfab and have had top surgery but am not on T. I am quite short (5'2") with wide hips. My attempts at drafting patterns and making mockups from men’s patterns have gone atrociously (I was attempting some 1908 breeches.) How have you found success in making/drafting historical clothing with a trans body™? (2/2)

Hello! Ok. First thing you need to know is that there’s no such thing as a “standard body”. It’s not a thing, and it never has been. 

Clothing companies may try to pretend it is, but all they’re doing is making stuff that kind-of-sort-of fits a lot of people, but hardly fits well on anybody at all. (The same is true of commercial sewing patterns, although there is much more potential to change stuff with those.) Look around and you’ll see that people come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. Different heights, different weights, different proportions, and varying degrees of asymmetry.

Mass produced garments are going by statistical averages (which I’ve heard are both outdated and inaccurate) and people just come in too many shapes to make that work. It’s why I have a job doing alterations for a suit store. It’s probably why unstructured, loosely fitted, and/or stretch knit garments are so common nowadays. (That, and it’s easier to wash them. And easier to make them cheaply in sweatshops. I want to punch the fast fashion industry in the face, but I digress.)

People have always come in a huge variety of shapes, all throughout history, but up until whenever mass production became the norm (late 19th and early 20th century I think? It happened gradually.) they had the advantage of having their clothes made specifically to fit them. Unless they could only afford secondhand clothes, but even then they’d probably alter them to fit.

And trans people existed back then too, and people cross dressed for various reasons. “Breeches roles” for actresses were common in theatre, so I think it’s safe to say that breeches can be made to go over wide hips just fine.

I haven’t seen any of your pattern attempts and I don’t know how many you’ve done, but I can say with some degree of confidence that you’re having trouble because it’s your first attempt at a rather difficult thing that takes some time and practice to get good at. We all start out by sewing and drafting horrible stuff! Do not despair! Pattern drafting is a wonderful skill to have, and after enough bad patterns you will get to good ones! It’s a whole entire human you’re putting fabric around, and it takes some practice to develop an eye for what shapes work best on you, and how to correct various fit issues.

Here’s my pattern drafting method: 

I usually use pattern diagrams from The Cut of Men’s Clothes, Costume Close Up, or the LACMA pattern project. All 3 of these sources have nice little scaled down diagrams of pieces traced from extant historical garments, and I start by tracing those onto a small sheet of printer paper. I get a reference picture or several of a similar garment. Preferably a portrait of someone wearing it, or the garment displayed well on a mannequin. I then stand in front of the biggest mirror in the house (wearing everything I’d be wearing under that garment) and imagine that garment on me, and where all the edges and seams are. I get my measuring tape and I measure various bits of the imaginary pattern pieces, and mark these measurements down on my little diagram. Here’s what the one for my yellow striped waistcoat looks like.

Once I’ve got a satisfactory amount of measurements marked down, I go to my big roll of stiff brown butcher paper and I draw out the pattern pieces full size according to these measurements. It’s ok if the measurements don’t all line up perfectly, because it’s awkward to measure yourself in front of a mirror, so they aren’t all exact. 

The important thing is to get the lines nice and smooth, and approximately where they should be, and to get the overall shapes similar to the diagram pattern pieces in a way that fits your proportions. They won’t be exactly the same as the diagram in the book because nobody is shaped exactly the same as whoever wore the original garment. For the above waistcoat I had to flare the hips out waay more than on the inspiration pattern, but when it’s on me that’s not really noticeable because it fits. (Mostly. I still need to work on the shoulders..) I then mock it up in crappy thrift store fabric or old bedsheets, and the past few times I’ve done patterns this way I’ve found them to fit surprisingly well, needing only a few small alterations. I’m very visual, so this method works for me, but other people may prefer different methods.

In college we learned to draft modern patterns with math formulas, but I don’t like doing that, and the basic blocks we did then aren’t super helpful for historical cuts anyways. I know that for the 19th and 20th centuries there are lots and lots of tailoring books available that have drafting instructions, but as I have not yet dipped my toes into the 19th century I can’t really comment on them. 

However you’re drafting, be sure to look at lots and lots and lots of reference pictures from the era so that you get a good picture in your head of what the fit and cut is supposed to be like. Things fit differently in different eras. For example, 18th century coat sleeves are cut much tighter than modern ones, and with a considerably smaller armhole. (Which actually gives you a far better range of motion.) They don’t have any shoulder padding either. And 18th century breeches have wrinkles at the crotch, it’s just part of how they fit.

Alright, I think that’s all I’ve got to say on patterning for now. And now to address the question of androgynous silhouettes! I really don’t want to fall into the trap of equating “androgynous” with “masculine”, but most of the things that immediately come to mind are historical menswear because they’ve got drastically different silhouettes that don’t read as very masculine to the average modern onlooker. One of the things that made me start on a 1730′s project was the early 18th century silhouette. (That, and the lure of Huge Coat Cuffs) Just look at those adorably poofy coat skirts!

Antoine Hérisset, 1729, Rijksmuseum.

The early-to-mid 19th century is another great period for men’s silhouettes. Tiny waists and softly rounded chests (you see padding in a lot of the waistcoats) were in, and the men in the fashion plates are drawn with doll faces, dainty little feet, and pretty substantial hips. Behold:

(1834) I’d like to do an 1830′s outfit someday, and to make a pair of mens stays for it.

Here’s another one so you can see The Hips. The darn source link isn’t working, but this is from Costume Parisien, 1823.

Young man’s cotton summer jacket, c. late 1840′s.

Depending on how concerned you are about foolish comments from random strangers, there’s also the second half of the 17th century to consider. What could be more androgynous than a vaguely human shaped wad of fabric and frills?

I Cannot find the source for this but it’s a French engraving c. 1660.

Now, I am less educated on historical women’s fashion, but I know that those shapeless little 1920′s dresses were going for a more androgynous look. Flat chests and short hair for girls was fashionable, and you can see the beginnings of that boxier silhouette in the 1910′s. 

1910′s women’s suits are magnificent.

Walking suit, c. 1912, V&A.

And riding habits! From the 17th to the 19th century (and maybe beyond, I don’t know) women’s riding habits had the same style lines as mens suits, but were made with the silhouette of a dress, and it looks very sharp. (Especially the 18th century ones, but I’m biased.) They usually consist of a jacket and matching skirt.

Wow that is a much longer answer than I expected to write. I must make an FAQ page so people can find these more easily.

hmm did you know that a) that’s not selfish and b) i love you

1.) i really value the care you put into so many things you create, both large and small-- and of course, i always have! whether you’re painting, sewing, baking some gorgeous pies, or anything else, there’s so much devotion in what you do, and the aesthetics always slap. and like right now in particular i am thinking about your garden and how much care you put into it...that is perhaps the perfect example, between the conservation aspects and the design aspects...hhh i wanna see it in person so bad...

2.) you’ve taught me legitimately so much about being able to embrace fluidity in myself, and focus on what’s in front of me, and also about independence and courage and not giving a fuck if society judges you. i would be a different person without your insight, and i’m endlessly glad you’re in my life.

scribblinaway replied to your post “Day 27 of COVID-19 shelter-in-place”

Yesterday my dad pointed out that even if they start slowly easing restrictions, as a person in a high risk category he's essentially going to have to continue to be in self-isolation until a vaccine is widely available. :(

Yeah, this is the concern, and is also why I’m not sure what “easing the restrictions” will look like in the pre-vaccine period. For example, how long until we can have dance classes again? How long until live performances are permitted? How long until we can travel?

echojar replied to your photoset “Day 13 of COVID-19 shelter-in-place Today also didn’t exactly go...”

it's possibe that the hovery flapping bird was a kite? it sounds like kite behavior. and I've seen white tailed kites in central CA before

Yes, it probably was a kite--that’s definitely kite behavior. I just didn’t feel like I’d had a good enough look at the bird itself to be sure.

julandran replied to your photoset “Ridiculous afternoon snack at Chez Anonsally You can make something...”

One of my go-to snacks has been melting equal parts peanut butter and chocolate chips in a small ramekin, then dipping digestive biscuits in the resulting goo. :)

@echojar, I started answering your ask about what I’m using for bird photography, saved it as a draft, and now Tumblr has seen fit to send it... somewhere. Not sure where. Anyway, it’s gone.

So this is your response, unfortunately no longer including your actual ask. After a cut to spare dashboards b/c tl;dr.

Hello! You sure can :D My apologies this took me a week to get to, but thank you for your patience!

For you, I drew “Trust Your Path” from Work Your Light Oracle and “The Diviner” from The Numinous Tarot.

The Diviner just amplifies the Trust Your Path card’s message. Trust yourself, and trust the direction you are going. Even if you feel directionless, it’s still preparing you for what is next. Tap into yourself and listen to what you are saying, as that will guide you forward. You got this! Trust yourself.

I hope this makes sense! I wish you luck regardless. Thank you for allowing me to read for you!

as a person who does medical billing, this is way prettier than the programs that ppl currently use

yay!! that has been part of the goal! 

it’s weird how it seems like nobody else has really made this? i mean, the whole reason i decided to build it as a plugin is because i couldn’t find anything out there that would be easy to augment without being unnecessary coding overkill. (i think bestnotes now has something they’re claiming does a lot of the stuff ours does? but it’s just still not very pretty and doesn’t prioritize custom access levels.)

me, reading about erikson’s stages of development:...

psychosocial crises tag urself meme: i’m guilt!!