Frances Grimble

Bustle Fashions 1885-1887: 41 Patterns with Fashion Plates and Suggestions for Adaptation Frances Grimble

Jacket Description/Flap: Bustle Fashions 1885-1887 contains a wide selection of high-quality women's clothing patterns from the height of the bustle era. This book contains practical patterns for undergarments and nightgowns; wrappers and tea gowns; bodices, skirts, and overskirts; complete ensembles for street and house wear; and outer jackets, coats, dolmans, and cloaks. The patterns are drawn from rare original issues of the magazine The Voice of Fashion and 1885 to 1887 editions of the pattern book The National Garment Cutter. They were used by both amateur and professional dressmakers to make up the mainstream styles of the day, and are very similar to patterns published by Butterick. These patterns are enlarged with apportioning scales, printed versions of which are provided in this book, along with step-by-step instructions. Apportioning scales are special rulers that enable you to draft custom sizes, from queen size to doll size, without doing arithmetic. Most patterns in this book are accompanied by supplementary illustrations with detailed descriptions, drawn from Butterick's Delineator magazine. Each supplement shows optional style variations that can be produced by using flat pattern alteration techniques, or merely by substituting a garment section from a different pattern in this book or draping an overskirt pattern differently. The descriptions include information on construction and fabrics. Edited selections from fashion columns in The Delineator, Harper's Bazar, and other publications add information on style trends. Also drawn from The Delineator are instructions and illustrations for 208 trimmings and 91 accessories. In addition, a substantial chapter on dressmaking, assembled from articles in Godey's Lady's Book, gives detailed information on making garments for the second half of the 1880s. The book's glossary explains period fabric names and dressmaking terms. Marc Notes: The patterns are drawn from rare original issues of the magazine The voice of fashion and 1885 to 1887 editions of the pattern book The national garment cutter--P. [4] of cover.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 441-442) and index.

Contributor Bio:  Grimble, Frances Frances Grimble is the author of nine books on historic costume and vintage clothing. Over 60 of her articles on sewing and vintage clothes have appeared in national magazines, such as Threads, Sew News, and Antique Trader Weekly. Frances Grimble has been a how-to writer and editor since 1983. She has worked for book publishers, magazine publishers, and software companies; she has written a number of user manuals and coauthored a computer book. Frances Grimble has substantial formal education in researching social history and in clothing design. In 1974 she began making historical reproductions for periods from the Renaissance into the 1920s. Since 1972, she has collected vintage clothing and accessories from the late 18th century into the mid 20th.