Reproduction size

To what size should we reproduce the dress?

The original dress is pretty tiny, so reproducing it in the same size would mean that very few would be able to try it on, which would defeat the purpose of this project. In fact, some costume historians have argued that the reason so many historic clothing objects in museums are so small is not because people were so significantly smaller then, but rather that such small pieces were too small for their owners, and they survived because they weren't worn.

Remember, the goal of this project is "to provide for the construction of new reproduction garments to fit a wider range of sizes." We already have many pieces in our collection of reproductions that represent a middle range of sizes, and some for smaller sizes. While smaller sized participants can still try on larger garments, larger sized participants cannot so easily try on something that is too small. We want our garment to fit a wider range, and in fact we chose a style that could be attractive on a larger figure, but also would look fine whether it fits well or is a bit oversized. The more we can increase the size of our reproduction, the better our chance that no one will be left out of the experience of trying something on.

For that reason, we have chosen to build the dress to a modern women's size 22, with a bust of 51", waist of 44", and hips of 52". When we consult the "Table of Approximate Sizes of Proportionate Measurements of Patterns" from American Dressmaking Step by Step (Coates, Lydia Trattles, as noted in a previous post) we see that this does correspond fairly closely to the largest size in the table. Our modern figure is slightly larger in the waist and smaller in the hips, but that is probably due to the difference in measurements to allow for a corseted waist and ease over the hips.

The next step is to pad a mannequin to fit that size. Lydia carefully added necessary layers to one of our mannequins to make it match the desired size, then covered it with a white spandex cover to smooth out the padding. Finally, she pinned style tape over the cover to re-define the placement of seams.

Now we're ready to start draping!