PLEASE TAKE NOTE——-> THIS IS HOW YOU MEASURE YOURSELF FOR THE...
PLEASE TAKE NOTE——-> THIS IS HOW YOU MEASURE YOURSELF FOR THE PATTERNS!!
The following pages are taken from “The American System of Dressmaking” 1909 EDITION. There are several editions of this amazing manual, but I have pulled their detailed yet simply explained directions from their 1909 edition here (because this edition online is available in actual book form and easier for me to sift through).
These directions are for: Torso, Skirt, and Sleeves.
Again, these are from 1909, so they will be best applied ver batum to all patterns from about 1900-1914 in my opinion. HOWEVER: I consider this a very workable and standard base to create all measurements from nearly any era from.
Some tips for other decades: 1880s and early 1890s bodices should have the tape measure pulled TIGHTER around the bust and sleeves as opposed to what’s listed here. For the 1920s, obviously, waist measure should be roughly the same as the bust/hip measurement on cylindrical dresses.
The entirety of this book can be found FOR FREE from the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/search.php?query=american%20system%20of%20dressmaking%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts
That link should take you to ALL AVAILABLE EDITIONS that they have (the top results). Each edition is slightly different- some things are further explained, some drawings turn into photographs the newer the editions get, and one of them is a rather huge expanded edition with virtually everything included but in something of a random order. If you are die-hard on making sure you have all the information they offer, I would suggest saving all editions, reading through them, and trying to compile an all-inclusive volume for you to use from all of them- clicking on each title will give you the year of the volume.
I’ve gone through a lot of dressmaking manuals on this website (and they do have a lot- have some fun and play around with the search feature and see what you can find!), but this one is hands down the best in my opinion: They start you from scratch expecting you to have NO teacher, NO experience, and have how to do all the stitches, step by step drafting, etc. “The American System of Dressmaking” is probably the best title available for learning how to do this sort of thing. I think if you can master everything they ever published, you can navigate less detailed manuals from other eras with fairly good confidence. The book itself claims that if you can master it, you should be able to look at any fashion plate published and replicate it yourself without a pattern. So there you go, ladies!
***GUYS, if you would like a custom manual on how to make gentlemen’s clothing, they do exist but generally in the form of tailor’s manuals and periodicals that may not be very specific as men did not make their own clothing and hired schooled and apprenticed tailors to do it instead. So by all means, please check out what you can find on the Internet Archive website if you’re interested in making your own items! :)
I hope this helps, you guys!! I’m marking this post #measurements, so that if you ever want to find it again, just put that in the search box on the front page of this blog. Have fun!!! :D :D :D
P.S.: I just want to share with you all that I swear I have just a touch of dyscalculia- in other words, me and numbers do NOT get along unless very explicitly and clearly stated in a nothing-is-left-out manner (a side-effect of being way over-developed linguistically and artistically, it would seem- or just a side-effect of 95% of my math teachers being terrible at making math comprehensible, I’m not sure which). Even though this manual has a very mathematic system for drafting patterns, even *I* can follow along and have successfully made drafts from it. So, if you decide to download the whole book(s), don’t let it overwhelm you! You can do it!! :D Just take it one step at a time.
