Creating An 18th Century Jacket

So now the underwear is done, time to create something wearable outside my apartment. Of course I want to create a Pompadour dress one day. But for now I'll settle for something a little less daunting and little more practical. Enter the 18th century jacket. A dowdy little number most ladies never wore outside the home. Considered an "undress" item, one would lounge around the drawing room in it until it became time to properly dress for the receiving of visitors or to go out for the evening. The exception was if you were a working class woman, in which case you'd wear it anywhere. 

The problem I now have is this. I can either choose to use the very limited commercial patterns out there and spend half my life altering them until they fit (or put up with a poor fit). Or I can choose to learn pattern drafting. I've chosen the latter. If I'm going to spend my every weekend making clothes I cannot wear in the normal course of life they had better be the finest clothes on the planet. A great fit is a must. And since I have anything except a standard body I will learn to draft my own patterns. 

Pattern Drafting 101

So I spent this past weekend doing just that. The first step is to create a basic pattern. This is a garment of no real style. It has a back, a front and arms. It fits the body closely and the purpose is to find the pattern shape which perfectly fits your body. You will use this basic pattern to create actual clothing patterns from. I managed to finish my toile, of this generic bodice and draw up my basic patterns based on this garment. 

And as usual I discovered some things about sewing along the way...

1. It is possible to create your own basic pattern and fit the toile on yourself alone. 
2. It is not fun to do it this way. If you have the choice have someone help you. But if not, rest assured it can be done. All the fittings except the back can be done by looking in a mirror and pinning yourself carefully, rechecking the fit as you go. The back I did by eyeballing the excess, removing the garment, pinning it, then placing it back on and checking the fit. Working incrementally until I got the perfect fit. 
3. Although it's a royal pain to spend two days of your life making up a generic bodice which will never be worn. It's worth every moment to save yourself hours of alterations on a commercial pattern. 
4. Pattern drafting is not difficult and learning it has increased my understanding of sewing, as basic as it is. 
5. I'm really looking forward to creating my own patterns instead of trying to find a commercial pattern I can chop to pieces.