If I ever actually finish the kirtle I'm mocking up now, I want to do guards at the skirt and the neckline. I don't think I've ever seen any guard-specific advice, though (measuring/cutting, choosing fabrics, attachment techniques, etc). Anyone have tips or suggestions for where to start?
In my own search for information, I've seen it done three ways
1- PIECING. This is where your pattern pieces are cut short and the guard fills in the gap. This is really good if you just didn't have enough fabric, or you're altering a child's garb and she/he has grown.
2- BINDING. This is where you cut the guard twice as wide as you want it to appear, and if the skirt has any curve to the hem, usually on the bias. Then you fold over the seam allowances and sew it down like bias tape.
3- APPLIQUE. This is if you're trying to do the stripey effect like you see on some German gowns. Cut a piece of your guard fabric as wide as you want the guard to be, plus seam allowances. Turn the seam allowances under and stitch it on top of the skirt. Mark carefully, because it can end up all wibbly.
the one at the neckline- I have yet to see one that is a real guard instead of a stripe thing- so I usually just use the pattern pieces - tape 'em on a window and generate a pattern for the guard size/width I want-(by the time you have the pattern pieces set, you have usually done up a toile- so they should fit like you want them to without a fight.
for the guards on my new gown- I machined the hem- (with plenty of depth incase I ever need to change it..) I am using cotton velvet for the guard, so as its a lil stretchy even cut on the straight grain, I just cut several pieces the wicth I want, joined them, pressed up the small seam allowance on each side and used a ruler to establish placement. I sewed the top outer point first by opening the seam allowance and placiing it right sides together - sew/drive down that pressed line- (distance measured from the hem with a ruler, remember?) when finished, you flip it down , turn the whole thing over and pin it up onto the back side of the hem- it conveniently hides that driven hem seam at the same time. The only thing I am having to do by hand is that last "hem" on the guard.
ok- thats my two cents!
I am also curious about this subject, ladies, where are you? Chime in please!
gem,
Jennifer Thompson talks about guards in her Florentine dress diary
http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/diary/diary4.html
:)
I struggled quite a bit with the guards for my orange Maddalena Doni dress. Both guards and dress is made of velvet, and the guard kept moving when I stitched it down. There was no way I could just pin it on and sew it with sewing machine. I usually do it by hand anyway, but I was surprised by just how much the guard had moved when I had tucked a bit down.
After I was finished, I got the advice to lightly shave the area before attaching the guard. I never got to try it out, but I will try it sometime. I think it'll help a lot. The bad thing is that you can't regret the placement of the guard later on...
For that orange dress I somehow screwed up the length of the skirt. But this was fixed by attaching a strip of the orange velvet on the hem, and let one of the trims cover the transition. A narrower trim was placed overneath. Worked very well! Pics of the finished dress:
http://aneafiles.webs.com/raphael.html
For Florentine dresses, the rule is usually that if the bodice had guards, there would be guards on the skirt as well. And opposite, if the bodice has none, the skirt rarely has. It's well exemplified in these following pictures - the one with an embroidered guard on the bodice has tucked the skirt hem over the arm rest of the chair, showing the same type of decoration there:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/firenze2/bacchiacca1540.jpg
This almost identical dress, on the other hand, doesn't have guards on the bodice, and probably not on the skirt either:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/firenze2/bronzino1541.jpg
There ARE exceptions to the rule, but in general this seems to be correct. There are similar tendences in other Italian city states, so I think you can translate this rule to other areas as well - though not all areas was as crazy about the guards as the Florentines...
For the Unicorn dress, I made strips of velvet out of the same fabric as the sleeves. That was boring... But when seeing the finished result, I think it was worth it. For the width there I tried to match it as close to the portrait as possible, and this width was used both for bodice and skirt. Unicorn dress: http://aneafiles.webs.com/unicorn.html
ETA: for attaching guards I usually do... erm... oh, what is it called in English... Like here:
http://www.scrapbookexpress.no/scrapbooking/uploads/attersting.jpg
I've tried binding the edges, I've tried zig-zaging, but the one above is by far my preferred sewing method when I am to attach guards. It keeps them flat and smooth, and you can make the outward stitches almost invisible.
I am bumping this up because I am going full steam ahead on the kirtle, and I have a couple new questions.
Ok, my first new question is: When, during construction, do you apply the guards? After everything is nearly all put together?
Second new question: Any tips for making sure skirt guards go on straight? (Beyond really careful measuring, I mean!) I am worried about having a slanted stripe!
Jen Thompson apparently machine top-stitched the guards on her blue Campi gown:
http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/workdiary/images/bodfront.jpg
And wow--if it's good enough for her, it's definitely good enough for me!!! I'll be using linen, and I know that the stitches pretty much disappear into the fabric anyway.
So I guess I want to cut these on the bias and press under the seam allowances? I'm doing guards on the bodice, and at least one stripe on the hem.
Here's the bodice (mockup) so far (ignore wonky spiral lacing):
(http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL417/1033223/4707019/391056042.jpg)
Ok, my first new question is: When, during construction, do you apply the guards? After everything is nearly all put together?
Second new question: Any tips for making sure skirt guards go on straight? (Beyond really careful measuring, I mean!) I am worried about having a slanted stripe![/b]
If I am not using the guards to piece something together or add to skirt length ::) I mark out where the guards will go on the pattern/or fabric pieces in chalk before I sew them together. I did this for my farthingale channels and it helped.
If you are not just binding the edge of the skirt, one way to make the guards is to cut twice the width you need plus 1/4 seam allowance and rather then press the seam allowances under, sew them together. Then use a bias press bars (I think they come in sizes from 1/8" - 1") inside them to press everything flat and even. The seam of the guard will be on the outside but facing the skirt you are sewing it to.
I doubt that method is HA as it takes up more fabric but I've seen it used for corsets and in quilting.
For the neckline I would cut the fabric to fit it (plus seam allowances) based off the neckline pattern and then press the edges under rather then miter edges and fuss with things
I attach guards and trim after everything is sewn, in the event that I later want to switch things out. I tend to baste things in place by hand and then sew them down. Going the same way around on the skirt for both sides if using the machine.
I've done it lots of ways but many times I hand tack my guards and then sew down by machine. Fixing to post a pic in finished projects of the gown I'm wearing in my profile pic that I did that way. Takes a little more time but I figure I save that much in not having to go back and rip out and fix things!
Quote from: gem on August 21, 2010, 12:39:11 PM
OK, my first new question is: When, during construction, do you apply the guards? After everything is nearly all put together?
I do it when everything else is finished and I'm sure the fit is good. This way the trim goes over seams as on continuous band. But I've seen many stage costumes where the trim is applied to each individual panel and is sewn together with the trim being tucked in at the seams. The latter is probably easier for a costume which needs regularly alternations to fit different actresses, so you don't have to move the trim every time. But I think the former is a more period approach. Exception being Eleonora di Toledo's funeral dress, where the lacing holes seems to have been applied after the trims:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/extant/edtlacing.jpg
I've never understood the logic of that, but I'm sure they did whatever was most convenient for each individual dress.
QuoteSecond new question: Any tips for making sure skirt guards go on straight? (Beyond really careful measuring, I mean!) I am worried about having a slanted stripe!
The only dresses I've had trims in front of have had 1. seam in front or 2. split in front. Which pretty much gives away the placement... But what about putting your dress on a dummy or model and chalk up what is the center line? From there you can chalk up what is the outer line of the trim before you attach it. You could also try double-sided tape (not too adhesive, though!) to try out different placements, and pin down the trim before sewing.
When I was reading this last night I was thinking guards around the hemline as opposed to guards on the bodice. In the costume shop we do just like operafan said so if you change sizes and may need to make adjustments later it's worth the few extra minutes it takes. Make sure before you add the guards theres no odd pulling in the front and then add your guards. That will help too, sometimes if a bodice pulls too much it can distort the line of the guard.
Thanks, everyone!
I'm torn about the guards on the bodice.
On the one hand, I could plan to do them after everything is constructed, to save time and have a wearable dress even before getting the guards done. (Fair starts in 2 weeks, which means just one weekend left! Eek!)
But... I'm going to cord the bodice, which means that applying anything to the bodice after it's constructed will be a PITA, and I'll have to do everything by hand.
But... if I do everything by hand, I'm more likely to put them on straight.
Or, I could do them before I construct everything, and apply them by machine, and then sew the bodice by hand (which seems like a ridiculous amount of work!).
Still thinking, apparently!
I'd probably sew it all together and then sew them by hand because I know myself. First weekend I'd be guardless knowing at least my bodice was together LOL. I'm about to have the same dilema. My new gown is going to have guards and a braided trim alternating on the bodice. I have three weeks till dress and still have enough commissions to do that mine probably wont get done before dress rehearsal (ok since I do have other costuming). Needless to say nothing new in that!
I'm revisiting this conversation, since I've actually reached the point of needing to decide what to do about the guards on this dress!
After an epic bias tape fail, I've decided to go with two widths of twill tape. I really like the texture, and think it will work out nicely. I can't make up my mind about *when* to attach them, however!
First, I am still undecided about the closures on the bodice, which I know I need to do first. Laying out the twill tape made me think I might want to try Jen Thompson's ribbon loops technique, although I don't feel 100% confident about how to actually *do* it.
...And I can't finish the shoulder straps until I have the bodice closures on, which means I can't put the guards across the straps until that's done.
But now that I have the twill tape here & ready to go, I'm all excited about putting the guards on... and I'm also really attracted to the idea of having the raw ends of the tape hidden in the waist seams, etc.
Gah! *THIS* is exactly why it takes me eight months to make a kirtle. It's not the sewing time--it's the time it takes me to plan things and MAKE UP MY MIND!
Somebody just smack me. LOL
Quote from: gem on August 28, 2011, 07:46:47 PM
Gah! *THIS* is exactly why it takes me eight months to make a kirtle. It's not the sewing time--it's the time it takes me to plan things and MAKE UP MY MIND!
Somebody just smack me. LOL
**schmaaaack** ;D
Sorry to be ignorant, but what are "guards"? ??? (Just want to know if I need some on my project!) Thanks!
Guards are something of a different fabric along the bottom of a skirt. You see them often in German Renaissance era gowns.
http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/magdalenafull.jpg (http://www.naergilien.info/Cranach/magdalenafull.jpg)
The bottom "gold" piece is a "guard". I sort of think it might be a costuming term and not an actual period term. Guards don't always exist in other countries or eras.
Guards are a decorative band of fabric used to trim gowns, petticoats, jackets and so forth. They could be contrasting in color, fabric (a fav of the Elizabethans) or sometimes of the same fabric. They get a mentioned in Elizabethan England wardrobe warrants from time to time.
a few passages:
"Item for alteringe of a Petycoate of crymsen silke and golde with tuftes and for taking of the garde and setting on a new garde of crymsen Satten enbrauderid with golde..." 1568
"Item for altering of a Petycoate of opall with foure gards of crymsen vellat layed with bone lase of venice golde and silver the gards removed and sett wider a sunder the lyninge performed with flanell and crymsen taphata of our greate Guarderobe" 1576
" ...for making of a Gowne of Chamblett for Nicholas Pigeon Clerk of our Guarderobes garded with vellat layed with lase stiched with silke & furred with bouge : for making of a Jaquett (for him) of vellat garded with like vellat layed with lase stiched with silke and buttons of silke lyned with fustian..." 1574
Excerpts taken from http://www.elizabethancostume.net/qewu.html (http://www.elizabethancostume.net/qewu.html)
In the modern costume sense I think guards are usually thought of as hem binding or wool brush braid, something that protects the skirt from wear and gets replaced once it is worn out. I don't know if the same term of was used to refer to both things in period or not, that shall take some digging to find out. :)
Quote from: isabelladangelo on August 29, 2011, 08:50:43 AM
Guards are something of a different fabric along the bottom of a skirt. You see them often in German Renaissance era gowns. (...) I sort of think it might be a costuming term and not an actual period term. Guards don't always exist in other countries or eras.
It probably had different names in different countries. I would assume the English "guard" points to the original task of the guard: to protect the hem. Sometimes the word "doppia" is used in Italian; that means "double" and refers to the stiffening purpose of the hem, where several layers were added to make the skirt stand a bit more out. The guard was often a part of this. But I don't know if you could use the term "doppia" on the guard alone.
They were very popular in the first half of 16th century Italy, and more sporadically used in the second half. The black, ornamental trim on this dress' bodice and skirt (draped over the chair) is what we would call a guard:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/firenze2/bacchiacca1540.jpg)
Got it! Thanks for explaining!
Ok, I have talked myself down (thanks, Anea!). I will be:
1.) Applying ribbon to openings for lacing (because it's the fastest option).
2.) Test-fitting bodice
--and then either--
3a.) attaching the skirt
or
3b.) attaching the guards
I'm leaning toward 3a at the moment. This morning's task is cartridge pleating the skirt, so I have a loooong time to figure out my next step.
***
Ok, Jenn, thanks to that I now feel the need to make an opal silk skirt with guards of red velvet and gold and silver Venise lace.
***
Anea, I was just looking at that painting of the woman in pink with the guards like the trim on your blue dress... and found myself completely enchanted with her very unusual fur sleeves! I've never seen anything like those before! They look... cosy. :)