Ok, this probably won't be my last question about guards, but we should be getting closer! I'm trying to figure out how to miter a corner that's something other than 45 degrees.
I'm making the guards on my corded Italian bodice from 1" wide twill tape. They'll have the basic "Campi" shape to them (borrowing a shot of our own lovely Silverstah in her fabulous green gown):
(http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/yourgarb/2008/Catarina.jpg)
...But my bodice has a curved front opening, like this one from Jen Thompson at Festive Attyre:
(http://festiveattyre.com/research/workdiary/images/rings.jpg)
I'm not sure how to handle that corner where the horizontal neckline guard splits and goes downward. The angle is not the nice, neat 45-degree miter that all the mitered corners tutorials (http://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/150690733_MgAT9O5X_c.jpg) are for!
I'm *thinking* that I should mark the angle on the twill tape with chalk and then piece the tape, but I'm not super-confident about that.
Suggestions?
Gramercy!!
You could gently gather the inner "corners". Not sure how period it is, but I've done it for several projects and it works well.
I usually fold the tape and stitch it at the correct angle and then fold the pleat on the back out of the way. If it might show, I trim the bit off...
Kate, that sounded brilliant, until I realized I don't understand *how* to "fold the tape and stitch it at the correct angle!" (It's the folding bit that has me stumped. I fold mine and... it's nothing at all like the correct angle.)
I'm still struggling. I tried piecing the twill tape along the angle I need, which worked fine... except that the seam allowances are fuzzy and won't lie neatly underneath the tape. I'm going to keep practicing with some spare tape, but GAH!
Fold the tape in half across the way. Stitch the seam at the correct angle for the corner... When you open it ou, your corner is correctly mitered. Press the fold of fabric out of the way. Only cut off any bit you can see...
Huzzah! I did it!!
For anyone else with dyscalculia and/or no sense of spatial relations:
You must fold the tape in half, or straight back on itself, so you have two layers of tape in one long strip. Don't try and fold in any angles or anything silly like that. Just fold it back along itself. Measure 1" back from the fold (or whatever the width of your tape is) and mark/sew a diagonal line from upper right to lower left. When you fold the top piece back, voila! Perfect mitered corner. No fuzzies.
(I'm going to take photos of this process and post it on my blog, because I *KNOW* I won't remember next time!)
Ok! I have the *pieced* angle down, but I'm still having trouble with the fraying corners, although an initial test with fusible interfacing looks promising.
But I think Kate's method will prevent that entirely, so I'm going to have to figure out this fold thing. Off to experiment some more!