Date of Award
2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design
Specialization
Historic Fashion and Textiles, Textile Conservation, and Cultural Analysis
Department
Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design
First Advisor
Karl Aspelund
Abstract
Due to a lack of textual primary sources, little is known of Euro-American dressmaking methods in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, especially the process of garment development. The garment development process is here defined as the stages which include draping, patterning, cutting, and fitting, and is separate from, but informed by the design and construction processes. At that time, design would typically be determined by the client, while the dressmaker’s role was to facilitate their vision. The dressmaker’s embodied knowledge, gained through hands-on experience, informed this process. The dressmaking experience of this period, as specifically related to a dressmaker’s methods and techniques, was investigated by re-creating an extant American gown circa 1810-1815. The method of re-creation allows the researcher to bypass the problem of textual scarcity by directly accessing embodied knowledge from the garment. The re-creation process and my experience of it was documented and analyzed primarily through autoethnographic methods. In the eighteenth century, draping was considered the basis of dressmaking, while patterning was the basis of tailoring. While many eighteenth-century methods were clearly still in use in the development and creation of this gown, evidence of new methods appeared. That evidence shows that at this time, dressmaking did not fall neatly into the category of draping nor patterning, but somewhere in between, borrowing elements of both to achieve the desired outcome. The complex artistry and craftsmanship that is behind the extant gown reveal that its creation was far from simple.
Recommended Citation
Opishinski, Alyssa, "RE-CREATING AN EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY GOWN TO INVESTIGATE THE EURO-AMERICAN DRESSMAKING PROCESS" (2024). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 2584.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/2584