FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What does "démodé" mean?
It's an adjective that means "old fashioned, out of style,
unfashionable." It comes from French, from the past tense of "démoder," which means "to go
out of fashion;" which comes from the French "mode," which
means "fashion."
How do you pronounce "démodé"?
Day-moh-day. Those accents make a hard "ay" sound. It is not
pronounced deh-mode. Here's a
sound file with the correct pronunciation.
Can I hire you to make me a costume?
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, if you want a woman's
costume, if you want a period (i.e. not fantasy/SciFi/goth/anime) costume
(or historical wedding dress), and
if you want to pay a minimum of $20 an hour for labor plus
pay for materials, email me and we'll talk about it. Otherwise, check out
the GBACG's list of ready-made and
custom-made costume suppliers.
Do you sell your costumes?
Occasionally. If I currently have anything on offer, I'll have an items for sale page
(if this link goes nowhere, it's because I'm not currently selling
anything).
Can I link to your site?
Please! Feel free to link to this site, or any part of this site, without
asking -- just be sure to credit this site.
Can I put some of the images linked from the
Real Women's Clothing directory on my site?
The reason the Real Women's Clothing directory consists of links, rather
than images, is because all of the images are the copyright of the museum
to which I've linked. On this issue (copyright), it's your call. If you want to
reproduce the directory or a section of the directory (either images or
links), please see my copyright/common sense
page -- in short, I would appreciate it if you didn't. Creating and
updating the directory is a huge amount of work, and I would ask you to
respect that and to create something that isn't already out there! I
promise, if I ever fall off a cliff, I'll make sure the directory is taken
over by someone else first.
I found an image of an extant garment that you don't have
linked on the Real Women's Clothing directory.
Should I send you the link?
Please do, so long as it is a high resolution (ie relatively professional)
photo. I try to avoid including personal, low-res photos, as there's so
many of them and they just aren't clear enough to be useful. Email me
and I'll put it in the next update.
Why do you make costumes?
A very complicated question! I love history, and wearing historic costumes
is a way to physically experience another time. Aesthetically, I prefer
the look of historic styles. I love the feeling of fabric and of creating
something beautiful with my own hands.
Where do you find the time to do all this sewing and web stuff?
I have no idea! But seriously, I find that if, when I'm working on a
project, I make a point to sew at least 1-2 hours an evening, I can make
steady progress. That, plus some weekend days, late nights, and making a
point to start a project early, seems to get me there on time!
It looks like you've actually gotten your dress form to
approximate your shape. How did you manage this?
Check out my post on 3/28/2004
("form and function") to
read more about my dress form trials, tribulations, and eventual
successes.
Where did you learn all this information about historic
costumes?
Books, books, books; I studied
the social history of dress during my MA History program; other costumers;
workshops such as those put on by the
Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild and
Costume College; the web.
I'd like to learn more about historic costumes. Where should I
start?
See the list of what's on my bookshelf and
start reading. Join a costume-related mailing list; those that I've
personally found most helpful are listed on my links
page. Try to attend Costume College.
See if there is a chapter of the
International Costumers Guild near you.
Where did you learn all this information about sewing/costuming?
My
mother taught me how to sew when I was young, but I only really knew the
basics. Working at the northern California Renaissance Faire gave me an
incentive to start sewing, then I started to attend Victorian balls. I
started out pretty badly, and used a lot of commercial patterns which
helped me get a bit better. The book Bridal Couture: Fine Sewing
Techniques for Wedding Gowns by Susan Khalje helped me to ditch a lot
of the basic, Simplicity-esque sewing techniques I was using and taught me
to take my time (and press my seams!). The Costume Technician's Handbook : A
Complete Guide for Amateur and Professional Costume Technicians by
Rosemary Ingham and Liz Covey taught me the basics of pattern drafting.
Books like Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion series, Nancy
Bradfield's Costume in Detail, and Linda Baumgarten's Costume
Close Up: Clothing Construction and Pattern, 1750-1790 taught me about
period construction techniques. Workshops such as those put on by the
Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild and
Costume College help me to
continue to learn. Trial and error, trial and error, trial and error.
I'd like to learn more about sewing/costuming. Where should I start?
See the list of what's on my bookshelf and
start reading. Join a costume-related mailing list; those that I've
personally found most helpful are listed on my links
page. Try to attend Costume College.
See if there is a chapter of the
International Costumers Guild near you. Look into theater costuming
classes and/or sewing classes as your local college/university/fabric
store.
How is your site created?
Blogger provides the basics,
although I heavily tweak things using hard HTML coding. I really only know
the basics of HTML, which I augment by the occasional web tutorial (look
for copy-and-paste-able code!).
How can I know when your site is updated?
You can join my Notify List by using the "join" box on my
home page (at the bottom of the right-hand menu
column), although I'm somewhat slack about using it.
I've tried to join your Notify List but it won't let me. Can
you help me?
My Notify List seems to be buggy occasionally, and I haven't figured out a
fix for this one! Rest easy, I'm very slack about using it.
I've tried to unsubscribe from your Notify List but it won't
let me. Can you help me?
Sure, email me
and I'll remove you.
How can I contact you?
On my
About the Seamstress page, you will find a link to email me. Don't
forget to change the "at" to an @!
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