What was a mantua maker

Until the late seventeenth century male tailors made almost all fashionable female outerwear. However, in the closing decades of the century a new style, known as the mantua, became fashionable. It was an unstructured gown, worn loose over separate stays corsets , in stark contrast to the heavily structured bodices and co-ordinating skirts which had typified the formal wear of preceding years. Seamstresses who had previously been limited to making linen underwear and accessories seized this opportunity to make outerwear.

And within a few decades women were almost exclusively making clothes for women. A moniker that would stick with them, long after the mantua was consigned to fashions past. The English mantua-makers, however, formed no such organisations.

In fact most of them worked very privately and usually from their own homes. So, without written records how do we find out about these early dressmakers?

Although many were worn by the gentry or nobility, they reveal much broader patterns of cutting and construction techniques, and even aspects of the relationship between client and maker. I start each study by taking a pattern off the gown, i. I then record the different stitches and where they have been employed. I look at the trimmings and linings — how and at what step of the process they are attached.

I also consider alterations — the marks left by earlier seams, and the addition or removal of pieces. This is a time-consuming process, but a rewarding one. The longer I spend with each garment the more intimately I come to know it, and the clearer the process of production becomes. It is a process that would be unfamiliar to modern consumers. If you were lucky enough to be buying a bespoke dress today a fitting would involve the client trying on the unfinished garment, in either the final fabric or toile made from an inexpensive cloth.

I want my patterns and instructions to be clear and accurate, even perfect, if I can manage that. I value your input and opinions. I'll get back with you as soon as I can. I sincerely respect your privacy. They probably collect cookies or whatever else websites collect these days. Click with care! For those of you doing costume research or competition, I include a bibliography of all the sources I used in the pattern at hand.

Besides using period photographs and original garments, some of my sources are vintage magazines and patterns, crumbly but fascinating. Many of my sources are reprinted magazines and catalogs, others are wonderful books by people who have studied individual garments and collections. These sources are usually easily available once you know what to look for. I personally draft and describe my patterns: corset patterns, general underclothing and underpinning patterns, skirt patterns and bodice patterns.

Mantua Makers made or "got-up" dresses. They had to import fabrics, measure the bodice of the lady, and sew all the different pieces of the dress, like the stays, "sweat shirt" they wore this under their clothes on hot days, so that they're clothes won't get ruined from the sweat , shift, stockings, hooped petticoat, stomacher, apron and the actual gown itself. It would take 7 days to make a dress by yourself, if you were a Mantua Maker.

But if there would people, it would only take a day or two to make a dress. Lots of the styles of the dresses then were inspired by the French, but mostly from what the Queen of England wore. The Mantua Maker didn't use many tools. They would get the thread from the weaver, who spun wool and other furs into thread.

Also for fabrics, they would use wool, silk, linen, and cotton. Before making a dress they would wash it and iron it, to clean it and loosen up the fabric so it wasn't so stiff. You could be apprenticed by the Milliner, but usually sewing is something you learn from your family, like your mom or grandmother.