Constructing a 16th century bodice with the bara system

 So I have said that before I make my next bodice, gown, or whatever I need to make a pattern that actually fits well. I wanted to restart from scratch rather than using my old pattern pieces. Since I made my first 16th century gown I had also heard about the magic of a curved front bodice, that can support the bust, and the bara method. 

Well it was time to see what I could do. The first explanation of making a curved bodice pattern was in a landsknecht facebook group, and that started with a modern bodice that fit well, and then you altered that to remove darts and princess seams. Well I haven't sewn a modern bodice in a long time, and it looked just as fiddly as starting something from scratch. I then found this pattern and tutorial on Magnifica Sylvie la chardonnière blog - Research dumping grounds. I will say this even if I personally haven't felt attracted to the SCA, as an historical costumer I am very much indebted to all the wonderful people in that group who share their knowledge freely with us all through their blogs.

The pattern was built around the "bara"-system. I had heard about it and now I decided that it was time to dwelve into it. The bara system is a measurement and pattern system as used in Spanish manuals from the late 16th century. Mathew Gnagy of The Modern Maker has created a modern instruction on how to use it and published patterns based on it. The basics of it is that you use your own measurements (chest, waist, hip and length) and create a tape for each measurument, that tape is then divided into pieces (quarters, thirds and so on) and since it is all based on your own measurements it makes it possible to make a proportional pattern only using those four tapes. He explains everything in his book "The Modern Maker volume 2"  I also bought volume 1, since I didn't quite understand which one was best. Volume two is all about creating the pattern and lets you set up your own bara system and then use that for several patterns, the volume one is about construction one specific garment, a man's doublet and has more information about the construction of the garment. There is also a volume 3 that is all about the handsewing techniques needed, but I haven't bought that one (yet). In order to make your own bara and understand the pattern drafting you need to buy the Volume 2. 

So on Sunday me and my friend Emma set out to create our bara measurements and make a bodice pattern.

Creating the different bara tapes was quite straight forward, but it was good to have one person doing the dividing of the tape, and one person reading what should be done and then mark it. When doing the third tape it happened that I said "I know what's next", and then Emma said "no, it's this step".

There was one measurement we had a problem with, but thankfully the Research dumping ground pattern had a mathematic formula that we used to calculate it. Then it was an issue of measuring and drawing out lines and connecting the dots. The one issue we had from the bodice pattern was how to find out where to put the waistline on the front, but with the help of the book rather than the pattern we figured it out.

This was my first draft of the bodice, and it is the best bodice pattern I have made. If the plan was to make an overgown I would just have scooped out the neckline and made the armholes larger (I hadn't been too careful when drawing them out so that they ended up small has more to do with me than the pattern).

I want this to be a bust supporting underkistl though, so I needed to get it tighter. To help with the fitting I added a zipper in one of the side seams, so that I could really sew the front closed, and not just pin it to fit. I definitely needed my husband to help me close the zipper, so even if I do the fitting myself it is a two peson job, and knowing that I should probably have put the zipper in the back so that I could fudge with the side seams as well. During this process I also decided that this kirtle will have be closed in the sides, since I haven't done that before and I hope that will help with creating a smooth and supporting front. I am also doing the fitting over a thin cotton top, since the kirtle will be worn over a shift. The most important thing is that you get a really tight fitting band under the bust that acts as a bra band, and will keep everything else from riding up or down. I could take in around 2,5 cm on each side at the front jus under the bust to get that fit.

My main issue so far is wrinkling over the bust. It starts just over the the tight fitting band. I am starting to think that when I took my chest measurements, I did them too tight, on the other hand all the measurements except the main bust, that is built around the chest measurement fits really well. 

Hee is the first bodice pattern, with an adjusted armscye and neckline, tigher under the bust, you can see the seamlines moving inwards.

Here is the origional paper pattern to the left and the new one to the right. There is a very visible curve outwards over the bust. The next mockup will use this new pattern, and I might also adjust the sideseam to get some more room over the bust

And here are the front and back pattern pieces, I have done no alterations to the back piece since it fit perfectly from the start. I really want this to end up perfect and I am almost there, so I will take the time to make more mockups before cutting out the real pieces. It is already a lot better than the bodices on both my pink gown and mustard kirtle though,