Two Thousand Years of Flat-Cut Garments

Two Thousand Years of Flat-Cut Garments A lecture by Jenny Tiramani (School of Historical Dress, London) “The widths of woven cloth are important to the shaping of garments made from them… . It is almost too simple a thought to be noticed, and yet it must be.” —Cut my Cote (1973), Dorothy K. Burnham The ancient techniques of weaving garments to shape with minimum waste, wrapping a length of one selvedge width of textile around the body, or knitting an item of dress with a single length of yarn and no waste remain sustainable options today. This presentation will explore the production of wasteless and wasteful garments from the time of Christ to today. A Dress and Textile History lecture. Jenny Tiramani is the principal and a founding member of the School of Historical Dress, London. Publications include Patterns of Fashion 4: The content, cut, construction and context of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear and accessories for men and women c. 1540–1660 (2008), with Janet Arnold and Santina M. Levey; Patterns of Fashion 5: The content, cut, construction of bodies, stays, hoops and rumps c. 1595–1795 (2018); Patterns of Fashion 6: The content, cut, construction of European women’s dress c. 1695–1795 (2022); and three books for the Victoria & Albert Museum on seventeenth-century dress. She has worked as a stage designer since 1976, receiving the 2003 Laurence Oliver Award (Best Costume Design) for the Shakespeare’s Globe production of Twelfth Night and the 2014 Tony Aw