The Maida Dolls group has been discussing twill tape. What is twill tape, you ask? Twill tape is a woven trim, sometimes made of cotton, sometimes linen, which can be used for drawstrings, dress ties, caps, etc. If you study the Workwoman's Guide mentioned in the previous post, you will see that many of the garments from the 1840 book used ties or tapes for garment closures. "Tapes" - in our case twill tape - can be used in a casing to create a drawstring neckline which is adjustable.
The dress of my doll below is made in this way.
I used twill tape from William Booth Drapers as a drawstring in the neckline of dress above. It worked great. The roll of tape is shown below as it came to me. They're one of the few places that have 1/8" twill tape.
Edyth O'Neill shared a dress with me to study that had a kind of tape used to stabilize the curved seams to keep them from stretching out.
Twill tape is also used as a base to which other things can be sewn for millinery, to cover the hoops of hoops skirts in the 1800's, and to tie corsets tightly. You can buy modern twill tape by the yard or by the roll. The roll below was purchased from twilltape.com.
Twill tape can be used in many ways, even as a decorative element. Try it, you'll like it!
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From around 1996 to 2008 I did early period medieval costuming (not the late Elizabethan stuff). Twill tape would have save me so much work sewing and turning drawstrings! The idea of making sewn and turned drawstrings for a doll dress makes me shudder...I'd planned to use ribbon, but this is a hundred times better.
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