Elizabethan Burgundy Gown: The gown

After much work (and a rather nice vacation), I have finished the gown part of my Elizabethan gown. Ta da!



It's made from about 8 yards of burgundy cotton velvet, completely lined with a silky nylon in the same color, with padded sleeve rolls. It's pretty heavy - all that fabric weighs a lot. The bodice was based on the pattern I made for the corset/stays. There are no darts or interior seams. All of the shaping is in the front closure seam. This is only made possible by the corset/stays worn beneath, which squish you into this rather flat shape. I used the pattern I made for the says and, with a little experimentation, added the shoulder straps. It closes down the center front with nine hook-and-bar closures, and has one piece on boning on each side of the front closure to keep everything flat and prevent gaping. It doesn't lie entirely flat on the dress form (nor does it close completely), but that's because my dress form doesn't squish into shape with the corset. It looks better when it's on me (though it's harder to take pictures that way).





The sleeve rolls are just stuffed crescents of the same fabric as the gown. And by that time, I was out of cotton batting with no plans to go to the fabric store to get more anytime soon, so I stuffed them with linen scraps left over from making my smock. It's probably heavier than the batting, but works well. And since I decided the sleeve rolls would be easier to trim prior to sewing them in the armholes, I went ahead and added the trim. Seven ribbons are sewn into the arm holes to use in attaching the sleeves, which will be made separately with ribbons of their own, and tied in. Here's a close-up of the sleeves:



The skirt alone contains about 5 yards of fabric. From the research I have done, it seems that skirts at the time were finished at all edges, then cartridge pleated and sewn to the bodice. I found an wonderful online tutorial on cartridge pleating at the Renaissance Tailor (http://www.renaissancetailor.com/demos_cartridgepleating.htm), and I pretty much followed this method. Two very even, side-by-side running stitches pull the fabric into accordion pleats, which are then whip-stitched to the bodice, with two stitches on every pleat with very strong thread. It takes a very long time, and has to be done by hand, but the results look very nice.





And when finished, and worn over the bumroll, look at how nicely the pleats spring away from the bodice!



I'm already working on my sleeves and forepart. After that all I'll have left to do is the parlet/ruff ensemble, and the hat. And stockings. And trimming the gown (I'm making my own beaded trim. Yes, I'm crazy, and I have no life). And, I need to figure out what to do for shoes. But that's all! It's coming along anyways.

Elizabethan Burgundy Gown: Yet More Undergarmets

I've been working on this project, but apparently haven't updated in a while. My stays are finished save for the grommets. They're made of a double layer of linen, boned with reeds with a wooden busk in the front and steel bones at the back center for reinforcement, and bound at the edges with burgundy bias tape. I was originally going to put in hand-bound eyelets rather than metal grommets, but have decided against it. Mostly because nobody's going to see the stays anyway, and hand bound eyelets will take a whole lot of time. So metal grommets it is. I did realize belatedly that being made of only two layers of linen, these stays are going to wear out quickly around the grommets. So I'm sewing another two layers of linen about 4 inches wide along each back edge. Hopefully this will keep them from wearing out as quickly.



I've also finished my Spanish farthingale and bumroll. The farthingale is made of two rectangular pieces of fabric for the front and back, with triangular gores at the sides, as described on the Elizabethan Costuming website (http://www.elizabethancostume.net/farthingale/period.html). I made a few adjustments to the pattern described here, mostly adjusting the width. I found a wonderful online resource for sizing farthingales (http://www.margaretroedesigns.com/calculator.html) from Margaret Roe Designs. This calculator has you input the desired bottom hoop circumference (115 inches for mine), length from your waist to the floor, waist measurement, and the number of rows of boning you want, and it tells you the circumference of each boning circle and how far apart to place them. I cut the two rectangular pieces for the front and back slightly bigger than my waist measurement, then adjusted the size of the gores to achieve the desired hoop circumference in each spot. It ties at the top with a ribbon drawstring. The bone channels are of bias tape that I made myself out of the same fabric (separate article to come on that later - making your own bias tape without buying a bias tape maker). The bones are just plain plastic-covered wire hoop boning. I connected them with a 4 inch piece of flexible plastic tubing that I got at the hardware store. The tubing wasn't quite as stiff as I would like; it still bends a bit where it's connected, as you may can see from the picture below. I also may have made it too long, but other than that, I'm pleased with it.



I've also made my bumroll. This one is made, once again, with instructions from the Elizabethan costuming page (http://www.elizabethancostume.net/bumroll.html). I cut down the measurements described there slightly, as those seemed really big. I made it about 6 inches in the back and 4 inches on the sides. It's stuffed with polyester batting on the ends, but I ran out in the middle, and stuffed the rest of it with fabric scraps.







As soon as I get my corset grommet-ed, I hope to start on the bodice for the gown. I may not get to it this weekend, but hopefully soon.