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.
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