Elizabethan Burgundy Gown: Headwear and jewels

The Elizabethan project is coming along. Today, I finally completed my headwear. I have made a toque (or Italian bonnet), and a fairly simple caul to wear it over. I used the instructions on the Sempstress blog, which are excellent (http://www.sempstress.org/2009/the-toque/). The cartridge pleats took a couple of tries. The first time, I stitched the pleats with some decorative, but not very sturdy gold thread. When I tried to pull the threads to gather the hat, they broke. The second time, I used a sturdy burgundy upholstery thread, and that worked very well. I also added beads as spacers between the cartridge pleats. I'm mostly pleased with it. The only thing I would do differently if I did it again would be to make the crown slightly smaller. It feels very tall on my head.



The caul is just a small circle gathered into a band. I made it from the same white-on-white embroidered fabric that I used for my partlet and ruff. I need to sew some little combs or something into the band to keep it on my head better. Bobby pins may not cut it.



And here's how everything goes together:




Also, I've made a necklace and earrings set to match the gown with some of the beads that will also be used on the gown's trim. The pendant is a peacock, and all the beads came from Joann's Fabric.



The ensemble is almost done. I think all I have left are the new sleeves and forepart (which are almost completed), and the wrist ruffs and stockings. And I may re-do the partlet, as I made the first one a little too small. And the trim. Which I seem to be trying to avoid.

Elizabethan Burgundy Gown: Sleeves, forepart, and parlet

I've been busy last night and today, and have gotten a few more pieces completed. The sleeves and forepart are made from upholstery brocade that I found on sale. It's dark green with a lighter green scale pattern, and alternating dots of burgundy and gold. When I found it in the fabric store, I thought the color and pattern would go well with the burgundy velvet of the gown, but now that I see the entire thing put together, I'm not sure that I like it. And, it looks a little Christmas-y. But luckily, everything's detachable, so I can mix and match.

The sleeves are made to be a little roomy the upper arm, and become more fitted toward the wrist. They're lined with the rest of the natural-colored denim that I used in the bodice, to stiffen the fabric and make it stand out more. Seven ribbons are sewn into the top of the sleeve to tie directly in to the seven ribbons around the arm of the bodice.




The forepart will eventually be stitched to the front of a kirtle or petticoat, but for the moment I just have it pinned to the farthingale, as the fabric I was intending to use for the kirtle is too small. Elizabethan clothes have so much fabric in them.

I've also finished my ruff and partlet today. They're both made from a white-on-white embroidered thrift store curtain. The ruff is about three inches wide, and is sewn into a one-inch wide piece of grossgrain ribbon. I made alternating marks on either side of the ribbon every 1/4 inch, and marks on the ruff material every inch. Then I started folding the ruff fabric accordion style, lined up the marks, and attached the ruff material to the ribbon with a couple of whip-stitches at every mark.



Once I got the fabric pleated into the ribbon, I added two hooks and eyes to close it, made a partlet and tacked the ruff to the partlet. It's pretty awesome, and gives you that nice head-on-a-plate look.




But here's the whole ensemble thus far. The gown still needs to be trimmed, and the hat is still to come as well. And I may ditch the current sleeves and forepart and come up with something in a color I like better. But I still like the whole effect.

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.