Background and Inspiration

Materials

The Skirt

The skirt is cut out and sewn together, and is currently pinned to my mannequin, who is wearing my brick pink petticoat and the corded petticoat underneath it.  The pattern is scaled up from one of the Alcega kirtle skirts, and has a hem of around 180” or so on me.  It flares out nicely, even without being hemmed or weighted with fulled wool.  The pleats are wonky, as I wasn't trying to make it pretty, and it needs to be ironed.  Also, I will shift more of the skirt's fullness to the back while I'm sewing it onto the doublet.

The Bodice

I drafted this doublet pattern myself; I figured it would be easier to do than to scale up a pattern that would just have to be adjusted to my body once I tried it on.  And lo and behold, by some greater force, the doublet fit like a dream.  The first time.  Well, there's a first time for everything!  Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of the actual fitting (because my husband was too busy playing a game to photograph me).  The bodice will have three layers; an outer layer of navy velveteen, flatlined to canvas and worked in one piece, and lined in a french blue remnant that I picked up for $3.  It feels like a cotton-linen blend.

I've also started sewing the trim onto the bodice.  So far, it's looking fab.  I had nearly 24 yards of this french blue gimp trim sitting around for almost two years, and thought that this would be a good way to get rid of it.  It looks great with the navy velveteen.  My current plan is to use double widths of the gimp to make thick diagonal guards on the bodice, with a similar effect on the back of the doublet.  Like the inspiration portraits, the skirt will be trimmed in a double layer on either side of the center front seam, and the same around the hem.  I'm considering adding perhaps a couched cord of some unknown color down the center of each guard.

The doublet is actually put together now, save for the final line of trim down the front edges and the collar, and the lining.  I'm waiting to try it on first to make sure it fits before I start on more handsewing!  The trim is sewn onto the outer fabric, and four boning casings are sewn onto the interlining.  Then, I hand-basted each outer fabric piece to the interlining.  I find that this is the best way to ensure you don't get fabric creep when doing things by machine.  Also, I attached the collar flat, as you can see in the picture.  Once the lining is applied by hand, that collar seam will be complete, but won't be bulky (much like finishing the neckline and collar separately and whipstitching them together, but without the handwork).  I figure since I'll be inserting the lining completely by hand, plus sewing on one side of the hook and eye tape by hand, I've put in my handwork dues for this project.

August 11, 2004

I'm so sorry to change my diary format mid-project, but I've discovered that I'm not a linear sewer by any stretch of the imagination.  I have to mix it up a little to keep things interesting enough for me.  So, from now on, I'll be doing update

s by date (unless I can find a more reasonable way to do it).  Since my last update, I've finished the Ladies' Italian Bonnet using the Lynn McMasters' pattern. This is my first hat using a buckram frame. May I say that learning to sew with a curved needle is hard, especially when you're trying to stick it through glue-stiffened fabric. I poked myself a couple good times.

The hat is made of blue velveteen to match the gown, and the crown is lined with ivory silk dupioni. The brim is constructed of double weight buckram and edged with 19ga millinery wire, and mulled with a firm cotton flannel fabric. The fabrics on top of the brim are attached to the buckram with spray adhesive, so that the cloth won't wrinkle when the brim is bent upward. The edge of the brim is bound with self fabric.

I just have to sing the praises of Elmer's Craft Bond spray adhesive for a moment.  Long gone are the days of trying to spread a thin layer of Tacky Glue evenly over fabric that's fighting with you all the way.   Since the amount of glue is so small, the piece remains rather flexible, and you could pull the two pieces apart if you really needed to. 

I also bought two small (12"-15") ostrich plumes from Lamplight Feather for $1.50 each, which were dyed blue-grey.  I have nothing but good things to say about the feather quality and the delivery speed.  I think they took two days to arrive.  I curled each feather frond individually, then curved the quills a bit to make them not look so "I just bought these feathers from Michael's, aren't I period?"  The feather ends are tipped with brass aglets.  Note that they are just perched on top of the hat in the picture to the right; I haven't sewn them on yet.

I'm planning to wear this hat perched on top of my head as the Spanish women often did, pinned to a caul which will cover my hair and the back of my head.

Another update that I'm happy to report is that the bodice is finally completed (lining and trim).  I sewed the lining into the doublet by hand in two pieces: the four-part collar, and the three-part doublet body.  The seams of these were stitched by machine, but the actual inserting stitches are worked by hand and are barely noticeable.

The collar lining was applied first.  The edges of the collar lining were turned under, and then the lining was stitched down.  The edge of the lining is just inside the seam allowance of the fashion fabric, so the lining won't roll to the outside at all.  After the collar was done, I started on the doublet body. I attached the bottom of the lining to the bottom of the doublet, and worked up the front edges to the neckline.  The lining covers the hook and eyes so that just the hook and a tiny bit of the eye peeks out from under it.  Afterwards, I folded the neck down so that the edges met the edge of the collar lining, and then I whipstitched the two linings together at that point.  The armholes are unbound at this time; I'm working on a shoulder treatment, which at this point should be stiffened tabs/loops of blue velvet edged in bias binding made from the lining fabric.  Hopefully this will work out fine.

The skirt is partially sewed to the doublet right now, but I'm not finished yet.  My hand-sewing finger calluses aren't quite up to snuff yet, so I want to give the ol' digits a rest between days of hand-sewing.  There should be an actual dress in the next update!

November 22, 2004