Minor Adjustments

In order to achieve the turned up sleeves of the Tudor era I had to make a few adjustments to my pattern.... okay, a few is an understatement. First I had to chop the closed Elizabethan sleeve (including seam allowance) at the elbow. From the elbow up is constructed out of the velvet so as to match the rest of the bodice. From the elbow down (my undersleeves) is constructed of the same gorgeous fabric as my forepart.

Now comes the tricky part. At the elbow seem I have to insert the dramtic part of the sleeve that will be "turned up." In order to make these I have followed the directions I found online while drooling over other people's garb. I had to adjust the shape since I didn't want to have square sleeves. So all in all my sleeves come in three parts. This will be tricky to attach, but I am pretty sure that's only because I have no real training when it comes to costume construction. As you can see, the sleeve extendes well past my finger tips. This will ensure you see the beautiful lining fabric once I turn the sleeve up and also will expose the undersleeve.

Progress - In the French Style

No gown is finished without the proper head wear. It completes the look if you will. Ann Boleyn was known for being fashion forward and bringing French styles of dress to the English court. One way she did this was through her head covering, appropriately named a French hood.











Thanks to elizabethancostume.net, what otherwise would have been a daunting task is turning out to not be so bad after all. I followed their directions with a few substitutions and it's coming along quite well. Alas, I could not locate any millinery wire so heavy duty floral wire had to do. But it seems to be working out. I was lucky, their pattern for a 1533 French hood fit me perfectly so I did not have to make any alterations in that respect. I did however make thinks a bit easier on myself. Instead of covering both sides of the buckram crescent (3 layers) I covered only the front. No one sees the backside anyway. As you can see from the first photograph I cut the velvet a bit larger than the pattern so I could fold it over the edges.

Then comes the fun part: embellishments! I found beautiful gold trim at JoAnne's that resembles the gold metal trims found in portraits of the Tudor era. I have also used 10mm Czech glass pearls purchased from shipwreckbeads.com and several buttons I turned into ouches. Eventually I will be adding 3mm Czech glass pearls between the ouches and larger pearls but I won't be able to do that until I get some special thread and needles....

Once I get all the embellishing done I'll add the black fabric "hood" part.

In order to assure the proper fit of the gown more is needed than just the pattern. I make a mock up bodice first out of muslin. That way if i make any huge mistakes or need to adjust the pattern (like always do) then I can mess up all over the muslin and not ruin my velvet. Adjustments are made the the seems as needed and excess fabric trimmed away making sure to keep seem allowances. Nothing suck so much as trimming off too much and ending up with a garment way too tiny.



Once the muslin mock up is to your liking, making sure it is close fitting you can take apart the seems and use it as your pattern to cut out your fashion fabric, in my case velvet.

It occurred to me today that I should probably tell you what pattern I am using since it alway bothered me when, while reading other dress diaries, I would really love a gown and want to make one of my own only to discover that the author had not disclosed the pattern. So in an attempt to be forthcoming (in case anyone likes the gown and wants to make one of their own) I am using Margo Anderson's Elizabethan Lady's Wardrobe pattern with a few alterations in order to get Tudor sleeves.

Zoe: Naughty, But Cute.

I would just like to point out how difficult it is to gather the overskirt and attach it to the waistband when one of your kittens is being really cute. Naughty, but cute. Above, Zoe is playing with the strings for the gather stitch as I attempt to make skirt and waistband one.
This is Zoe checking out of the corner of her eye to see if I'm looking before she continues to chew and play. Naughty, naughty kitten.

More Underthings

The picture just does not do this fabric justice.
Lucky for me I had an old Elizabethan underskirt laying around so the only thing I had to do was replace the old forepart with the new and more beautiful forepart. Easy - probably took me 15 minutes.









Um yeah, here's a really bad picture of it hanging up in the kitchen doorway.

Who Knew?

Well, if one wants to have a beautiful Tudor gown, one must have the proper undergarments. It is amazing how many perfectly well done gowns are ruined because of the wrong silhouette caused by a modern bra or corset of the wrong time period. So.....I had to make stays...... which I've never done before, nor even come close to doing.

Much to my surprise, it was not painful. In actuality my stays may be the most uncomplicated thing I have ever sewn. Huh, who knew? Apparently I can sew corsets. Woot! Now, with a confidence boost I can move on to the gown.

I know it's not the prettiest thing, but it functions.
No one will see it anyway....
;)

Here it is sporting the colors of the Green Bay Packers.....well really now Christmas colors since the addition of red ribbon. Green cotton duck canvas, a nice heavy duty fabric that will be able to withstand the strain of tightening and steel, is what I used as the fabric. The best part about duck canvas is that it's cheap. Yes, silk is sturdy and pretty, but it's expensive. My stays are outlined in grosgrain ribbon. This allows me to create the pockets for the boning with two layers of canvas without all the tedious work of folding the edges closed. This is the economic and pretty way to seal it all off and make it look finished.


My stays were made with a custom pattern tailored specifically to my measurements. I used the drafting and making directions from the Custom Corset Pattern Generator from www.elizabethancostume.net
These guys really know what they're talking about! Read EVERYTHING!

My supplies (1 wooden busk, 12 8" steel bones, 4 9" steel bones, and two 10" lacing steel bones) came from www.corsetmaking.com
If you need it to make a corset, they have it! Speedy delivery too. Definitely buying from them again.