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6-06-01 CONT.
I really have to appologise for the horrible quality of these photos... My digital camera is not doing a great job of being a scanner at the moment... Anyhoo, these pictures are examples of partlets and sleeves similar to the ones I've made. These portraits all date between 1565 and 1575 and show partlets that I believe were constructed similarly to mine. The two full length pictures of Elizabeth and the other girl (Sorry, I can't remember her name at the moment) show sheer sleeves. The interesting thing about the last portrait on the far right is that the girl doesn't seem to be wearing any tight fitting sleeves under her voluminous silk organza sleeves, as most portraits with this style of outfit show. Her bare arms can be seen... Elizabeth, however, wears the tight fitting undersleeves, but her sleeves also show "ruffes" at her wrists, or two gathers. This is interesting to note, because I ended up doing this exact same thing with my sleeves to control the length of them and only came across this portrait after the fact! 6-07-0`1 Today I started on the forepart and skirts. The easiest thing to do is the forepart, which I decided to make out of an old wool shawl I purchased some years back from Distant Caravans. The "shawl" was really a large rectangle of about 3X4 feet. It is woven with a jacquard "floral" pattern in yellow with silver lurex threads on a dark red background. It is reversable, being a "gold" background and red flora on the other side, but I decided I liked the contrast of the deep red with the gold brocade of the gown. A few years ago I pieced the shawl so that the border pattern along the edges ran down the middle of what would eventually be a forepart, with a border along the hem.
The picture on the left shows the forepart pinned to the underskirt with a length of the gold brocade pinned on top of it to get the feel for the look of the overskirt contrasting with the underskirt. The second photo shows the forepart, now cut to size and pinned ontop of the underskirt. It is difficult to compensate for the fact that the border along the hem is perfectly straight and cannot be curved to compensate for th curve of the skirt. I had just enough length in the fabric that I was able to make the overskirt come open at it's widest point right where the border begins to be cut away for the curve of the hem. It should appear that the border curves along the whole way, judging by what will be shown when the overskirt is worn. 6-14-01 Since the last update was a week ago, I feel obligated to begin wrapping this project up on this site. Unfortunately, I failed to take pictures during the skirt cutting/assembly/pleating phase, but it's not like that was terribly interesting to begin with. I had a bit of a quandry: How to deal with the brocade which is 60" wide and my lining which is 45" wide and make a skirt out of both. I eventually figured it out and all was well. The skirt pattern is loosely based off the Tudor Skirt pattern from Jean Hunnisett's Period Costume For Stage & Screen 1500-1800 and has a 10" train which is impractical for Faire & SCA, but it was just to lovely to do away with. I will have to get creative with hitching the train up in the back to keep it from being stepped on and getting dirty, and likewise, I will have to figure out a way to fake some brocade on the part of the underskirt that will show when the skirt is hitched up. Not too hard, but it's a finky little detail to deal with. As for pleating the skirt, I decided to knife pleat it, rather than cartridge pleat it. I don't know why I made the decision, but the result is really striking and quite chic. For the hem, I bought 3"wide grosgrain ribbon to guard the inside hem of the skirt, which will be easily replaceable when the hem starts getting ratty. I finished the lacing holes on the bodice and decreed it 99% finished (nothing is ever completely finished in my book). The partlet still needs a matching row of gold lace on either side of the opening and the unfinished hem needs to be taken up. The forepart needs to be attached perminately to the underskirt and after all these things are completed, the dress will be complete. Well, it's not complete until I make the hat and buy the shoes... I will be making a french hood for this gown... That's about it for now. Pictures of the finished garment should be along quickly!
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