16th Century Loose Gown:

October Crown is in (gulp) 2 weeks and I needed something warm to wear at night! No, a cloak won't do (though, I do have a very nice one), because, well... Because what would a 16th century Lady of modest fortune wear to keep warm? Not some boring old cloak, OBVIOUSLY. Then again, she probably wouldn't be camping if she could avoid it, but that's beside the point.

Drafting The Pattern:

Front view of the yoke toile	Side view of the yoke toile

What I basically did was open Patterns Of Fashion and have a glance at the various styles of loose gown that are diagramed in the back of the book. I've always been partial to the back-pleated gown in particular (its the one that's on the front cover of the book). If you're reasonably good at draping, this is the easiest way to go with this style of gown. I took one length of plum velveteen, cut it according to my shoulder to ground measurement plus a few inches for a train (impractical for outdoor events, yes, but crucial for that "I'm wearing a heck of a lot of pretty fabric" sweep), threw it up on my dress form and started fooling around with pleats. After a few hours, I ended up with something I liked and I did the same thing for the front (splitting the 45" wide fabric down the center so that each side was 22.5", with a center front opening), being careful to match the pleats at the shoulder seams.

After I'd pinned the pleats in place, I took the velveteen shell off the dress form and drafted a yoke interlining that would be supporting the pleated velveteen from the inside. At first I debated doing a yoke, since it was an extra step in the process that didn't seem all that crucial, but I eventually went ahead and added one. It was one of those brain-fart moments where I knew there was a good reason to do so, but I couldn't remember what it was. Turns out that the yoke is what keeps the pleats stable, since the yoke is only as wide as my back and front widths. As the velveteen is 45" wide in back and front, pleated down to the front and back width measurements, the pleats would pull away at the shoulder seams without the yoke to relieve the tension on the outer fabric.

(I can write many things, but effectively explaining fabric physics is not one of them. Sorry if that was confusing and/or vague)

The lining is a really lovely aubergine cotton sateen, and its basically a hybrid of the yoke pattern from shoulder to breast bone and the velveteen shell from breast bone to hem. There's not much to say other than that. It's a lining. W00t.

The upper sleeve is drafted from one of my existing sleeve patterns, but cut off at the elbow. Again, the velveteen is cut larger than the lining piece, to give it a slightly wrinkled effect. Between the lining and the velveteen is an interlining of stiff muslin, sewn with two rows of 3" wide ruching (also stiff muslin) to form the structure of the sleeve. Without the inner support, the sleeve head would collapse flat, which isn't exactly the effect I was going for. The lower sleeves are made to be detachable, so in theory I can add different lower sleeves or wear the gown without them if I'm wearing a kirtle with straight sleeves. The current pair of lower sleeves are made from a coordinating burgundy wide and medium wale corduroy, cut on the bias.

Lower Sleeves

I piped all the edges (except for the hem) with self-made bias tape made from the same corduory as the sleeves. If I may blatantly drop one of the over-used sayings in Design, it adds a nice visual interest to the overall piece. I used the best instructions on the web for the bias tape: The Dread Pirate Rodgers' Continuous Bias Tape instructions. Plus, I like the name. :)

Close up of piping around the collar.	Closeup of piping around the armscye.

The Nearly Finished Product

From the front	And the Back

The bits left to do are to add the clasps down the center front, hem it, add the lower sleeves and reset the upper sleeves to the appropriate armhole. I just now noticed that they're on wrong. Sigh.