3/11/05
I won't be working on this one for a while, but it never hurts to start bouncing some ideas around. After watching the movie Luther, Mom and I both decided that we must have German Renaissance dresses for faire this year. It's entirely fitting considering that my mom's family is German and my dad's family (reeeaaaalllyyy far back) is Swiss.
I still don't really have a clear idea of what I'm doing. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of budget versions of German garb that originally turned me off to the style. Luther has inspired me, though, and I've been doing my homework and finding that the actual clothing can be quite beautiful and much more interesting than my first faire impressions.
Fabric: I'm sure I've got to have something in my stash that will work. I think I have a red brocade that might be fun. There is also this wine colored velveteen at Joann's right now that I'd love to make use of, but that isn't something in my stash, so I'll try to knock that idea out of my head. Anyway, I'll have to take a look at what else I've got, but I have plenty of time to sort through the bins and toy around with different ideas.
Pattern: I'm in a bit of a connundrum over this one. Do I go with the Period Patterns gown, that has lots of options but less than enthusiasic reviews? Or do I go with the not-yet-released-or-reviewed Reconstructing History pattern that doesn't seem to have quite so many options? If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know!
3/1/06
Wow! An entire year has gone by since I started planning this costume. Sheesh! And chances are it won't be made this year either.
At any rate, I did end up purchasing the Period Patterns...er...pattern at Costume College last year. I took a class on German Renaissance gown construction and figured that with that knowledge and the pattern as a starting point, I should be able to manage. Basically, that means I bought the pattern just for the shapes, and I'll construct the gown in a way that makes sense to me. Now, if I can just remember where I put my handout and notes from that class...
Oh, and also find the time to make this dress...
8/13/07
Woohoo! Construction is on its way.
This year at Costume College I took a bodice fitting workshop for this specific dress. So, I came home with a bodice mock up that was all ready to go. Then, of course, crazy old me decided to spend my last two weeks of precious freedom frantically finishing this dress for Golden Gate Ren Faire just two weeks from now. That said, don't expect this to so much of a diary as a mad-dash tour of my construction process.
Now, I have pulled out that pattern I bought last year so that I could use the sleeve pattern, and boy, am I glad I didn't have to use that patter! The directions are spread out across six pages with directions on one side and historical notes on the other; talk about inefficient and annoying. There are also surprisingly few pattern pieces for how many views of the dress the pattern displays on the cover. From the cursory glance I've given it, and my attempts to find pattern pieces for the sleeves on view VII, the pattern appears to just be a general guideline that you must tweak considerably to get the final dress you're after. Anyway, I think I'll be able to figure out the sleeves based on the pattern pieces.
As for now, I've already got the bodice mostly finished. I'm using a deep red velveteen for the gown and a gold brocade for the trim. The velveteen layer of the bodice is assembled and I've sewn on the brocade trim. Now, I just need to assemble the lining and attach it before I can start work on the skirt.
Bodice Construction
First step after getting all my layers cut out was to flat-line the fashion fabric with hair canvas. I then used those pieces to mark the shape of the trim on my brocade fabric, tracing the front/neck edges onto the fabric. I used the width of the shoulder as a guide for how wide to make the trim, then measured and marked that distance from the edge I had traced onto the brocade. Once those pieces were cut out, I pressed under the edge that would show on the fashion fabric and sewed the other edge onto the fashion fabric, both right sides facing up. (That edge will get finished with the bag lining.)
Then, it was time for a little hand sewing. I secured the trim to the bodice by hem stitching the pressed edge to the fashion fabric. There are lots of ways to do a hem stitch, but the way I like to do this is to take a teeny-tiny vertical stich through the layers, then hide the thread in the fold in order to get to the next teeny-tiny vertical stitch. This also allows me to make knots occasionally, so that when my heel catches on an actual hem, my entire hem doesn't pull out, just a little section of it. On the brocade and velveteen, you don't even see the stitches.
The next step was to assemble the bodice and the lining separately. Then the two layers were sewn together along the bottom edge, up the front, around the neckline, and back down the other side, effectively finishing all of those raw edges that usually get faced or hemmed on modern garments. The only raw edges left were the armcyes, through which I then turned the bodice right-sides out.
I decided that I wanted the bodice to close with added panels at the center front, rather than just with lacing over the brustfleck. My main motivation was that I wanted something to stitch the skirt front to; otherwise the skirt would need a short waistband to span the open area in front. (Plus, I didn't trust the skirt to stay in place there and feared I'd end up with a bit of gap showing between the bottom of the brustfleck and the top of the skirt. Not good.) I made the panels out of the same layers at the bodice, but it only fills in the underbust area. The front is boned and has eyelets. I then whipstitched these in place, leaving enough of a gap for the lacing. (I also had to double check to make sure that my brustfleck would still fit in the opening left by the panels, since that must still be whipstitched into place as well.)
To finish the armscye, I simply turned down the fashion fabric layer around the amscye. Technically, I probably should have clipped the fabric to fit the curve; I got lazy and was lucky that it turned out alright. Anyway, once the fashion fabric was pinned in place, I folded the lining in toward the fashion fabric so that both unfinished edges were sandwiched in between. I then handsewed the layers together and then pressed the finished amscye.
As I turned my attention to the front opening (the trimmed edge that will show, not the panels that will be hidden underneath the brustfleck), I realized that I had forgotten to bone the front opening. Oops. No problem, though. I simply added a boning casing out of the lining fabric to the front. Once the boning was in place, I was able to sew on my lacing rings. I placed them rather close together, as I think it might look a bit better with ladder lacing. We'll see, though. I may remove some if it doesn't look right.
Overall, I'm very happy with how the bodice looks. I'm not entirely pleased with the fit. It seems slightly big. I may have sewn the seams just slightly different than I did on the mock up, or the fabric may be behaving differently from the mock up. Whatever the reason, it's just not quite as snug as I'd like. Solution coming soon...
Hem stitch detail
Traveling from one stitch to the next; the thread is hidden in the fold of the fabric. Aside from looking neat, on an actual hem, this prevents that traveling stitch from getting caught on anything (like the heal of a shoe).
Securing stitch; grab the bottom layer right underneath the folded fabric, that way the stitch won't show. This isn't really an issue on an actual hem, since this side won't be seen; instead, for a hem you need to focus on making this stitch as small as possible, so that is doesn't show on the other side.
Knot--as you pull the securing stitch tight, pass the needle through the loop to form a knot. This isn't particularly necessary on this trim, as there won't be any stress on it, but I do it on nearly ever stitch on a hem.
Skirt Construction
I started out by testing to see how much fabric I'll need for rolled pleats. My test run seemed to give me about 5:1 (five inches of skirt fabric for every one inch of finished waistband). Now, since that meant that I'd need 3.6 some odd panels of the fabric, I decided to round that to four and just squeeze my pleats together a bit.
I cut out my panels and sewed them together, leaving about a ten inch opening at the top of one panel for the waist opening. I then cut four inch wide strips of my lining fabric. One set of strips I sewed together and used to face the waist edge of the skirt. The other set I sewed together and pressed to form the hem binding. Since I'll be wearing this gown to an outdoor event, I wanted to make sure that my velveteen is completely protected; so, rather than pressing the binding completely to the inside of the skirt, I wrapped it around to encase the hem, leaving about 5/8 inch showing on the outside and giving myself a good three inches on the inside.
Once my binding and facing were on the skirt, I turned my attention to the decorative brocade guards on the skirt. After looking at many Cranach images online, I realized there were many options for how to arrange these guards. I decided that I wanted three bands of graduated size coming fairly far up the skirt. After that, deciding on the width and spacing was really just a matter of eyeballing what I thought would look good to me. Eventually, I cut the brocade in 8-inch, 6-inch, and 4-inch strips. Once they were assembled and all the unfinished edges pressed under half an inch, I layed the skirt out on my cutting table for placement and marking. I wanted the bottom guard to be faily close to the hem--about two inches. I placed the guard on the skirt, measured where the top seam should go, and then marked that line all the way around the skirt, measuring from the hem. After the top edge was sewn down, I repeated the process for the other guards, deciding where it looked good to have it placed, and then marking the top stitching line by measuring from the hem (not from the previous guard).
When all the guards were sewn on, it was time for a bit of handsewing...okay, actually, a LOT of handsewing. The hem binding needed to be finished by hand, and the bottom edge of each guard needed to be finished by hand, using the same hem stitch I used to attach the bodice trim.
Eventually, all the guards were done and the skirt was ready to attach to the finished bodice. I wanted the skirt to be roll pleated, so I got a regular dinner fork out of the kitchen. I placed the top edge of the skirt in between the first two tines then rolled the fork over twice, rolling up the fabric with it. I could then slip the fork out from between the folds and in the roll in place. This took a little bit of trial and error to get the spacing right, especially since I wanted the folds very close together without actually overlapping.
With the pleats all pinned, I started attaching the pleats to the finished waist edge of the bodice (right sides together). Now, I should have been using buttonhole twist or quilting thread for this step. Instead, I was just using the poly thread that I'd used to sew my seams. It's a little too thin and slick for this purpose, and I now have the threads showing on the outside a bit more than I'm comfortable with as a result. So, start with the heavier thread and you won't have this problem. Anyway, I attached the two layers using a simple whipstitch, keeping the stitches close together and tight. I focused on getthing the front edge of each pleat scured thoroughly, but only caught in the rest of the pleat for one or two stitches--just enough to make sure that the pleat won't come unrolled. Because I was trying to fit so much fabric into the waist, I also had to crowd the pleats together a bit as I stitched them to the bodice, often rolling them a bit tighter in order to get them right up against each other.
I'm super happy with the finished skirt. It's the perfect length (my dressform is set exactly to my height without shoes). I love how full it turned out and how the pleats look. It will look even more like the paintings once it is on my body and my hips are pushing the pleats out a bit more. I'm thinking it could probably use a petticoat underneath, so I might dig out an old petticoat, at least for the faire, and then make a new one out of linen later.
Gratuitous kitty picture. They are watching me bead the brustfleck, or, more precisely, they are watching my thread moving all over the place and waiting to attack.
Brustfleck Construction
Um, yeah, it's just a rectangle. I cut a rectangle from the brocade for the decorative band at the top of the brustfleck, making sure that I got a part of the design that would look good when decorated with beading. I then lengthened the pattern down long enough to fill in the rest of the bodice opening in order to cut layers of hair canvas and white linen.
Then it was time to break out the bead box. I knew that I wanted to use some pearls, since that seems to be the most common and most prolific bead on the brustfleck band in Cranach paintings (that is, when the band is decorated at all). Originally, I was planning on using glass beads made to look like pearls, but the only thing I had on hand were the plastic ones. So, yes, you may cringe, but those are plastic beads, and anyone who gets close enough to figure that out in person, is going to get their ears boxed! Thus, no problem, because it looks great, and at this point, the only way to tell they aren't real is to either feel their lack of weight or get really close and personal to see the little bits of plastic left over at the hole in the bead. Anyway, asside from the pearls, I wanted a bit of an accent color, so when I discovered these beautiful red crystals in my bead stash, I was overjoyed. They give the motiff just the pop I was looking for.
Update: I've added just a little more to the beading. It just wasn't looking finished. I think the added beads on the sides gives it a slightly more balanced look, considering the height and width of the band.
Photos above and below curtesy of Diana Habra of RenaissanceFabrics.net. She also made the hat I'm wearing in the photos.
10/30/07
Well, the gown was finished enough to wear to an early Holloween party this past weekend, but it still needs a bit of work. Let's start with the chemise.
I decided to try to do this one without a pattern. I figured that I've made enough chemises and know the general shapes well enough to go it alone. For the most part, it all worked out. The only issue I ended up having was with the neck binding and with the front neckline. Of course, hind-sight is 20/20, so I know exactly what I did wrong after it's too late to change. But, let me back up a little.
I started out by marking the desired neckline on my dressform while my outer gown was still on it. I then draped the neck binding to make sure that the neck edge of the chemise would not show. I cut out the rest of the pieces and assembled them using french seams. The first mistake I made was in the underarm gusset placement. I estimated where they should go, placing the gusset at the same point in both the front and back--which was fine, but I should have then cut off an appropriate amount of the front neck edge to make it lower than the back. The result of this mistake is that my front neck edge is too high and shows above the brustfleck. It looks kind of nice, especially since I embroidered the binding, but it is not what I wanted, so I'm annoyed.
The second mistake I made was in trying to attach the binding as one square piece and then fold the edges over. I should have cut and assembled two identical pieces and then sewn them together along the inner edge of the square. The outer edge of the top layer could then be sewn to the right side of the chemise body and the back layer could be used to face/bind the seam.
So, some things I need to keep in mind next time I attempt this. For now, what I've made will do. I'm also concerned that the brustfleck might be a little low to wear the chemise pulled all the way down. Looking at the pictures, I think I'd be showing just a little to much cleevage. So, if I do adjust the chemise or make a new one, I may also need to make a new brustfleck.
ETA: Hmm...now that I've gone back to the source materials, I'm rethinking some of my ideas about the chemise and brustfleck issue. Many of the women depicted are not showing any cleevage mainly because they are rather on the small side. Women who seem a bit more....um...buxom appear to be wearing high-necked chemises. So, maybe the way I need to go with this is to make a high-necked chemise instead, and save this one, as is, for a Tudor gown.
Oh, and in the pictures to the left, I'm also wearing my friend's hat. Obviously, I haven't gotten around to making my own yet. I did get the escoffion finished in time to wear. I'll take some photos soon and add an entry about making it.