Other Renaissance

The Irish Dress

This is actually my second version of Simplicity 7756, which was my first ever historical costume, made during my first year of teaching Romeo & Juliet.  The first time I made this dress, I followed all of the directions; the result was good...for a first costume.  Of course, the second time through, I changed a lot of things, which I will describe below.  I'll start with the outer dress and then work my way inward.

It was actually this fantastic fabric that inspired the dress.  I purchased it as a decorator flat-fold (remnant) at a JoAnn Fabric store.  (Yes, the design is woven, not printed!)  It was an absolute steal at about $4 per yard.  The first modification I made to the pattern itself was to get rid of the darts. (I've heard people say that you can cover them up with trim, and I think even I have told people that, but now that I think about it, darts really do change the fit of the garment and should be removed.)  The next step was to modify the shoulders; the pattern has the shoulders tie together; I haven't done a lot of research on this, but it is my belief that tying is not a period method and, quite frankly, I don't like the way it looks.  In order to make this change, I simply squared off the shoulder seams on the pattern pieces and then sewed them as a normal shoulder seam.  I then added both a lining and an interlining; I can't remember what the original pattern called for, but this step is essential for any but the poorest Renaissance garb.  In this dress, I used muslin lining and interlining, but this will be changing soon; I would recommend something a bit stronger like cotton drill or duck cloth.  I sewed the boning channels into the two layers of lining and then attached it to the fashion fabric.  If you haven't done a Renaissance bodice before, here is my method.  
    Step 1: completely assemble the bodice in both the fashion fabric and both lining fabrics, except for the side seams.     Step 2: attach the two lining pieces with wrong sides together.  Sew the boning channels.  The pattern does not call for much boning, if any at all (I can't really remember right now).  You should at least have a bone running down each side of the front opening, another running down each side seam, and another where the dart would have been.  These are essential for the bodice to lay smoothly while still squishing you into the proper shape; if you don't put them in you will look wrinkled and frumpy.  (Make sure that you reinforce the stitching at the top of the boning channels; there is nothing more annoying that a bone pushing through the fabric or, worse yet, digging into you!)  DO NOT put the boning in yet.
    Step 3: attach the fashion fabric to the lining right sides together (your lining will have two right sides, so don't worry about that one).  Sew through all layers in front, around the neckline, and around both armscyes.
    Step 4: turn the bodice right sides out by pulling the front through the shoulders.
    Step 5: sew the side seams.  You may wish to do a fitting before sewing these seams closed.  You will definitely wish to finish this seam well and reinforce it somehow.  I usually serge the seam first and then go over it with a tight straight stitch.  Then, rather than simply cutting off the loose threads, I tie the ends so that the stitches are not tempted come undone.  (I may seem overcautious, but remember, this is the major stress point of the bodice, other than the front lacing.  If it is going to come apart somewhere, this is the place.)
    Step 6: now you can put the boning in.  I originally used plastic boning, which would have worked fine if I had used a sturdy lining fabric.  I am going to remake this dress in the near future and haven't decided if I will stick with the plastic or upgrade to steel.  After inserting the boning, you may want to finish the bottom of the bodice (I do this by serging the edge), so you don't have bones trying to slip out while you are attaching the skirt and so that you do not have to finish this edge once the skirt is attached.
    Step 7: attach the skirt.  The pattern calls for you to gather the skirt to the bodice; I, of course, have a few problems with this.  According to the slim amount of research I've done, Renaissance women did not gather material in the way we do today--they used pleats; my research also shows that women did not cut gored skirts--too many seams to sew by hand and too much waste of valuable fabric; my personal problem with it is that it doesn't use nearly enough fabric for the full skirts I'm fond of (I never skimp on skirt fabric).  For this version of the dress, I actually lined the skirt, since I was using a heavy upohlstry fabric with a scratchy back; using a piece of muslin that matched the dimentions of the skirt, I sewed the center front and top seams right sides together and then turned them. (This means that the top seam will not need to be finished once you attach it to the bodice.)  If you will not be lining the skirt, fold the center front pieces back a good 2 to 3 inches.  The pleating itself is quite simple; I began with an inverted box pleat at the center back and then worked my way toward the front.  (Note: I also added a LOT of fabric to the skirt.  In order to fully pleat the skirt, you will need it to be three times the length of the bodice edge.)  Once everything is pinned in place to your satisfaction, sew the layers together.  (Note: This can be another stress point in the garment if your skirt fabric is heavy, which mine is.  Reinforce the seam with a second line of stitching, or use a very tight/short stitch.)
    Step 8: attach the eyelets/grommets for lacing.  Since I do not wear this dress with a corset, I use metal grommets for lacing rather than handsewn eyelets.  When I remake this dress, I will use smaller grommets and will sew over them with button thread.
    Step 9: Hem the dress and you are done!  (Please, make sure that you measure the hem carefully before sewing.  You will want to try the dress on with the shoes you will be wearing with it and have someone pin the hem for you.)  You may also choose to trim the dress at this point, but don't go overboard--this is not an upper class dress.  The only trim I have used is the colored ribbon used to lace the front of the dress.  If you do choose to add trim, I would stick to braided rather than woven trims.

The underskirt pattern is very simple, even if you do not use the one that comes with the pattern. I haven't used the pattern for the skirt in some time, so I don't remember if it is gored or not.  If it is, you are better off not using the pattern at all.  (I have not found any research to support the use of gores during this time period--they are time consuming and waste too much valuable fabric.)  Here is a simple alternative to the pattern: using the entire width of the fabric cut three (54-60 inch wide fabric) or four (45 inch fabric) lenght of fabric that equal you waist to floor measurement with some length added for the hem and seam allowances. (Also remember the shoe factor.  Period shoes did not have heels, but if yours do, remember to add to the length of the skirt.)  Sew all the lengths together along the selvege edge, leaving an 8 inch opening at the top of one seam.  Sew the seam allowences down on each side of this opening.  DO NOT put in a zipper; they are not period and are unnecessary--it's not against the rules to show a little chemise, and your overdress will cover the opening anyway.  At this point, you have two waistband options--fitted or drawstring.  The fitted option has the benefit of not adding any bulk to your waist, but also doesn't offer any flexibilty for multiple wearers or fluxuations in waist size.  For this option, you will need to cut a waistband; you can use the pattern piece for this, or cut your own about three inches wide and the length of your waist measurement plus two and a half inches for overlap and seam allowances.  Pleat the top edge of the skirt into the waistband and then follow the pattern directions for finishing.  (Note: there will probably not be enough fabric here to pleat the skirt fully; it is best, therefore, to pin the pleats and check the spacing before sewing.)  Use a hook-and-eye closure.  For the drawstring option, simply fold over (toward the inside) an inch of the top edge of the skirt to form a casing for the drawstring.  Feed the drawstring through the casing, hem, and you are finished.

The red skirt that you see in the pictures was made using the pattern and was made to go with my first outfit.  Although
there are some things I don't like about it (it is gathered instead of pleated, it has a zipper, and is a sueded polyester) the color matched so perfectly that I simply had to reuse it for this outfit.  One thing that I should point out is that this skirt does NOT fit over my farthingale (Simplicity 8881); theoretically, this dress should not be worn over a hoop skirt anyway, but in any case, if you are wearing a hoopskirt, make sure that the circumfrence of your skirt is equal to or greater than the circumfrence of your bottom hoop.

The chemise I made for this outfit was my first, and perhaps final, attempt at an Irish leine.  I used the chemise from the Simplicity pattern (7756).  The first modification I made was to lengthen it (a chemise really should be about knee length, not hip length as in the pattern).  My modifications to the sleeves were pretty much done by guesswork; I used the width of the fabric for the width of the sleeves and increased the length of the sleeve to be about the same (45 inches).  I put elastic at the wrists (which I should have left open), and took up the extra length with pleats down the top of the sleeve.  (Most of these that I see at faire take up the extra length with a drawstring, but I have found research supporting the pleating method, although the pleats should be covered with some sort of trim.)  One of the problems I have constantly run into with these sleeves is that the pleating slides down instead of staying on the top of my arm; this might be solved by opening up the wrists, changing the location of the pleats, or using a lighter weight fabric.  (I used osnaburg, which, on second thought, is probably too rough a fabric considering how ornate the dress fabric is.  If I try this again, I'll either use muslin or a light weight linen.)

I have also made the overgown sleeves and French hood in this pattern, neither of which I think are very useful.  The problem with the sleeves is two-fold: they are supposed to be Tudor sleeves, but the cut isn't quite right (if you really want Tudor sleeves, see the pattern I used for my Lord of the Rings coat); the other problem is that sleeves really are an upper class thing, and this is really a lower class style, or maybe an upper class dressed down (but I have only found one site that supports the idea that this style of dress might have been worn to court, and then it would have been visiting Irish ladies).  The French hood also has two separate problems: the construction is flimsy (don't get caught in a downpore in this one or stand under those mist hoses for too long) and the shape is all wrong.  The top of the hood comes too high and ends behind the ears; all of the period pictures I've seen have the hood lying a bit flatter and covering the ears (it is impossible to wear this hood in that fashion given the hight of the hood and the way the veil is attached, which is also incorrect).

There are two pieces from this pattern that I have not made.  Personally, I'd stay away from the rolled hat; it is way too big and is actually from an earlier time period.  I haven't done any research on period aprons, so I don't really know what to say about that one, except that I think it is okay to wear to most fairs.  I've never found an apron necessary, even for peasant portrayals; it is much more common to see women wearing two skirts with one tucked up into the waistband or belt than to see someone with an apron (see picture).

The outfit pictured to the right was made using a combination of patterns and techniques.  The chemise is a mostly unaltered version of 7756 discussed above; the only alteration I made was adding a drawstring to the neckline instead of elastic.  The skirts were made using the drawstring method discussed above; I also added rows of grosgrain ribbon to both skirts.  The bodice was made using Simpicity 8715.  I eliminated the side back seam in order to take advantage of the pattern in the fabric.  (The fabric has a fantastic design to it that I can't really describe.  The color is also difficult to describe; it is so dark that it is nearly black with just a green tint to it.)  I think this pattern also calls for tied shoulders, which I modified in the same way as the overdress in 7756.  The fit is a little more modern than some of my other bodices; the front seams are curved, allowing for shaping of the bust, which means this probably won't give the "lift and cleavage effect" of typical faire garb.  This entire four piece ensemble (cream colored chemise, bodice, green skirt with yellow trim, and ecru skirt with green trim) is currently for sale.  This particular outfit has been sold, though I still have fabric for another.

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