Puritan
I started on a Thursday afternoon, stopping at Joann on the way home from work. I found this fantastic black polyester that looks and feels exactly like wool. (There was absolutely no real wool to be found.) I also picked up a lightweight white linen/rayon blend. (The only pure linen they had was the wrong color or embroidered.) Once I got home, I washed all my fabric (including the duck cloth I used for my lining material) and then began on a mock up of the bodice. I adapted the bodice pattern from Simplicity 8881, changing it to a front opening, cutting the back as one piece, raising both the front and back necklines, and changing the curve of the bottom point to be rounder and more shallow. As usual, I cut out a much smaller size than the one suggested by the pattern. (The key here is to MEASURE. Also make sure that you take into account your squish factor. I squish a lot so I can cut a pattern up to four or five sizes smaller than recommended. Also, this pattern is meant to overlap in back, but I wanted to lace it closed, which eliminated another inch or so.) By the end of Thursday night, I had cut out and assembled the mock up (which I would use as one of the lining layers). Lucky for me, it fit perfectly on the very first try, with only a little bit of reshaping to do at the back neckline which I had raised a tad too much. (Remember that the mock up will not be exact; it still has seam allowances at the closure point, and there is no boning to stabalize it. What I look for in this initial fitting is for a good fit in the armscye and in the back neckline. I check the fit in the bust and waist by pulling the bodice closed at each of those points--if the two sides overlap, it is too big, and if the gap is two inches or more, it is too small.)
On Friday
night, I worked furiously on the bodice. I got all of my layers cut out (two
lining layers, and two fashion layers). I put together my lining and got the
boning channels sewn in, then based on a layer of fashion fabric. With right
sides together I sewed on my other layer of fashion fabric only to find that
I could not turn all of these layers through the shoulders. I ended up only
sewing closed the front and neck edges, leaving the armscyes open to make
turning possible. And that is as far as I got on Friday. Oh, I also got the
skirt and sleeves cut out as well as bias strips for the bottom edge of the
bodice and for the armscyes. For the sleeves, I used the pattern piece from
Simplicity 8881. For the skirt, I didn't use a pattern; I cut a waistband
on the grain of the fabric and then cut two lengths of fabric using my waist
to floor measurement (that was all the fabric I had, but it was enough because
the fabric was 60 inches wide giving me about 120 inches to pleat into the
waistband). On Sunday afternoon, I started off by completing the side seams and then inserted the boning in the bodice and attached the bias strips to the bottom edge and the armscyes. At this point, I only had handsewing left on the bodice, so I put it on hold and started on the skirt. The skirt went together rather quickly; I was even able to machine stitch the hem, since the fabric does not show the stitching--it just kind of gets lost in the fuzziness. I sewed the sleeves, heming both the wrist and the armscye. That done, I moved on to the collar and bonnet. For the collar, I traced a circular pattern onto the fabric, cutting two layers and then sewing them together on the long sides. I flipped it right side out and then folded over the two sides that formed the opening and stitched them shut, attaching chords for tying. I made the bonnet out of a simple rectangle, the long side being the measurement from my jawline on one side of my face over my head to the jawline on the other side of my face, and the short side being the measurement from the center back of my head to my forhead plus three inches to fold back (two layers sewn together on three sides and then flipped and pressed). I turned over the unfinished edge to form a casing and inserted a drawstring--this forms the back of the bonnet. I then folded back and pressed the front edge of the bonnet and voila.
I then
turned my attention to the handstitching that needed to be done. I started
by finishing the bias strips on the bottom and armscye edges. I then attached
the sleeves to the armscye about three quarters of the way around with button-hole
thread, leaving the underarm open. (The picture to the right has been lightened
so that you can see the stitching. I tried to get a picture of the open
underarm, but it just didn't come out right.) I wanted to handsew eyelets
down the front, but with the number of layers I had in the bodice, I simply
did not have the patience or the skill. So I caved in and put in the silver
colored eyelets; I guess eventually I can stitch over the eyelets to cover
them up, but I didn't think of it at the time. It is actually a good thing
that I used the metal eyelets, because they have ended up having to take a
lot of pressure that I don't know my handsewn eyelets would be able to handle.
Eventually I might add white cuffs (I have enough fabric, but I didn't really want to bother this time around), an apron (which I will need more fabric for), and a different chemise (I am using my renaissance chemise and it doesn't quite work the way I'd like it to).
Update: After having worn this outfit a couple of times, I'm actually pretty pleased with the way my Ren. chemise looks; I just have to remember to pull it up a bit higher than I would wear it with my other costumes. I've also found that I like it well enough without the white cuffs, although I'd still like to make the apron sometime and maybe even learn to do a bit of cutwork embroidery for it. I have been a bit frustrated with my "quick" bonnet version; it does not fit my head properly and actually leaves a lot of my hair exposed in back; I'll need to do a little more research before I try that one again.
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