Underpants, Drawers, Bloomers!

I made some out of muslin I had laying around. I use a pants pattern from Nana's stash. I made them crotchless. Lady Gwendolyn gave me that idea. She said when you have a hand full of skirts and accessories, you don't have to pull your pants down to pee. AND the Drawers cover the dirty toilet seat a little and that's a plus. Now I have a pair for Saturday and for Sunday. Genius!

Chemise

I need a new chemise for the red/gold Venetian. The camecia sleeves are too bulky. I'm trying a SMOCK GENERATOR from Drea Leed, I presume. I found it here: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/index.html under 'underpinnings'. It says it will be a close fit. I had a big piece of linen from ??, 54" wide. I'm cutting it out directly, using the pattern and instructions.Okay, it's done and here are my comments.

I like the Generator. I enter my measurements and it gives me all the numbers I need. I cut it out with no problems. It sewed together just fine and fit like a cotehardie (my word for a fitted long sleeve gored dress). This will work well with the Venetian gown as the sleeves are tighter, not flared and the body is not bulky. I had to make the neckhole bigger to sit at the edge of my shoulder. This gown sits close to the edge.

One complaint is where the gores and gussets get sewn across each other. There is no way to cleanly finish that seam.

This smock is not suitable for the regular Ren Faire garb. It's not poofy at all.

A Hat for the Red/Gold Gown from 2008

I bought a sequined 1980's hat from a thrift store and covered it in the same gold as the kirtle. I made a bow out of the same curtain sheer fabric as the partlet and hotglued trim on the edge. I also made a caul of the same gold fabric.