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.

A Hat for the Blue Gown from 2007

I'm not happy with the placement of these pictures, but don't know how to fix them. sorry if it's difficult to read.






































Construction links are included.
It starts with putting my shoulder length, thin hair in a bun at the back of my head, below the crown. Then I wrap a fake braid around it and pin in place.
Next, I tie on the FOREHEAD CLOTH. (see http://www.extremecostuming.com/articlesii/howtowearthecoif.html) I have left the ties hanging in these photos, but at faire, I would tuck them in.
Over the Forehead cloth, I lay on the CAUL, (see http://www.sempstress.org/patterns/hatmaking/simplecaul.shtml) and secure it with a corsage pin.
Next goes the 'flat cap', bonnet, whatever you want to call it. I put it forward enough as to be in front of the bun...bulk.. if you take my meaning. (see the same sempstress.org site, just click at the bottom of the page 'semptress'. or see one of these http://www.elizabethancostume.net/index.html under 'Hats and Headwear'.)
I bought the feather and metal cone at Michigan Ren Faire and I'm sorry I don't know the name of the vendor, but it's in the back, at the top of the hill and on your way to Owain Phyfe.

Dress Sleeves

I'm beginning work on the sleeves of the red gown. we are going to Derbyshire tomorrow. I probably won't wear the new dress, as it's a 3 hour car ride and I've never been to Derbyshire before AND i'm having husband trouble.
I'm going to keep it as simple as possible.

I found two pieces of scraps for the sleeves. After much fussing with length and seam allowances, I have settled on a design. It is a tube sleeve with buttons on the outside of the top edge that attach to black hair ties sewn under the straps. Also, I made some cording for the top/bottom edges. The seams were miss matched, so hand sewed two pieces of trim to cover them.

Note to self: when using a commercial sleeve pattern, one must be laid WRONG side up, thus giving me a right and left sleeve. As it is, I have two right sleeves. It isn't a tragedy, but next time, do it correctly.

I wore the dress to GLMF, Derbyshire and the State Theatre in Bay City to see Equinnox.

FINISHED(practically)Venetian 2008!!!

The finished dress. I suck at arranging these pictures. They may not turn out in the positions I have them here. BUT, one was taken at Great Lakes Medieval Faire last week, one is a close up of the trim on the front of the bodice. One is the center back and you can see where I resolved my pleating problem. I STACKED THE BOX PLEATS in a 5 -8 inch area in the center back. For the full frontal photo, I shoved a plastic sheet in the bodice to keep it flat, my dress form gave it a caved in look. As you can see, the gold underneath isn't as wide as the fashion fabric bodice. Oh well, That's another project for another day.
TRIM:
I had the gold trim in my stash. It's very modern looking, but the perfect length and color. I bought some beads from http://www.purple-sage.net/
The Purple Sage Bead Store on Center in Saginaw Township. The trim has holes and I filled the holes with alternates of red/clear/gold. Then I sewed a little red bead to the top of the trim braid on every second spot where it criss/crosses. If I do it again, I will not use flat beads, unless I learn how to sew them so they stay flat. I used a fairly short 'sharp' needle with a very small eye; and regular thread, single strand.

notes to me

The bodice post is done.
I have finished the skirt pleating and adjustments. I had it all pleated to the bodice and was looking at the home stretch. When I realized that there was going to be an extra foot of skirt leftover. no room to pleat it to the bodice. I posted a forum to Ren Forum and now I can't open it.
I need assistance in how to finish this skirt.
maybe I'll post something here and on the things I can open. But for now, the sewing sits there as I contemplate the meaning of this delay. Also, I may be getting a full time job soon and I am looking at my house and changing my priorities.
ONE month later:
Instead of erasing that first part, consider this:
The reason I couldn't get in, is that the Ren forum has some kind of melt down. They set up house somewhere else, I figured it out, the ladies chimed in with their usual excellent advice and I resolved the pleat issue. Stacking the box pleats that were left over.
The job hasn't materialized and I have since finished the dress. Pictures are in the May 30th Post titled, FINISHED (practically)Venetian 2008.

Bodice Construction

PHOTO A: Back pattern piece



Back pattern piece, flipped over, with a Red Bull drawn on it, just for shits and giggles.


PHOTO B: The front pattern piece. I only put straps on this pattern piece when i cut out the fashion fabric.

These are MY step by step instructions for making a ladder laced Venetian bodice in the style of 1570"s. I'm being as specific as I can for my own info later and anyone who, like me, loves to read these things and learn but needs a little more remedial sewing info.


STEP ONE: transfer the changes from the TOILE to the paper pattern. Add a half inch seam allowance all around each piece. Set both patterns on the straight grain. There should be: one back pattern that can be cut on the fold or open.
One front pattern. I folded the fabrics, right sides together and cut two (left and right)at once, but there is no fold.
You will be copying the pattern to Inner Layers and an Outer Layer, I used canvas and cotton, red lining and fashion fabric. This gave me a bunch of seams on top of each other. I'm wearing the bodice right now and I don't see or feel the side seams at all.
I'm not going to talk about straps much, since I'm still learning how to do them. I didn't have them on my Inner Layers pattern, then added them to the paper pattern for the lining and fashion fabric. I really just made it up as I went along and it;s not such a good plan.
FIRST THE INNER LAYERS. Lay the canvas on a flat surface. Play around with position and make sure you have enough to cut out two fronts and a back.
1. Open the back paper pattern and TAPE it to the canvas, draw around pattern with a pen or something. Remove paper pattern. With a ruler, take a half an inch(seam allowance) off ever edge, except the curved edge that will be sewn to the front. This will give you a piece the exact size of your bodice and won't add bulk to the final product. In the above photo of the front pattern piece PHOTO B, the silver scissors are next to the curved edge that you will sew to the curved edge on the back piece, right sides together, easing it in.
2. Do the same with the cotton. Press the seams toward the front. This may not be kosher, but it worked for me.
3. Lay the patterns, right side up on your lining fabric. I used a solid red cotton and I added straps (1 1/2")with seam allowances(1/2"). Copy the pattern to the fabric and this time use all the seam allowance. Sew the front and back together and press.You should now have a canvas and cotton bodice with no seam allowances on the outside edges. One inner lining bodice with a seam allowance all around the outside.
Marking the BONING CHANNELS. I set the cotton and lining bodices aside, using just the canvas to draw on the boning channel marks.
I used plastic cable ties, 1/4" wide, 15" long(for a pointy bodice like this, I could have used 20").
1. Take one and lay it in the very center of the back. It should be as long as the canvas/cotton. I will be wearing a corset under this dress and only used 9 bones. Three in each front and three in the back.
2. I laid the bones on the canvas and traced around them. I used my hubby's tin snips to cut the heads off the cable ties, cut them to length and round the edges. I didn't label them this time, there were only 9. I didn't sew them yet, I wanted to include my red lining.
3. Lay the red fabric wrong side up, lay the cotton either side up and finally the canvas, wrong side down. SafetyPin it to keep it steady and sew through all three pieces, along the boning channels, just outside the lines. Slide a bone into the first channel to check size, if it's okay, continue. It's easier to make changes now, with one, than with 20. Leave the bottom/ tops open, you may need to take them out and adjust length. When you're done, slide all the bones in to be sure of size. You may take them out till later, if you wish. If there are a lot of them, label with a marker.

LACING STRIPS. I'm using the double ribbon method of front ladder lacing seen Jen Thompson’s two-lacing-row technique (detailed at A Festive Attyre)
I measured in about half an inch from the raw edge on the red lining side and marked where the first ribbon would go. The I laid a bone next to that, then a ribbon and another bone. I left a little room between them. I used a black strap I found in my stash and cut into 2 long and 2 short pieces for the lacing strips. I'm not going to describe it here, except to say that I eyeballed the distant between ?? and used a straight edge to try to keep the left and right sides even. It looks okay. I sewed through all three pieces and used a 1/2" stitch with a little zig zag to make the ??? Below are two photos showing the canvas side. (Actually, these are photos of the fashion fabric pinned to the other bodice pieces.)


After the channels were sewn. After the lacing strips were attached, I used the paper patterns to cut out the fashion fabric. I have added straps to the front and back paper pattern pieces. I laid the fashion fabric on the living room floor and smoothed it carefully. I laid the open, back paper pattern piece on it right side up(even tho' it;'s symmetrical). I set it on different parts untill I found a good section. I taped and pinned it carefully, took a deep breath and cut it out, with all seam allowances. I folded the fabric in half being careful to create a left and right front that looked nice across from each other and cut out two fronts. Sewed them together, pressed and pinned it to the other bodice pieces with the right side on the red lining side. This way, when I turn it, the fashion fabric will be on the canvas side and the red lining will show.

Here it is before sewing and turning.
Here is is after sewing and turning, which I had to do, of course with the bones in it. I left the top , middle back open for turning. Also, the inside of the straps was open for extra turning room. Here you can see the lacing ribbons on the red side. I found a thick gold/sparkly rope to use instead of cord.
Laying it inside out, like the photo above, I used a hook to pull the rope loosely through the ???. I put the bodice on by myself, over the corset/kirtle. It fits divinely!!!(looking with a more critical eye several days later, it looks a little long.)