As I mentioned in a previous post the primary fabrics I am working with were acquired for free five years ago – which means I am limited by having to work with what I have for the main gown. Which is why I am grateful for the basic lessons I learned decades ago in Home Ec – specifically cutting out the largest pieces of your pattern FIRST and working down to the smallest.
It turned out to be a VERY tight fit to get all the pieces for the gown cut out, which would not have been as difficult were I not working with a striped material – and adjusting the pattern to move the lacing from the back of the gown to the front. That entailed needing a duplicate bodice piece to act as a stomacher to cover the lacing. In the end, I did need to Frankenstein the side bodice pieces that will mostly be hidden under the large sleeve, this had to be done in order to have a large enough piece of material to accomodate the pattern template.
In my prior posting Mistress Beatrice asked whether I had an inspiration dress and could I share which material is going to be used for which part – so I made this graphic.
The striped material on the left is for the Kirtle and the larger stripe with floral fabric is the main gown body and skirt with the pale green on the right part of the lining. I will be lining the bodice with sailcloth, stabilizer and some linen.
Currently I have cut out all my pattern pieces with the exception of the hood. I am going to focus on the bodice first as I see that as the most complicated, since the skirt is made of panels with straight seams though there are cartridge pleats along the front edge.
Some thoughts on my process decisions. I think for many people the order would be to make items from the skin out. One reason I am not doing it that way is because of the layers I am seeing in my main inspiration image. By that I mean the outer gown should be the lowest, then the kirtle which will have the beaded trim and then the shift peaking out. In order to make sure I have each section showing the amount I want I will do those in reverse order starting with the outer gown.
This image, and a video I found from re-enactors getting dressed at Hampton Court, both pointed out the idea of lacing up the front and covering that with a separate piece. As this image shows her stomacher is attached with pins down the side and the beaded neckline is attached to the under-kirtle and not the outer gown, most likely because of the break in material to allow for the front lacing.
I am also making progress on the coif I will be wearing under my French Hood, which I chose over the English as I find it more flattering than the “No Hair at All” look of the English Hood. I am very interested in medieval beadwork, so after finding material that had a Blackwork “vibe” I used it for the coif and am almost done with beading all the vines and stems in small black seed beads. I will then accent the leaves with green beads before lining the entire thing.
So that is all for today. I will post again Saturday night with any progress I made.
Thank you for the further information on your plans for each piece of fabric!
I’m interested if you had any historical inspiration for the beaded coif (either the beading methods or the use of beads on a coif like this, or similar), or if it was a choice you made just because of your general interest in beading?
I have been doing quite a bit of research into the use of beads both in Ecclesiatic garments and other clothing items. I recently took a class at the University of Atlantia from Lady Adair of Makyswell who also has an interest in beading and provided me with some additional references.
Including this image from 1463. this is Laura daNoves of Italy who was a long-term muse of the poet Petrach. There are other images found as well but my thought is that since the Coif in Englad was considered a more private wear item there are not as many images of them as there are of hoods.
https://petrarch.petersadlon.com/pictures/laure_12.jpgBeatrice, I will address some sources for beaded coifs with my larger documentation submission
Thank you for sharing the Petrarch painting.
I was unfamiliar with Laura’s beaded caps.
Aurelia