Soon my friends will be putting together a display for an early 15th century Tailorshop, and my husband and I are helping. My usual late 16th century Italian clothing just won’t do at all. Time for new outfits!
We are aiming for 1390-1410 so I started gathering images from that time (yay Pinterest!), and quickly started seeing things I wanted to implement. Things I might like to have:
- An over and under gown, not counting the shift. Long sleeved undergowns peaking out from 3/4th length over sleeves seems pretty popular
- Or I could do little dags on the larger styles of over sleeves.
- A wide neckline.
- Buttons down the entire front of the over gown.
- A red bead necklace, probably coral.
- A short hood, maybe with a long dagged lirepipe.
- Maybe a patterned fabric, or stamped.
- Full enough to tuck. (I will have separate post about that shortly!)
- Perhaps a ‘ruffle’ at the bottom, even though that’s more of a late 15th century feature than an early one. A little more about it here :http://research.fibergeek.com/2012/05/15/whats-with-the-ruffle/
I started with my pink sleeveless kirtle as a pattern base. I have long since lost the original pattern pieces, but it’s easy enough to trace the bodice area to get the approximate size and shape.
The dagged sleeves were fun! I meant to have a more rounded set of points, instead of the even zig-zags, but didn’t exaggerate the rounded part when sewing enough. That’s ok, the zig-zags are cute too :D
The sleeves make for an attractive hat!
I was at a friend’s house, pinning the sleeve and armscye together when the resident kitten visited. I think he particularly liked the rustle of the silk skirt lining.
Unfortunately, I didn’t quite have it done in time to wear to the Tailor Shop demo as intended, but I could still sew on it while there, and talk to passersby about the dress style, fabric choices, and techniques used. Also, I am digging the nonchalant way this woman wears her hood.
The dress ended up quite a bit too big! I tried it on at the end of the day at June Faire, and was swimming in it! I took in the front and back seams and tried it on again at home. Less big, but still getting too much wrinkling around the bust, and the waist is much too loose.
Even after taking in the front and back seams, it’s still too big!
I took in the side seams this time, and a little more out of the bust in the front, and some in the lower section of the back.
Mmmm, close up…
This blue dress was not meant to be self supporting, since I have plenty of under dresses to do that job. You can see the pretty pink undergown peeking through here before I tightened the lacing.
The torso is looking much better now! It could still have some excess removed, but it’s plenty good enough for now!
I love how ridiculously full this skirt is! It’s a bit over long at the moment because I intend to add a pleat/ruffle to the bottom, but really I could just leave it like this for the pretty ‘fabric puddled at my feet’ look. Not the most practical, but apparently period.
The red sleeves were a speedy creation started the night before, and finished the morning of this event. They need to be redone with cute button closures, but the trial run worked pretty well.
I’d love to make a red underdress sometime, to match the red sleeves.
I bet I could get the circle skirt effect if I did a spin in this. Must try next time I wear it :D
I am very pleased with how this has turned out so far, although I’d love to see how it looks after I make a few more changes. Hopefully I will wear this indoors next time, and get a bit less nature all over the hem. :p
