Jamia Hansen-Murray

I have really enjoyed getting to know this multi-talented woman, who is not only an amazing historical costumer, but is also an accomplished period dancer! Jamia made this gorgeous Elizabethan gown for one of her performances with the Seattle Early Dance company. The pictures on that site are so beautiful... wouldn't you just love to see one of their shows in real life? She has also sent us a great description of her attire with lots of juicy details about the inspiration and construction. You can find that information below the picture, and you can also email Jamia at jhansenmurray(at)fs.fed.us if you have any other comments or questions. .

This costume was created for the March 2002 Seattle Early Dance concert. I had 15 minutes to get out of this entire gown and into an 18th C. corset, wig, and Baroque gown, so this fast costume change dictated many of my choices. My inspiration came from a portrait of Marguerite de Valois (from the "Galerie Française de Femmes Célèbre"). Since this was my first 16th C. costume and I had neither the ability nor the time to figure out the sleeves, I used another portrait for a guide (Eléonore d'Autriche). I also used a painting of a young Medici girl for ideas for attaching the over-sleeves.

For the underskirt and the gown skirt, I used the "Shakespeare in Love" pattern, with some minor edits. I drafted my own bodice, sleeve, and partlet patterns-often at 2:00 a.m., draping and taping on myself. A dress form is on my wish list!

I had the luxury of shopping for beautiful fabrics and trim (in Seattle). The underskirt is a gorgeous blue taffeta. The navy velvet used for the gown/sleeves and the forepart brocade were ordered from Ethan Allen Furniture Co. Both are medium weight; the velvet had the advantage of no nap and no blue fuzz-balls when cut! The under-sleeves are heavy silk and I created an inner-sleeve of a stiffer fabric to help hold the silk out. The partlet is a very sheer fake silk. The trims are all from Nancy's Sewing basket; most are French. I'm most proud of my French hood, also copied from a painting I found on the web. You can see it on the bottom left corner of A Festive Attyre's Homepage!

I made the forepart as a separate piece, partly for the ease of hand sewing all the pearls. It is basted onto the underskirt. The bodice is fully boned-again, this was a choice based on a fast costume change. The sleeves were a matter of trial and error and racing the clock. The over-sleeves are fastened to jeweled buttons with very-narrow black elastic cord-not period, but practical for rigorous dance performances! All trim, pearls, the parlet, and the French hood were hand sewn. The tiny ruffs on the parlet and cuffs were made to be in scale with my size, more than to match the painting (and they aren't really ruffs). I did research period lace and looked for a reasonable match. I still have more trim to add around the bottom, to match the 7 pieces of trim that run down the front of the skirt, plus some additional work on the lining, etc.

The French hood base (see photo) was a great find from the wedding section of a fabric store. I just tried on every one they had, until I found one that fit down over my ears a bit. I used buckram to form the actual curved "hood" piece, covered it with satin brocade. The pleated ribbon was also a great find. The pearls were couched on with gold metallic thread. I made a snood rather than a veil, as my hair had to be pinned up ready for my Baroque wig (it's made of 2 layers of different weights of chiffon-y stuff, for the color and opaqueness I wanted).

I've learned so much more about period construction in the past year, but I'm still pretty happy with this gown-especially as a comfortable, performance costume.