Flemish Working-Class Dress

This dress was inspired by Drea Leed's marvelous research on working women's dress in 16th century Flanders. After catching the Flemish bug from this article, I then spent several months researching and constructing this gown, and I am just thrilled with the results! For the first time, I feel like I have made historical clothing instead of a historical costume... and that's a great feeling for an authenticity junkie like me! If you are interested in reading my random thoughts on the making of this dress, I have also written up my own little commentary about my experiences.

trying out various "working-woman" poses...

me with a strange hat and a bit of a aura!		the original design sketch

better views of the gown and kirtle construction

Most of the info about the overgown can be found in the article on construction, but let me just mention a few other points not covered there. The smock and partlet are made out of handkerchief-weight linen, and you can see better views of them and find out about the pattern used on the undergarments page. The kirtle is made out of lightweight russet wool and lined with pale green cotton duck. I originally tried making the bodice just with canvas interlining and no boning, but I ended up adding some spring-steel boning strips to the front because without it, I was getting a big ugly crease under my bust line. In addition to wearing it with my Flemish outfit, I had hoped to also use the kirtle as a petticoat-bodies garment to be worn beneath other gowns, and with this front boning, it works just as well as a corset and is much more comfortable! The kirtle has a back closure with hand bound eyelets and a low, V-neck back. The bodice was made from the Tudor bodice pattern in Jean Hunnisett's Period Costume for Stage and Screeen, and the skirt is gored with a few pleats controlling the fullness in the back. I had originally planned on using the russet wool for the overdress and peach linen for the kirtle, but I changed my mind after noticing quite a few pink or peach gowns being worn by women in the Flemish genre paintings. The overgown is laced in front with worsted wool twill tape, my hair is wrapped with Dutch linen tape, and the hat is a woven straw panama hat with a tall brim that is now folded in on itself and basted down (you can see my husband wearing it in its original state in this picture).