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| velvet before and after dyeing |
I'm still not finished with the final nit-picky details of the doublet yet, but I was getting really bogged down and frustrated with that thing, so I decided to give myself a change of pace and skip ahead to the outer gown for a few weeks. I went to the fabric warehouse district in Dallas this weekend and found some wonderful 60" cotton velvet for $5.99 a yard. The only hitch was that it was a really obnoxious fuchscia color. But I love dyeing fabric, so I bought it anyway and thought it would be really easy to dye it black. (Okay, okay... those of you who have tried dying something black with Rit - quit laughing! So I was a little naive!) Anyway, to make a long story short, I discovered that dyeing something black with non-professional dyes is quite a feat... but I managed to do it in the end. It just took 2 days and 9 packages of black, dark green, brown, and yellow dye. (don't ask - it has something to do with complimentary colors) So honestly, I probably didn't save much money by buying the cheap fuchsia velvet, but I had fun and I'm thrilled with the color I ended up with. Most black fabrics are a very cool blue-based black, which looks "fake" to my picky color sensibilities. But my home-brew black is actually more of a deep ebony with smokey plum highlights. The shadows still read as black, but the highlights are really warm and rich and earthy... which just makes me giddy as a school girl every time I look at it!
So once I had the color right, I went ahead and started cutting things out. I'm using the Alcega pattern for a "skirt and bodice of cloth", which is perfect for this project since the layout was designed for 60" wide fabric. Without sleeves, this gown only takes 3 yards of fabric to make. You gotta love those frugal 16th century tailors! I only ran into one problem - I didn't check the direction of the nap at first, so I cut out the front of the skirt upside down. But luckily, I had a bit of extra fabric to work with, so I had enough room to flip the skirt pieces around on the remaining fabric and use the messed up piece for the bodice. *whew* That was a close one!
Now I am about half-way through the process of assembling the skirt. It's lined with some Habotai silk that I dyed along with the velvet, and I added a narrow strip of wool felt to the hem to give it a little more fullness. It's going together really nicely, and I should be able to finish up the skirt sometime this week.
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Well, this is the last week before we go to faire, so I'm doing my best to finish this thing up over my long 3-day weekend. The doublet is completely finished, so now I'm assembling the overgown. I'm using the Alcega high-necked gown pattern for the bodice and collar. There is a double layer of linen for the interlining, and I lightly boned the front with some smaller hemp cord. My channels are still spaced with the presser foot of my sewing machine, but now I'm putting 4 cords per channel, flattening them out, and then stitching over them all with a zigzag stitch to lock them in place. Here's a picture so you can get a general ideal of the pattern shapes and boning placement. The collar is also heavily boned with the hemp cord. This has been working great! It holds the shape really well, but it much easier to work with than wire or anything else you would use to stiffen a flared collar.
Next I'm going to sew on the fur lining and attach the skirt. Whee! I'm actually having fun again!
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I just attached the skirt to the bodice of the gown, so while I was checking hem placement, I though I would take a quick picture. Not too shabby! Although you can't see it in this picture, the back of the skirt is pleated with a hand gathering stitch - sortof like cartridge pleating, but smaller and less regular. I used the Alcega pattern again for the skirt, and it isn't very full, but it looks just like the skirts in portraits from this time and location.
I don't think I'll have time to attach the
shoulder rolls before this weekend, but I don't think it looks too bad without them. Now for fur and buttons...
10/23/03
More gory details:
Well, I think many of you have already seen the pictures from this past weekend of the first wearing of this gown, but I wanted to back-track a bit and give some more info about the fur and shoulder tabs. I mentioned this earlier in the diary, but the fur came from a "mink" stole (I'm pretty sure it isn't really mink, but it still looks and feels really nice). I had a devil of a time sewing the fur on in places, but it got much easier as I went. Some of the fur edging is entirely hand-sewn, some is machine sewn to a silk lining and whip-stitched to the edges, and some is machine sewn directly to the gown. I still haven't decided which method works the best, but overall, it was easier than I thought it would be. But ye gods... you should see the mess it made of my living room! There was fur everywhere!
The shoulder tabs were a late night quick-fix just to make the thing wearable for that weekend. I ended up attaching them in the hotel the night before I wore it. In truth, they are a bit sloppier than I would like, and I plan to take them off and move them further off the shoulder so I can add the third row of tabs. And while I am at it, I think the small row of tabs needs to be a little smaller too. (Okay, so yes, I realize they look good already and I'm crazy for re-doing it, but you gotta understand - I'm really having fun trying to make this thing look exactly like the picture!) Anyway, the tabs are lined with linen and have a canvas interning. They are stiff enough to stand up on their own, and I attached them by hand-stitching the tabs to a small sleeve-cap.
So that leaves me with just a few relatively minor steps to finish it all up. Here's my final "to-do" list:
Oh, and I almost forgot - I also bought new shoes to wear with this outfit! I accidentally left my
own shoes at home, so I had to drive back to the nearest Walmart to pick up another pair. I totally lucked
out and I adore the shoes I bought! They are incredibly comfortable, leather,
look slightly period, and only cost $18. You gotta love Walmart.
