Mistress Kate's
Folly
or
I really shouldn't
have made this!
But it was fun! And
that, ultimately, is why I sew! I started this because I was
jealous! I saw all the fun of the Faire, and it was happening in the
States, and I couldn't get there. I've always like historical dress, and
always intended to make another mediaeval gown to follow one I made a few years
back that danced in the Great Hall at Belvoir Castle...
Well I got to thinking, and
I decided that as Sunday afternoon is 'my' time, and I can do what I like, I was
going to have a go at a 'ren faire garb' costume. Nothing fancy to start
with: just a simple chemise, a bodice and a big skirt: the 'wench'
uniform! With all our recent expenses (cat's busted leg [he did a
Beckham!], a friends wedding [new dress & shoes for me, new clothes for
James, waistcoat for same] and the extra trips north to visit Alan's dad after
his triple by-pass), this kit HAD to be done entirely from fabric/sewing
stash! Not even the thread could be bought!
The first thing to look
for was a suitable pattern to play with: I found one that used to fit
well, before the days of the cherub, and thought that as I was never going to
wear it again, and I'd used it 3 or 4 times already, I could sacrifice it to a
good cause... Then I found some excellent instructions for altering a
princess line top into a more historically accurate pattern shape on Dawn's
Costume Pages. These worked well, and I soon had a pattern.
The next thing to do was
have a hunt through the stash to find suitable fabrics and fixings...
First I found some loom
state calico: quite substantial, and it had been through a boil wash. It
was left over from doing some costumes for Dr Faustus in 2001, so was even paid
for by someone else! It would make a good lining, I thought. I also
found a nice bit of rusty orange fabric. This was a left over bit from the
costume that was never used in the Hotel California outing earlier this year,
and it had originally been given to me by a friend. It is a light weight
ladies suiting in a linen weave polyester: looks authentic enough, and you'd
never know to feel it, but the giveaway is that it doesn't crease!
Hey! It was free too! I then needed an interlining of a stiffish
sort, so I had a hunt about and found this really stiff cotton canvas that
is like cardboard, so I used that. I bought it years ago out of an
overdeveloped sense of curiosity, and it was something like 50p a meter, so I
had nothing to lose there!
I also hunted out a few bits
of white cotton for the chemise, and had a look for some suitable skirt
fabric...
Then I really got
started... First I did the bodice, as this was the most complex bit of the
kit.
The
Bodice!
| Alan was making a model
of the Death Star on the dining room table, so I had to cut out on the
sewing room floor... Not a lot of room there! I also had
to remove extraneous bits of thread from the fabric before sewing...
The fabric is folded across the
width, to give me the two selvages down the front, and a fold for the
middle of the back. I couldn't quite fit it in the other way, even
with a seam down the middle of the back, and I wanted to avoid this.
Because of the weave, it's only noticeable if you look hard and know what
you're looking for! |
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Sewing up the
seams! I used a size 90 needle as the canvas interfacing was so
thick and stiff. Not so easy to sew, but great for holding shape
once the thing is made! |
| The advantages of
accurate seaming: the garment turns out the right size! Now that's
straight... |
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Once all the seams were
sewn, I had to clip the seam allowances round the neck/front/bottom, and
the armholes, turn them to the inside and tack/baste them down. This
held them in place ready for inserting the boning and the lining. |
| The boning has
history! It was given to me by a friend, and it came out of the
hooped petticoat of her 1960's Big White Meringue wedding dress. It
is the only bit left! The stuff is white painted clock spring type
steel, and I cut it with a pair of otherwise useless scissors! |
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I squidged it into place
down the front of the bodice, then tacked/basted it in place.
It was later sewn with a line of machine stitching to prevent it sliding around inside the front of the bodice, and escaping to
poke me in the ribs! |
| The lining pinned in all
the way round. This has to be done slightly inside the very edge on
the inside, so that it doesn't show on the outside. |
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Sewing in the lining: I
did this with a medium sized slip-stitch (about 4 stitches to the
inch). I sewed this in by hand as the shoulders were too narrow and
the interlining too stiff to allow me to pull through using the
'waistcoat' method. |
| Experimenting on some
off cuts: eyelet practicing!
The first ones were not so hot, but
later they got much better! See the eyelet plate seated in the
stitch plate? Under it I lowered the feed teeth. I found that
going slowly made a better finish than going too fast! You soon get
the trick of turning at an even rate... The difficult thing was
cutting a nice even hole in the multiple layers of fabric - oh, and
remembering to lower the presser foot lever, even though there's no foot
on the machine! It's the tension, you know...
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Once they were as good
as I could get them, I had to put them all down the front of the
bodice! Measuring and marking accurately takes as little time as
doing it badly, and looks better! |
| Et voila!
Looks OK, dunnit? Not quite
'sell to customer' standard, but not too bad for a first
attempt! |
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Well, it looks OK, but
there were several things I wasn't wholly satisfied with:
Bodice length: it needs to be longer: it
only just reaches my waist, despite having adjusted it for length on the
original pattern. All I read states they had a longer torso profile,
and pictures bear this out. Suits me: might make me look a tad less
wide...
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It needs to be tighter:
about an inch tighter at the bust level, and 3 inches tighter at the
waist. As it is, there's insufficient bust support because it's not
tight enough! Instead of being squashed into the correct cone shape,
with cleavage under the chin, I slide down and get flattened (well, as far
as I can be flattened!
The shoulder seams need to be longer: these
worked out as very narrow straps!
The armholes are way too big!
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This is what the pattern looks
like now I have altered it!
I took out the extra inch added at the sides
because the pattern was 'too small' according to my measurements.
I took another chunk off the back half of
the side seam at the waist, tapering up to the bust line.
I raised the armscye at the side seam by two
whole inches! I also widened the shoulder straps by two
inches. As the pattern now stands, the circumference of the armscye
is 16 1/2 inches, which is closer to a historical 'norm' for my size.
I added 1 1/2" to the length at the
midriff.
I lowered the front neckline by an inch, as
it was a bit too modest for a wench outfit!
I removed the facing allowance from the
center front, which will mean I can fit the eyelets closer to the front
boning.
Next time I make this up, I shall try boning
the side seams as well as the center front.
|
I do love the digital camera for this
sort of project. I can take as many pictures as I like, and plonk them into
place really quickly.
If you have any ideas or
want to ask any questions, hit the feedback link on Kate's index page.
A whole chunk of research
confirmed a deeply held suspicion that the 'wench' uniform was more a
fantasy outfit than a real set of clothing any self respecting woman or girl of
the 16th or 17th centuries might have worn... However, I am determined to
make this kit through to the end - it may be as period as a fax machine, but it
is a lot of fun! My 'court dress' in lilac cotton and silk satin will be
more accurate in all but colour - and that will be unusual rather than unheard
of! It did make me giggle to read all this stuff about how this that or
the other wasn't 'period' and one needed to do XYZ instead - which was also
about as authentic as sliced bread. Still, the research was fun, and at
the end I'll give you a few links to some of the really nifty stuff I found on
my way...
The
Chemise!
For the
basic Wench chemise, I have yet to find a better or clearer set of instructions
than those on Dawn's Costume Pages, so this is what I followed. The fabric
is a white cotton poplin with a fairly high thread count. It's a more
substantial cloth than I would usually use for this sort of job, but it was in
the stash, and has been there so long I can't remember buying it! It's probably
no more than 5 years old, though I do own cloth at least 4 times that
age... First cut your rectangles. Then...
The trouble with this project is
that I put it away because I had more important things to do. Now I'm
gearing up for a big costume thing, and have a lined customer dress to do by the
end of next week, and what am I doing? A wench kit that may never be worn
in anger! Typical!
The
Skirt!
Doing this
is quite good fun, really! I hunted through the stash, brought down a pile
of bits to look through, and finally decided that:
a: The bit
of dark khaki cotton drill was a good colour, but far too nice a fabric to play
with on a purely experimental project...
b: The 6 m
long 60" wide charcoal gray light weight suiting might just end up in suits
for the next play - we need 4 of those sixties collarless Beetles things
with the slit pockets and 4 buttons up the front, coupled with drainpipe
trousers!
c: The
nearly green with a faint gray stripe poly/something (can't remember if it's
wool, viscose or cotton!) in two 1.5 m by 60" wide was just what was
needed! I didn't like it enough to do anything else for me with it, and my
darling husband didn't like it much either... As for young James -
'Ugh! NO. Mum - preserve me from the horrible trouser fabric!' was the
polite end of his comments... It's not that bad! I have
MUCH uglier fabric in the stash!
This last
bit of fabric had the added advantage of being cheap! It was part of a
bundle of 'skirt lengths' from Croft Mill. They do these things in bundles
of four 1.5 m lengths for £10, or two bundles of four for £15. I'd
bought these two bundles together, asking for two with the same fabrics in them
so I got 3 m of the same fabric in two lengths. This works out at 80p per
metre - dead cheap! A good weight without being too heavy.
Cut skirt
lengths needed to be 42", and this left me with enough over to make another
bodice with the modified pattern... Mebbe next week, hn? This will
be a wide skirt, with a combined fabric width of 120". There may be
enough left for sleeves or possibly a pouch and hat. We shall see!
Still a Work
In Progress...
| Having
cut all the boring bits and made up the waistband (with some ancient
fold-a-band that took AGES to fuse!), I had to pleat the skirt onto
it. I used a soft thumb measured pinch pleat - it doesn't need to be
100% accurate, and I could do it quickly. |
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I then sewed them
down to the waistband - over the pins! I bend a lot of pins this
way, but it's still easier and quicker than anything else! |
| Every
now and again, you need to slip a pin out and ease in a little ruckle...
Not hard, but you need to be careful not to sew your fingers! |
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Serging the edges
of the waistband and skirt! I'm not sewing this one down by hand on
the inside, mate! |
| FLUFF!
AKK! Now you see why I vacuum out the serger after every project! |
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To tidy up the
chained ends of your serged seam/finish... |
| Thread
the tail through a large darning needle, |
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slip it through
an inch or so of stitches, and |
| snip
off the end! |
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See! All
tidy on the inside, and less danger of it raveling. |
| Hemming
on the machine with the blind hem stitch and the adjustable blind hem foot
is easy once you have the knack. Line up the needle and the foot so
the 'bight' of the needle just takes a thread or two... |
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Just like
this! It takes a bit of practice, and is better on thicker fabrics
like this, but you can get excellent results. |
| Looks
nice and neat on the inside... |
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Stitches?
What Stitches? They are there, I assure you! They show up
better on the real thing, where you can lift them up and get your nose
right in there! |
| And
the back's all finished off nicely! |
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And so is the
front! There are LOTS of pins holding it together at the waist for
the pictures because the dress stand is a little small for the outfit, and
the waist is a tad long - like mine! I really will have to hook it
together if I wear it for real! |
OK! It's
done! Was it worth it? Well it was quite a lot of fun to do, and it
wasn't difficult - especially the chemise and skirt! There's enough of the
skirt fabric left to have another go at the bodice, but it will have to wait
until I've done four bridesmaid dresses, a wedding gown, some jackets and a few
other things... Like the Row Robin quilt I'm involved with - international
quilting rocks! (Hehehehehe!)
Things I need to do to
make future outfits fit me:
Take in/re-do the
waistband on the skirt - I lost a stone recently, and intend to loose a couple
more!
Make a better fitting
bodice!
Try a lighter weight
fabric for the chemise - this is nice and sturdy, but a little too sturdy for
the purpose!
Here are a bunch of nice
links so you can go costume spotting and see some MUCH more accurate and
inspiring things:
Dawn's Costume Guide:
http://www.reddawn.net/costume/index.html
Very useful for ren fair garb makers, nice photos,
and helpful when you contact her.
http://www.faucet.net/costume/index.html
Some
excellent costume stuff, including how to goffer a ruff with curling tongs!
http://www.tudor-portraits.com/
Extremely
useful details from pictures of real people!
Seamstrix: Period costumes for the Modern World: http://members.tripod.com/seamstrix/
This one's nice! Very competent seamstress with nice ideas and photos.
Drea: The Elizabethan Costuming Page ( http://costume.dm.net/
). ©1997-2000
Everyone in the Elizabethan costume making game should have this book
marked! It leads to all sorts of other good stuff!
http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/irish/shinrone.html
Very nicely documented bit of real historical
research.
Margo Anderson: One Tough Costumer: http://www.directcon.net/wander/main.htm
I wish I was this good! I have now dissolved
into a virulent green greasy puddle on the carpet with envy! ;P Fabulous
things! Definitely what to aspire to! http://www.margospatterns.com/mainframe.htm
Patterns
from Margo! Wonderful! I'm ordering from here, I'm telling you all
now! Partisan? You bet! ;)
http://www.sempstress.org/
More
nice costume pix and ideas. Another professional at work, and do look at
the bit on dressing a queen - lovely gown!
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