DD: The final chapter
Nov. 11th, 2009 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzWelcome back to the dress diaries. Previous posts in this dress diary:
The prelude
Part I
Part II
Part III - Mock-up three, or: how canvas really does stretch
Part IV - Sidetracking with academic cleavage.
Part V - Bodys' wear and tear
Part VI - I'm not slacking, I'm sidetracking. Really!
Part VII - My first venture with dupioni silk;
Part VIII - Of boning and binding;
Part IX - Loads of obsolete handsewing;
Part X - The final chapter. (That's this post!)
Last Monday I posted what I had hoped would have been the last chapter of the dress, but since editing pictures until after midnight is not my forte, I chose to post about the last bits of the dress, and the last bits of the accessoiries in one go. So here it is: the final chapter for this dress diary, Part X, the finished product.
Before I dive into the pictures, here's some statistics: The entire project took a little over six months, but I wasn't sewing continuously on the project. I made three mock-ups for the bodys and one for the dress. I took more than 300 pictures during the process, of which 88 have been published in these dress diaries through Flickr. I received 124 comments on the ten previous posts, including those on the prelude and my replies to other people's comments, but not counting comments on my entries about this project in the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
advanced_sewing community.
And I still haven't got a picture of me wearing the finished product...I'm sure someone this weekend will oblige!
The last entry focused on the fiasco of attaching the skirts for the first time. I wasn't happy with the bulge in the bodice fabric, but I could have lived with it. However, the ridge around my torso at navel-height was less easy to accept. I don't need an equator, orbiting stellar phenomena or Saturn's rings. I just want a pretty dress.
You can imagine how disappointed I was on Saturday night, after so many hours of handsewing. So it will probably not surprise you I don't have any pictures at all of me ripping the skirts off again, nor of how I fixed the situation.
I decided to then just evenly divide the fabric of the skirts around the bodice. I had already figured out that if I were to pleat the wool on the top of the bodice, and the linen on the bottom of the bodice, and I'd sew through all the layers, the raw edges of the skirt would be captured between the two layers of the skirt, keeping them safe from unravelling. Envisioning this 3D challenge was hard enough.
Executing it was even harder. Make no mistake, 4,4 meters of fabric is a lot of fabric, and because I decided not to gore my skirts, the bulk at the bottom would be the same mass as the bulk at the top. My corseted waist may not be as slim as some other people's waistlines, but it's still a lot smaller than the total hem of 4,4 meters.
You can imagine I had some trouble pleating everything properly.
I tried box pleating, but I couldn't figure it out. I am terrible at calculating pleats, and with the skirt measuring some 4,5 times my waist, I tried and tried and tried... and failed to make the pleats work.
Oh well. As Star Trek played in the background, I divided, and I conquered.
Divide & conquer is the more common term for just dividing your fabric evenly around the bodice bottom. Pin either side, then take the middle and pin this. Take the middle of the middle and pin. Take the middle of this, and pin.
It's hard enough with so much fabric, but I didn't only have the wool on my hands, but the linen too.
But if I'm not a patient girl, I am a very stubborn one and I was determined to get those bloody skirts attached. I persevered, I cursed, I divided and indeed, I conquered. I finished pleating the skirts, I sank down behind my sewing machine to sew everything, and promptly broke two needles on the bulk. Of course, several layers of wool scrunched together on one end, and several layers of linen scrunched together on the other, with only one layer of each and a bit of twill tape in between, was a bit much for even the best of sewing machines (and I'm not claiming my Pfaff is that brilliant).
A jeans needle helped me through it, though. And when I was done, I was so tired I really didn't want to try on the dress any more.
Still, I needed to finish the hem. And to finish the hem I would first need to know where to hem. NoKey put me on a chair and carefully pinned everything while I tried to remain still.
Quite pleased with the result!
Luckily, this time there was no asteroid belt around my waist, and the skirts behaved marvelously! Now you can see just how tall I am... that's a very long skirt. True, my waistline is a bit higher than it actually is in this dress.
But the thing that pleased me the most, after seeing that the skirts behaved, was that the bodice was as smooth as glass. No bulging or puckering at all! Hurrah!
After cutting the extra fabric off the hem, some four centimeters (I have pictures of this too, should anyone want to be bored by them), I folded the linen lining over, encasing the raw edges inside. You could of course treat the two layers as one, but with the wool being more stretchy I was very afraid I'd get a baggy hem at some point. That's why I decided to hem the two layers seperately.
The hem was cut at the height I wanted it, more or less, to fall. The linen lining was hemmed at 5 centimeters, encasing the raw edges inside.
The wool exterior received a minimal hem, and I hemmed it by adding a final guard around the bottom. I sewed the guard on the inside of the wool, right side (of the velvet) to wrong side (of the wool). Then I flipped everything over, and stitched the guard down on the exterior. It's this kind of 3D thinking that's sometimes tricky when sewing.
No further zig-zagging or serging is necessary as the raw edge of the wool is stuck inside the guard.
You can just see the raw edge of the wool peeping out
I didn't have enough velvet tape to add a second guard, and then I realised this might be a good thing: if Marianne develops further, I might add a second guard around the hem later. Further development of the character can trigger further development of the costume, by adding a hat, a doublet and perhaps even an English robe (in velvet... I can just see the headaches coming on!).
And with that, the dress was done.
But there was no rest for the wicked! It's November, it's going to be chilly, I would need a partlet to cover my shoulders. I get cold when they're bare.
The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies had just the thing.
The patterns from The Tudor Tailor are scaled 1:8, and we have a printer that can copy and enlarge. Copy from the book, copy at 200%, and then copy at 400%, and you've got a pattern at 1:1 scale. Cut off the margins, use some tape, and voila!
I used the same canvas I used for the mock-ups #1 and #2 of the bodys to make a mock-up for the partlet.
The pattern was fine, although the square neckline wasn't quite... Marianne. I tried the partlet mock-up on over my bodys and dress, and checked the placement. It came just below the guards at the neckline, and it all looked great!
On to the real thing!
Steelweaver had some scraps of velvet lying around, but I dug into my cloth pile and found a good meter, meter-and-a-half of black cotton velvet that was even a little thicker than what she gave me. The original plan was to make black brocade sleeves, with black velvet partlet lined in that same black brocade. As I looked at the brocade, I was a bit sad that I'd use it for a lining and a stupid set of sleeves, so I decided to just keep everything in the black velvet theme: partlet, sleeves and guards.
The black velvet had been in my clothjunkpile for a while and needed a good press to get rid of the creases. I always iron velvet on velvet, so the pile doesn't suffer from the ironing. The glittering things are drops of water -- 100% cotton can take a lot of heat, and this way my iron doesn't clog up with calcium. I just spray the water on the thing I need to iron and press.
The partlet was hardly any work at all, although I remembered why I hate working with velvet. The lining (a white cotton, used double because it was too sheer, also from the cloth pile) kept moving about while sewing, even though I pinned it perpendicular to the edge. *sigh*
It can do with a good pressing and perhaps some interfacing.
After the partlet, all that was left was the sleeves. I finished those off with some bias tape on the inside, and handsewed it down so the stitches are invisible from the outside. That took over an hour (2 episodes of Star Trek Voyager, though I had a Dusty in my lap for a while and we also had dinner while watching the first episode).
The partlet still needs hooks and eyes for closing, but I can always pin it down as in the following pictures. Please note that this is the finished outfit, but without the bodys as my mannequin (Esmerelda) doesn't squish.
The finished costume:
Camicia, dress, partlet and sleeves.
Camicia, dress and partlet.
Other accessoiries I have (but aren't pictured here): a brass hairclip, vintage black gloves and scarf (family heirloom, my great aunt wore them to church), a lace umbrella, my writing chest and my black cloak that Nieske wore (3/4 circle, wool lined with grey damask).
It's sure been one heck of a ride, and I learned so much! Pictures of me in the finished costume will be taken this weekend, no doubt.
The prelude
Part I
Part II
Part III - Mock-up three, or: how canvas really does stretch
Part IV - Sidetracking with academic cleavage.
Part V - Bodys' wear and tear
Part VI - I'm not slacking, I'm sidetracking. Really!
Part VII - My first venture with dupioni silk;
Part VIII - Of boning and binding;
Part IX - Loads of obsolete handsewing;
Part X - The final chapter. (That's this post!)
Last Monday I posted what I had hoped would have been the last chapter of the dress, but since editing pictures until after midnight is not my forte, I chose to post about the last bits of the dress, and the last bits of the accessoiries in one go. So here it is: the final chapter for this dress diary, Part X, the finished product.
Before I dive into the pictures, here's some statistics: The entire project took a little over six months, but I wasn't sewing continuously on the project. I made three mock-ups for the bodys and one for the dress. I took more than 300 pictures during the process, of which 88 have been published in these dress diaries through Flickr. I received 124 comments on the ten previous posts, including those on the prelude and my replies to other people's comments, but not counting comments on my entries about this project in the
advanced_sewing community. And I still haven't got a picture of me wearing the finished product...I'm sure someone this weekend will oblige!
The last entry focused on the fiasco of attaching the skirts for the first time. I wasn't happy with the bulge in the bodice fabric, but I could have lived with it. However, the ridge around my torso at navel-height was less easy to accept. I don't need an equator, orbiting stellar phenomena or Saturn's rings. I just want a pretty dress.
You can imagine how disappointed I was on Saturday night, after so many hours of handsewing. So it will probably not surprise you I don't have any pictures at all of me ripping the skirts off again, nor of how I fixed the situation.
I decided to then just evenly divide the fabric of the skirts around the bodice. I had already figured out that if I were to pleat the wool on the top of the bodice, and the linen on the bottom of the bodice, and I'd sew through all the layers, the raw edges of the skirt would be captured between the two layers of the skirt, keeping them safe from unravelling. Envisioning this 3D challenge was hard enough.
Executing it was even harder. Make no mistake, 4,4 meters of fabric is a lot of fabric, and because I decided not to gore my skirts, the bulk at the bottom would be the same mass as the bulk at the top. My corseted waist may not be as slim as some other people's waistlines, but it's still a lot smaller than the total hem of 4,4 meters.
You can imagine I had some trouble pleating everything properly.
I tried box pleating, but I couldn't figure it out. I am terrible at calculating pleats, and with the skirt measuring some 4,5 times my waist, I tried and tried and tried... and failed to make the pleats work.
Oh well. As Star Trek played in the background, I divided, and I conquered.
Divide & conquer is the more common term for just dividing your fabric evenly around the bodice bottom. Pin either side, then take the middle and pin this. Take the middle of the middle and pin. Take the middle of this, and pin.
It's hard enough with so much fabric, but I didn't only have the wool on my hands, but the linen too.
But if I'm not a patient girl, I am a very stubborn one and I was determined to get those bloody skirts attached. I persevered, I cursed, I divided and indeed, I conquered. I finished pleating the skirts, I sank down behind my sewing machine to sew everything, and promptly broke two needles on the bulk. Of course, several layers of wool scrunched together on one end, and several layers of linen scrunched together on the other, with only one layer of each and a bit of twill tape in between, was a bit much for even the best of sewing machines (and I'm not claiming my Pfaff is that brilliant).
A jeans needle helped me through it, though. And when I was done, I was so tired I really didn't want to try on the dress any more.
Still, I needed to finish the hem. And to finish the hem I would first need to know where to hem. NoKey put me on a chair and carefully pinned everything while I tried to remain still.
Quite pleased with the result!
Luckily, this time there was no asteroid belt around my waist, and the skirts behaved marvelously! Now you can see just how tall I am... that's a very long skirt. True, my waistline is a bit higher than it actually is in this dress.
But the thing that pleased me the most, after seeing that the skirts behaved, was that the bodice was as smooth as glass. No bulging or puckering at all! Hurrah!
After cutting the extra fabric off the hem, some four centimeters (I have pictures of this too, should anyone want to be bored by them), I folded the linen lining over, encasing the raw edges inside. You could of course treat the two layers as one, but with the wool being more stretchy I was very afraid I'd get a baggy hem at some point. That's why I decided to hem the two layers seperately.
The hem was cut at the height I wanted it, more or less, to fall. The linen lining was hemmed at 5 centimeters, encasing the raw edges inside.
The wool exterior received a minimal hem, and I hemmed it by adding a final guard around the bottom. I sewed the guard on the inside of the wool, right side (of the velvet) to wrong side (of the wool). Then I flipped everything over, and stitched the guard down on the exterior. It's this kind of 3D thinking that's sometimes tricky when sewing.
No further zig-zagging or serging is necessary as the raw edge of the wool is stuck inside the guard.
You can just see the raw edge of the wool peeping out
I didn't have enough velvet tape to add a second guard, and then I realised this might be a good thing: if Marianne develops further, I might add a second guard around the hem later. Further development of the character can trigger further development of the costume, by adding a hat, a doublet and perhaps even an English robe (in velvet... I can just see the headaches coming on!).
And with that, the dress was done.
But there was no rest for the wicked! It's November, it's going to be chilly, I would need a partlet to cover my shoulders. I get cold when they're bare.
The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies had just the thing.
The patterns from The Tudor Tailor are scaled 1:8, and we have a printer that can copy and enlarge. Copy from the book, copy at 200%, and then copy at 400%, and you've got a pattern at 1:1 scale. Cut off the margins, use some tape, and voila!
I used the same canvas I used for the mock-ups #1 and #2 of the bodys to make a mock-up for the partlet.
The pattern was fine, although the square neckline wasn't quite... Marianne. I tried the partlet mock-up on over my bodys and dress, and checked the placement. It came just below the guards at the neckline, and it all looked great!
On to the real thing!
Steelweaver had some scraps of velvet lying around, but I dug into my cloth pile and found a good meter, meter-and-a-half of black cotton velvet that was even a little thicker than what she gave me. The original plan was to make black brocade sleeves, with black velvet partlet lined in that same black brocade. As I looked at the brocade, I was a bit sad that I'd use it for a lining and a stupid set of sleeves, so I decided to just keep everything in the black velvet theme: partlet, sleeves and guards.
The black velvet had been in my cloth
The partlet was hardly any work at all, although I remembered why I hate working with velvet. The lining (a white cotton, used double because it was too sheer, also from the cloth pile) kept moving about while sewing, even though I pinned it perpendicular to the edge. *sigh*
It can do with a good pressing and perhaps some interfacing.
After the partlet, all that was left was the sleeves. I finished those off with some bias tape on the inside, and handsewed it down so the stitches are invisible from the outside. That took over an hour (2 episodes of Star Trek Voyager, though I had a Dusty in my lap for a while and we also had dinner while watching the first episode).
The partlet still needs hooks and eyes for closing, but I can always pin it down as in the following pictures. Please note that this is the finished outfit, but without the bodys as my mannequin (Esmerelda) doesn't squish.
The finished costume:
Camicia, dress, partlet and sleeves.
Camicia, dress and partlet.
Other accessoiries I have (but aren't pictured here): a brass hairclip, vintage black gloves and scarf (family heirloom, my great aunt wore them to church), a lace umbrella, my writing chest and my black cloak that Nieske wore (3/4 circle, wool lined with grey damask).
It's sure been one heck of a ride, and I learned so much! Pictures of me in the finished costume will be taken this weekend, no doubt.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:27 pm (UTC)Zonder gekheid: ik ben zwaar onder de indruk. Geweldige jurk, eigenlijk te mooi voor Larp. Ik zou als de dood zijn om er een vlek of een scheur in te krijgen.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:51 pm (UTC)Maar zonder gekkigheid: ik plan om hem aan te trekken naar de Midwinterfair, en ik weet dat hij niet in de wasmachine kan. Stomen, borstelen en luchten zijn de enige opties. Ik ben wel een beetje bang, maar het corset zit overal onder, en dat was nu eenmaal het meeste werk. Als ik nog een keer € 72,- voor stof en een weekendje over heb, kan ik dit zo nog een keer maken, als het nodig is.
Laten we hopen dat het niet nodig is.
En ja, ik ben zo lang. Het scheelt dat ik een corset aanheb, waardoor mijn taille slanker lijkt. En de verticale plooien helpen ook. Bovendien stond NoKey een stukje lager, dus de foto laat me ook iets langer lijken. En de jurk komt tot op de grond, wat ook weer helpt.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:53 pm (UTC)Everything is adapted from Reconstructing History 203: Elizabethan bodys. And if you don't need the bodys, try Googling for the Eleonora of Toledo dress.
Kass also has a pattern for Italian working woman's clothes, which I think might be similar to this. I have it in stock, but haven't taken a look at it yet.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 04:12 pm (UTC)I have the Cranach dress pattern from her and I must admit, it drove me fricking nuts. I never finished it. This skirt (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v610/Gersemi/Klamottenkiste/?action=view¤t=cranach0.jpg) is all I ever managed, the bodice is still half finished in a closet somewhere...
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 05:25 pm (UTC)It's still a lovely skirt, though!
Every pattern from Reconstructing History is a base, from which you must adapt. I felt it with the bodys in particular, but since I based the bodice of this dress on the bodys pattern, it's all a very good fit.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:40 pm (UTC)I can't say it enough! Beautiful!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:54 pm (UTC)I'll bring my camera as well, and I'm sure Ank will oblige. I still want to ask Theodoor (the Admiral), but he'll only arrive around midnight on Friday...
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:49 pm (UTC)Ik ben er gewoon stil van.
Stunning!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 01:56 pm (UTC)If we've got a spare moment on Friday, I could sit down with you (and your lovely wife, if she's got time) to tell you more about the pattern.
As you can read, the dress wasn't that much trouble when compared to the bodys.
Also: Google for the Eleonora of Toledo dress. The bodice shape is similar to mine, and it's very flattering (especially when worn with bodys).
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 03:49 pm (UTC)I hope the gentlemen who accompany you will get you over puddles and such...
no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 09:23 pm (UTC)(And thank you!)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-10 09:29 pm (UTC)