I have always liked Saxon Gowns, they have a different look from the French and English gowns of the early 16th century, they have interesting construction puzzles, and an excuse to use several yards of velvet and fancy fabric is always a good thing.

After going back and forth with a friend on just how these gowns were put together, looking at lots and lots of paintings, and seeing what other costumers have done I decided to make one for myself.

I picked up some brown velveteen for cheap along with some jacquard in a similar color and started plotting.

I started a pinterest board for Cranach styled gowns to get an overview of what style elements I wanted to incorporate.

I have always been fond of the tall collared styled gowns and I haven’t seen many of them recreated so that is what I set my sights on.

I dug out my tall collared doublet pattern to use as a base for the bodice, this version of the patterns has a few issues so it would need a bit of adjustment to get things right.

One of the issues with my doublet pattern, too tall in the collar and the base of the neck is too wide.

Doublet pattern base

I cut out a mock-up in muslin adjusted the collar and the back of the neck.

That basted in place I put it on my dress form and marked where the bust point fell on the form.

But when I tried the mock-up on, where I marked the bust point on the form, is not where my bust point is. This is important as I’m using the bust point as a marker for where the edge of the gowns fall.

So I marked on the mock-up where my bust point hit. This also gives me the basis for how wise the front gap will be in the finished gown. Once that was marked I trued up my edges and starting at the bust point flared the front out to form the collar, and I am left with a pretty good base for the gown bodice. The only thing left to adjust is the back collar.

Flaring the collar out, starting at the bust point

Saxon Gown bodice mock-up

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

If the embed doesn’t work, http://youtu.be/JdCsH4QUJBY

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

Finished my 95% hand sewn ruff, and ready to try starching for the first time.

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

Pattern Adjustments and Mock-ups

To me this is the annoying and tedious part of sewing, but once it is done we will have a bodice pattern that fits and we can use for various projects. If you already have a block pattern by all means use it. I’m starting from the beginning because this is stuff I wish I knew when I was starting out.

Materials:

Pencil
A small scrap of cardboard
Tape
Measuring tape
A long Ruler
Paper to trace your pattern on
Muslin or calico for Mock-up(s)
Scissors
Narrow Elastic or Ribbon
Tracing Wheel (optional)
A pin

Measurements:

To start we need a few measurements, so take a second to change into a fitted knit top and if you wear extra support under your garb put that on too. I’m wearing modern jeans to show where where your waist is not.

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Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

Nicolas_de_Neufchâtel – Susanna Stefan (died 1594), wife of Wolff Furter (1538? – 1594) of Nuremberg, National Gallery London

I have a confession to make, I am not a huge fan of pink. It is a fine color and I can wear it without looking ill but in my day-to-day life it is rather absent.

Yet a  great deal of my costumes and historical clothing however are pink. I didn’t really notice it at first, until someone suggested that I should make the pink gown in the Neufchatel painting.

Then I noticed, I did have at least 3 or 4 gowns that were pink.  Be it by fate, or accident, of the by-product of digging through the clearance rack and looking for something useable.

I’ve found silk on sale, it was pink, I found a linen blend that was pink. I also managed to some how color match the linen to wool bought half a year later from a different store. I’ve tossed tables cloths and tan fabric into a scarlet and wine dye bath and they too all ended up some shade of pink.

Rose, Salmon, Cranberry, Azalea, Raspberry. Or more Elizabethan names, Maiden’s Blush, Carnation, Lusty Gallant.

The color is haunting me or hunting me with every project I make.

I resisted at first, maybe I could make it in a different color? Yet most of the fabric in my stash is already set aside for other projects, and I realized I picked up the perfect scrap of velvet for the gown trim a week ago.

I found a damaged silk blend sari for cheap, it should get here in a few weeks. Until then I have time to plan and plot. This is not my usual area of sewing, I usually stick to England and Spain. I’ve read a ton of dress diaries over the years so I know a few bits of terminology but I may get something things mixed up.  I have a black velvet purse I could use for the bust band (brustfleck?) that has bullion embroidery on it, or I have a few other ideas on how to make something similar.

A few details from the painting:

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

Awesome Banner to use if you are playing along! Just have it link to: http://centuries-sewing.com/category/kirtle-sew-along/

So I posted about this on Facebook and on the Renn. costume forum but forgot to post about it here. Opps.

I’ve made a lot of kirtles, in various ways, with various materials and stiffening. I’ve also answered a lot of questions about kirtles, and while I will be the first to tell you I’m not the end all be all fount of kirtle information, I have learned a great deal about them.

I’ve decided to host a kirtle sew along, and go step by step on how I make a basic 16th century kirtle. This will help people just starting out, middle of the road sewers and maybe the experts will pick up a few tricks. I’m going to be posting in a mixture of photos, written instructions and if the weather cooperates, video.

I’m not going to hand sew this one, I tend to use the sewing machine where it will not show and hand finish the parts that will.

Wool! Twill! Calico! Linen!

General Materials needed:

I’m giving a rough idea in the amounts listed if you are taller than average or plan to heavily preshrink your fabrics add more yardage.

4 to 5 yards of wool

4 to 5 yards linen for lining or just 2 yards of linen if only lining the bodice and sleeves

1 to 2 yards of twill/drill/canvas for interlining

 2 to 4 yards muslin/calico for flatlining and mock ups

Matching embrodiery thread for eyelets

A roll of paper for patterning, or newspaper can work in a pinch..

Tracing wheel

Awl

Chalk

Hand sewing needles, pins and so forth.

Lacing strips for fitting.

Pattern:

Simplicity pattern 3723

After much debate, I decided to use a store bought pattern as a base.  Not everyone has a fitted bodice block, nor does everyone have access to a printer to print one out, or a dress form for draping.

Simplicity 3723 and 2354 is a basic costume pattern in a good range of sizes, the “Pilgrim” dress  has waist darts and bust darts but no other fancy shaping so it is ideal for adapting. And in the U.S. with Halloween coming up they usually put the patterns on sale.

I’ll cover rotating out the darts, adapting the pattern to a curved front bodice, trouble shoot any fitting issues as best I can and any other things that might come up.

I haven’t worked with commercial patterns for a long time so this will be a refresher course for me.

We will be ignoring the pattern instructions, if you have a similar pattern in your stash, feel free to use it instead.

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

I finally got around to making a mock-up of the jacket pattern I scaled up last year. I thought it would be fun to see the jacket straight from the scaled up pattern on a body. I’m wearing it over my Elizabethan shirt, kirtle and red petticoat, it is just pinned and basted together in the photos. I’m a wee bit smaller than Margaret, so I will need to do some fitting along the side back seams and along the sleeves, she had much longer arms than I.

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Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

Write up and photos are here

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

Skirt front basted in place

Knife pleats in the back

Hand bound eyelets in green silk, once the skirt is attached I have 4 more to sew.

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.

This is a budget kirtle (total cost for materials maybe 30 bucks?) made for a friend who lives several states away.
I had a chance to do one unplanned fitting on her of a mock-up from old measurements, I pinned the heck out of it, scribbled a few notes, and took it away with me back to Florida to come up with this. This is a test kirtle because I now have some wool to make her another one, and would rather work out any other fitting issues before I cut into the good stuff.

It is a cranberry colored linen/rayon blend that my camera hates to photograph and I can’t seem to color correct to a shade near what it should be. It should look more like this:

Not hot pink or barbie pink. The skirt is one I finished some time ago,  it laces to the bodice through eyelets on each side and has a hidden side pocket.

The  bodice is interlined with cotton twill and lined with more cotton. There is no boning and hopefully it should keep her comfortable and supported.

I ended up piecing the bodice shoulder straps to allow for a bit of custom tweaking based on some fit issues we had, if the straps are a touch too long the squares are easy to unpick and the straps can be whip stitched back together. The sleeves are just pinned on in the photos, once the shoulder straps are finalized the eyelets can be put in.

All that I really have left to do is make more fingerloop braid for the sleeve lacing and the skirt to bodice lacing.

Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.