Pluggin' Away

I'm making progress on the green gown. I worked on the padstitching for a bit last night then again this afternoon. I got the front interlining finished then stitched on the outer fabric and lining. I took another look at the drawings of Eleanora's burial gown in Patterns of Fashion and noted that the stitching only shows along the waistline, presumably where the skirt was stitched to the bodice. Therefore, I stiched the outer and lining fabrics at the same time (making sure the thread went through the canvas layer) instead of sewing the outer fabric with a running stitch then stitching the lining over it like I did with the red and gold gown.



And I finally got a photo that shows the true colors of the fabrics!

Resurrecting the Green Wool Gown.

More than two years ago I cut out the bodice and skirt panel for the green wool gown based on based on Georgio Vasari's The Arrival of Leo X in Florence as shown on page 94 of Moda a Firenze and that was as far as I got with it. I've decided that I want to get it finished before the outdoor/camping SCA events start for the season so I pulled it out this afternoon. So far, I have cut the wool and canvas interlining layers for the bodice and begun pad-stitching them together. Tomorrow is the Grand Opening of a new JoAnn Fabrics store in my city so I am hoping to find appropriate trim to purchase with my coupons. I'll be looking for something in a dark mossy green.

I got it done!

I actually got it finished with 16 hours to spare! LOL
I got up Friday morning and started working on the hem. I adjusted the dress form so that her waist-to-floor measurment was the same as mine then pinned the hem so it was about an inch off the floor in the front making it easy for me to walk with my hands full or dance without stepping on the hem and just skimming the floor in the back so I didn't have to worry about someone stepping on a train. I had over-estimated the length when I cut the skirt panels to I had several inches of fabric turned under for the hem. Rather than cutting it off I cheated a little- instead of using a separate strip of fabric to face the hem, I turned the hem back on itself to expose about a 1/4" edge then inserted a strip of wool felt about 1 1/2" wide and stitched the hem into place and finished by snipping into the exposed edge about every 1/4" or so.

Outside:

Inside:


Since did the snipped edging at the hem I decided to go back, pick the lining loose, and add it to the neckline as well as adding it to the sleeves. I cut bias strips and sandwiched them between the outer and lining fabrics, stitched in place with a tiny running stitch, then snipped/clipped the edging. I am so glad that I took the time to do that because I really like the effect!


Since I knew that I wasn't even going to attempt to get stitched lacing eyelets done before Saturday, I went ahead and whip-stitched the right side-back opening closed. Then, to fake a laced look, I threaded a large eye needle with ribbon and sewed it over the seam using plier to pull the needle through all of the layers of fabric. I had stitched brass rings inside the edge of the left side opening for lacing but didn't like the way it pulled and exposed the lining. Since sewing the ribbon worked so well on the right side, I went ahead and sewed a lacing ribbon throught the fabric on the left. I did put the stitching through the brass rings just incase it was too much strain on the fabric. It worked like a charm! One of these days I will do the stitched eyelets but I'm in no hurry. ;)


The photos that I asked a friend to take at Val Day of me in my dress didn't turn out so I had to resort to mirror shots after I got home. The dress held up really well with just a tiny bit of creasing at the waist. Oh, I forgot to mention that I didn't need to wear my corset! And, yes, I do have blue hair.