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See, by using these direction instead of buying a commercial pattern, you got a custom fitted piece and you saved anywhere between 5$ and 45$. If you send me some of that, I can afford the time to work in this site, instead of working on paying gigs. And we all win.
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People have nicely shared costumes made with the help of these instructions:
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The kirtle is sort of a general purpose under-dress. Kirtles with fitted bodies are seen in paintings of the lower classes, and referenced in the wardrobe warrants of Queen Elizabeth. (I think we can safely guess that the queen had nicer ones than the peasants.) They can also be worn as a standalone dress, they're terribly comfortable, and they give the sort of "look" people think of when they think of a nice lower to middle class elizabethan dress.
 A design sketch, showing seam placement. |
 I start the bodies from the front, by pinning the straight edge of the muslin along the center front mark of the dummy. |
 Next, I smooth the muslin over the dummy, pinning it down as I go along. The muslin is slightly stretched at this point, so the pins are pretty necessary. I'm pinning out the bottom curve of the bodice as I go -- otherwise, you get some nasty wrinkles to deal with. |
 The muslin is smoothed all the way over to the side seam. I've also finished the curve at the bottom of the bodice. |
 I've pinned in the outline of the strap and arched neckline. To make sure the neckline is right, I'm using my "modesty" mark (the pink ribbon pinned across the dummy's chest). |
 The front piece of the bodies, trimmed along the pin lines. |
 The front piece, after trimming, from the side so you can see the side seam and the curve around the armscye. I cut the armscye fairly high, because I find you get a better silhouette that way. |
I'll be using a straight panel for the pleated skirt. I usually arrange the pleats roughly with my fingers to try to get some idea how many I will need. |
Once I know how many pleats I need, I pin them in neatly along the lower edge of the bodies. |
The
top line of the skirt is made by cutting the pleats along the bottom of
the bodies. |
The
front of the skirts, before cutting along the hemline. |
| The
finished front skirt. |
Just so you don't panic when you look at your pieces later, this really is what the top front of the skirt will look like. The weird jagged pattern is from the pleats, which are cut along a curve (the front of the bodice). No worries. You see the same thing in any commercial pattern for a dress with a pleated skirt matched up to a vandyked waist. ;)
|
 Starting the back bodice. Again, I start by pinning a straight edge of muslin to the center line in the dummy. |
 And, again, I'm smoothing the fabric over towards the side seam, pinning it down as I go. I'm also pinning in the back neckline (a shallow scoop) and the waistline as I go. |
 The back piece, trimmed along the pin lines. |
 Shown from the side, you can now see the full armscye. Period armscyes tend to be smaller than modern ones, and that's an odd adjustment to make in your head when you're making patterns. |
The back pleats, pinned in. These don't really require any fancy trimming, as the back bodice is pretty darn flat along the waistline. |
The full back skirt panel, before being cut at the hem. |
The full back, trimmed to the proper hem length. |
The
full kirtle, viewed from the side. This gives you some idea what a the
silhouette of a kirtle made with this pattern would look like. Pretty
stylin', huh? ;) |
