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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.
Who's Using This?
People have nicely shared costumes made with the help of these instructions:
Peggy's Thistle
Colored Kirtle
(scroll down the page)
If you'd like to share work you've done here, please contact me. I'd love to feature your work!
The kirtle is sort of a general purpose under-dress. This particular kirtle pattern shows up in Karl Kohler's History of Costume (pg 252). It's listed as a german dress, but it's a rather neat compromise between the kirtle with fitted bodies and the gored kirtle. Now, if you're like me, and you really like to complicate your life, you love the side and back profile of the kirtle with fitted bodies, but really think the smooth front line of the gored kirtle is just neato. Then again, if you're just like me, you've stopped to ponder whether Kohler had any source material for this one, or if maybe he just pulled it out of his butt. ("Are you pondering what I'm pondering, sempstress?" "Er, I think so, brain, but where are we going to find animaniacs on dvd? *ZORT!*") Anyway, it's cute. Be aware that, constructionwise, this is probably the most difficult of the three kirtle patterns I have up here. (As I just found out, much to my dismay, it's a real pain in the posterior to make up as a self-lined wool crepe number. Don't do that. It's just hateful.)
 As always, let's start with a sketch that shows up our seams, as well as what we're hoping to create..... |
 I'm starting
the draping at the front, with a piece of muslin the length of my dummy
pinned along the center front line. |
 Smoothing the muslin nicely around the bodies. See the vicious stress wrinkles along the top of the skirt area? Yuck! |
 I've got the neckline and waist line pinned in. I'm actually doing a plain old square neckline this time. |
 I've cut around
the neckline, armscye, and down the side seam. Now it's time to work on
the skirt. |
 I've cut the bodice where the pleated part of the skirt will be attached, along the waistline. The front of the skirt remains one with the bodies, but the side panel will be cut separately. The cut that I've made along the bottom of the bodice for the side skirt has also almost completely relieved the stress wrinkles across the front of the skirt. |
 The same step, with a picture from the side to show better how long the side cut on the bodice should be. |
 The part of the front skirt that remains attached to the bodice is cut into a simple gore. |
 I've added a gored panel to the side front of the bodice. This panel will be cartridge pleated in the final dress, so I've pinned in in many small pleats. |
 The drape of the full front side panel. |
 The front of the pattern, after everything has been trimmed along the hemline. |
 Starting to drape the back, by pinning muslin along the center back line. I've gone ahead and smoothed the muslin along the form and pinned it at the neckline, armscye, and side seam. |
 The back bodies, trimmed along the pin lines. |
 The two bodice pieces, seen from the side. |
 The back skirt is made up of a 23" wide piece of muslin, roughly cartridge pleated then pinned to the bottom of the back bodice. |
 A full shot of the back skirts, before hemming. |
 The skirts, fully hemmed. |
 The full kirtle pattern, shown from the side so that you can get some idea what the finished product should look like. |
 This is a picture of the front piece and the skirt side panel, showing their proper shapes and roughly how they fit together. |
