Sempstress

So I made a sedate little dress with just a teensy hint of a bustle for Stephanie last fall to go under this here little blue dress. By “a teensy little bustle”, I mean something that sticks out roughly 24″ behind her. You know, no bigs… So what’s going on under there?

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re looking for a way to draft gored skirts for your costumes, this is the eBook for you. The method shown is one I’ve worked out over the years, in an attempt to find a possibly period way to create a gored skirt. The instructions can be easily adapted to create a pattern using nothing more than a straight edge and notched tape. Read the rest of this entry »

The Spanish Farthingale is a stiffened underskirt that gives Tudor and early Elizabethan skirts their characteristic conical shape. You can make a very passable one with a full length gored skirt pattern (either a commercial A-line skirt pattern, or one you draft yourself), a lot of ribbon or bias tape, and boning. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m totally obsessed with the Alcega farthingale. I mean, I’m always a little obsessed with it, because it’s sort of the great rock candy mountain for costumers, right? But I’ve been working on an eBook about drafting gored skirts for period costumes, and I thought I’d throw in a little bit of a redraft for the Alcega farthingale. Oh, silly me… I went back through some of my old notes (mostly questions, like “Why aren’t the gores at the same angle?!”), and I’m struck by how much there is to know about the darn thing. So I’ve been in obsessive research mode since yesterday evening, and I’ve learned some new things….

Read the rest of this entry »

I wrote this a little while back.  It’s simply a chart of hoop sizes to mimic the  shape and angle of the Alcega farthingale.  The chart is indexed by waist size and waist to ground measurement.  The full story of all the maths used to create this chart is available here. Read the rest of this entry »

This is an excerpt from a research paper I did a while back. The paper itself is 40 pages and covers 4 centuries of support skirts and corsetry. I figure it’s more digestible in smaller chunks. Please note: my regularly scheduled writing style has been suspended in favor of something more palatable to the hardcore academia types. Special thanks go to Stephanie for her proof-reading skills.

And now for Everything I Know About 16th Century Support Skirts… Read the rest of this entry »

This is a corded petticoat, meant to be worn in place of a farthingale under middle class costumes. The base of the skirt is cheap cotton broadcloth, and it is stiffened with 3.8″ cotton upholstery cord filling held in a channels created with 1″ wide ribbon. There are two channels – the first goes once round the bottom, and the second is a single spiral that goes up the rest of the petticoat. This is based on a picture from the Milanese Tailor’s Handbook which seems to show a spiral pattern of trim or possible benting on an underskirt.

Results and Notes: The petticoat has help up without deforming for 3 months on my dress dummy, and has held it’s shape under up to 4 moderate skirts. I’ve taken it to faire once now, and it is readily foldable and returns to it’s shape when unfolded. It did not seem to have any problems holding out my skirts when I was moving, while being worn under one medium weight cotton blend petticoat and one wool (lined with muslin) kirtle. The only problem I encountered was that the top row of cording is a little smaller than I would like, and I can’t easily swing my leg over a bench. Technically, I suppose shouldn’t be doing that anyway. ;) When I make another of these, I will not use plain cotton as the base of the petticoat. I will use something with more slip to it (at least polished cotton, possibly satin) so that it is easier to thread the cording through the channel.

Will I do it again?: Yes.

With the help of my lovely assistant, Janey (currently seen
modeling my absolutely excellent “Henchwoman” shirt (thanks, lynn!)), this article
will fulfill a need that does not exist (because drea already wrote the article
on it, but I was having fun with my parent’s digital camera, and am now trying
to use most of the resulting pictures), which is to say, it’s all about what
goes on under all the stuff you can see.

Picture one is just janey hanging out and being casual before
the shoot. (Note: I am not drinking now, nor was I when I took the pictures.
I’m actually like this without help.) Picture two shows the basics of Elizabethan
underthings: A chemise, corset, and overskirt. This is suitable as your sum
total of underthings for lower classes (more than enough for the lowest of the
low, in fact). Underpinnings get a little more complicated for the nobility.
Picture three has the addition of a farthingale. (Yes, that’s the one I wore
last year, and the year before. And Yes, I am aware that the fabric is not period.
In fact, I can think of few fabrics that would be less period. I suppose it
would be worse if it was, say, nylon instead of cotton, but that wouldn’t holdup
nearly as well. I hate making farthignales. It’s mind numbingly dull. I hate
making tucks in a-line skirts, which is technically what making farthingales
is all about. (Or is it? Alcega says make tucks, and that’s been accepted as
canonical truth, but the wardrobe warrants in QEWU mention bents being held
down under ribbon. That’s exactly what I did in this one, not out of any inherent
sense of authenticity (I didn’t have a copy of QEWU when i made it, and I thought
the tuck thing was how it was done because that’s what I was told by people
who sounded very convinced about the whole thing), but because it’s *just*bloody*easier*.
Never underestimate the power of laziness.)

Anyway, picts 4 and 5 are petticoats. The first is a red to
peacock blue changeable silk with trim in pepto-abysmal pink satin ribbon, edged
with gold cord. (Why is that color called peacock blue, any way? I peacocks
are not predominantly blue.) The second is made from highly synthetic (but extremely
lovely, in a period kinda way) fabric from jo-ann’s…. There was apparently
an extreme trend for sari-wannabe fabrics this spring, which I thought was great
because they were great costume fabrics. Not sure I would ever wear them normally,
though. Since this petticoat fits over a bumroll, I had to make the back longer
than the front (which is par), but since the fabric had two distinct stripes
(one at the top and one at the bottom of the skirt), and I wanted it to look
nice all around, I shortened the front by taking a tuck right above the band,
which is hidden by trim. There’s more trim at the bottom of the band, and a
row of fringe. (Highly period, but not recommended if leaves are a part of your
venue. Will I ever learn?). the bumroll was put on under the petticoats. Someone
described these as ‘pretentious petticoats’. I rather like that. Nothing says
‘too rich for my own good’ like pretentious petticoats… Well, except maybe
for being an open catholic at court, which the character was.

After the underthings, the skirt then bodice of the underdress
are put on (picts 6&7), then the safeguard (that the red skirt lookin’ thang),
then the jerkin. In case you’re wondering, yes, it’s hot in there. I mean, if
it’s hot *outside* the dress, of course it’s hot *inside* the dress……