I have decided to document my Saxony gown project as a dress diary, because the more I think about it, the more epic the project gets. I've never written a dress diary before, because I've never actually made epic court garb with research and layers and stuff. I want to make this gown properly, so I intend to document in properly.
Background: Origins of the project
At some point in 2011 I came across this picture and decided I wanted to make this dress. Exactly the same. I'd been playing SCA for about two years, and most of what I knew came from what other local people had told me. I had no idea how to research things, and didn't really care for it anyway. I just liked wearing pretty dresses. So I was going to make this pretty dress. It was going to be AWESOME. I found some dark green miscellaneous wool/velvet mystery fabric that looked perfect to me. I bought five metres of it, from Homecraft Textiles, a shop that sells all sorts of fabric but doesn't label any of it. I also bought three metres of gold silk dupion, shot with red for the guards on the skirt and gold on the bodice and sleeves.
First I wanted to make a trial one out of linen, to experiment with some ideas I had about construction. I decided to make a blue gown with yellow bands and trim, and wear it to Bal d'Aneala since there's usually a competition for best garb in Anealan colours. I didn't do any research whatsoever, just looked at some pictures. I'd heard about how most people believe that there is no corset or even kirtle worn underneath, and interpreted that to mean that there was NOTHING underneath what you see.
Saxony Gown Mark 1: German Dress
Here's the best photo I have of me wearing it. I still wear it to every Bal d'Aneala, but I am yet to win the competition for best garb in Anealan colours :P
I am quite fond of this dress, even though it's fairly inaccurate and uncomfortable to wear. It has taught me a lot and reminds me of how far I've come. Let's go from top to bottom and I'll list all the things that I've learned.
1. Hat
I made this hat out of some black gaberdine wool that I had leftover from making a couple of hoods. I found a pattern online for a Tudor flat cap, and decided that I'd use that but just widen the brim. I laugh at myself every time I remember making this hat, because I was just so surprised that it flopped everywhere when I put it on, instead of standing up flat like other pizza hats I'd seen. I even used some iron-on interfacing to stiffen it! I was resigned to going to the event without an awesome pizza hat, until I had a stroke of genius at work one evening. I worked at Spotlight, and it was around Halloween so there were buckets of crappy Halloween merchandise, which included witch's hats. I inspected these hats to figure out what made them stay flat and not floppy like mine, and discovered that they had millinery wire in the brim. So with the help of my dad, I cut up a witch's hat to get at the wire, then resized it to fit the brim of my hat. Voilá! My hat was no longer floppy! It doesn't perch on my head like a proper pizza hat, but I was pretty happy with it.
2. Jewellery
I'm actually quite pleased with my jewellery finds. The big chunky necklace was found at some cheap shop, the only problem was that the pendant had a picture of some ugly pink flower. I bought it because of the chain really, but when I brought it home my mum took one look, then took it into her craft room and painted over the flower with shiny black paint. Unfortunately, the pendant weighs the chain down a bit so it doesn't sit wide on my shoulders like in the paintings. I really should pin the chain to the shoulders of my dress. I also found a beaded bracelet at an op shop that was made of wire that closes around your wrist, so I wear that as a choker around my neck. The ends scratch the back of my neck a bit, so it's a bit uncomfortable at times but really looks the part.
3. Sleeves
I managed to accidently make two left sleeves. They're all one piece, with the white poofy bits stitched straight onto the tight bits. It didn't quite work out how I had foreseen. The problem is mainly the tight bits on my upper arms. They don't stay where they should, and instead slide down to around my elbows. Also the sleeve holes are too tight and cut into my armpits. I tried fixing this twice before I gave up and just wear it how it is. It's much better but still not good. It might have something to do with the amount of white linen I gathered into the sleeve holes.
3. Bodice
I used my pattern for my spanish side lacing bodice as a base. I'm pretty sure the back piece stayed the same, and I sort of drew the front bits free hand to join up with the back. I thought I'd drawn it with a really wide neck like in all the paintings, but all I did was end up cutting most of the front panels on the bias, so they just went wherever they felt like. I was quite disappointed that I didn't end up with the shape I'd wanted, but there was nothing I could do about it. I bag lined it with blue linen. No interlining, no interfacing, nothing to stiffen it. I actually don't know how to do these things, it's something I'll need to learn soon. Somehow I stitched the brustfleck in between the lining and the outer layer on the right side of the bodice. I remember it being fiddly. The other side attached with hooks and eyes. I used some more eyes for lacing rings for the lacing under the brustfleck. I didn't want the stitches to show through to the front, so I took great care to only stitch them to the lining. The result is that the lining pulls out from underneath when it's laced, a phenomenon that I had not foreseen and was a little upset with.
4. Brustfleck
I interlined this with some leftover heavy cotton brocade that I had, because this little brustfleck had a very important purpose. It was supposed to push my boobies up and together to make awesome cleavage. It completely fails at this. Also, it's way too low. If I'd sewn it in a bit higher and laced the bodice higher and tighter, it might have succeeded. Instead it sort of smooshes my boobies. I was quite pleased with how the beading turned out on it. I bought a bunch of cheap plastic red beads, they were painted, meaning I had to flake off the paint from a lot of the holes in order to get a needle through them. But it turns out that they're completely washing machine safe. The whole dress can just go straight in the wash, which is awesome :)
5. Bodice
I used my pattern for my spanish side lacing bodice as a base. I'm pretty sure the back piece stayed the same, and I sort of drew the front bits free hand to join up with the back. I thought I'd drawn it with a really wide neck like in all the paintings, but all I did was end up cutting most of the front panels on the bias, so they just went wherever they felt like. I was quite disappointed that I didn't end up with the shape I'd wanted, but there was nothing I could do about it. I bag lined it with blue linen. No interlining, no interfacing, nothing to stiffen it. I actually don't know how to do these things, it's something I'll need to learn soon. Somehow I stitched the brustfleck in between the lining and the outer layer on the right side of the bodice. I remember it being fiddly. The other side attached with hooks and eyes. I used some more eyes for lacing rings for the lacing under the brustfleck. I didn't want the stitches to show through to the front, so I took great care to only stitch them to the lining. The result is that the lining pulls out from underneath when it's laced, a phenomenon that I had not foreseen and was a little upset with.
6. Skirt
I made the skirt from a width of linen. You can see the selvedge at the top where it joins onto the bodice. I also just attempted to sew on the yellow linen over the top of the blue, in straight lines. Moral of the story? I can't sew in straight lines. I even used a sewing machine. This is a theme that has come up time and time again. I can't sew in straight lines. Anyway, it ended up looking fine. I think it was a three metre long rectangle, which I just gathered into the bottom of the bodice. I was a bit stumped by the no visible waistband thing, so I just didn't do any gathers across the gap at the front. There's a slit down the left side of the gap so I could get into it, and it fastens with a big heavy duty pants hook and eye thing on the inside of the bodice. I also must say that I had (and still have) no idea how to do gathers. I sort of just muddled through, using a basting thread to gather, and then as my fabric ran all over the place along the thread instead of staying neat, I just hand gathered as I went. The result is some very uneven gathering :P
So that's pretty much where I'm at. Mark One: German Dress was a bit of a fail, it didn't work at all how I had envisioned, so the actual project, the dress based on the painting, ended up going onto the shelf.
Background: Origins of the project
 |
| c. 1526 - Portrait of a Girl with Forget-me-nots, Lucas Cranach the Elder |
First I wanted to make a trial one out of linen, to experiment with some ideas I had about construction. I decided to make a blue gown with yellow bands and trim, and wear it to Bal d'Aneala since there's usually a competition for best garb in Anealan colours. I didn't do any research whatsoever, just looked at some pictures. I'd heard about how most people believe that there is no corset or even kirtle worn underneath, and interpreted that to mean that there was NOTHING underneath what you see.
Saxony Gown Mark 1: German Dress
I am quite fond of this dress, even though it's fairly inaccurate and uncomfortable to wear. It has taught me a lot and reminds me of how far I've come. Let's go from top to bottom and I'll list all the things that I've learned.
1. Hat
I made this hat out of some black gaberdine wool that I had leftover from making a couple of hoods. I found a pattern online for a Tudor flat cap, and decided that I'd use that but just widen the brim. I laugh at myself every time I remember making this hat, because I was just so surprised that it flopped everywhere when I put it on, instead of standing up flat like other pizza hats I'd seen. I even used some iron-on interfacing to stiffen it! I was resigned to going to the event without an awesome pizza hat, until I had a stroke of genius at work one evening. I worked at Spotlight, and it was around Halloween so there were buckets of crappy Halloween merchandise, which included witch's hats. I inspected these hats to figure out what made them stay flat and not floppy like mine, and discovered that they had millinery wire in the brim. So with the help of my dad, I cut up a witch's hat to get at the wire, then resized it to fit the brim of my hat. Voilá! My hat was no longer floppy! It doesn't perch on my head like a proper pizza hat, but I was pretty happy with it.
2. Jewellery
I'm actually quite pleased with my jewellery finds. The big chunky necklace was found at some cheap shop, the only problem was that the pendant had a picture of some ugly pink flower. I bought it because of the chain really, but when I brought it home my mum took one look, then took it into her craft room and painted over the flower with shiny black paint. Unfortunately, the pendant weighs the chain down a bit so it doesn't sit wide on my shoulders like in the paintings. I really should pin the chain to the shoulders of my dress. I also found a beaded bracelet at an op shop that was made of wire that closes around your wrist, so I wear that as a choker around my neck. The ends scratch the back of my neck a bit, so it's a bit uncomfortable at times but really looks the part.
3. Sleeves
I managed to accidently make two left sleeves. They're all one piece, with the white poofy bits stitched straight onto the tight bits. It didn't quite work out how I had foreseen. The problem is mainly the tight bits on my upper arms. They don't stay where they should, and instead slide down to around my elbows. Also the sleeve holes are too tight and cut into my armpits. I tried fixing this twice before I gave up and just wear it how it is. It's much better but still not good. It might have something to do with the amount of white linen I gathered into the sleeve holes.
3. Bodice
I used my pattern for my spanish side lacing bodice as a base. I'm pretty sure the back piece stayed the same, and I sort of drew the front bits free hand to join up with the back. I thought I'd drawn it with a really wide neck like in all the paintings, but all I did was end up cutting most of the front panels on the bias, so they just went wherever they felt like. I was quite disappointed that I didn't end up with the shape I'd wanted, but there was nothing I could do about it. I bag lined it with blue linen. No interlining, no interfacing, nothing to stiffen it. I actually don't know how to do these things, it's something I'll need to learn soon. Somehow I stitched the brustfleck in between the lining and the outer layer on the right side of the bodice. I remember it being fiddly. The other side attached with hooks and eyes. I used some more eyes for lacing rings for the lacing under the brustfleck. I didn't want the stitches to show through to the front, so I took great care to only stitch them to the lining. The result is that the lining pulls out from underneath when it's laced, a phenomenon that I had not foreseen and was a little upset with.
4. Brustfleck
I interlined this with some leftover heavy cotton brocade that I had, because this little brustfleck had a very important purpose. It was supposed to push my boobies up and together to make awesome cleavage. It completely fails at this. Also, it's way too low. If I'd sewn it in a bit higher and laced the bodice higher and tighter, it might have succeeded. Instead it sort of smooshes my boobies. I was quite pleased with how the beading turned out on it. I bought a bunch of cheap plastic red beads, they were painted, meaning I had to flake off the paint from a lot of the holes in order to get a needle through them. But it turns out that they're completely washing machine safe. The whole dress can just go straight in the wash, which is awesome :)
5. Bodice
I used my pattern for my spanish side lacing bodice as a base. I'm pretty sure the back piece stayed the same, and I sort of drew the front bits free hand to join up with the back. I thought I'd drawn it with a really wide neck like in all the paintings, but all I did was end up cutting most of the front panels on the bias, so they just went wherever they felt like. I was quite disappointed that I didn't end up with the shape I'd wanted, but there was nothing I could do about it. I bag lined it with blue linen. No interlining, no interfacing, nothing to stiffen it. I actually don't know how to do these things, it's something I'll need to learn soon. Somehow I stitched the brustfleck in between the lining and the outer layer on the right side of the bodice. I remember it being fiddly. The other side attached with hooks and eyes. I used some more eyes for lacing rings for the lacing under the brustfleck. I didn't want the stitches to show through to the front, so I took great care to only stitch them to the lining. The result is that the lining pulls out from underneath when it's laced, a phenomenon that I had not foreseen and was a little upset with.
6. Skirt
I made the skirt from a width of linen. You can see the selvedge at the top where it joins onto the bodice. I also just attempted to sew on the yellow linen over the top of the blue, in straight lines. Moral of the story? I can't sew in straight lines. I even used a sewing machine. This is a theme that has come up time and time again. I can't sew in straight lines. Anyway, it ended up looking fine. I think it was a three metre long rectangle, which I just gathered into the bottom of the bodice. I was a bit stumped by the no visible waistband thing, so I just didn't do any gathers across the gap at the front. There's a slit down the left side of the gap so I could get into it, and it fastens with a big heavy duty pants hook and eye thing on the inside of the bodice. I also must say that I had (and still have) no idea how to do gathers. I sort of just muddled through, using a basting thread to gather, and then as my fabric ran all over the place along the thread instead of staying neat, I just hand gathered as I went. The result is some very uneven gathering :P
So that's pretty much where I'm at. Mark One: German Dress was a bit of a fail, it didn't work at all how I had envisioned, so the actual project, the dress based on the painting, ended up going onto the shelf.
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