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This dress is my "one day special". (I was having some issues and needed to spend some quality time with my sewing machine.) The doublet and skirts went from pattern drafting to done in about 16 hours. (Yes, yes, quite that many issues to work out.) The doublet is based on the picture of a spinster on page, erm, 794 or something in Norris' "Tudor Costume and Fashion". The book is out in the car just right now, so I'll have to get the page number later.
When I started working with elizabethan costume, I only wanted to do noble. (I wasn't quite doing it, mind, because I wasn't entirely clear on the concept, but I *wanted* to do noble. *laugh*) My sewing skills have improved over the years, and my focus has shifted a bit. I still love to do nobles. But I am developing an increasing fondness for middle class dress. In a way, doing middle class well is more of a challenge than doing noble. With noble, you reach a point where you are constrained as much by your budget as your abilities. If you start with 9 yards of cotton velvet, it's pretty difficult to come out with something less than impressive. (Not impossible, however. I've seen it done.) For most people, noble is about fancy, expensive fabrics, fancier and more expensive trims and laces, and beads beads beads. Middle class is different. Your options for fabric and trim are limited by an imaginary budget and faire guidelines. (In many cases, that "imaginary" budget is pretty close to what your real budget should be.) You can't just assume that you can cover all your errors with beads.
A well done middle class is more of an exercise in economy, creativity, and tailoring than most noble gowns turn out to be. Economy and creativity go hand in hand. You are working with the idea of a budget, and you want to get as much impact, as much detail, and as much "period" value as possible into a reasonable small budget. Most of the entrants for the middle class catagory of the costume contest at Bristol represent the upper end of the middle class - the really uppity types who would have paid sumptuary taxes to dress on par with members of the nobility. Very few people think to do something with the less pretensious, and far larger, segment of craftsmen, tradesmen, and comfortable merchants who had enough money to be stylish and possibly purchase tailored garments, but not enough money for silks and pearls. The tailoring of middle class costume really stands out. There are no jewels and such to distract the viewers eye. The tailoring, therefore, will either make or break the garment. The fit and silohette speak not only to the skill and research of the costumer, but also to the apparent rank and status of the wearer. This dress is made of an ochre shade of brushed cotton, and a reddish wool. Both fabrics are equally suited to (and often used for) peasants. The fit of the costume, as well as the use of metal buttons and aiglets and the modish tall hat, are what makes it middle class.
The bodice is red wool, and the inside of the collar is lined with a double layer of white wool (scraps from a chemise). The whole thing is lined in green denim (left over from last year's corset). There are shaping seams on either side of the front and back. The only peice of stiffening is at the center back, to keep the standing collar standing in the back. The front edges of the collar are as stiff as they are because of the amount of material in the seam - the inner and outer wools, the denim lining, and the grossgrained ribbon I used for decoration. That thick seam is sewn again 3/4" inside from the edge (from where I sewed down the other side of the ribbon), which creates a 'stiffening by quilting' sort of effect that was popular in period. The ribbon serves two purposes. Most obviously, it is decorative, but it is also there to hide the back ends of the loop closures on the front of the doublet. The doublet buttons up the front with alternating loops and buttons. A number of people told me they thought that was a very nice touch, but it was actually a born of desperation - the buttons were from one of those 'jumbo tub of buttons' assortments, and I only had about 2/3s as many as I needed. I think it turned out rather nicely, though. One thing I will point out is that I started the curve to the center point of the bodice two far back on the hips, which is what causes the wrinkling at the waist. Ah, well. I'd never made a bodice with this much of a point to it before, and I got so hung up on getting the right length for the point that I made a mistake on something I know how to do! These things happen.
The shoulder rolls were made as separate peices, wrapped tightly with yellowish soutash cord to create the sort of puffy effect, and the whip stitched onto the shoulders of the bodice. The sleeves are made of the ochre cotton. They are unlined. The top edge is finished with more of the orange gross grained ribbon used on the bodice. The cuffs are finished with red wool, and have an appliqued placket looking bit at the back seam that I keep meaning to put buttons on. They are made from a single piece "pattern" for a bent sleeve. (Actually, I put my left arm down on the fabric with my elbow at an angle, and cut along the outer edge of it with my right hand. If this inspires a pretty odd vision, that's because it was a pretty odd posture. Then I cut the top curve of the armscye, folded the thing in half, cut the other side of the sleeve, and took a traingular peice out of the midde of the lower arm area. It doesn't sound quite like it should work out if you think about it, but it was late enough that I had stopped thinking almost entirely and it all worked out. The sleeves tie in with the points at the shoulder. There are ribbon loops inside of the sleeve for the points to thread through.
The skirt is double knife pleated (ie, each pleat is 5 thicknesses thick, instead of the normal 3 for a single knife pleat. There's about 180" gathered into the waistband, and while my waist is not the size it used to be, it's nowehere near large enough for single pleats to work out. I had planned on having several petticoats, but the the serger decided it would rather not work with me on that one, so I am wearing an the underskirt from my italien doublet.
The hat, which technically inspired the dress, is a pleated tall hat I had made two days earlier. Unlike most of the hats I have done to date, this one was almost entirely put together by machine. The bit of yellowish you see on the bottom of the brim is a peice of cording that I taked into the brim seam, which is rolled under and 1/8" to the inside of the brim. The hat band is a simple peice of that same gross grain ribbon (I had a lot of it lying around), and between that, the pin, and the feather spray, well, I had to make a dress to go with it. ;)
The color scheme, btw, was a serendipitous accident. Believe it or not, I am not actually one of those really obnoxious people who thinks for half a second and says, Ah, periwinkle and orange would be perfect accents for red and ochre. Personally, if someone had suggested it to me, I would probably have patted them on the shoulder consolingly and told them there was still hope for them. This costume was entirely assembled from things I had lying around. I had had brown cording in my trim basket which I was planning on using. I didn't know until I opened the baggie that I only had a yard and a half of it. (Yes, I keep all my trims and things rolled up neatly in little zip lock baggies. I've got two cats who like to sleep in baskets that are clearly not meant to be slept in.) The blue was there, and there was enough of it. Sometimes, you just have to go with what you're handed. My whole cost for this outfit was under $10.
