I have a goal!

As I hinted in my last post, I am wanting to make up some working garb. I need stuff that I can move in, will still be supportive (since I don't wear a bra with my garb), but not so tight around my chest that I can't project. This pic is my goal for the look. It is from "The Tudor Tailor" which I am using for patterns and such.

I have been working on this for a few weeks now, trying to get the pattern right for the bodice of the kirtle. I tried (and failed) to use a dress that I have been wearing to events all last summer that I wasn't happy with and wasn't too my persona. So after talking to two of my herald friends, Marya and Gwenlliana, we meet up and talked about 1500 english garb, took turns getting measurements taken by Marya, and Marya graciously then showed us how to take those measurements and draw them into patterns. We loved her that day.

Here is where I am steeping away from the normal thoughts on elizabethan garb. I will only be using a piece of cloth that is 60" by about 2 1/2 yards! The comment thoughts about the skirts for working garb is you take your waist measurement (mine is sadly in the 40" range) and times that by 3, and that is how much fabric should be in your skirt. I have a pretty, lite blue skirt that has that yardage. let me tell you, running around a fiend helping to induct a crown list with that skirt was a PILL!!! I just don't buy that women needing to take care of kids, wash cloths, cooking and what not, will be wanting to fight with that much cloth. A noble lady, I buy. Dancing, dinning, and just looking pretty, that much yardage rocks.

The first thing I wanted to do was to go looking for some research to back up that that much yardage was just wrong for working garb. Susan Reed wrote up a great article about what yardage would have been used. You can find the article here. Table 4 on the article shows that a "Kirtle, 'Fat' Woman’s" only needed 2.48 yards of 60" wide cloth. So I am right on. I have some nice rusty red linen that I will be using. I know that there are some people that are yelling at their monitors. "BUT THEY DIDN'T USE LINEN FOR ANYTHING BUT SHIRTS AND SUCH!!!" There is some very small evidence that linen was used on outer garments. I am using linen because, 1) I have it and I can't really go out and buy some more cloth, 2) it will breath really nicely for hot events, 3) it's red! I have wanted a red dress for some time.

I have a mock up made up of the bodice to see where I need to add room or take in, and since I did it out of heavy linen, it will be great for adding some support to the dress. When I have more, I will post.

I still have to figure out what to use for the gown. I don't have enough extra fabric really to use to make an over gown. we will have to see what I do.