2004-08-14  Wonder and amazement:
It's been a while, but finally I have another update on this project: The corset is getting near completion!
I hadn't touched it for over a year. First I got really tired of sewing the leather binding to the corset and then I got pregnant which made a corset rather useless. But for Visby medieval week I needed a sewing project that was easy to bring and I just couldn't get myself to draw more of the pattern on my embroidered smock. So I packed the corset and some leather needles, which I had just bought and boy, did they make a difference! Just because you can push an ordinary needle through soft leather doesn't mean it's easy, but with a proper needle it was. So I bound the edges of the back piece and attached the second front piece. I didn't sew much in Visby, camping and taking care of three kids was quite enough, but at least I got started. Then came the unpacking, but yesterday I found the time to start sewing again. I sewed the linings together and started on the lacing holes. The lacing holes on one side was already done so there was only fourteen of them. Yesterday evening I tried holding the corset together to see if there was any chance it would fit me. Since it is a front-lacing corset fit is much more difficult because I have to be able to close it all the way. The result was not encouraging, I was convinced there was no way it was going to fit me. And what did I expect anyway? It was not only my first corset based on the effigy corset, but the drafting was made one pregnancy ago. So I spent some time in bed thinking of ways to make it possible to use. The best way being to loose weight, but I wasn't too optimistic about that. But anyway, today I made the rest of the lacing holes, thinking that I could always open the corset in the back and lace it there too, like Drea Leed did with her effigy corset. But to my great astonishment it actually fit me. It isn't laced properly closed on the picture, mainly because I managed to lace it wrong in the middle section, but it is possible to shut all the way and I think it looks really good. So now I'm going to bind some edges! I need more leather to do that, but since it's saturday I will have to wait until monday to get some more. I have enough for the upper edge however.

2004-08-17  I finished binding the corset with leather today, pictures will be coming later. I have also played around some with the headdress. First I thought I should only starch the veil and pin it in place, and idea I got from Karinne Taylor's website, but there was no way I could get that rounded shape of the veil without wiring the edge.
Since it is impossible to get hold of millinery wire in Sweden I had to use ordinary stainless steel wire. Then I didn't know how to attach it to the veil in a good way. What I did was to place the wire in the middle of a strip of white adhesive tape, fold it over the wire and sew through the tape. Unfortunately the tape was very "brittle" and the the thread cut through it if I wasn't careful. A softer, more elastic tape, like surgical tape would have been a better solution, but by then I had already starte sewing the wire to the veil and I didn't want to wait another day until I could get surgical tape. First I sewed through the tape ca 1 cm from the edge of the unhemmed veil, then I folded the linen over the tape and wire and hemmed it the normal way and finally I sewed through it all very close to the wire. We'll see how long it lasts.
  Then I tried different ways of draping and pinning the veil. It is now pinned to the lace brim of the cap and then pinned again to the cap to keep ca 1,5 cm deep folds in place. The edges are then pulled backwards and held together with a few stitches. It differs from the "normal" white headcloth of the netherlands at the time, in that it is folded so that the edges of the "side-part" of the veil is placed on top of the hanging part instead of the other way around. (Compare with most examples on my page with flemish caps). I think I will have to work a little more on the shape, but it seems like I'm on the right track anyway. In the painting you can't see any pins, but I assume they are there since it is unlikely that this type of headwear was sewn together. It would make washing, ironing and starching much more difficult and the general look of this type of headwear suggests that they were made of a cap with a veil draped over it.

2004-09-15   I have pictures of the finished corset: Photos by my 10-year-old daughter Valeria

It doesn't lace properly closed in these pictures. It is possible, but not comfortable to do that, but I don't see this as a problem since I plan to loose some weight. I plan to bone the dress lightly at the front edges so it shouldn't be a problem that there is a 2 cm gap in the front of the corset, it won't be uneven there anyway.
  I have also started making a pattern for the black partlet. In a good reproduction of the painting you can see that the dress probably is made from black silk taffeta while the partlet hasn't got the same sheen and probably is made of velvet. It has a very high collar and is buttoned. My pattern for my white partlets (one of them can be seen here) is too narrow over the bust area, both because my body has changed but also because the new corset makes the bust measurement wider. They also have the collar in one with the partlet and I don't think that's such a good idea when the collar is so high. Well, I'm making a pattern from an old sheet right now and I'll see how that turns out. When Maja allows me to sew again.

2004-09-16   The pattern isn't finished yet, first I made it too big and then too small. Further adjustments will probably happen tonight. Anyway, I have decided to line the partlet with plain white linen. Even though most over partlets seem to have some kind of embroidery on the inside, like this, this and this of Mary I, all at the Tudor and Elizabeth portraits site, there are also examples of a plain white lining, like this, this and this (also at that site). I might use a linen towel in diamond twill to line the collar to make it more interesting. I'm not doing any blackwork for the inside of the partlet however.

2004-10-01  I'm such an idiot! So here I go, actually starting on the black partlet for the flemish dress. I zig-zag all the velvet pieces and start attaching the collar. The collar is made the same way as most doublets in PoF, that is; the back of the collar is in one piece with the back piece of the doublet, or in this case partlet and the front pieces are separate. So instead of sewing the partlet together first, the collar then and finally sewing it all together I sew the front collar to the front pieces and then sew the shoulder and side seams. I pin the collar to the partlet and realize that the collar piece is too long. Odd, I think and cut off ca 1,5 cm, zig-zag (both collar pieces of course) and start again. Sew and look at my work. Then I realize that I have attached the collar piece to where the shoulder seam should be, which of course is shorter. So now I have to cut two new collar pieces. I think I will make them a little different than those I destroyed so I will have to make new lining too.
  The front pieces and collar will be lined with two layers of white linen, a plain linen interlining and a sheerer linen with various woven patterns forming stripes as the actual lining. The back will only be lined with one layer of plain linen.

2004-10-24   The partlet is finished. It has a lower collar than the original but when I noticed that I had already cut the collar pieces twice and the back of the collar is, as mentioned, cut in one with the back piece and it would waste too much velvet to cut a whole new back piece. It has 8 hand sewn buttonholes, noneof them looking very good. How can it be that I make so nice lacing holes and ugly buttonholes? I have much more practice on lacing holes, but still, I have at least made 50 hand sewn buttonholes, shouldn't I be better at this? Anyway, they are made with black linen thread, which I waxed before sewing, otherwise the thread frays easily. The buttons are cheap but nice metal buttons. A close-up of them and the patterned linen lining can be seen here. In the ideal world I should have pictures of the partlet from the backside, and a better picture from the front, but since I took these pictures myself while my husband was at work, this is what you get :)
But now, when the partlet is finished, I have no real excuse not to start on the actual dress. OK, I could start on the high-necked smock I intend to wear with this dress, but that would be taking procrastination too far, since I really don't need that smock to wear the dress, I can do as I did on the picture; wear a plain smock with square neck opening and a linen partlet. It's just that I'm not too keen on making the sleeves. Making a new bodice pattern is OK, I will make a toile and my friend Anna can pin it on me and fit it better and the skirt is no sweat, but those high sleeves. Sigh. But I think I have an idea at least: They look very similar to the sleeves of the black loose gown from Patterns of Fashion and since I'm going to make that gown too I'd better learn how to make them.

There has been a change of plan!
2005-05-16  This project really has taken much longer time than I thought it would. Even if we don't count the break caused by preganancy and the arrival of darling Maja I have been procrastinating seriously on this project. But, once again I make a new start.
Since last time there has been some changes though.
1. I am now too thin to use my effigy corset. Which means that I have a lovely effigy corset with no visible machine stitching on neither in- nor outside, covered in grey silk, bound in suede and never used. *sigh*. But I can't find it in me to hope to gain weight again. So I made another corset. This corset is made exactly as the one worn by Pfalzgräfin Dorothea Sabina von Neuburg. It has two layers of linen and one of silk, it is entirely hand sewn in silk thread and the lacing holes have metal rings on both sides, covered in buttonhole silk. The only thing that isn't like the original is that the straps are tied to the front, because they turned out to be too short, the edges are bound in rayon grosgrain ribbon and not real silk and the boning is artificial whalebone. But I made it too small, the gap in the back is too wide, almost 10 centimetres. Hopefully I will continue getting smaller, but for now I don't feel comfortable in it.
  So, what was there to do? Another thing I didn't like with the pink corset is that it is back laced and since I still nurse Maja I need easy access to my breasts. So I decided to make a lightly boned kirtle to wear under the dress. I used an old corset pattern with some adaptions (making it smaller)and came up with the pattern below: You can also see where I put boning. I used cable ties, because I had lots at home. If it havn't been said before; I have large breasts, but this kirtle keeps it all where it should be. The bodice is made from two layers linen and one layer thin wool twill while the skirt is made from two layers of thin wool. I have been contemplating putting an extra layer of felted wool inside the pleats, but I don't think I will, because this style doesn't seem to "puff out" a lot at the hips. I might add a strip of felted wool at the hem later if I discover that it needs it to stand out more from the body. But since I don't have any felted wool at home right now and I'm trying to make do with the materials I already have.
The skirt is gored since the extant 16th century patterns all seam to have skirt panels with gores. The lining and top fabric were sewn together at the bottom and then hung upside down for a week to stretch. The lining has stretched some more than the outer fabric so tonight I'm going to cut off the excess fabric and finish it with zig-zag before I start pleating the skirt. it is only 3,5 metres at the bottom and smaller at the waist, so I think there won't be so many pleats. Most of them will be at the back, as seen on Holbein's famous sketch of an unknown english lady.
  Anyway, I have to start sewing now, instead of writing. I now have a deadline for this project, the 10th of June, when I'm going to wear it to an event with 16th century Flanders as it's theme.

Oh, the other big change? I decided to make it in black after all. Firstly because I found some other use for my aubergine/dark maroon wool and secondly beacuse I have lots of thin black wool that will look really nice.

2005-05-17   I finished the kirtle tonight. I will make pin-on sleeves later, but it is perfectly wearable as it is. The neckline got a little lower and wider in the front than I had intended, but that may even prove useful for wearing under some dresses. Because the back is rather high the straps stays in place even though the frontopening is so wide. I've tried wearing it a little open, like the V-shaped openings on venetian dresses and that looks really good too.

2005-05-19   Today I cut the skirt and the lining from two different pieces of very thin black wool. The top fabric has a very faint navy tint to it and the lining is a greyer black. I have zig-zagged all pieces and sewn the top fabric together. Now it's pretty late though so I won't finish the lining tonight. I have also cut the sleeves from red dupioni. This is how they look (or at least one of them):

They are a much deeper and darker red, but the flash changes the colour. I'm quite convinced that the sleeves on the portrait are made of velvet, but I couldn't find velvet with the shine and lustre you see in the picture, so I settled for silk. Tomorrow we have an excursion with my job the whole day and since there will be quite a lot of travelling by bus I plan to sew the sleeves then. They will be lined with white linen.

2005-05-22   I had some trouble with the sleeves, due to sewing and talking at the smae time and being tired and not really paying attention to what I was doing. So I ended up with two right sleeves. I had already done some unpicking, so I wasn't ready to do that again. Since the sleeves were a little long I instead just cut off the upper part of the sleeves and shaped them into one right sleeve and one left sleeve. Now they are little bit too short, but since I'm going to have other sleeves over them it won't show. Of course this lmits the use I can have of them to dresses with short sleeves, but I can live with that. I sewed on light grey ribbon to tie them to the kirtle with. I had originally planned just to pin them, but they're too short for that now. I haven't decided whether I should make lacing holes on the shoulder straps of the kirtle or put metal eyes on the inside to tie the sleeves to. Probably the latter since it's not so visible. I will need rather large eyes, but they're easy to make so I don't have to buy them.
   I have also made the bodice for the black dress, yesterday I sewed on 24 pairs of hooks and eyes. it was not fun.
This morning I put in the kirtle and tried it on and discovered that the front stood out from me instead of following the curve of the bust and tha tit was too high. The bodice was a little bit too long too. Other than that it fit well. So I cut off 1,5 centimtres at the bottom and finsihed the edges. Then I cut off some fabric in the top of the front opening, ca 2 centimetres and also curved it in more. I also cut off the boning that was along the front edges so it stopped 5 centimetres below the upper edge. I should have known, after making my red doublet that you have to cut the boning before you reach the curve of the bust, but that was several years ago and I had forgotten. But now it looks good.
    I have also begun thinking of the sleeves. I have looked at the sleeves of the loose gown from Patterns of Fashion and I also looked at what Drea Leed wrote about the sleeves on her gown. Then I studied the portrait some more and got another idea of how those sleeves were done. It really looks like there a shoulder roll under the sleeve, giving it support. That would also be reasonably easy to do and there is contemporary evidence for it (I looked it up in Sarah Goodman's article on Farthingales and bumrolls.) So I think I will make a linen under sleeve to which a shoulder roll is attached and probably some boning too, like in the german gown and Dreas gown. Then there will probably be another layer of linen and then the black wool.
   But now I will get company so that will have to wait until some other day.

2005-05-28   I have been getting very little sleep lately, as well as having other things to do in the evenings so work on the dress has been a little slower. On thursday (it is now saturday) night I made the rolls for the sleevehead though.You can see them on the left picture below: The upper roll is just sewn together and stuffed and the lower is also shaped to fit the shoulder curve. They are made from almond-shaped peieces of fabric, 23 cm long and 8 centimetres wide in this case. After they are stuffed and theopening sewn shut you bend it to the curve you want and sew a few stitches were the fabric creases to make it hold that shape. Then I attached it to an under sleeve from black linen. I put them a little outside the shoulder beacuse I wanted them to hold out the sleeves to make my shoulders look wider, not to stand straight up.
   I had a lot of troble finding everything I need for this project and had to walk around for hours to different shops, none of which had real wool cloth. Finally, when I had given up and decided that I would have to use velvet ribbon as guards instead I mentioned my fruitless searching to the woman at the haberdashery and it turned out they had wool cloth, because it is sometimes used to give shape to collars in very high end tailoring. It was very expensive of course, c. 80 $/metre, but it was still cheaper than buying all that velvet ribbon. And much more period, since it was nylon velvet that never would have looked really right.
   I also looked around for brass rings for the girdle, but had no luck at all. Then when I told Anna about it at choir on wednesday it turned out her boyfriend had brass rings left over from a mail shirt project. So it all turned out well. Now I just need to sew. I have been sewing a little 16th century loose gown for Maja instead, from red fulled wool, lined with grey linen, but now it is finished except the hooks and eyes and the metal "lace" or ribbon along the front opening and hem, so I can work on my sleeves.

2005-06-05   I have been working on the sleeves this last week. The current construction is linen undersleeves with small rolls attached to them and then puff sleeves from two layers of linen and one layer of wool. To the left you can see how the pattern for the sleeves look, and to the right the finished sleeve. I gathered everything except the 8 centimetres closest to the seam with two rows of gathering stitches. The gathers look like tiny cartridge pleats. Because of the thickness of material I sewed the sleeves on by hand from the right side. Then I sewed three strips of wool cloth along the sleeve (and there was much fiddling until I found the positions I liked and then to get them alike on both sleeves). Finally I made two strips of cloth to go around the bottom of the sleeves and cut scallops before whipstitching them together over the edges. Click on them etc.
   This project is getting close to completion, after two years. Now I only need to attach the skirt and sew the guards along the front and sides. I also need to take in the partlet and put those lacing rings on the shoulder straps of the green kirtle. But it is likely that it will be finished on Friday when I'm going to wear it.

2005-06-12   The dress got finished, or at least almost finished for the event. I still need to decide wether I should make another row of wool guards. If so, they will probably only be on the bodice, because the pleating of the skirt would make it hard to continue them down along the skirt. my husband needs to finish the girdle and I think I need to make a new partlet. The old one doesn't really fit after I lost weight. I took it in at the sides, but that made it a little wonky at the neck. I also think it should be made from wool cloth so the guards and partlet match like they do on the portrait (but that dress is made from taffeta and velvet).
    I like the whole dress a lot, but what I like most is the headwear. It is fairly simple but looks complicated in a period way. A special bonus is that if you are careful not to put any pins through your hair whil epinning the veil to the cap you can take the whole thing off and put it on without repinning it or even looking in a mirror. As long as the edges of the lace cap are at the same level on your face you know that it sits right. This is very practical if you need to lay down and nurse like I do. Or lay down for any other reason, since lying down in that headwear isn't a good idea.
    This diary isn't totally finished, since the girdle isn't done so there will be a few more updates before I go ahead and make a page for this dress in Costume gallery.

2006-04-18   I wasn't very happy with the shape of the sleeves. I used the dress at the local SCA group Gotvik's annual event st. Egon (photos here) and also at Visby medieval week ( the two last pictures). But the sleeves were bugging me. I had heard about the new book, The tudor tailor, so I decided to wait until I got it before doing anything with the sleeves. Well, now the book has arrived and the sleeves are changed and I must say that they look much better now. For now you have to take my word for it, because I haven't had the time to pose for the camera yet.
    My sweet friend Björn also bought me the pomander on this picutre as a christmas present, so now I have everything I need. He really is too kind to me.

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