8th-11th days of Christmas

On the 8th day...Bekah came over and she helped measure me for a body block.  "What's that?"  You say?  It's a pattern for making clothes!  You measure the usual stuff--the waist, bust, shoulders and torso length, then you also measure your side seam (from waist to armpit) and your shoulder rise, and you map it all out on a piece of paper like this:


Many thanks to Mistress Laurellen from the Renaissance Tailor for this image.  I took her class several years ago and no only is she an excellent teacher, she makes the most AH-MAZING clothes!  She sells some things on her web site, too.

Bekah helped me draw it out on cheap fabric, cut it out, sew it together, fit it some more, and eventually come up with a fabric pattern that I can use to make garments from.

So, what am I doing this for?  Well, I'm glad you asked!  It's for a 12th Night Tudor gown.  Not a chemise.  Not a kirtle.  Not a doublet or a pair of bodies (aka a "bodice").  Not a corset...no. (Never again!)  It's for a gown.  What's the difference?  Let me walk you through the layers.

The corset, you probably guessed.  It's the foundation garment.  Unlike the Victorian corset, the point of this piece is not to look SKINNY or curvy, but to look flat.  Tubular.  Totally.  Like, Ohmygod!

(This is not me...I borrowed this image from Tudortalkandcatwalk.com to show both the very nicely made corset, the lightweight chemise underneath, and the Spanish farthingale (hoop skirt) that gave the Tudor fashions their silhouette.  Apparently, they make and sell these things on their web site, so if you're in the market...there you go.  Many thanks to tudortalkandcatwalk!)

A chemise is the underdress.  It's loose and made of a lightweight linen using rectangular construction.  This is the part that will be touching your skin, absorbing body oils and sweat and will be washed the most.  The outer layers are often more delicate and can't tolerate the abuse of frequent washing.  Corsets, for example, are filled with metal, wood and/or reeds for rigidity.  In the case of the nobility, the gowns and jackets were often made with lace, gold and jewels that would have to be removed for washing and then sewn back on.  Time consuming and laborious, and delicate things like lace could be damaged in the removal, so best not do it unless it's absolutely necessary.  The chemise is usually a long-sleeved garment that reaches the knees or thereabouts and can be heavily embroidered, though more often, it was plain.  Some people like to make them full-length, but from what I've been able to gather, it's not typical for the chemise to be that long on women.  Makes sense...just more stuff to get in the way when you're trying to pee.

A kirtle is a sleeveless (usually) dress that can be one or two pieces--that is a long, straight gown or a bodice with a skirt sewn to it.  The straight kirtle might also serve as a maternity gown--I made one when I was pregnant and it was roomy and comfortable.

Here's a fancier two-piece kirtle with side lacing and trim around the neckline.  It has a straight placket in the front and is heavily gathered around the rest of the dress.  On a warm day, or if you were a working-class woman, this might be all you need.  After all, you need to roll your sleeves up to wash clothes in the river, work in the kitchen or rake hay in the fields.  Throw an apron over the top and you're good to go!


Now, the GOWN, which is the one I'm making, is the layer that goes over the kirtle that has sleeves.  For the upper-class woman, like this portrait of Katherine of Aragon shows in 1502, the sleeves were long and bell-shaped...perfect for doing absolutely nothing!  They also appear to be lined with white fur, although it could be velvet.  The gal in gold even has the skirt turned up in the back to prove that it's FULLY LINED and isn't just a strip along the edge.  Show-off.  The gal in the red-orange has a green kirtle under the orange dress.  All three are wearing a black partlet under the gown.  At some point, the partlet turns into a layer that goes over the gown, like a sweater.


Or she might have worn some tight-fitting sleeves and the turned-back cuffs, like this one...love the details of the construction on this bodice, including the square armpit seams...


But the working class woman kept things simple, close to the body and able to roll up out of the way. Over-sleeves were even tied on so they could be removed completely. Not sure what's going on with short arms and her enormous hands, though.

Now you can't stop staring at them, can you?  Creepy, isn't it?  That cat is seriously ticked off, too.

So on the 9th day, I mostly just sat around.  Kidding.  I pulled out the green linen, took a big breath, and cut into it.  I only made the body part of the gown, sewed the pieces together in the green linen as well as the lining, and set it aside.  More fitting would be done the next morning.

I also put together most of a newsletter for the quilt guild.  Darn helium hands.  At least I foisted off the majority of the work (taking notes, attending meetings) on another guild member, so I can do all the work from home in my spare time...like at 1:30 in the morning when I can't sleep.  6:30 is going to show up awfully early tomorrow.  Sigh.

So on the 10th day of Christmas, I got a visit from my friend, Rachel.  She's renting Omi's house with her husband, John (and seeing a couple of ghosts now and again...but that's a longer story).  Rachel helped do the final fitting on the gown bodice and helped with the sleeve pattern.  I hadn't made a really successful pattern, but she showed me a couple tricks and now I've got it!  Boo-yah!  I might even write a paper on how it was done and submit it to the Barony's newsletter.  I got the sleeves sewn on to the bodice and then cut the pieces for the skirt.  (I only have about a half-yard left of the fabric, which might not be enough for more than a small tunic for Ben.  Maybe I'll make a short-sleeved tunic for him.)

Here it is hanging out, letting the fabric settle before hemming it to length.  Rachel recommended that I hang it so that if the fabric was going to stretch from gravity, it would get it all out of the way before I hemmed it and started wearing it.  Then I wouldn't have the surprise of having it grow in length and drag in the mud or get in the way as I trip over it all day.  Gooooooood thinkin'!  I also need to add hooks and eyes up the front of the dress, hem up the cuffs, and then it will be DONE!  I may add some decorative touches to it later, but it's meant to be a working woman's outfit, which many of them weren't decorated heavily.

On the 11th day, I forgot about the A&S gathering at the cafe, but I finally got out the door 90 minutes late.  By the time I got there, they were already breaking up and heading home.  I said hello to a couple people who were only there a minute or two before heading out, but chatted with Rachel for about 30 minutes discussing what we'd like to see happen with the costumer's guild--both locally and at Kingdom.  The Kingdom office mostly fell apart from lack of volunteers, which I totally understand.  If I were free of Ithra, I might be willing to take this on--at least the guild challenges part.  Finding judges and setting up contests would be fun, but not running the whole guild.  I need to train up my replacement for Ithra and move on, I think.  As much as I love doing what I do, I think it's time.

So...when I got home, I took the weaving project apart that I was working on with the 6-hole cards and reduced it to a 4-hole card project.  I have the wrong kind of loom for the 6-hole cards.  Someday...but not now.  I started weaving the Tiwaz trim (a letter in the Runic alphabet, and also a symbol for the god, Tyr) for my friend, Tyrssen.  The letter is sideways, but looks very much like an arrow, pointing up.  It's a really straight-forward pattern; 4 turns forward and 4 back, so it's chugging right along.  I should have it done in just a couple days.

Tomorrow is the 12th Day of Christmas.  The kids go back to school.  I'll take the tree down and put the decorations away.  I'll also do some laundry, clean beads and maybe do a little weaving.  Not a really exciting day, but given that I'm not going to get much sleep tonight, I'm not surprised.

Soon...packing for 12th Night!