Dressdiaries: Marianne's new dress -- part 1
Welcome one and all to the dressdiary for Marianne's new dress. This is the first part of the dress diary. You can click all images to be taken to a larger version.
The prelude to this dressdiary, e.g. the post with all the ponderings on what to make, can be found here. The main inspiration for this dress was Moretto da Brescia's "Portrait Of A Lady" from 1535.
Background: Marianne is an innocent little girl who is a scribe. She writes things down for people that can't write. She used to wear pink and dark blue, but now she needs a new dress. The dress will be rather purple.
This is the wool I found on e-bay. It was rather expensive, at GBP 10.- per meter, but luckily the conversion GBP to euro was in my favour. Five meters of the fabric, plus shipping, only cost me €72,-. This soft lambswool will be perfect for Marianne's new dress.
As I wanted to have more support than a bra could give me, I tried on my Victorian corset (Laughing Moon, Silverado) and Italian chemise, and let NoKey drape the bodice over these underpinnings. Sadly, I wasn't very happy with the result.
There are several things not working for this bodice. First off was the fact that the boob lift the corset gave me, had some funky things going on with the armscye. A dart should be inserted there to make it work. The back...well 'bulgy' is an understatement. Of course the voluminous skirts would smooth out some of the bad things going on there, but you can't wish for miracles.
I decided to make a pair of bodys instead. Firstly, they would be the 'proper' underpinnings for the period. You can't expect a corset from 400 years later to work in the Renaissance. Elizabethan bodys are very straight-fronted, pushing the breasts up and over if you're not careful. Luckily, I still had a pattern from Reconstructing History, which would provide an excellent basis to start from.
I chose the Pfalzgräfin's bodys, which looked easier to adapt than the effigy bodys. The pattern was deceptively simple, but I would need the largest size. When I pinned the pattern pieces on, it was large enough to fit roomily around my body, so I sewed everything down with a wide margin, taking 3 centimeters from the back.
Because I've had some disappointing results with canvas and reed in the past, I chose 10 mm flat steel bones. I will probably end up using 10 and 7 mm steels throughout the corset, perhaps even 5 mm for the back. I made my mock-up from canvas, but the real bodys will be made from coutil. The bones are snug inside channels of twill tape.
Front view. NoKey likes to take pictures that decapitate me. =)
The shape of the bodys is pretty good.
Back view. Boning will help somewhat with the wrinkles, but it's quite obvious that the back is too long. I had added 7 centimeters to both the front and the back -- which I do to every pattern because I'm larger than life. I could just as well take the 7 centimeters out again.
Steelweaver, who was dropping in for tea yesterday, said that they were a pretty good shape, and then proceeded to draw some adaptions onto the canvas while I was wearing the mock-up. The bottom of the bodys would go up at the back and side, and would need to go down a bit more on the front, because my tummy was escaping to the sides and bottom.
Another big problem was the top of the corset. The pointed bits, that were probably supposed to be at the side of the breast, was nowhere near the side of the breast. I had to extend the pattern there, moving the pointed bit more towards the arm, where that bone is poking out.
Next time: Adaptations to the pattern, and the second mock-up!
The prelude to this dressdiary, e.g. the post with all the ponderings on what to make, can be found here. The main inspiration for this dress was Moretto da Brescia's "Portrait Of A Lady" from 1535.
Background: Marianne is an innocent little girl who is a scribe. She writes things down for people that can't write. She used to wear pink and dark blue, but now she needs a new dress. The dress will be rather purple.
This is the wool I found on e-bay. It was rather expensive, at GBP 10.- per meter, but luckily the conversion GBP to euro was in my favour. Five meters of the fabric, plus shipping, only cost me €72,-. This soft lambswool will be perfect for Marianne's new dress.
As I wanted to have more support than a bra could give me, I tried on my Victorian corset (Laughing Moon, Silverado) and Italian chemise, and let NoKey drape the bodice over these underpinnings. Sadly, I wasn't very happy with the result.
There are several things not working for this bodice. First off was the fact that the boob lift the corset gave me, had some funky things going on with the armscye. A dart should be inserted there to make it work. The back...well 'bulgy' is an understatement. Of course the voluminous skirts would smooth out some of the bad things going on there, but you can't wish for miracles.
I decided to make a pair of bodys instead. Firstly, they would be the 'proper' underpinnings for the period. You can't expect a corset from 400 years later to work in the Renaissance. Elizabethan bodys are very straight-fronted, pushing the breasts up and over if you're not careful. Luckily, I still had a pattern from Reconstructing History, which would provide an excellent basis to start from.
I chose the Pfalzgräfin's bodys, which looked easier to adapt than the effigy bodys. The pattern was deceptively simple, but I would need the largest size. When I pinned the pattern pieces on, it was large enough to fit roomily around my body, so I sewed everything down with a wide margin, taking 3 centimeters from the back.
Because I've had some disappointing results with canvas and reed in the past, I chose 10 mm flat steel bones. I will probably end up using 10 and 7 mm steels throughout the corset, perhaps even 5 mm for the back. I made my mock-up from canvas, but the real bodys will be made from coutil. The bones are snug inside channels of twill tape.
Front view. NoKey likes to take pictures that decapitate me. =)
The shape of the bodys is pretty good.
Back view. Boning will help somewhat with the wrinkles, but it's quite obvious that the back is too long. I had added 7 centimeters to both the front and the back -- which I do to every pattern because I'm larger than life. I could just as well take the 7 centimeters out again.
Steelweaver, who was dropping in for tea yesterday, said that they were a pretty good shape, and then proceeded to draw some adaptions onto the canvas while I was wearing the mock-up. The bottom of the bodys would go up at the back and side, and would need to go down a bit more on the front, because my tummy was escaping to the sides and bottom.
Another big problem was the top of the corset. The pointed bits, that were probably supposed to be at the side of the breast, was nowhere near the side of the breast. I had to extend the pattern there, moving the pointed bit more towards the arm, where that bone is poking out.
Next time: Adaptations to the pattern, and the second mock-up!