I started by going to the museum where I volunteer and looking at their historic clothing. They put in a lot of research and have the advice of professionals in the construction of their clothing so I can not get better than that. Also as I plan to wear this skirt at this museum so it had better be as good as theirs.
All their historic clothing is fully researched and hand made. There is no corner cut to get to the finished article. No compromises are made. The clothing is all made from materials available to the average person for the period in question. It is all hand sewn in either linen or wool thread. The clothing and sewing thread are also naturally dyed where appropriate. So I have a lot to live up to...
I am already an avid natural dyer and seamstress. My sewing is probably not as good as their sewing, but I need the practise and you can only get better if you practise!
They are also very particular about the construction of the clothing and that it has to reflect the status of a particular house's occupants.
Firstly I had to look at the fabric used. Then the construction.
The fashion for the average woman in the Stuart age was to enhance the child bearing image of the figure! That is, to make your bum and hips look large and to have a good amount of support for the breasts. By this time the skirt and the top was separate. The skirt is made from a parctical wool lined with a light wool worsted or linen. This skirt is pleated for 90% of it's circumference. The front 3 inches being left unpleated. For the poorer women the width around the hips and bum is achieved through careful pleating. For the more upper class you may wear a bum roll. This is a curved sausage like pad worn around the hips and bum. You may wear a petticoat under the outer skirt. This petticoat is like another full skirt made from a wool fabric again and often dyed red. On your upper body you may wear a bodice that was called a pair of bodies or stayes. And then be more presentable you would wear a waist coat over these. It has been suggested that the bodies (Corset) was a fashion item for the younger generation and not for the married woman! This does to me seem likely. A more mature lady may have simply had a solidly made bodice instead. But this is my guess.
The fabric used for their outer skirt is a heavy wool twill in a beautiful grey. I did not have enough of my own heavy wool fabric left at this time so I thought I would use a lighter serge. I had already dyed this a blue with indigo. I tried to substitute it by adding some thicker fabric to the top. I have already lined it here with linen.
Next the construction. They are very particular about their cartridge pleating. I sat down and measured mine carefully.
Here you can see the white chalk marks. Each of these was to be the base of a cartridge pleat.
I then threaded a large needle with a heavy linen thread and started the pleating. Then Pulled. It began to look like the top of a pair of curtains! So it was going well. I then sewed through the pleats with some blue linen thread to secure them.
Here you can see the indigo dyed wool serge.
The problem came when I tried to sew it to a waist band. I managed after some hours to attach it to a waist band. But, try as I might I can not get the cartridge pleats to sit right. They kept wanting to go sideways.
I concluded that it was down to the fabric I used. The wood is just too light even with the band of heavy wood I added to the top.
I have bought some lovely heavy wool fabric in a cream shade from the re-en actors market and plan to start again...
This blue skirt I will turn into the skirt of a Tudor gown. No matter how much I tried this is what it looked like any way!
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