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Kirtle &
Surcoat
(final pictures are at the
bottom of the page)
13 August
2006
Somehow I got it into my head that joining the Margo's Iron Dress
competition was a good idea. Sounds like a good idea-I can only
use stuff from the stash (thread is fine to buy) and I have to be finished by
Oct. 15.
The only problem is that I have zero motivation to work on anything, especially
anything for myself. I think (hope & pray) that by
working on something for my mom & giving myself a much closer deadline (Sept. 9
or 10) that I will be able to motivate myself to
make a nice gown.
So, with that in mind, here's the plan:
My mom could use another dressy gown
and since this year is my parent's 30th wedding anniversary, I thought it would
be nice to
use some of the green velvet that her wedding dress was made out of. 30 years
ago she had a very hard time finding forest green
cotton velvet for her dress. She was sent by an acquaintance to a fabric
showroom at the Empire State Building, she found the right
color but, she had to buy the whole bolt. I don't want her to broil out at MNRF,
so I'd like to use this as guards on a ropa made of a
matching silk, that is if we have enough...
For the kirtle I'll use some cream background floral tapestry fabric that was
purchased with the idea of using it for some kind of
a dress, someday...I better start looking for something to make
up the body of the kirtle, hmmmm...
Therefore, it'll look a little something like this:
21 August
Right now things are in a holding pattern. Turns out that the green in the
floral is much more yellow than the green velvet & silk. So,
although the plan is still in place the fabric may be changing...
5 September morning
Ok, after yet another change of plans and fabric, I've started to work on
this thing. The kirtle is an olive and burgundy brocade in a
diamond & vine pattern that I'm embellishing with a whole ton of pearls-big ones
in the middle and trios of little ones at the diamond
points. The surcoat will be made from some tablecloth fabric that has a fleur des lis pattern. I thought I was going to dye it taupe, but
after I got the dye home, I started working on the pearling of the kirtle and I
realized that it really needs to be burgundy. Guess I'll
be exchanging the dye for a different color, oh well. Here's the brocade:
| Before Pearls |
With Large Pearls |
With Pearl Trios |
 |
 |
 |
So now the gown will look more like this:
5 September evening
I got the old skirt taken apart, washed and the sides & backs of the
kirtle cut from it. I couldn't follow the grain markings for the
sides because I would have run out of fabric. I hope that this isn't too big a
deal. I know that it puts two bias sections together, but
if I'm remembering right, that would have happened anyway. All the pieces are serged and I hope to get it put together tomorrow.
I'm going to need to put in a zipper as a temporary fix if mom's going to wear
it this weekend. (fingers crossed) The eyelets will
come later, I just don't have the strength to do all of those after all the
pearls.
While watching Dead Like Me & Eureka I
finished up pearling the kirtle panel. There are 389 pearls, so far! I'll need to add a
few more after
it's put together, but I wanted to wait to allow room for the seams. I'll still
need to pearl the sleeves, but that's something I'll get to later.
(might help if I cut them out first)
10 September
Last night I added a few more pearls to the kirtle panel and added hooks at
the back of the neck. I decided that since mom isn't ever going to have any more
kids, that I didn't really need to put all those eyelets in. So, instead I
stitched the center back seam much higher and just put in a could of little
hooks to keep it closed. I also sat on the cold basement floor and pinned the hem
of the surcoat while it hung on mom's dress dummy. I hemmed it on site at
MNRF this morning. Despite it's getting very wet when the rains
hit, it looked really good and mom was comfy.
15 September
Mom and I found the perfect trim for the surcoat yesterday! Only
problem is, we blew the budget! I had been sitting at about $10 total cost, but
now I'm well over $25! I'm going to measure very carefully to see just how much
I actually use, but I'm over budget and that's just the way it's going to be.
The trim is way to perfect not to use or to use something else. I have to dig in
my stash to see if I have some velvet to put the trim on top of to create a
layered look...
I'd better ask if dye can be counted as a
freebie...
18 September
Saturday I had a "costume by committee" moment. My parents stopped by and my
mom, my dad & my husband all had ideas and we ended up with something pretty
cool. Joe suggested using the trim twice around the hem with fabric in between
them to give some visual weight to the hem. Although this meant that I was going
to use almost all the trim & therefore be over budget, the gown needed something
special. And this idea was clearly very special.
Late Saturday night I managed to find some
silk left over from when I re-made my olive gown and the best part was that it
was already in bands! Sunday morning, I evened up the size of them and over dyed
it with a bit of coco brown dye to help it match the trim & the kirtle panel
better.
I had to stitch the band of fabric & the trim in this order:
1. Fabric band bottom. Measured from the hem.
2. Fabric band top, slightly gathering, so that it would lay well.
3. Top band of trim Measured from the bottom of the band of fabric.
4. Trim down the front & around the hem on the bottom. Covering the ends of
the top band of trim.
I noticed a portrait of an Unknown Girl that the buttons & loops alternated sides of the front
opening. I am unsure of the artist, but here's the portrait:
Mom & I both thought it looked pretty cool,
so we went with it. I over dyed some cord from a gift for the loops and had just
the right amount to make all 6. Because the loops balance the buttons, it isn't
immediately obvious that they are on alternating sides.
I reset the sleeves because they looked sort of strange the first time I put
them in. I gathered them at the top of the shoulder to get the fabric to sit
nicely. I also removed and replaced the collar. I wanted the trim ends to hide
under it & I needed to add a some interfacing so that the collar wasn't droopy.
Now all I have left to do is make the kirtle
sleeves, pearl them and make the caul & hat! Oh! and share some pictures!
|
Front |
Back |
3/4 View |
Alternating
Buttons & loops |
2 rows of braid trim over a band of dupioni at hem |
3 October
The sleeves are mostly put together & beaded! I just need to finish the
shoulder edge, add something to lace through & attach the buttons and I'll be in
the home stretch!
Of course, now that I'm this close to
finishing the whole thing, I had a great idea about the bands on the surcoat
sleeves. I think I have enough of the olive silk left to change out the bands so
that they will match the hem. But them I'd need to buy a bit more trim! Oh,
well, the $25 budget is shot anyway. I'll see what Mom thinks tomorrow.
I'd also better make her a new farthingale. I
have an old sheet that should work perfectly & the steel from a bridal hoop that
was acetate & had shredded along a seam.
11 October
In spite of the fact that I had already spent more than the allotted $25, I
needed more trim. The surcoat sleeves just didn't look special enough without
having them match the hem. Luckily, this time the trim was on SALE! I had
exactly 3 inches of the silk left after adding it to the sleeves. The impact it
has made is huge, before it didn't feel "finished", now it looks both finished &
polished.
So here's what's left to be done before
midnight Sunday:
14 October, 9:26 pm
I just finished setting the very last grommet in the kirtle sleeves & with
that, this gown is DONE!
The last piece of surcoat sleeve trim went on
with only one minor issue. Because the final piece of trim I purchased was from
a slightly different dye-lot, part of it looked really funny with the already
sewn trim. I had enough of the trim purchased earlier that I was able to very
carefully piece it. So carefully in fact that when I wanted to show Joe how
beautiful it is, I couldn't find the seam!
I did end up using grommets instead of
handmade eyelets. I a) didn't have the time & b) doing eyelets really bothers my
carpel tunnel. BUT, I did not cut the holes for the grommets, I stretched the
fabric just like I would have with handmade eyelets.
I finished a new farthingale earlier in the
week & this time it's the color of mud, since that was a big problem this year
at MNRF.
Somehow I missed writing about the Italian
bonnet I made. I intended to take pictures of how it went together, but somehow
that didn't happen. I used a 16" circle for the crown & for the brim
I used the pattern in Patterns for Theatrical Costumes. I traced the size head
opening from the chart in the back & then measured out 1 1/2" to find the
outside edge. I made the brim out of plastic needlepoint canvas & padded it with
Presto Felt. I think that the Presto brand of sticky backed craft felt is
far superior to any other brand I have tried. The crown was cartridge
pleated & sewn to the brim using a curved needle, then I added some of the
remaining trim as a hatband. I finished the inside with a grosgrain ribbon band
that can easily be replaced when it gets dirty. I'm pretty proud of the way the
hat turned out & defiantly will make another one using the same technique.
I will take some pictures of the gown on
Sunday & will get Mom to pose for some on Monday. It feels really good to have
this one finished. I can't wait to have Mom wear it.
15 & 16 October
The gown looks great on Mom, it
swings in the most beautiful way as she walks! I can't begin to relate how
excited I am with the way this turned out. I'm going to wait to add it to the
Armoire page because I'd like some photos with a backdrop other than our office
parking lot, but for now they'll do.
|
Front of finished gown |
detail of sleeve |
detail of hem |
Iron Dress Accounting Department:
|
Olive & burgundy brocade kirtle
panel
& sleeves
(on sale at Calico Corners for
30% of 17.99 a yd.) |
$ 0.00 |
|
Olive cotton for kirtle body (scavenged from a skirt) |
$ 0.00 |
|
White tablecloth fabric to be dyed
for ropa
(purchased 7 years ago for
a play at 50% off $7.99 a yd.) |
$ 0.00 |
|
Thread (freebie!) |
$ 0.00 |
| 6 Tutor rose buttons |
$ 0.00 |
| 522 pearls (left over from a craft
project 20 years ago) |
$ 0.00 |
10 braid buttons dyed to
"match" fabric
(30 % off of $1.95 each) |
$ 0.00 |
| Dye- wine & coco brown
(ok-ed as freebie!) |
$ 0.00 |
| The perfect trim
(11yards at $2.50 a yard) |
$ 27.50 |
Braid for button loops
(came on a holiday package
from neighbor 2 years ago) |
$ 0.00 |
| Old sheet & steel from old bridal
hoopskirt for farthingale |
$ 0.00 |
| More of the perfect
trim (on sale this time for $1.99) |
$ 5.30 |
| Iron Dress Grand Total |
$ 32.80
($
7.80 over budget) |
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