Pondering

[msmcknittington]

Friends who have made 16th-century hanging gowns, I have questions.

I have these five yards or so of burgundy cotton velveteen, and I think it wants to be a hanging gown/loose gown. It will be a loose gown. I need an Elizabethan overcoat, and I think this will be a good, easy project. A get well project, if you will.

Has anyone used any of the patterns out of Patterns of Fashion? Looking at those, it looks like all the loose gowns are just widths of fabric pleated to an internal yoke, with armscyes and necks cut as required. The Sir Francis Verney gown just has ribbons as stay tapes, right? I'm thinking about basing it on one of the young girls' gowns, as the length on those are right for me, if not the bust. The Sir Francis Verney gown is 60-inches long at the back, and as I am 62-inches tall and narrow-shouldered, that's not going to work. Besides, I loveloveLOVE the round sleeves on the girl's gown on page 122 -- the one of cut velvet.

What I'm wondering is if there's any precedence for a separate shoulder yoke -- external, like a man's shirt -- with the body/skirts of the gown gathered/cartridge pleated to it. I seem to remember someone doing that in a dress diary, but hell if I can find it now.

So, internet-friends, have any resources or advice? Is it really as simple as cutting the right length or fabric and then pleating it to a yoke? What did you use for lining? Do I need a lining? Attached at the hem or free?

_{Y HELO THAR, help vampirism!}

If this doesn't work out, I'm going to make a fitted English gown with a full skirt.

Comments

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Moreover, I'm suspicious that the one Italian ropa with the back yoke is SHORT.

Which part? The yoke being short or the skirt being short? I'm kind of curious about the fact that the gathers don't look to be very full. It looks fairly narrow for an outer garment.

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

The hemline.

One of the bigger shocks of examining a lot of portraits/illustrations is that they consistently show less yardage used than we would expect. This isn't just because of different loom widths-- it's because it's the truth.

IIRC, various clothing inventories, which list the yardage of goods used to make up the stuff worn at court:

http://www.nachtanz.org/SReed/fabuse.html

Our 20th/21st century taste is for fuller garments.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Our 20th/21st century taste is for fuller garments.

Do you think that's Hollywood's influence? Or Victorian excess?

I do think it's a little nuts when people make Elizabethan gowns, and they somehow come out weighing in excess of 15 pounds. It shouldn't hurt to wear historical clothing.

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

Do you think that's Hollywood's influence? Or Victorian excess?

Yes.

I have a very heavy purple velveteen ropa, and it is uncomfortable to get my shoulders in and out of the armseyes. I think that some of it might be that silk, as a staple, holds together better than cotton, so the same thread used as pile in a silk velvet vs. a cotton velveteen will weigh less. Cotton is a very short-stapled fiber, so it has to be twisted very firmly; this makes it dense.

But don't ask me how much less, because to date I've never laid hands on a silk velvet that actually HAS silk pile.