Altering Simplicity 2589, part 2, the gown

[Unfortunately, the Tudor Costume Page referred to here is no longer available.]

In my previous post, I discussed the undergarments for the 16th century-style gown I made to promote my new novel  Honddu Vale. Now for the gown itself. 

The Tudor Costume Page (TTCP) is designed for peasant and servant clothing, but be sure to read Materials and Techniques and its links before you make any purchases. There is nothing so overwhelming as going into a twenty-first century fabric store, trying to figure out what would look appropriate for an earlier era. Fabric woven of different colors was extremely expensive before the machinery of the Industrial Revolution. Most was dyed in one lot although the weave might well show patterns. I ended up using a blue brocade drapery fabric. 

Since my characters are not at court and I intended to be able to move in this gown and even attend a writer’s banquet, I was not interested in the huge volumes of skirt in Simplicity 2589. It calls for 8 yards (8 yards?!!!) of expensive upholstery fabric. I bought four. On sale.

Instead of cutting 6 back skirt pieces (Simplicity piece #9), I cut 2, but I expanded the piece in the middle to make maximum use of the fabric and turned the pieces so the wide bottom of one was next to the narrow top of the other. Instead of 2 skirt front pieces (Simplicity piece #8)  on the fold (essentially doubled), I cut 2 not on the fold, in other words, using half the material for the front.

I was not interested in the elaborate sleeves of the pattern. My characters live in a backwater of the kingdom. Their ideas of fashion would be much closer to previous generations. I used a modern sleeve pattern to give me the shoulder curve and length, but cut a triangularly-shaped sleeve, very wide at the wrist. To simplify the trim (partly because I was so unsure of my ability to choose authentically among all the range of choices at Jo-Anne’s), I simple inserted a strip of folded underskirt fabric between the sleeve and the sleeve lining. That way it shows whether the sleeve is turned back in the mid-century style or allowed to hang as it would have at the beginning of the century.

Problem: I can hardly move my arms when laced into the finished gown. My daughter, a gamer, says, “Welcome to the sixteenth century.” If I make this gown again, I will try using the upper sleeve pattern piece (Simplicity piece #6) as the shoulder guide and see if that makes a difference in ease of movement. It may just be that that is why ladies were so lady-like—they had no choice! [P.S. I did remake the sleeves using the patterns upper sleeve, but significantly less fabric for the lower sleeve. I won't be going out to hit tennis balls in it, but it does allow for more movement than my original. That pattern assumed a much looser garment.]

At this point I could actually try it on and discover that anyone could look straight down my front. Alterations followed.

The bodice was the reason I bought the pattern. One of the challenges is that you can’t try the pieces against your body in the usual way because you are going to be lacing them tightly and you can't lace tissue paper! When they first started making multi-sized patterns, they printed them on the same piece of tissue and you could ease from one size to the next according to your needs. This one uses different tissues, so neighboring sizes are not on the same tissue. I cut some of one size and some of another, hoping they would work together. I had to make adjustments later since the pattern expected me to have more on top than I do.

After sewing pieces together, the Simplicity 2589 pattern instructions say to “clean finish” seams. TTCP has you hem all the pieces BEFORE sewing them together. Her bodice instructions have you cut the canvas interfacing and lining to the actual size of the finished piece and turn the outside material over the edges and stitch it to the lining, then whipstitch the puzzle pieces together. This makes for a much neater finish, which I guess was important to people at the time. The trouble is, that it is much harder to alter after fitting if the seams are done that way. 

If I do this again, I will use the bodice of this gown as a template for a new pattern that won’t need to be altered because it already fits me, and pre-finish them as TTCP says. You might want to make a practice bodice of cheap outer fabric to figure out your exact size. The trouble is that you would have to take it as far as making the eyelets to lace it before you would know what fits or doesn’t fit. 

TTCP hates eyelets. I don’t blame her. She does hers by hand. I used metal grommets since I found antique ones on a site, which said to me they are not inauthentic for the gentry. But they were still very hard on my fingers. The challenge is to get the hole in the multi-layers of fabric big enough to let the grommet pass in, but not so big that it has no fabric to clamp on all sides. Good luck with that one. You won’t find the 96-inch shoelace they tell you to use for lacing in a shoe store.  That’s an ice skate lace! Get it at your local skate shop.

The front is cream taffeta over white felt. The back is 2 panels of cream broadcloth.

The underskirt uses felt to stiffen the front. The back won’t show, so you can use a cheap fabric, but use a heavy weight like broadcloth, not light cotton. I used two back panels expanding them in the middle to make maximum use of the fabric as I did with the overgown. That gave me a couple extra inches on each without getting into the 6 panels the pattern called for. I used the largest size front panel for a few extra inches as well. With the hoops in my improvised farthingale and bum roll, I had all the fullness I wanted.

When I discovered that my original shift wasn’t going to work, I still wanted gathered undersleeves. I used the same modern sleeve pattern that I would revise if I were to do it over again to make full undersleeves of the cream taffeta I used for the front of the underskirt. There was just enough trim left from going around the neck to trim the cuffs. The cuffs are tied with cream satin ribbon. (Actually, it is white satin ribbon dyed with tea.)  I believe buttons were beginning to be used in this period although (I think) more for men than for women. (I am NOT an expert here.)

Comb stitched inside the hood

And so here I am dressed in my finery. Let me know if this account has been helpful to you. I hope that you will check out my historical fiction series Glastonbury Grail, of which Honddu Vale is Book 2. You can find out more about me on my bio page. 

I used the same fabric as the underskirt and inner sleeves for the veil of the French Hood. I made no alterations here, but followed the pattern instructions exactly, except to add a 2 -inch comb to secure the thing to my hair. I was very pleased with the result. After learning the techniques, I am more confident to try something more elaborate from an earlier period if the opportunity should arise.