Calontir Clothing Challenge IV - Overgown

I didn't spend quite as much time drafting on this dress as the green one. This was partly due to time constraints, and partly because I was feeling a little more confident after the green one, while simultaneously less confident confident that the fit was going to get significantly better. I decided to try a different pattern for this dress, and followed the 6-panel gown tutorial by Vincent De Vere. He hosted a live demonstration of how to pattern the gown using just 4 measurements - which was super helpful since there's still a pandemic going on so getting someone to help me drape it was not an option. I also liked this pattern because as popular as the 4 panel gown is in SCA circles, many extant pieces like the Herjolfsnes tunics look like they may have been made up of more than 4 panels.

One of the awkward lessons I learned from my mockup was that I wanted my lacing to fall between the front and side panel - not the side and back panel. In my mockup I used a zipper between the side and back panel to quickly test my fit, because I wanted my closure to be out of the way and nearly invisible, but it was so far out of the way that I couldn't fasten it on my own and had to get help getting in and out of my mockup.

Just getting the fabric was a struggle. I found some lovely cotton about the same shade of blue as the picture with lots of fabric on the bolt. I went up to the cutting counter and asked for 5 yards. The clerk unwrapped started unwrapping the bolt and a one cut yard fell off. She continued unwrapping and a two yard cut fell off, and then another one yard piece. We looked at each other and the clerk recommended that I select a different bolt. I agreed, and went back to the same section to find a different bolt. I found a similar color on a different bolt that looked like it had several yards and hoped that it was all in one piece - thankfully it was one solid piece. After washing it and getting it on the ironing board I noticed that it had an awful lot of stretch, and that left me thinking that it's probably a cotton poly-blend. Not what I wanted, but I wasn't going back to the store to get more fabric. (I didn't have time, and I wasn't going to spend more money on this!) Looking back at the receipts it has the same description as the green fabric for the underdress...so I don't know.

I love the color, but this fabric came out of the dryer looking almost pleated.

I started stitching up the gown in a pretty straightforward manner, but forgot to take pictures. Flatline the muslin around the torso of the gown. Attach the gores and sew the center front seam. Sew the side back seams and the center back seam. Attach the facing. (Just like with the green dress I cheated and did a facing with a medium-weight fusible interfacing to ensure that the buttonholes would be strong and not wrinkle too badly without boning to keep them separate.)

I was just getting ready to line up my lacing holes when I noticed a problem - my facing did not match the edge of my front side seam.

I'd traced the facing pieces quickly, so I understood how it had happened, but it didn't change the fact that I didn't have a large enough piece to recut and fix them. So instead I took a break to calm down and then reminded myself that piecing is period. That's all well and good, but how best does one piece a seam where one knows that there will be machine-sewn buttonholes? Extra stitching is exactly the sort of thing that throws off automatic buttonholers.

I decided that since my problem was nearly within my seam allowance I could simply stitch an extra piece of fabric to the short facing, fold it over, hold it up to the actual piece, and then trim it down. Miraculously this plan worked!

With that the body of the gown was assembled, and I moved onto the sleeves. While I regret not taking any pictures of them, their construction was relatively simple. I started with the basic inset sleeve shape - the rounded cap and dip under the armpit with the seam running under the arm so that it aligns with the same place that the front panel meets the side panel for practical reasons. I just took the sleeve and lengthened it without ever narrowing it and made it much longer than my actual arm. I then bag-lined it with muslin (fur would have been better, but not in the budget) up to the elbow. Next I attached the shoulder of the sleeve to the dress. Then I closed the sleeve down to the elbow and the skirt from below the lacing to the hem. The sleeves where already bag-lined, so that just left the skirt to be hemmed.

Unfortunately, I was running a little behind schedule for all of this, and at 2:30am on the morning of January 31 I was pinning the sleeves to the dress as my eyelids were drooping, which was how I knew it was time to stop and go to bed. I'm glad that I did because any stitching I'd done at that point I definitely would've had to take out later. Indeed, after I woke up and got back to it I discovered that my sleeves needed to be re-pinned before they could be sewn because they weren't quite right. Even so, I ended up breaking a needle when I accidentally tried to sew over a pin that I forgot to remove.

Don't sew tired. It's not worth it.

Somehow I managed to get the whole gown sewn by January 31, 2021 for the Calontir Clothing Challenge. I also managed to make one of 2 lucet cords to lace my gown closed, and used ribbon on the other side. It's been a month now, and I've since completed the second lucet cord! I even attached my first aglet to a cord.

The dress is done! I was exhilarating to finish, but it's also been nice to have my free time back to myself to just unwind. The sides are spiral laced, which is new to me, and I'm still getting used to that. The sleeves are wonderfully dramatic, but not so long that they drag on the ground when I'm walking around which makes them a little easier for life.

What the item is: Overgown

How it fits the challenge: Layer 3 of Calontir Clothing Challenge; No HSM challenge

Material: Blue Cotton ~5 yards; White muslin ~2 1/3 yard

Pattern: Self-Drafted from several resources, especially Stars and Garters tutorial

Year: circa 1400-1425

Notions: Thread, embroidery floss, aglets, ~1/2 yard medium weight interfacing

How historically accurate is it? About 75%

Hours to complete: 20

First worn: Photo Shoot 1/31/2021

Total cost: Blue Fabric ($20)+Blue Thread ($2.50)+2 Skeins Embroidery Floss ($1.20) = $23.70 plus taxes and stash

Links:

Pattern Tutorial: https://starsandgartersdotblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/patterning-a-fitted-garment-ver2-10-1-2020.pdf