Italian Tudor Renaissance Gown??!!

I've been commissioned to make the first Renaissance costume for a 15-year old young lady.  I took her measurements and mocked up a commercial pattern bodice for her, showed her several books for ideas - from 'Elizabethan Costuming for the Years 1550 -1580' to 'The Tudor Tailor' and 'Patterns of Fashion'.
Then we went off to the fabric store and found this gorgeous brocade:

Well, it says Italian Renaissance to me and period bodice pattern without princess seams due to the large motif.  So. I drafted up a period bodice pattern while Emily looked through the Tudor Tailor and fell in love with the Tudor sleeves.  Not my first choice, but that is what she wants!
I've cut out the skirt based on the Eleonora layout in Patterns of fashion - here are the parts ready for assembly:

For scale, the columns are about 12' apart.  I cut the front and back pieces with the same design in the brocade at the waist.  It would be impossible to match the pattern across the wedge shaped pieces, and since they did not do it in period - neither did I!  Next step is assembly and fitting.  We got a coordinating golden velveteen that will be used for a guard at the hem.
As soon as the customer gets her two-hoop skirt, we will have a fitting to hem!

Taffeta Skirt

Me and my daughter in Pisa gown

A month before the IRCC was announced, I made a brand new bodice, skirt and sleeves based on the Pisa gown.  For the IRCC I planed to make several interchangeable pieces that would require a burgundy taffeta skirt.  As it turns out, the Pisa gown fits my daughter and she needs new renn garb, so I plan to give it to her.
So, I needed a new burgundy taffeta skirt.
Hancock Fabrics carries this taffeta (they call the color cranberry) in plain and in a pin-tucked version.  I used the pin- tucked in my compass cloak and as accent strips on a set of sleeves.
For my new skirt, I decided to use a strip of the pin-tucked fabric down the center front of the skirt and another band at the hem.  Since the fabric is so lightweight, I decided to use three widths of fabric in the skirt.  I have made several skirts based on the Eleonora de Toledo di Medici burial skirts with the gored sections.  However, this once, I decided to do something the easier way and just use three ungored widths of fabric because I did not feel like dealing with the curved section of the gore and the pin-tucked band.... After all, everyone has to take the easy route some time!
I cut the center font pin-tucked band 5" wide.  I split two sections of the fabric in half lengthwise - one for the center front addition of the pin-tucked section and anther so I would not have a seam in the center back.
Well, I made one thing easy, so I had to complicate something else.  I am PARANOID about the safety of my ID and other valuables while at renfaire.  Therefore, I like to have a non-period zip pocket hidden in my skirt since I KNOW that I will NEVER loose my skirt.  So... where do I hide a pocket????
How about right behind the center front pin-tucked section?  I sewed an invisible zipper into the right hand section of the seam between the two fabrics.

I used one width of fabric for the front and two for the back.  Other than the decorative pin-tucked strip down the center front, the front section is double box pleated and the back is triple box pleated.
After I got the waistband attached - my friend Molly  marked the hem for me and I cut it level before attaching the lower band.

The bottom band is cut 6.5" wide out of pin-tucked and plain taffeta and a 2" wide taffeta bias strip pressed in half.  The bias strip is sewn between one end of the two long strips.  After the seam was pressed open, a narrow strip of horsehair braid was sewn to the seam allowance.  The pin-tucked side of the strip was attached to the right side of the skirt with a 1" seam.  The seam was pressed towards the plain taffeta skirt and then the skirt fabric was pressed down over the seam.. 


The center front of the bodice would add to the disguise but it need a little more....  I used fingernail polish to paint the zipper pull burgundy and hand stitched a coordinating trim down the seamline.

hiding the zipper pull with nail polish and trim

Then a row was stitched where the pin-tucked fabric met the skirt fabric while horsehair braid was pushed into the tuck.  The tuck was pressed down over the pin-tucked band. Finally, the bottom bias strip was snipped and hooks were added to the wasitband.

Inserting the horsehair braid while sewing the hem tuck.

Update - the skirt needed to be a little longer.  So I took out the tuck, removed the band and re-stitched it with a 5/8" seam allowance instead of the 1" I had originally done.
The tuck to hide the raw edges is a very easy and neat way to finish the bottom of a skirt.

Skirt for Clarice IRCC Gown

The skirt for the Clarice IRCC gown is in progress. Since the portrait is from slightly above the waist and up - I decided to make a split front skirt based on the Eleonora di Toledo de Medici burial gown but without a train.

These are the pieces of the skirt - the distance between the columns is about 12'.  I have assembled the back and side back pieces and have started applying the trim to the front sections.

Since I  ran out of the trim  and it is not on sale this week - I hope it will go on sale at Hobby Lobby in tomorrow's ad.  So Monday I can continue with the skirt.