Costuming My Bliss
Elizabethan Court Gown
Isabel De Valois
Click on the pics below for a description and larger view.
I had always wanted to go to the Ren-Faire, but I never had anything to wear. And let's face it, it's more fun when you're dressed. So after learning how to sew, I decided to make myself something pretty. I started with one of the patterns from the Big 3 patterncompanies. We'll just be nice here and say it was decidedly more fantasy than period. (Think blue panne velvet and gold/yellow satin!) Sandly (or not) there are no pictures in existance of me in that dress. Perhaps one day I'll be brave enough to slap it on the dress form and snap a couple, just to humiliate myself, and give you all a laugh.
While making that ill-fated dress, I started doing some research and decided I needed a realElizabethan! So the search was on for a pattern based less in fantasy and more in history.
I was ecstatic when I found Margo Anderson'spatterns! Sure, the website said they were for advanced sewers, which I most deffinately was not, but I ordered them anyway. (Here's where I pitch the patterns to all you unsuspecting readers. If you're thinking of buying these, Do! Don't let the price scare you. They're worth every penny. And when Margo releases a new version, she makes the changes available to those of us who have bought the earlier set. That, combined with the historical notes and the detailed instruction book make them a must have!)
I started with the underpinnings, totaly neccesary to get that period look.
The smock (or what we might call a chemise or slip today) went together easily, untill I got to the neck gussets. Tricky little buggers those things. But I managed to wrestle them into place and moved on to the stays.
