Tudor Project: Progress!

I am pleased to report actual sewing and progress on the Tudor project. This weekend, I cut out the mock-up for the kirtle and sewed it up. Once again, the mock-up has proved to be an invaluable tool...the first draft was two sizes too small. So...I retraced everything, cut it out again, and then sewed up the second mock-up. This one works nicely. I forgot to take a picture while I had it on my fitting dummy, but here's a rather unimpressive photo of it laid flat:I've ordered all the fabrics I need for the kirtle, and have to wait a few days for things to arrive in the mail. I'm using black taffeta for the kirtle. Since the taffeta isn't actually going to show, I'm doing something I don't normally do - I'm using polyester taffeta instead of silk. I've also ordered canvas for the interlining and some metal boning for the side seams (otherwise I'm using reed and have plenty of it).

Since I'm waiting on fabric to arrive, I thought I'd get a head start on the hood and start drafting the pattern. I used the Tudor Tailor, and transferred the pattern using one-inch grid paper. This is the first time I've ever transferred a pattern from a book instead of using a full size pattern. I think it went really well. Here's a copy of the pattern next to the book:I've gone ahead and ordered the buckram/silk taffeta/silk organza that I'll need for this project as well. I already have the felt and millinery wire.

In other very old and unrelated news, I went to the Gettysburg reenactment this year back in July. I'm not that interested in reenacting...I was really just there for the sutlers. To my delight, one of my favorite sutlers from Gettysburg was there: Abraham's Lady. They had a reenactor on hand to display this wonderful confection of a dress:I'm not sure how many yards of ribbon it took to trim this dress, but it's pleated by hand with a pearl hand stitched at each pleat. I believe they said it took something like 20 yards of silk to make the dress at a total cost of $2000. They described the silk as "oriental" and that it had red and blue threads woven together to give it a changing purplish hue. I thought it looked like changeable silk taffeta, but I was rather firmly informed that there was "no taffeta in the fabric." I always thought taffeta was a weave vs. fiber content. Anyone else care to speculate on the fabric?