So above is my French hood, and below is Anne Boleyn in her French hood.
This shot shows that the hood isn't really sticking straight up...it slopes back gently.
And here's a side shot of the hood...
Compared with an early portrait of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I).
I'm pretty pleased with the final version. Now I just have to get my hair to cooperate and tuck up into the hood. Copious amounts of gel will no doubt be required to tame my bangs into submission.
My silk arrived from Thailand this week. I cut out the black silk pieces and basted it onto the buckram base. Then, I cut the same pieces out in white linen, and sewed the linen on the inside of the crescent and base. This secured the taffeta in place, and I could remove the large basting stitches. With the two pieces finally completed, I sewed the crescent to the base, and the photo above is the result.
Next, I took a long strip of gold organza silk, ran gathering stitches, and then steamed the gathered silk to set the pleats. Then I sewed the strip in place. This part of the hood was referred to as the 'crepine.'
Finally I sewed the veil to the hood. The veil is essentially a tube of black silk that's attached along the top edge of the crescent.
And then I sewed millinery wire around all the edges of the pattern pieces. Here's the crescent pattern piece:
And here's the brim:
Next, I sewed baby flannel to smooth the surface of the pattern pieces. The Tudor Tailor book called for using something called 'domette,' but I couldn't find any. It's apparently a British fine flannel. I had some leftover baby flannel from my Gainsborough hat project, and it was just enough to cover both the hood and the crescent.
Next up will be covering the pieces with black taffeta, sewing the crescent to the brim, and then sewing on the veil and decorations.
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).
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.
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?
I'm working from the Tudor Tailor Pattern that my in-laws gave me for Christmas a year ago. This is without a doubt the most expensive pattern I've ever owned...almost $80 to purchase. It does have the patterns for three garments: petticoat, kirtle, and gown - but still, that's pretty expensive. The pattern is MASSIVE. Kendra at Demode had warned that the pattern pieces were very unwieldly, but it wasn't until I had the pattern spread out accross the entire living room floor that the sheer size of the pattern struck me.
I'm doing a mid-Tudor style, like the portrait of Princess Elizabeth above. I really wanted to have the massive sleeves and bell shape that comes from wearing a farthingale. Someday I'll probably make an earlier Tudor gown with a train, but for now this is what I want. I already own a farthingale, so I'm moving strait to the kirtle. I'm ordering black taffeta to go with a golden upholstery fabric I snagged from a bargain table in Dutch country Pennsylvania. For the gown, I have a cotton velvet I'd like to use. The velvet is a peachy color that's all wrong for the Tudor period. I'm going to take my first jaunt into dying fabric for this project, and try to acheive a nice deep red.
I'd like to get to wear this outfit at the Maryland Renaissance festival this year, but that might be a bit ambitious. Each garment is very involved, and I don't have all the fabric I need yet. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!
Sandra Bullock disappointed me this year. It was her big year, and she played it very safe by dressing a la Oscar statuette. I would have much preferred to see something dazzling, and this just didn't do it for me.
Cameron Diaz looks very pretty in her gold beaded dress.
More gold on Kate Winslet. The cut of this dress was very flattering, if a little boring.
Miley Cyrus also joined the Gold club. I really didn't like the bodice of her dress. Anything that fits so poorly that it makes you hunch over to make sure you stay covered is a bad fashion choice.
Amanda Seyfried is one of my best dressed this year. Her Armani Prive gown shimmered, and I liked the bodice of her gown.
Jennifer Lopez, also in Armani Prive, looks very similar to Amanda Seyfried. Same iridescent looking fabric. However, I still like the gown, and the train draping off the side of her hip is very flattering. One of the best dressed.
Jessica Parker took a risk with this gown, and I think it paid off. The drape of the Chanel gown is very flattering, and I love the neckline. Wasn't a fan of the gargantuan bun though.
Carey Mulligan's dress is just adorable. The cut of the Prada gown is very flattering.
Diane Kruger in Chanel. I'm normally not a fan of the nude shades, but this one has such nice detailing, and the black really makes the gown pop. Another of my favorite gowns.
Penelope Cruz played it safe this year, and wore a flattering Donna Karen couture gown.
I know some people are going to disagree with me on this one, but I liked Vera Famiga's Marchesa gown. It moved very gracefully with her and was a piece of art. I just don't feel it belongs on the worst dressed list. It was too pretty. 
Okay, let me start by saying I don't think the gown is terribly flattering on Mrs. Cameron. She's too skinny through the shoulders for this to look truly stunning on her. However, I thought I'd give them a shout out for cleverly wearing blue to support Avatar.
Maggie Gyllenhaal's dress just didn't do it for me. I've looked at the pattern on the dress up close, and I guess it sort of has a kimono pattern to it, but to me it just looks like splotches of color from far away.
Ah, Zoe Saldana. This year's worst dressed. I have to say I adore the actress, but this dress is just a mess. Way too much going on, and not flattering. It looks like a barbie dress gone terribly wrong.
The question is should I make a simple very period accurate dress from pattern 4551 (I like the lower right hand dress...the sleeves are pretty):
Or make a prettier day dress out of pattern 3727:
The hang up is that I was considering using the 3727 pattern for my purple silk from India.
Of course, I could always make up pattern 2887 out of the silk, and that would be pretty too. 
What do you think? Which pattern is destined to be make up from my pretty homespun purple plaid? Feel free to weigh in on the silk too, but that's a future project.
The dress is fairly straight forward to make. I'm using some of my fabric stash for this outfit:
I've cut out all of the patterned cotton shown on top, but when it got time to cut out the faille I just couldn't do it. I bought these two as a pair, intending the faille to be an 18th century petticoat, and the cotton to be an 18th century jacket (obviously not very period). The faille, even though it's only poly, cost quite a bit is very nice quality. It's going back into the stash, and I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow. I think a pink poly satin will do the job nicely. I also need to pick up some interfacing and a zipper. This will be very cute when finished.
How to make your own 18th century trim (seriously...this was so time consuming, I can't ever see wanting to do this myself...but I suppose you never know just how crazy 'period correct' I might want to go some day).
How to make Death Head buttons. These are really cool! Here are the ones I made. I had a much easier time with the basic four point Death Head than the six point "Astral" pattern (the one where I used two colors). I was cursing that silly button the whole time.
So, enough about what I learned. Here's what came out of the Williamsburg Costume shop vault: a froofy organza cap.
FROOFY apron.
A pretty stomacher with lots of froofy trim.
A pretty purple and white stomacher with an amazing blue and white hat next to it.
A pink Polonaise with Organza trim.
An amazing Robe Francaise with self trim.
A froofy organza and silk trimmed robe Francaise.
And the piece de resistance that I really wanted to take home with me: A FROOFY yummy hat.
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