| Elizabethan Undies English Smock, Italian Camica, Drawers, The English Smock [lifted from the PDSvN diary] I have finally pulled my head out of my a** and used Drea's Elizabethan Smock Pattern Generator instead of drafting from scratch. What a time saver! I cut out 2 to save time and have sewn one completely together, all with lapped seams for strength. It's 3.5oz linen so it's very lightweight and it's quite comfortable. It's a wee bit roomier than I would have liked so I'll probably take a bit off the sleeve width when I sew up the second one. I am waiting for some lovely blackwork to put around the square neck opening of the second one before I sew it together. The first one, I made the neck opening in a sort of rounded-off triangle shape. Some of us have been batting about theories on the high-backed chemises seen in paintings like this. Michaela made a bang-up sample so I gave it a whirl myself and I really like it. It's high on the back of the neck to give me a little more protection from the sun, and it's period (even if the "period" is German, ~1515-1540). The final touch was a little bobbin lace to the neck edge of the smock and then I wore it under the Big Pig. I'm so happy I can get into that dress again! And I'm very pleased with how comfortable the smock is. Now I want another one at a longer length, and I really do need at least two to keep up with the laundry. :-) The Italian Camica I left the camica to do last because I wanted to get the neck to fit perfectly within the bodice opening. I didn't really mean for "last" to mean "last minute" but... I spent weeks looking for a really lightweight and sheer 100% linen and couldn't find anything. The whole time I thought if I didn't find anything I'd order the 3.5 oz. linen from fabrics-store.com. Less than a week before it had to be done I hadn't found anything nor had I ordered anything, so I panicked. I found a lovely linen/cotton blend, very sheer, with a 1/2" check pattern in it. It's very lightweight and comfortable and works very well. I cut the camica based on Jen Thompson's camica from her Florentine dress. I used some cotton lace I had to make a neck "window" by putting on my bodice and pinning the lace on it so it peeks out at the neck edge. The linen/cotton was then sewn up and gathered to the lace edge. It gathered very nicely but sewing that close to the edge made it a bit sloppy. Hopefully I'll get the chance to rip it apart and re-pleat it cleanly by hand. This was lifted from the Venetian Diary pages. The Spanish Farthingale I have a dirty little secret... I've been using an old cotton hoop slip from a downtown Mexican Quinceanera shop for over 15 years. *hangs head in shame* It's still quite serviceable, the hoop steel is still good and the cotton is still sound. Nowadays you have a hard time finding them in anything but nylon. *shudder* So when The Tudor Tailor came out, I finally bit the bullet and decided to make myself a real Alcega-style farthingale. I found a wonderful suit-weight silk - kind of a slubby benagline - in a natural tan for $6/yd, had some cheap cotton for a lining laying around (I think i paid $4/pound), and bought 15 yards of cotton Petersham ribbon for the casings since it curves so beautifully. I also thought hard about what I wanted to use for the hoops - I didn't want to spend the $ on hoop steel (more so on the proper joins), and I don't have the facilities to properly soak and treat real cane, so I opted to try out Sarah's choice of polyurethane tubing. It's a semi-opaque, white tubing available in any hardware store as the tubing used for water hook-ups for, say, an icemaker. You can buy it by the foot and then the brass connectors. It has a similar stiffness and flexibility to hoop steel and worked really well at keeping it's shape while still being collapsible. I highly recommend it. Bumrolls for Every Occasion I really tried to use the little pillow from the Tudor Tailor instructions for my new farthingale, because having that padding on my backside made the farthingale sit nice and even, and toward the back. That's the perfect Elizabethan silhouette. But I couldn't make it work with a bumroll of any size. So I dumped the little pillow and I'm remaking my largest bumroll just a little smaller and I'll wear it under the farthingale. I also have a smaller bumroll I wear with the Fitted English Gown. The Effigy Bodies I've wanted a proper pair of Effigy bodies for a while and now is as good a time as any to make them, considering all the new undies in the works. I had stalled on the farthingale and wanted something to jumpstart me into working on it again. Then it turned into all this. I started with the idea that this would be quick-n-dirty since no one would see it, and I could justify using brass grommets. Then I started thinking about what to wear to the Sundie Undie Breakfast at Costume College, and thought this would be pretty, so I'd better hand-bind my eyelets! Ugh. Then, I always lose weight during Lent (I give up all sweets every year) so I had to make it front & back lacing or it would definitely be too big by August, so that made twice as many lacing holes to hand bind. UGH! Oh well. We do what we gotta do. To draft the pattern I started with these instructions, but the angle of the front piece side seam was too angled for my taste. I shifted that seam and had to play quite a bit with the angle of the shoulder strap, but overall I'd say it was a good starting point. Once I had my pattern I cut two layers of linen canvas with a layer of left-over salmon pink silk dupioni on top to make it pretty. After sewing all the channels, stuffing them with cable ties, and binding the edges with more pink silk, I began on the lacing eyelets. I poked holes with an awl, whip-stitched in brass jump rings for strength, then buttonhole-stitched tightly around each ring. Overall, I am very happy with these - both in comfort and in looks. Other Corsets This is my corded corset/kirtle made for my Augsburg gown. It's not technically a corset since it's attached to the skirt, and it is not period as far as I know, but it serves its function well and I'll be making another one for the Anna Meyer gown. This was lifted from my Augsburg Diary. Drawers And not the kind you keep your socks in! My drawers were made for pure comfort, not historical accuracy. They are plain linen, medium weight, knee length with a red hemstitch at the bottom just for fun. The biggest concession to comfort is that they are "low rise" with wide elastic at the waist. Nothing is more annoying than trying to shove my waistband back up under all those layers after *ahem* privving. Socks My best socks were knit by my friend Richard Paris. He is a wealth of period information and a gem of a man. These are 100% wool and were one of his first test runs. I also have a rainbow of cotton socks - my red pair were in the wash when I took the picture. I also need to get some real garters... I think I'd like these. Shoes My all-time greatest shoes - thank you, John Schrader! These are surprisingly affordable for custom-made, period-correct shoes. Not to mention they are VERY comfortable (with or without my orthodics)! Think about how much you spend on fabric and you won't flinch anymore to buy these. These are my back-up pair - sad to say but there are some clothes you just can't wear red shoes with! I love the cutwork on them but the toe is too pointy. I bought these when I needed some shoes for an Elizabethan dance class ASAP and my Schrader's weren't ready yet. I think they are a good deal for the money though they do need an insole to make them more comfy. I can wear my orthodics in them and the heel is a comfortable height. The catalog description claims it has a white liner but mine didn't. Just sayin'. Before there was period footwear, there were Custom Made Moccasins! I bought my first pair of Bald Mountain Moccasins when I was in high school and they lasted me more years than I'll admit to. I liked them so much I went to work for them for a few years. Then, when Tom Haselwood (the King of the Moccasin Makers) started his own company, Gypsy Soles, he made my second pair. Tom did everything beautifully - he tooled the leather for the rose & cross, and he made the buttons himself of silver and garnets. He was also a helluva jeweler! Sadly, Tom is no longer with us. RIP, Tom. | 
