Back to work (Eliza-beef-'n) - Lisa

Sigh.  I'm taking a break from fast, fun things and going back to work on my Elizabethan gear.  I've enjoyed making the underthings but so far I have not been inspired by the actual dress.  Maybe because we started these so long ago, and the project keeps being postponed?  Still, this is something we're doing, so I'm back in the saddle.  We recently cut muslins for our bodices and are ready to cut the fabric.  But before I do that, I need to fix what I've already done.  The neck opening for my chemise was too big and I couldn't keep it on.  None of the blackwork showed when I got dressed.  So I'm making it smaller.  What a pain.  Also, I'm aware that the opening should be big but it is too big for my taste.

First the blackwork facing had to come off and be made smaller.  I cut and sewed it back together less about 2 inches of width and 1 1/2 of length.  It was quite a lot, but I wanted to match the pattern on the embroidery as best I could.  I cut close to the turned edge at each corner so it had to be hand sewn to make sure the rough edges stayed turned under. Then I had to add fabric to the neck of the chemise.  Sounds simple, but it wasn't.  It was like adding the neck facing AGAIN.  I didn't want the addition to show meaning there were few places I could machine sew, so I gave up and sewed it by hand.

WRONG

On to the skirt.  I had already sewn the cartridge pleats to the waistband but the front was... off.  So I put EVERYTHING back on and marked the center front and back a few (5) inches where I want the front to be relatively flat.  Then I pulled all that careful stitching and did it over.  By hand.  Grrrr.  But now it's done and I can hem it and put on trim.  (after I shrink the hoops by about an inch each because of course they are not quite right).  When I put skirt on, the weight of the fabric pushed the front of my farthingale out and I ended up on Margo Anderson's Facebook page where I got a lot of helpful suggestions.  I ended up putting the bumroll UNDER the farthingale which redistributed the weight into the proper shape.  The over skirt is now done.

Next up is the fore panel.  Sad to admit that I wish I'd had more hot glue experience before I started it.  Arrgghh.  I had tentatively hemmed it, but that all changed once the overskirt was completely finished.  I finished hot gluing the black 'gems' and decided I needed to tack 'pearls' around them to disguise the hot glue mess.  Anything in ' ' can also be called 'plastic'.  Though once I got the ribbon trim on, I was pretty happy.

Here is a picture of the bottom half of my Elizabethan/Renaissance outfit.  All done.
I may add more to the forepanel, but I'm pretty sure I want a complete bodice first (wink).  I still need to shrink one of the hoops a little.  And the whole thing still seems a bit too big and shiny.  Probably because it IS big and shiny.