Blah · Diddy · Blah · Blah · Blah

So, yes! I have embarked on a new sewing project! This time, I'm going for Tudor nobility. Because Tudor nobility is pretty and I am insane.

I recently bought the pretty pretty new Simplicity Tudor patterns (This one and this one. Oh, and I got the Elizabethan one while I was at it). I decided I was going to use them, plus my copy of The Tudor Tailor to franken-pattern up a quasi-historically accurate modular outfit- see if I could throw a skirt on the corset and make it a kirtle, get rid of the pleats and the back lacing on the gown, that sort of thing.

However, I was full of fear. Going by bust size, I'm a size 6 (these are PATTERN sizes, which have nothing to do with ready to wear). The smallest size on the pattern is a size 8. So I let it sit.

Then came faery fest, and the sudden realization that I had started reworking the bodice I made a few years back (the one I wear for playing the Brownie!) and hadn't finished. Some very quick sewing and grometting later, I had a bodice that I thought would pass muster. But trying it on, I realized it not only passed muster... it actually fit! Properly! I could breath and bend and move, but also- well, let's put it this way: Nick was very distracted when I first put it on for Faery Fest. We'll leave it at that.

So I started my franken-pattern. I traced out the front and back pieces of the corset pattern that matched my WAIST measurement (which is a 12)I laid these over my bodice, and was quite amused at how close they were- same front length ,same curve between the point of the bodice and the waist line, all sorts of good stuff. The only difference was that the there was almost no space between them. I traced out the negative space between the pattern pieces, taped 'em all together and then cut them up the middle- all the historical kirtles are just two pattern pieces, front and back, no side piece.

I cut the whole thing out of some poly-cotton gingham that I bought cheap, sewed it up and boned it with cable-ties with a paint stir-stick as a busk. And you know what? It FITS! First try! There's a little bit of wrinkling, but I'm pretty sure that will be smoothed out by heavier fabric that can take the strain of lacing a bit better.

I'm so cool!

Feelin' a little:

giddy