Blue Tudor Gown: Building the Plaquette

May 18, 2022May 4, 2022 Sarah JoLeave a comment

If you’ve followed along on this series, we’ve finished work on the kirtle, outer gown, and foresleeves. Now, it’s time to indulge in all things dramatic and sparkly and wonderful: the plaquette. The plaquette is a stiffened panel that attaches to the front of the gown to hide the center front lacing of the gown while creating the smooth front characteristic of a Henrician gown.

The plaquette has a rounded shape on top and a pointed shape at the bottom and the sides should line up near the side seams of the gown bodice. It requires stiffening lengthwise to hold its general shape but needs to be moldable or soft widthwise to hug around the front body. Ideally, the kirtle and outer gown are providing all of the body shaping. So though the plaquette is stiffened, it’s for decorative purposes in the end.

The plaquette pattern is based on the bodice panels with the addition of 1″ at the center front, curved to either side to match the original side lengths. Additionally, the bottom is extended 1″ in order to overlap with the forebodies panels and elongate the torso.

**A comparison of the plaquette (left) and forebodies (right) pattern pieces**

It can be simple and smooth, elegantly embroidered, or heavy as heck with diamonds and rubies. I opted for a blend of all three. Because why not be extra?

In my mind’s eye of design, I initially wished to create the plaquette with embroidery with details of seed pearls and beading. Yet, the lace and embroidered pieces that were available to me at my local stores were far too modern for the design I wanted. I thought about teaching myself to embroider or commission a panel of embroidered material specifically, but I’d already far and above blown the project budget on the sheer yardage required gown. I couldn’t justify buying MORE material, no matter how much I wanted to indulge the desire for gorgeous fabric. Instead, I would use items I had in my stash for the project already.

You see, when I get an idea for a project, I turn into a crow. If I see something in passing that is even remotely related to the project on sale, clearance, or just THE perfect color, I buy it and stash it away in one of the many many baskets that take residence around my all-in-one living room/dining room/sewing room/guest room (basically the only room in the apartment besides my bedroom). Once the basket contains most or all of the inspirational materials I need, I start. Often this means I have more inspiration items than I need or use, but it leads to a wonderfully sorted creative process.

To build the plaquette from these materials, I start by deciding on the fashion fabric and structural layers. In all, I used four layers: the outer/front layer from blue velvet remaining from the outer gown construction, thin white muslin interlining, coutile, and blue linen for the lining.

The layers used in the plaquette from left to right: blue linen for the lining, coutile interlining, muslin interlining, and blue silk velvet front.

Now, a bit of explaining on the layers. I didn’t come to this arrangement naturally, nor does it seem necessary in hindsight. To start, I actually had a layer of buckram in the middle at one point too. I attempted to use that layer to provide the structure necessary to give the smooth shape and hold up the gems I planned to add. However, on the trial run of the layers (baste stitched together), the buckram buckled and folded weirdly with any movement. It was…too stiff. So I eliminated it and planned to add a few bones to the plaquette to support instead.

Since I planned to add boning to the center (essentially acting as a busk) and following the top curved seam, I added the layer of coutil which would give me a base to add twill tape boning channels while preventing any stretching of the plaquette overall. We’ll come back to this thought.

The muslin layer is added for a lining structure for the thin weave and delicate silk velvet to be mounted on while I added trim, embroidery, beading, or whatever creative embellishments I landed on. I baste these two layers together first and can begin the embellishment process.

The first item I pull from my stash basket is a navy trim I purchased on clearance from Joann’s. I thought to use it to create geometric style lines to meld with the diamond patterns on the outer gown. I fiddled around with it for a while, pining in places, holing it up to myself in the mirror, and adjusting until I was happy with the effect. In the end, the shape creates a triangle or v-shape mimicking the point on the plaquette as well as the diamond effects.

The final placement of the trim on the blue velvet. It ended up being at a 30-degree angle from the center trim piece and was quite flattering.

Finally, was the most fun part of adding beads on beads on beads and gems and more gems! Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of photos of the beading process since I was so excited and playing with it as I went that I just kept stitching and didn’t record any. Looking back though, my process started by sorting through the beads I had available and having any that coordinated nearby, then testing how certain patterns of beads would look in sequence. I took a sequence that I liked from the seed beads and couch stitched them in parallel along the center raised section of the trim.

For this pattern, I used a mirrored pattern of 1 4mm pearl, 2 copper seed beads, and 1 sapphire seed bead at the center

Then because I loved the pattern so much, I used a similar style for the top curved edge with a mirrored effect of 4 gold seed beads and 1 red seed bead. The topmost line of beads then uses 8mm pearls to create a crowning effect that should meld with the gemstones and pearl pattern on the kirtle.

And of course, I want crazy using gems to my heart’s content. Again, this was a process of trying patterns to see what I liked and what I had enough glass gems for to have a cohesive pattern.

The gem pattern I decided on is shown on the left of the panel. Though I did toy with the idea of adding a few red gems, it felt like I was approaching the color scheme of Snow White once the bright red gems were added. Plus they were way too bright in comparison to the more burgundy tones on the outer gown.

Before moving on beyond the beading, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate the backside of the panel because I find it simply fascinating

The backside of the plaquette after finishing all the beads. Large basting stitches are visible in blue from tacking the trim in place, then smaller blue stitches for all the gems which I could use larger silk thread for. You can also see the smaller stitches in brown beading thread that the dead beads were stitched with. Finally, white silk thread was used for the last extra pearls I added.

Embellishments aside, it was time to add the structural layers and finish the piece. I placed my coutile on top of the finished beaded panel and traced the lines of the trim/beadwork under which I would add boning channels.

Tracing the trim locations, marked with yellow tailors chalk
3/8″ twill tape is used to create 1/4″ boning channels.

[what boning made it to the final garment]

The lining and coutile layers are basted together for stability. With all layers finished, the lining layer and outer layer are stacked with right sides together and are stitched, turned outward, pressed, and slip-stitched closed for a final finish.

Basting the lining to the coutile
Interior of the basted coutile
all layers stitched with right sides together
After turning the stitched layers and prior to slip stitching the top seam.

The last step is to create a way for the plaquette to attach to the gown bodice. Historically, this was achieved with the use of straight pins that a lady’s maid would have used in dressing a noblewoman. But, it’s just me, and I like convenience. So I use a strong home decor thread to whip stitch one side of the plaquette to the gown and add hook and eyes to the other side. This was a tad of a process since my initial placement of the plaquette was not tight enough across the gown front and caused the hooks to, well, unhook when I moved. But the second time was too far apart and forced me to pull the gown front panels together when hooking. Third time was the charm and achieved the right tension. So don’t worry if it takes a bit of finagling to get it right.

Marking the hook locations the back of the plaquette. I placed these about 1″ apart
The hooks in place. Be sure you have hooks at the very top and bottom so there is no gaping. The chalk line for final placement of the eyes is visible on the main gown.
I used pins to mark the locations to place the eyes based on the final hook locations.

There it is, the completed plaquette. And I adore it. Aside from the laughable weight of the outer gown, it’s my favorite part of the gown.

Crazy to believe, but we’re nearly complete with this project. Only one more item to build and she’ll be complete

Keep following along to see the building of the:

French Hood

And return back to the:

Blue Tudor Gown: Building the Kirtle

November 15, 2021 Sarah Jo4 Comments

The foundation garment for gowns in the 16th century, otherwise known as the Tudor Era, was the kirtle. The structured garment precludes the bodies that were characteristic of the Elizabethan Period, stays from the 17th century up until the advent of the corset in the 19th century onward. The kirtle can be a structured bodice coupled with a petticoat or underskirt that would serve as the window panel for dresses like the Henrician lady’s gown or fashionable French Gowns. In the case of the underskirt, the structured bodice and skirt were joined to make one garment.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/33317700@N07/3689052608/in/photostream/

Historically comprised of tightly-woven linen and whalebone, the structured bodice created the shape of the period: low, square neckline; lifted bosom; and straight, angled waist. For my kirtle, I use the pattern provided by The Tudor Tailor book.

I transferred the pattern pieces using parchment paper and then scaled using a 1:8 scale as instructed by the book. Fortunately for me, the provided pattern is nearly my base measurements already (bust, waist, hip) but I did end up taking the pattern in by 1″ at the side seams and adjusted the shoulder straps quite a bit from the mockups. I also noted that the pattern would be at least 6″ too long and would address that later when cutting the skirt.

By this point, I had decided to use the navy blue, geometric fabric from the original project for the over-gown and wanted to combine this with a yellow and burgundy floral patterned upholstery fabric I had from a yard sale. The yellow/gold and burgundy/red in the floral pattern was the exact shade of colors as the center of the diamond pattern of the blue fabric and would complement nicer than the silvery gold geometric I originally planned to pair. In addition, the floral was close to being a damask pattern that would’ve been fashionable for the Tudor period. The only flaw in this thinking is that in most reference paintings for the project (see image above), the geometric pattern was usually in the window panel and accents while the floral/damask was used as the main fabric. I was really pleased with the combination though and planned to roll with it.

For the kirtle bodice, I used a mixture of fabrics to give the correct structure and look. The fashion side of the bodice is pieced with navy linen I had on hand ($6 for 6 yards at a rummage sale, score!) and the red/gold floral fabric at the neckline to match the window panel of the skirt. Since the linen was actually quite lightweight and I worried about the integrity of it once boning was added, I interfaced the pieces with scraps of tightly woven cotton. Finally, the interior of the bodice made use of heavy-weight tan linen from a drapery clearance.

The bodice is constructed of a front and back with the straps extending from the back to the front. I opted for two side closures rather than a single back lace-up since it would allow me to lace myself into the garment. The side closures also will allow the garment to adjust size easier. I cut the panels in the blue linen, minus 2″ for the pieced neckline, plus 1/2″ for seam allowance. The 2″ strip of floral was then cut and stitched in place.

In this image, the back panel has been cut into two pieces with a center back seam. I felt this would be easier since I was adding the pieced neckline in the floral fabric. Stitching the floral to blue and then center back seam was MUCH easier than attempting a mitered seam if the back were all one piece.

Here is the back panel with the center back seam. My seams with the pieces got a tad funky and caused the center back to not line up exactly, but I had given myself a generous seam allowance and was able to just trim and blend between the two sections.

Both the front and back panels were interlined with cotton and flatlined with tan linen. I made sure to only stitch the sides and bottom, leaving the top open for insertion of the bones.

To finish off the back panels, two 1/4″ boning channels were added at the center back and one on each side seam to support the eyelets that would be added.

The boning structure on the front panel was a bit more complicated. The front is fully boned (or cord if you prefer) under the bust. I used the grid from The Tudor Tailor pattern to plot out the bust curve and edge of the boning sections by marking the center of the front panel and then marking outward equivalent to the ratio on the grid (1 grid = 1″). The grid was also used to determine the bottom location of the angle lines.

With the outlines in place, the boning channels were stitched based on a 1/4″ spacing offset from the center and two angles, creating three distinct boning sections:

Here it is with the ungodly amount of bones.

I was actually shocked by how flexible the bodice was with this method. Since all of the bones are vertical, or at a slight angle, the bodice wraps nicely around the front of the body. It provides a good stomach structure and bust support without feeling cinched in. Surprisingly comfortable!

With the panels and boning finished, the straps were stitched to the front panel and all edges were surged to prevent fraying. There was a bit of finessing the fit of the straps when stitching in place and I found using a mannequin much faster than on myself. Nest, I added a strip of navy piping to the neckline edge before folding all the edges over and whip stitching down by hand.

Surging the edges with the cutting function on trimmed down all the fraying that developed while working the boning channels and gave a consistent cut edge with the multiple layers.
I use a zipper foot when adding piping. There is a specialty machine foot for piping, but I find this works just as well.
all the surged edges are turned in and pressed. I love clips for hems and finishing edges like this. They’re much faster to use than pins and don’t create ridges like pins do.
The edges are whip stitched (or felled) with silk thread.
The inner corners of the neckline were so hard to turn and stitch neatly. They had to be clipped in order to make the right angles and the clipping was so close to the edge it worries me that it’ll rip or start to fray. I added a ton of reinforcement stitches here and at the center back to prevent that.

The side seams have spiral lacing with 1/4″ embroidered eyelets. I spaced the eyelets 1″ apart and used bright contrasting burgundy embroidery floss for the stitches. Why not add a pop of interest, they would be covered by the overgown anyway.

Structure completed, it was time to add some shine to the bodice. The area of the kirtle with the pieced floral fabric would be visible under the main gown. In paintings I looked at, the kirtle has a row of gems, pearls, or other embellishments along this area.

To start, I added a row of seed pearls along the edge between the material and the piping.
Then a row of alternating gold glass beads and . . .
…faux pearls! I used 6mm pearls alternating for the straps and 8mm pearls along the front neckline.

The neckline is finished with a row of large gems and pearls placed symmetrically

The skirt of the gown is relatively simple, and yet a place I made many errors. I had very little of the floral patterned fabric to work with; however, since I am short, I was able to cut back on the required yardage significantly. Perks of being fun-sized! I also did a bit of patching to make it work. Little did I know when cutting, that I had accidentally cut the piece on the fold with the fold going the wrong way. Luckily, the bottom hem is relatively square, but the seam with the bodice is not and this caused a lot of issues with how the skirt hangs. Even with cutting back to create the point, it still isn’t quite right. But, I only had just so much fabric and had to make it work.

An example of the piecing done on the skirt. This piece is at the bottom hem, side seam, and would be almost never seen, but less obvious.

The second major mistake was fabric choice for the unseen portion of the skirt. The yellow floral fabric is very stiff, and I needed something of similar weight so it wouldn’t get all funky. I chose a “linen-look alike” drapery fabric that I thought was on clearance at Joann. A lesson to check labels carefully. The roll I had grabbed was on sale, but the backup the sales associate grabbed when the first roll ran out, was not. I ended up paying full price on not-so-great quality fabric. It did its job, but certainly didn’t look or feel as good as it should’ve for the price. I often use fabrics not for their intended purposes (upholstery for apparel for example), but they are usually similar enough and the only way to get the look I want at the price point I can justify. I should’ve taken my time and found the right material rather than settling for the first thing that was slightly doable and then regretting it as soon as I cut it out.

Overall, the fabric was too heavy. Stitching the two fabrics together was no problem, but once the back of the skirt was pleated, stitching to the bodice was a hand-breaking nightmare.

To make the knife pleats, I measured and marked the pleat lines from the pattern and drew arrows to remind myself which line would be pulled where. My pleats were about 2″ each with 9 pleats on each side of the center back.

Once marked and folded, each pleat is pinned in place and basted with sturdy upholstery or buttonhole thread. The basting stitches can be seen on the front panel in yellow. I made three rows of stitching for the back panel due to the weight and amount of handling I knew would be necessary for attaching to the bodice.

The front and back panels are stitched together up to approximately 8″ below the waistline. The skirt and bodice are stitched together by machine using heavy upholstery thread again to support the weight of the skirt. The areas left open on the side seams of the skirt allow the wearer space to get in and out of the gown as well as the addition of pockets in the future.

Skirt stitched to the bodice, the garment is hung on Molly the mannequin and the hem is leveled to hit at the ankle bone. This is a bit high for the period, but my reduction in height and forgetting to account for seam allowance at the waist brought my hem higher than brushing the toes. In the grand scheme, this is likely for the best since I’ll be less likely to trip on the front hem now. To finish the hem, I create bias tape from a navy silk ribbon found at Joann’s on clearance. It is probably the most expensive bias tape I’ve ever used in my life, but it looks absolutely flawless when applied. To conserve the use of this material, I switch to a polyester satin blanket binding for the hem along the tan linen section of the skirt.

And that is it! After some careful pressing of the waist seam, surging of the last unfinished seams and lacing up the side seams, the foundation garment is complete. With this, the over-gown can be fit tested and work can start there!

Blue Tudor Gown: Intro

October 10, 2021November 15, 2021 Sarah Jo3 Comments

My sewing journey began because I wanted to make my own costume for Rennissance Faire and then grew and developed to be a lifelong skill I am developing with each project. But this project is one I envisioned wanting to do since I brought home my first sewing machine: a Tudor Gown.

I LOVE historical dramas for the stories, the drama, and of course the costumes. After watching The Tudors, I really wanted to wear the sumptuous gowns from the show. This initially materialized as my first attempt in a green gown following Butterick B4571. Not a terrible pattern to learn from, I made this gown in 2016/2017 and was only my second full garment. But looking back, its a terrible construction and mockery of the true gown design I was craving.

Amazon.com: Butterick B4571 Women's Medieval Dress Renaissance Fair Costume Sewing Pattern, Sizes 14-20 : Arts, Crafts & Sewing

The green and rose gold jaquard gown made from the Butterick pattern made its debut at my second RennFaire in 2018

At the time, I loved the gown. I loved the amount of spin, the color, the fabric (all clearance from JoAnn’s or Hobby Lobby!), the fit. But I look at it now after a few years of learning and laugh. It was a step though, and I was proud of it then, that’s all that matters. First off, it’s all one garment. No underlayers, overskirt, chemise, nothing. Again, an easy pattern for theatre or Halloween costumes, but not to par with what I wanted.

Fast forward to January 2020. I had moved to a new town less than 45 minutes from the Bristol RennFaire and I desperately needed a costume upgrade. I found a blue, geometric pattern upholstery fabric from Hobby Lobby on clearance for $4 a yard, began designing, and purchased a cheap theatrical costumes textbook to pull a pattern from.

I was a bit skeptical on the book since it included only three sizes to start from, but it was at least a place to start after some research. In reading other blogs and watching CosTube videos, I plotted out that I would need at least 4 layers:

Chemise
Kirtle or Bodies
Underskirt
Gown

I also was deciding on if I would like to include a hoop skirt or use added fullness. I decided to draft an elliptical hoop skirt in case I wanted to give it a try.

I’ll save everyone the overkill explanation of drafting these patterns, building three iterations of the bodice mockup, and building the kirtle using cheap polyester satin taffeta. In summary, it was a fit and quality failure.

The bust was too tight, the waist too large; the shape did absolutely nothing to highlight my figure or give the correct historic shape; the neckline was too high, but also too wide; and the material felt completely wrong. But I had stubbornly kept working at it trying to make it work. I added gems. I adjusted the fit. I tried adding a corset underneath to promote the right shape. Nothing was right and I was throwing money at a project I wasn’t prepared for.

And then the pandemic hit. All festivals were cancelled. And I lost every ounce of motivation to fix it. The pattern, fabric, and failed kirtle were shoved in a basket and thrown in a closet to be forgotten.

It took a year before I began working on this dream of a project again. In the meantime, I started this blog, I made The Goose Girl, I developed my skills, and most importantly, I took the time to read, study, and research. The best resources I found in restarting the project was the book, The Tudor Tailor. I 100% credit them for everything that this project became and the confidence that I had to try again.

In reading the book, all in a blissful winter night in January, I had a better understanding of the style lines and materials that were appropriate to recreate the designs in portraits from the period, not just what I’d seen on TV. I went back to the drawing board and purchased new materials for all the elements of the kirtle and gown. It also helped that by then I had successfully built a set of stays, bodies, and corset and was thus much better prepared for working with boning and structure that was needed for the kirtle.

The new design would be build from the Henrician Lady’s Gown pattern from The Tudor Tailor, would be supported by a kirtle, and finished with a French hood. I initially planned to skip the hoop skirt and go for fullness instead.

The original sketch from 2020 included a hoop skirt that I opted to skip for the 2021 version.

With a renewed spark of inspiration and passion to see the garment come together, I successfully patterned, fit, and constructed all parts of the design and am excited to share them here over the next few posts. Each layer of the garment will have its own dedicated post, but you can reference back here for links to them as they are published. I may split the gown up between a couple posts since it had the most elements and construction factors, but we will see.

Please join me on this wild ride of a second attempt that went from wrinkled fabric in June to a wearable garment in September.

Blue Tudor Gown: Building the Kirtle

Blue Tudor Gown: Over Gown Part 1 – Bodice & Plaquette

Blue Tudor Gown: Over Gown Part 2 – Sleeves & Foresleeves

Blue Tudor Gown: Over Gown Part 3 – Skirt & Finishes

Blue Tudor Gown: French Hood

Making a Sewing Holster for Renaissance Faire

September 13, 2021 Sarah JoLeave a comment

As the summer moved into the heat of August and the relief of cooler autumn was on the horizon, ‘twas time for the push to be ready at a moment’s notice for the Renn Faire. I had enough costume pieces from other projects to sufficiently pull a full outfit, but I’ve been a tad lacking in accessories lately. I previously made a teacup holster and really enjoyed the process and results. So, ‘twas time to make another holster, this time for sewing.

At RennFaire, so many people have the standard dagger or sword holsters or loops for steins or potion bottles. But that’s just not quite my speed. Instead, I want to envision my character waiting on the sidelines of battle, ready with a needle and thread to repair the colors. A neat little vignette to channel a character through at the faire.

To start, I made a quick sketch of the general shape of the holster and gathered some of the items I would want to be attached or hung on it. I grabbed a few wooden thread spools, a pair of snips, a thimble, measuring tape, and my great-grandmother’s pinking shears.

They became rusty and dull before coming to me and I haven’t had the chance to fix/clean them, so this seemed a great place to include them in an ensemble. I also decided the holster would stay on my hip by having a slot or loops for a belt to thread into.

I did a bit of sizing up of my hip of how wide and long the holster could be that it wouldn’t be too obnoxious while still being balanced. This ended up being about 4” x 8” for the overall holster. I added curved sides and marked out the center point.

Using the overall size, I arranged my tools onto the holster outline to find the best configuration that was balanced weight and look wise. I started with the pinking shears at the exact centerline due to their significant weight compared to the other tools, and then just fit the others in around it. I ended up adding a short pen and reducing the number of thread spools to help balance out the look.

I then marked the placement of each tool onto the outline. The thread was a bit tricky to figure out initially since I wanted them to sit horizontally, meaning that a vertical strap would be best. However, I didn’t have space for snaps for each individually. I opted to have one single strap that would be permanently fixed at the bottom, thread through slits next to each spool, and then snap in place at the top. The strap could be loosened to release any of the spools at a time. This took quite a bit of figuring to get the math perfect so each spool was evenly spaced and under enough tension to not fall out.

In the image here, each line is a slit. The coupled slits for the center and the top spool allow for the strap to be pulled taut around each individual spool rather than all three as a group.

To draft the holster for the shears, I laid the tool on its right face, traced the front face, turned 90 degrees, traced the bottom, turned another 90 degrees so it is sitting on its left face, and traced the front face again. This also could’ve been done by measuring the surface area of the three faces and straightening, but I wanted to be precise with the tapered angles of the shears.

The snips didn’t have much thickness to them, so I just traced around them at a small offset to allow for ease when slid in place.

The final two pieces to draft were the pen holster and tabs for the thimble and measuring tape snaps. The pen was done in a similar way as the pinking shears while the tabs are just a long and thin pentagon shape that would be attached on one end to the holster and have a snap on the point.

For the first attempt, I made the holster from faux leather I had on hand with a super cute floral etching. The faux leather is fabric-backed and wouldn’t need to be lined which was a nice step to skip. None of my pattern pieces had seam allowance, but I added this when cutting. The main holster would be seamed like a bag with stitching along the bottom and side curves. I planned to add a zipper at the top seam so that the holster could also be a wallet or pouch. So seam allowance was added to all sides and two pieces were cut.

The shears, pen, and snips pieces also needed seam allowance, but only on the sides since the bottoms would remain open. Finally, the tabs and thread loop would be cut without seam allowance.

Construction

All of the slots, tabs, and holsters would be affixed to the front of the holster body before adding the zipper or bag seams. I started with the pinking shears slot to ensure this was in the exact center. I marked on the fabric my stitching lines based on the original pattern pieces and carefully pinned and stitched. I used a matching brown thread and opted for a heavy-duty denim needle on my sewing machine since the material was a bit tough to work with.

Once stitched, I trimmed back the seam allowance to be a scant ¼”. I would’ve liked it to be even tighter, but couldn’t get my scissors any closer without scratching the holster body layer.

Next were the pen and snips which were added in the same way as the shears. For the snips, I pinned the piece flat to the main body layer and stitched it to a point at the bottom rather than leaving it open.

For the thread spools, I marked the location of each slit and cut them carefully with an Exacto-knife. The strap was stitched down at the bottom, threaded through the slits, and adjusted around the thread spools before affixing the snap. At the same time, I also stitched the thimble tab and added a snap.

And kaboom! The front was ready! I had forgotten to stitch the measuring tape tab to the snip’s pocket before it was stitched on and decided I would come back to it and sew it by hand later if I wanted to add it in the end.

With right sides together, the front and back main body panels were stitched together from 2” from the top on the curves. The gap would be left to allow for the belt to thread through at the end.

An 8” zipper in a matching color is stitched to the top seams. Any zipper technique can be used, but I opt for the invisible zipper method to get as close to the teeth as possible with as little seam ripping as possible. I had to be very careful when stitching the zipper to the front panel to make sure the pinking shears pocket and spools snap were not caught in the seam. In hindsight, I should not have stitched these as close to the seam allowance to make this easier.

Before turning the bag out, I reinforced the top of the belt slot with backstitches so that the weight of the holster wouldn’t strain on the zipper seam.

And there you go! The first iteration was completed. It wasn’t quite perfect, especially the thickness of the material, but the shape and fit were great.

Second Time around

Ok. The first go at it was pretty cool. But it just wasn’t quite right. First, faux leather was way too soft to hold its shape decently when worn. The snips were actually the first thing to fall out, but overall, it was buckling and floppy in a way I just wasn’t thrilled with. Also with turning the perimeter seam and not being able to iron faux leather, I just wasn’t keen on how bleh it looked. Last, the balance was a tad off without the measuring tape.

So, it was time for a second attempt. This time, I used a purse from a thrift haul that was a much more supple faux leather. The material would hold its shape much better. When I started taking the purse panels apart for cutting, I was able to scavenge some of the trimmings as well as the leather piping it had at the top and sides. I decided to add the piping into the seam to give structure. I also decided to lengthen the overall shape to be 6” x 8”.

Once the purse was deconstructed and pieces cut, I lined the holster body panels with cotton since the purse material wasn’t very smooth on the inside. I flatlined each piece with cotton using fabric glue.

In construction, the front pieces were added as explained for the first attempt, except with the addition of a tab for the measuring tape. Rather than cutting a strip of leather for the thread spool strap, some of the scavenged piping was used. Then, before stitching the body panels together, I added a black zipper.

For the body panels, they were initially glued with wrong sides together with the piping sandwiched between to avoid the look issues with turning the bag out. Once the glue had set (about 2 hours), I added a quick topstitch as much for the look as security of the seam.

Since it was a much stiffer material, I wasn’t too keen on hand stitching the snaps in place. I instead used fabric glue for these.

The final result of the second try was a much nicer product. It had a better weight and holds its shape when worn on the belt. I’ll keep both iterations in case I ever need two, but I DEFINITELY prefer the second.

I’ve included the pattern I drafted for my holster here if anyone would like to make their own. You can also follow this process to customize your holster for your favorite go-to tools for a more practical holster too!

A few notes:

The pattern does NOT include seam allowances. You must add these when cutting or copy the patterns to new paper and add the seam allowance before cutting fabric. I used a seam allowance of ½” on my tutorial.
Make sure when you print the document, you change your printer settings to “Actual Size” rather than “print to fit” or “Scale” since these would change the printed dimensions. You can check that it was printed correctly by measuring the square on the page, it should measure exactly 1” x 1” to be correct.
I highly recommend using a stiffer fabric, faux leather, or adding structure such as interfacing with lighter fabrics. It’s tougher to stitch and work with but truly gives the right look.
Measure the belt you intend to wear with the pattern to make sure the slot is wide enough. My tutorial allows for a 2” belt.

Have fun with the pattern and be sure to share with me your versions!

sewingholsterpattern Download

The Goose Girl: Bodice Finishings to Flare

January 22, 2021 Sarah Jo4 Comments

Now that I had completed the structure and fit (See The Goose Girl: Bodice Beginnings to Boning), I could line the stays, finish with binding, and add eyelets and cording.

For my lining, I use the same pattern as with the fashion fabric. I decided to use a pale yellow fabric I had found at a vintage sale in downtown Milwaukee. I honestly do not think it is pure silk, though it has a similar look and feel. I tested a couple swatches using the burning method and bleach test and got mixed results. When burnt, the material turned to very light ash rather than melting. When placed in the bleach, the material broke apart and some of the fibers broke down fully after hours, but not all. So I think it is a silk-poly mix. It also has a lovely color, texture, and is far too small of a piece to use for anything substantial (though it has amazing drape).

The fabric was also a sweet nod to “The Yellow Lady” portion of Shannon’s novel. Isi is described in the book as having yellow-blonde hair that is distinctly Kildendrean (her home) versus the local dark brown or black hair colors of the Bayern people. Throughout the novel, the Bayern workers she grows close with and the other locals describe the princess as “The Yellow Lady”. I liked the idea that this tell-tale color would not be visible to the outside, much like the character’s hair.

The lining was stitched at the seams, like the fashion side, and pressed open. The wrong sides of the lining and structured outer layers were pinned and then basted together on the stitching lines. I had to be careful around the tab areas at the bottom since I had stupidly slashed these open for the outer layers. Rather than risk missing the corners of these with the machine, I hand basted the bottom edge to have more control.

Now that the garment was all in one piece, I planned to finish the edges with a very narrow bias tape binding.

I had a few choices in selecting my binding and the choice primarily came down to color. It would have been best to match the fashion fabric and make bias tape from the original material, but I had not dyed enough initially to do that and worried I would not be able to exactly reproduce the shade.

My second thought was to use a contrast color: green.

Green would tie into the screened color in the stay fabric pattern and would complement the Bavarian landscape inspiration nicely. However, small, double fold ,1/4″ bias tape is difficult to find commercially in anything other than the staple white, black, and cream. I would be making the bias tape by hand.

To make bias tape you need:

Fabric
Meter stick
Right angle ruler
Fabric pen
Bias tape maker (plastic or metal)
Iron
Thread

I found some green cotton with gold thread in the warp on clearance at Joann’s and purchased 1 yard. I pulled the material from opposite corners a couple times to keep the grain of the material in line before cutting.

Lines are marked using a right angle ruler at the farthest corner of the fabric. I cheated here and used the selvage as my straight edge rather than pulling a thread to make a proper straight line.

I then use my meter stick to mark parallel lines offset from the right angle based on the size of the bias tape needed. In my case, I was making 1/4″ double fold which equates to 1″ overall to be cut. Luckily, my meter stick is exactly 1″ wide.

A cat is obviously necessary to supervise this sort of work.

If I were making larger or smaller bias tape, I would mark the width needed along the selvage and then draw lines upward using the right angle ruler and meter stick. You can also cut an exact square up from the selvage, mark the necessary width on both the cut edge and selvage, and connect the dots. Any method works, as long as your strips are always on the bias.

I check my angle with my right angle ruler every 5 strips or so to ensure I’m still on track.

These strips are then cut and prepped for stitching. I cut way more than I ended up needing, but if I’m putting in the effort and have plenty of raw material, I like to make extra.

To stitch, the strips are placed fashion sides together perpendicularly and stitched at a 45-degree angle. It takes a time or two to line up just right, so take a couple scrap pieces to test the method first. Always use thread that is either an exact or close match since the thread may show ever so slightly after ironing. This depends primarily on the strength of the fabric.

The tails are trimmed back, pressed open, and the full length of strip is ran through the bias tape maker, ironing as you go. I like to use stainless steel bias tape makers since I can get right up close to the maker with the iron on full steam. But 3-D printed bias tape makers are quite common and cheap. They’re also more customizable for sizing and often have attachments to make double fold all on one iron pass.

1. Slide the strip of fabric into the large end of the tape maker. Be careful that it is aligned in the center.
2. Using a pin, awl, or other thin object, feed the strip through the bias tape maker using the slot in the center.
3. Once a small tail is through, carefully pull ensuring folds are even
4. Pin the small tail to the ironing board
5. Begin ironing from pinned end, pushing bias tape maker with side of iron.
6. Continue to iron and slide bias tape maker along strip chain. Guide fabric into tape maker and check that folds are centered often.
7. Final single fold bias tape.

My bias tape maker generates single fold bias tape at 1/2″ that I then fold over and iron again for double fold.

1. Remove pin from one side of tape, re-pin with wrong side folded inward.
2. Pre-flatten fold with your fingers as you iron double folded tape.
3. Completed double folded bias tape

The bias tape can then either be applied by hand or machine. I’m attaching by hand because of all my crazy corners with the tabs. I start by folding open the bias tape and pinning the right side along the edge of the stay. This is back stitched in place using the ironed crease as a guide.

This continues all around the garment with care taken along the curved sections and tucks due to the tab inner corners.

After finishing with my tiny backstitches on the front, the bias tape is folded over the edges, pinned on the inside, and felled in place with tiny whip stitches. Since this was facing toward the body, visible stitches was not an issue. The process of tightly folding and stitching the bias tape was a bit tricky at the top of the tab slashes. I had to wiggle the fabric and wham it down a bit more than I would have liked. Though, again, the important part is the outside where the bias tape needed to be straight and tight; the inside could be as messy as needed.

As you might see in the prior photos, I had taken a break from hand stitching to create the structure for my eyelets. I use a cheater method for eyelets that is no where near historically accurate, but makes my eyelets stronger with use of metal grommets.

For my cheater method of stitched eyelets, you’ll need:

1/4″ metal grommets
Tailors awl
grommet pliers or shank and hammer
embroidery floss
sharp, fine embroidery needle

The first step is to mark the locations of the eyelet using the pattern or calculating equal distances based on how many eyelets to be applied. Here, I made an error that is probably by greatest regret of the project. I used the eyelet locations as indicated by the original pattern which are located mirror image of each other from left to right rather than an offset or staggered pattern that would have allowed the stays to have spiral lacing. Spiral lacing would have been more period specific, but what is done is done.

After marking the eyelet locations, you can use the tailor’s awl to create eyelet holes without breaking the threads. By doing this, the surrounding material stays structurally sound and there is less likelihood of breakage, fraying, or stretching due to the tension the lacing will create. My tailor’s awl is about 1/4″ just below the grip and thus creates the exact size I need. If you were to make eyelets without grommets, you would begin stitching at this point.

A small tailors awl that creates 1/4-1/2″ eyelets. I purchased a 2 pack of these online for $9.

Slowly work the awl into the material by wiggling it between the threads
Further expand the hole by pushing the material up along the awl. I have a small sharpie mark for about where I achieve my eyelet size consistently
Fashion side of the material after removing the awl.
Back side of material after removing the awl.

Since I am hard on my lacing and the stays do not have a busk to support the eyelets, I am opting to use metal grommets under my stitches. I had 1/4″ gold eyelets on hand from a previous bulk order and applied them using a shank and hammer. I have a grommet pliers but was unable to get a nice, clean finish with these because of the surrounding fabric thickness. The pliers didn’t give me as much control and caused me to catch the fabric in the metal teeth a few times. Not a great use of $35….. thanks Dritz…..

Now that all the neat metal grommets are in place, they can be covered by embroidery floss to give a great historical finish look. I use two strands of floss at a time which is faster than using thread, but gives a smooth finish to the stitches. The eyelets are covered simply by large whip stitches around the ring by starting from the back and stitching down through the fashion side of the fabric around the outer edge of the metal grommet.

This can take a LOT of time, especially if your thread knots. When I first started with this method, it could take up to a half hour per eyelet to fully cover the metal grommet. Once I am into a rhythm though, I can complete one per 5-10 minutes. I’ve found that using 3 strands of floss (or even 4 if you have the right sized needle) can seriously reduce the time to stitch them, but will also make the eyelets have a “coarser” look. I also noticed that using more stands makes hole itself smaller due to the excess bulk when the additional strands wind around each other rather than lying flat as you can achieve with only 2 strands.

A lot of time and attention, but it sure looks nice when it’s done.

With the eyelets done, the garment is complete and wearable! All that was left was to remove any baste stitches still visible from the front. I used green and white thread when baste stitching (both on the machine and by hand) so that I could easily find and remove them later.

Finally, it was time to replace the cotton twill tape that I had been using as lacing for the fit tests. Though strong, the bright white cotton clashed horridly. Since I had made so much excess green bias tape, I was able to repurpose the tiny tape as lacing. All I had to do was slip stitch the folded edges of the bias tape and finish the ends.

Poof! Yards and yards of beautiful coordinating lacing

And there it is, in all its wonderful finished glory! Now, time to wrap up the other garment elements.

The Goose Girl: Bodice Beginnings to Boning

November 18, 2020December 6, 2020 Sarah Jo3 Comments

In deciding on the Bavarian styling as my rooted inspiration and wanting to build a 17th century stay as the main structured garment, I couldn’t help but pull from those ever so darling drindls. (See The Goose Girl – Intro to get caught up on the inspiration story).

The colors, the embroidery, the trims. Ugh! To dye for!!

I’m most frequently inspired by the fabric I select and I knew I needed to select the right fabric for my stays first, with the drindl thought in mind. Usually, once I have my concept fabric, I’m and running! However, this fabric I struggled to find.

I initially thought of using some embroidered linen I had inherited from my grandmother to imitate the patterns typical to Bavaria, but it wasn’t quite right. So I began scouring Etsy and vintage shops for larger, more heavily embroidered pieces. I found a lot of pieces I loved, but none were heavily embroidered enough for the rich Bavarian colors I had in my mind. Anything I could find with enough embroidery was pastel, pastel, pastel. The pastel against the cream or white linen was pretty but didn’t quite match the Bavarian theme I had my heart set on.

No! There would be no pastel on this stay.

However, in perusing Studio Ric Rac, my local vintage shop, I found the PERFECT piece to inspire. A lovely dresser scarf embroidered with a swan on water and perfect little flowers. And! To top it off, the shop also had a length of vintage jacquard ribbon that complemented perfectly.

Yes, I know, it was swans, not a goose. However, in the novel by Shannon Hale that I was originally inspired by, the Princess learns to speak to the birds by speaking to swans.

Here was a lovely piece that could tie to the contrasting styles of her home and her secret identity against her new world of Bayern. It was perfect, but it was not enough and none of the other pieces I had gathered were the right shade or style to complement the swan.

So I was back to square one.

I thought Etsy would be my friend, but all the beautiful Bavarian embroidery I found was either too expensive for the project or so lovely I couldn’t bear needing to cut it up into pieces. I wanted to put unwanted embroidered pieces to a new use, but not at the expense of someone’s heirloom.

Then, destiny arrived. In the form of a costume shop overhaul sale.

The Racine Theatre Guild was holding a rummage sale after deep cleaning their costume stock and shop storage. There, I found the most beautiful cotton fabric, embossed with stripes of red velvet.

It was gorgeous, it was authentic, it was luxurious, and I could get 6 yards of it for $6 (way more than I needed, but extra is always amazing).

However….it was almost too vivid! I shouldn’t complain since that’s what I had spent essentially the entire summer looking for: vivid, Bavarian inspired, textured fabric. But it was just such a bright red.

So I decided to dye it.

Like what I did for distressing fabric in my Lost Labs of Dr. Z post, I prepped my dye pot and got to work. The major difference here was that I was doing a full dye rather than toning with color. This means I used the full strength quantity of Taupe dye I had on hand rather than the diluted version for distressing.

Its a good idea to always do a test piece and this was especially critical since I had prepped my dye for cotton (base fabric) but wasn’t sure how the embossed velvet would take the dye or react. I’m pleased to say, it dyed perfectly!

*Before and after dying the main stay fabri*c

Now that I had my fabric, I could begin the process of patterning and stitching my structured bodice.

I decided to use Butterick Pattern B4254 since I had not made a stay or true corset before and wanted a bit of guidance initially. Since it was a commercial pattern, I selected the size that fit my measurements closest, which for me usually is between two or even three pattern sizes. I opted to start with the size that would match my bust measurements and adjust from there. Since my bust includes my rib cage, it would be the least “squishy” measurement and needed to be perfect without help of lacing to fit well.

The fitting process began with the first toulie, made from mock-up fabric of clearance outdoor fabric. The fabric is ugly as sin and has a terrible hand, but it is stiff and doesn’t stretch in any direction.

I marked all of my boning channels and began piecing it together, matching stitching lines precisely. I have a short torso and was nervous the stay wouldn’t accentuate my natural waist correctly or have odd bunching because of my hips, so the fitting process made me nervous. After piecing them together, I was able to do a first fitting without bones. A less than helpful experience. It was time to add mock up boning.

To save on time and budget, I stitched every other boning channel, used gross grained ribbon I had on hand, and 12″ zip ties to test the boning channels. I would not use the gross-grained ribbon in the final garment though since it stretches in the center and can fray easily. But it is a great cheap and fast method to test.

The initial toulie did it’s job and showed just how poor of a fit it was. I could tell that the back would not lace straight due to too much material at the bust and not nearly enough at the hips. This however, was actually a sorta easy fix in the pattern. I essentially needed to reduce the bust by 1″ and add 1″ at the hips.

I copied the back piece to paper, slashed it at the shoulder line along one of the existing boning channel lines, and pivoted it equal amounts closed along the bust line and open along the hip line.

Now, I made the second toulie and again added half of the bones. To save time, and my sanity, I reused the sides and front panels since no changes were made to these pieces.

Here, my fit issues were almost solved and I decided to move forward to the real deal. These are all the materials I would need for the final construction:

1 1/2 yards Fashion fabric (red and tan striped cotton)
1 1/2 yards heavyweight herringbone coutil
1 1/2 yard lining fabric (yellow silk)
15 yards 100% cotton twill tape
15 yards synthetic whale bone
24 metal eyelets
8 yards double fold bias tape
linen thread

The first step was to cut out all of my pattern pieces from the coutil and dyed fabric. The strong coutil layer would prevent the other two semi-delicate layers (cotton fashion fabric, silk lining) from stretching. My plan was to baste the fashion fabric and coutil together, add the boning channels, and then flat line with the yellow silk.

After cutting, I was able to painstakingly mark all of my boning channels and stitching lines onto the coutil which would back the fashion fabric and be visible for channel sewing before adding the lining later. This was a process…

In marking the channels, I numbered them based on the order to stitch them. The order keeps the top of the channels open while closing the bottoms of many of the channels where they meet with other channels.

I had made a few additions and adjustments to the boning scheme of the original pattern from Butterick, mostly to the back panels, and with this I ended up with 56 boning channels. Since there are a few gaps between channel sections, this would be considered a half boned stay that was typical of the later portion of the 17th century.

This marked piece was then baste stitched to my dyed fashion fabric before completing all the seams. I stitched the seams as a generous 5/8″ since I would be attempting to use the seams for a few of my boning channels. This is a practice used a lot in Victorian style corsets which have more panels and thus more seams than my simple stay.

I wanted to press my seams open so badly, but would have to wait for that satisfying moment until I had my channels sewn. All of my markings were done with pens I have with which the ink vanishes with ironing. I love them, but they make sequencing difficult sometimes.

A decision I hadn’t anticipated needing to make was the thread color for the boning channels. Since my stitching would be visible on the outside, the color was a bit more critical than I had anticipated, especially since I was using a patterned fashion fabric. I pulled every thread I had on hand that was either a matching color to the pattern or complemented.

I then stitched straight lines on a scrap piece of the dyed material running both parallel and perpendicular to the lines of the pattern. This would allow me to see how the colors would either blend or pop against the base fabric and the red velvet embossing.

Of the five options I whittled down to, I was between burgundy and tan since they blended best. In the end, I opted for the tan since it matched the base fabric almost perfectly.

Now, I could start the tedious, though satisfying process of adding the channel casings. I opted to use 1/2″ 100% cotton twill tape rather than the two layer method since I had so many channels and it was easy to work with. I initially bought a few rolls from Hobby Lobby but kept running out and instead ordered some for quick delivery from Amazon (*gasp*, it was a tragedy to do and I feel dirty doing so, but I was on a roll and could get 1-day shipping). The original tape from Hobby Lobby was decent, though it had a bit more give than I would have liked. It was much better in comparison to the Amazon twill tape, which was strong but a bit thin and warped.

Please enjoy a satisfying time-lapse of stitching the boning channels (my apologies for the pajamas, but there are cats at the end!)

After completing the channels, I carefully cut my synthetic whalebone to length for each channel. Each length needed to be pressed into submission since they were wrapped tightly in shipping. To do this, I used an iron on high heat with medium steam and covered each piece with scrap coutil. The straightened pieces were then easily slipped into their channels and closed with prick stitches.