Meditations on a Renaissance Kirtle

[viennabelle]

Yesterday I looked at this project with new eyes. Something is wonky with the fit, so I got DH to help me try to get it on. He must be absorbing this (he's become quite helpful with fitting!), but he immediately concluded--too small in the bust. Other than that, it fits fine. I know I used a pattern I drafted a year ago--and come to think of it, I gained weight this past year (yes, I'm counting points too). Grrr.

So, now I'm thinking of adding a stomacher, which will make it more Tudor than Italian, but it saves the project from total failure.

Today I think I will baste in eye tape to try to get a feeling for how I want it to fit. I'm also considering adding boning channels to the front and maybe another layer of canvas (though it will be 4 layers thick at that point!). I'll try taking pics when I make progress.

The other thing--I think I also want to line the skirt. It will mean ripping out and resewing the bottom binding, but I think it will fall much better. I just hope I have natural linen in the stash!

It seems that every time I put down a project, it gets better when I return to it...so long as I do return to it!

Comments

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

Er...are you fitting over your natural (in a bra, or braless) bosom?
It does make a difference.
If we can set aside the whole "corset/stays in the 16th century, yes or no?" argument.... Do you *have* a pair of "bodyes" or "boddies" or "bodies" or other variant of spelling, stays? An "effigy" corset?
What's going through my mind is, a 'corset,' corselet, or a "payre of bodies" might make a difference in the fit.
Of course, it might make the bodice fit less well, if it was cut to a pattern fitted over your uncorseted torso, and then having a corset under it...

[viennabelle.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The original pattern was not intended to be worn over stays. It appears that it will fit fine with a stomacher. I don't think it will fit with stays, either...there's about a full inch gap, according to DH. I can try it, though! Alternatively, it really isn't a big deal to stitch in boning channels, either. Then the bodice itself will function as a supportive garment.

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

Well, m'dear, here's another suggestion. And it's historically documented, we do know that tailors have done this for clients whose weight has fluctuated upwards. If you still have a bit of the fabric, just make an insert, a strip, into the bodice, probably at the underarm where normally today we have seams in our non-designer clothes. One under each arm. Treat each strip like you have the rest of the bodice: lining, interlining, interfacing---whatever you've used in the rest of the bodice.
These "expanders" got put there because their addition was least obvious there. Anywhere else, and it is an obvious addition. Under the arm, it's an unobtrusive correction to a cutting error---and those also happened in period.

[viennabelle.livejournal.com]

Great idea! Of course, I really should lose the weight! DH disagrees (oh, the cad)!!!

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

Re: the additional fabric. These strips tended to be uniform in width, although I suppose they don't have to be, but they *should* be the same shape on each side. Remember when planning the width of the strip that you need to include not only a seam allowance for the expansion piece but to include in it the total amount of fabric which will be taken up by the seam allowances of the kirtle.
If there's already a seam under the arms, disregard that comment and just add seam allowances to the expander bits. Otherwise, putting in two one-inch "expander" pieces with half-inch seam allowances on expander pieces and on the edges of the bodice will have you back exactly where you were, measurement-wise, before the garment was slit from armscye to bodice hem or raw edge.

Re: Men. Oh, they expect women to be soft and then half of them complain if we are. Piffle-poofle. I used to date one who was never satisfied: too thin, too zaftig, too muscular, too flabby---and my weight never fluctuated by more than two pounds either up or down, and I stand about 5-foot-7-inches---just an eighth of an inch short--so it isn't as though two pounds (or even four) made a vast difference.

[viennabelle.livejournal.com]

Wow, I"m absorbing your other entry...Thank you!!!

DH doesn't really mind my dieting, but seeing that I'd gained only in the chest area got him silly! I have to say, I agree that it's kind of funny...

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

My other---? Oh, you mean my most recent comment in your older entry?

[viennabelle.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you!!!

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome.
Does it help?
And are you telling me that in however much time has passed since that entry was first posted, this is the first time you're being given this information? (Shame on me, too.)
Do you have my private e-mail addy? If not, PM me if you want it, for a more in-depth discussion of the 16thC kirtle, et c., yes?

[ms-geekette.livejournal.com]

Hee...I read your second sentence as "I got my DH to try it on." ::cackles::

[viennabelle.livejournal.com]

Oh, that might be funny. Don't give me evil ideas...

[ms-geekette.livejournal.com]

Do it, do it! You could be twins for Halloween. :-D