Sleeves, Eyelets, Skirt

I've been busy working on my Tudor gown. Look it now has Sleeves :) I opted for straight sleeves rather than double sleeves with turnbacks because I didn't want to try and source fur for the turnbacks and this was the quicker option but still looks nice. I am going to add pearls around the cuffs if I have some left over from the girdle belt and french hood. Next I did the eyelets. There are 36 eyelets along 4 seams (9 on each seam). The eyelets were slow and painfull; I completed them over 3 days. I watched 3 movies and some MASH. I first created a hole with an Awl then I forced a 5mm knitting needle through that hole then whipped stiched the hole open. Forcing the knitting needle through was the hard part and caused a fair amount of pain to me and frustration. I bruised my plam and hurt the muscles down the outside edges of my hands. Here is a close up of 3 of the eyelets

Once the eyelets were out of the way I started attaching the shirt. I had to get almost 3 meters of fabric into my tiny waist section; times like these make me realise just how small I am. Pinning the catridge pleasts didn't take that long and the process of actually sewing them was fairly quick and painless except for needle pricks and such.
The view of the catridge pleats from the oustide of the dress. The are so pretty and full. I sewed two layers of flanelet into the skirt before doing the pleats which added body.
Here is what the dress looks like now :) All that is left on the dress is to hand sew the front seam and the bottom hem but that will have to wait until thursday when I have someone to mark the hem for me.
I have been trying to source the materials for the french hood; it is looking to be the most expensive piece of the dress. I cheated and went for synthetic satin over silk because the silk was $30/m and a matte rather than shinny (It really didn't look worth the price). The buckrum that goes inside I couldn't cheat with it was also $30/m. My major issue now is that I can't seem to find a store that stocks/sells millinery wire (a coated/covered wire used in hat making) to create the frame for the cresant.

Tudor and Pearls!!

Tudorness Tudorness I know it's not a word but I am sooo excited. There have been many delays in the patterning of the dress but now the pattern is done and the dress is progressing very quickly.


On Sunday we did 3 more fittings of the pattern taking the total to 5 fittings and patterns in total what a nightmare. That afternoon I did not have the denium or any drill with me for the lining of the bodice so only the outer velvet layer was cut out on Sunday. Nothing went right on monday at all until that night. In the afternoon I went to Spotlight to buy some black drill to line the bodice however I could only get a navy oh well no one should see the lining anyway.


Well after dark I finally got the denium and drill layers cut our and machine sewed the sides and shoulder joins. I then worked until midnight carefully closing the neckline and base seams by hand. Here is what I had done on Monday night: Front Side of the Tudor Bodice.

The Back of the Tudor bodice: notice it has a diagonally lacing V shape :)

On Tuesday around lunch time I started attaching 12mm Glass Pearls onto the front of the bodice. I can't remember what time it was but when I got to the point in the below photo I wasn't sure if I liked how it was turning out. I considered cuting them all off and starting again with a different pattern. I walked away and then hung the boidce on the back of a chair and looked at it from a distance then in a miror hung over my shoulders. The pattern grew on me and I decided I do like how it looks so I kept going.
I didn't look at my watch as to when I got to this point but it was well before 10pm which i think is pretty impressive. Sadly finishing it now means I dont have anything to do on it tomorrow luckly I'm meeting with the sewing group tomorrow.
Hopefully tomorrow I will get the skirt and sleeves sorted and work out how to do the eyelets; I've never done proper eyelets before. I normally use rings or metal eyelets in my aweful "Vikking" pants.