Is this the closed bodice with a high neck for the Hunnisett book? Or is it the white Ditchley gown? I did a circa 1570's gown with hanging sleeves for a 22" doll I made about seven years ago. Allow extra seam allowances because you will be turning in those on the tops of the hanging sleeves and then joining them to your bodice/outer sleeves. I joined both lining and fabric on all the sides but the top of the hanging sleeves. I was sewing by hand so it was easy to avoid catching the trim on the main fabric to the lining. Turn right side out and press. Turn in the top seam allowances, but very carefully trim out any interlinings or trimmings closer to the seam allowance to eliminate bulk. Pin the turned in allowances and whipstitch closed. Then pin in place on bodice/outer sleeve. and tack or sew in place. You may want to pin in place both hanging sleeves to make sure the hang is correct on both sides before sewing. Adjust until the look is correct. If I remember correctly, I joined the hanging sleeve to the bodice upper armholes on my version based on the Darnley. I had to also figure out how to put in the shoulder wing, which in part had to be sewn in with the hanging sleeve to the bodice armhole. The inner gown sleeve was actually laced to the shoulder straps of the stays. The stomacher was whipstitched to the front of the stays and the same for the forepart to the petticoat/farthingale(combining both to one to avoid bulk and insure a smooth fit at the waist. The doll I made and dressed could take all the underpinnings because I left a bit of give in her stuffed body to allow for it. To this day, the stays have prevented gravity from shifting and dropping her torso stuffing And I stuff very firmly. Because this doll was in competition and would be undressed to check her workmanship,(I had to write down that the costuming was historically correct as to the doll lacking panties, bloomers, unmentionables to avoid shocking the judges!), I had to sew or lace together pieces that would have been pinned in place.
The problem with doing research to dress a doll as historically correctly is that the more research you do, actually the harder your job becomes. Like trying to find the correct fabric in the correct colors, weight and scale for an Elizabethan doll. Buy or make? If you have a doll with a hard torso, can she take all the layers of chemise, stays, stomacher, and farthingale, petticoat and gown around the waist without looking fat? How to you draft patterns to avoid waist bulk but have enough gathering/pleating so the skirts hang correctly? Were upper class Elizabethan women all that corseted and flat-chested, or were they just painted that way? How do you thin and style a doll's rooted hair or wig to get the right look under various combinations of coifs, caps, hoods and hats? Do you fake an Elizabethan ruff if you want to do one, or go whole hog to attempt the "real" figure-eights ruff on a doll, including starching and shaping? And what was authentic then that is still pleasing to the eye today? Earlier this year, a traveling exhibition on Elizabeth I came to our city library and one of the programs was on Elizabethan costuming . A local professional costumer had made a full size version of the Ditchley ensemble about 10 years ago. Even with the fake gems, the cost was about $1,000.00. He said the most difficult part of the outfit was getting the hanging sleeves onto the huge outersleeves without the weight collapsing the inner sleeves, same as for Hunnisett. His theory was also that most of the parts on the original were pinned to each other, given the difficulty of sewing them together but for theater, TV, movie and teaching, it is too time-consuming and risky with all those pins(!)to put the Ditchley ensemble on the wearer without taking some shortcuts. Hope this helps and I would have loved to have had the Tudor Tailor in my possession years ago!! Cindy Abel _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
