The Lady in Blue

I have this gorgeous medieval dress that I bought years ago, maybe 9 or 10 years ago. Anyway, when I bought it, it wasn't in the best condition but it never got worse, until recently. I thought about trying to fix it, attempted it but it just made things worse. You see, the fabric itself was beginning to tear and come apart. I couldn't bear the thought of taking this dress apart or throwing it away so I decided to keep it as a model of what a medieval dress should look like.

And then I started looking at the parts that made up the dress and thought, "I wonder if I could reconstruct it from scratch." Well I did that but it was you could say very different from the original. I really don't know who the maker of the original dress was as I bought it second-hand. But here goes...

This the original dress, You can't really see it because the belt is in the way but the original dress is made of the bodice (5 bodice panels - 3 front, 2 back) and the skirt section (4 skirt panels), they are separate parts joined together at the waist. However, I changed this for the reconstructed dress and made the panels one full panel. The sleeves on the original also have the traditional wide sleeves with the long tail seen in a lot of medieval dresses. I changed the sleeves to simple wide sleeves without the long tail.

After I drafted the pattern pieces onto paper, I cut out the fabric and pinned it together to see how it went together. Keep in mind this dress is a draft version. I ended up with only 3 front panels and 2 back panels plus 1 gore piece. I prefer not to join things at the waistline if I can help it as I find the full panels look much nicer and neater.

The dress sewed together and turned out the right way with the sleeves added. I decided to jazz up the sleeves and added ruching to each sleeve. This is before the neckline was hemmed and the back sewn together. If you're wondering why the sleeves are white instead of blue, I ran out of the blue fabric. In the end I think I prefer the two colours on this.

The finished dress. Sorry about the lighting here. I took this at 7.30am before I had to start work. I finished it late last night so the lighting then wasn't so good. The 'tail' at the back of the dress is also made from white fabric. I call this the mermaid's tail. It gives this dress a bit of a train.

 Details of the back with eyelets installed. There is a bit of gaping there so I will have to make adjustments to the original pattern and give a bit more fabric in those areas.

The ruching on the sleeves. I love how it looks. It gives it a point of interest.

Overall, I was really surprised that I managed to put this together without instructions. Some of it was trial and error and there was some unpicking threads involved. I am always curious how pieces in these types of gowns go together and initially this started as a need to satisfy my own curiosity but I really enjoyed the final result.

As mentioned earlier, this is only a draft version and there are errors that need to be fixed but as a trial run, it was an interesting test. It does fit this girl nicely at the front.

After seeing how she looks in this, I think this is more the style of her character, a bit on the plain side without any big embellishments or accessories. It's a simple, modest dress which I think suit the followers of the Great Goddess. They're not as showy or blingy as the Yllerians.

I will try this one again with some adjustments. I think a shawl of some sort would also complete the outfit, maybe a belt with a pouch for herbs or bottles of herb mixture.

I really love sewing these big fantasy gowns. It looks complicated to begin with but once you break it down into its parts, it's actually quite simple and easy to put together.

I'm sure there will be more sewing adventures this week after I get my two days of actual paid work out of the way for this week, then I can have my hobby time. I have plans to make a patchwork scarf for myself and maybe for Deirdre. It's the sort of thing she would wear. She's got a very boho style so I'm looking into making more clothing along those designs for her.

That's it for Monday night. Hope your week is a good one!