16th Century, Costumes, Green "Tudor" Gown

Green Tudor/Henrician Gown Finished!

Green Silk Tudor Gown with Train

Green Silk Tudor Gown Side Front

Here is a run down of all the layers.

Cotton/linen smock: Machine sewn with hand finished seams and hems.
Cuffs: Machine “blackwork” with silk thread, hand hemmed, they lace on to the smock cuffs with fingerloop braid so I can change them out as needed and wash them separately.
Rust red petticoat: Same one I wear with all my clothing.

Farthingale: Made years ago from bottle green shot curtains and cottong twill, it used to be boned with plastic tubing but I redid it with wire rope, I need to rework this again with a lighter grade, it weighs about 5 pounds (Or at least feels like it). Laces to kirtle bodice.

 

Side lacing kirtle bodice: Cotton twill lined with muslin face/upperbodied with velvet where it shows with brass and glass pearls edging. No boning. The velvet kirtle skirt based off of Juan de Alcega’s patterns, lined in cotton and laces to the kirtle bodice.

The tie in undersleeves are of the same velvet, flatlined to black cotton twill and edged with black satin, more glass pearls catch them together between faux linen/cotton poofs.

 

Green Silk Tudor Neckline

 

Green silk dupioni-ish gown, spiral laces up through hand done silk eyelets, interlined with cotton twill and lined with linen/rayon blend. Placard is lightly boned and hooks over it. The skirt is flatlined with light weight cotton and lined with a warm brown linen/rayon blend.

The bodice pattern is my own adjusted for use in both the gown and kirtle. The Skirt pattern is Tudor Tailor with a bit of tweaking as are the sleeves. I had interlined the back pleats with wadding but in the end it was too much poof.

The french hood is based on  Sarah Lorraine’s research, it is all held together/on with pins. When I have time I’ll switch out the paste with something less matchy.

 

Green Silk Tudor Underlayers

 

Garters are twill tape with small gold accents

The only things I did not make are my socks (from SockDreams) and shoes, I wouldn’t mind learning how to knit but I have no idea where to start when it comes to stockings.

Things I’ve learned for next time

 

I had to keep taking up the shoulder straps to keep them on my shoulders, they ended up in a V shape with the ends butted together and whip stitched closed.

It is not as smooth as I’d like it and that reflects somewhat on the sleeves.  Even after the mock-ups I still was tweaking the fit of things.One side still likes to scoot off my shoulder, If I made the back higher this would be less of a problem, but I love the low backline. I also did not use the corded piping trick described in the Tudor Tailor. I wanted to see if I could manage without it. I may go back and stay tape the edge later and see if that makes a difference.

I added a touch too much ease to the upper part of the sleeves, it doesn’t really show because the turn backs cover it. When I was making the bodice I started hauling around lots of heavy things and put on some muscle.

French Hood Close Up

The french hood, when worn over 4 hours started to slide backwards and hurt. My hair is down to my hips but very fine, I had it braided in two braids which were crossed over my head. I hair taped/sewed those in place with satin ribbon. (This may have been part of the issue.)

Over the braids went the coif, which may be too small, I have to really tuck my hair into them, usually with the help of a chopstick.

Over the coif the paste was tied and the hood pinned over that. After wearing the hood at the local Renn faire, the weight of the velvet hood started to pull everything off until I took all my headgear off and just twisted my hair back into a bun.

I have serious issues when it comes to leaving skirts alone, I ended up resewing/pleating it over 5 times until I was happy with how it would lay. Some of this was from having less skirt width and sizing my farthingale down to give me a narrower profile. I also could not find any green velvet fabric or ribbon to bind the hem with, so it ended up bound with some polyester satin which will at least hold up until the end of time.

 

Green Silk Tudor Front Shot

12 thoughts on “Green Tudor/Henrician Gown Finished!

  1. Hi Amy, I used 7 yards of 45 inch wide silk, I had to narrow the skirt a little to get it all to fit.

  2. Ok, I’m thinking you can possibly get a bodice out of the black wool, it just may need to be pieced. You could make a narrow skirt out of the red wool if you use the 45 width as the length, cut 2 rectangles, each half your waist measurement + an inch or two of ease + seam allowances from the red wool and you should be able to get two narrow triangle gores from the left over part. You can made a waistband and hem facing from the scraps when you even the skirt out, if you don’t want to attach it to the bodice.

    Try it out on paper is see what you think =) I’d save the velvet for a different project.

  3. Its for fun/cosplay…
    I have: 17″ long 65″ wide black wool. 60″ of 45″ wide burgandy wool. 85″ of 45″ wide blue velvet.
    That would be fantastic although I think it might be a tricky task.

  4. Hi Lady D!

    If you are wanting to make something for reenactment, a wool bodice with velvet skirts does not really work. If it is for fun or cosplay by all means use whatcha got. =) How much of each fabric do you have and how wide are they? I might be able to come up with a pattern layout that works for you.

  5. This is so interesting as I really like the early tudor styles. I’ve been wanting to make a kirtle but I only have enough wool for a bodice, and velvet for the skirts…I was wondering if I could get away with a wool bodice and velvet skirts.

  6. *blush* thanks! Glad my work helped! I’ll be reciprocating cos I really LOVE that “tail” effect you have done for the train. I managed to do something similar on my green 1530s gown and it really helped to spread out the back of the skirt.

    BTW a tip if your straps are still a bit loose – tighten a bit more on the NECK side of the strap (as opposed to the ARM side).

  7. Thank you Bess, coming from you that means a lot. =)I used your flickr stream as a reference for where the the shoulder seams should hit and other little details. I am already planning another gown. I have some pumpkin silk taffeta in my closet that is earmarked, but I also have 8 yards of navy wool and the Queen’s Servants book leering at me.

  8. Well done. It looks fabulous and I love the pleating at the back.

    I’m working on a Tudor court gown as well, though that one is c 1556. All the bits are made up and now need to go together but I was checking the fit of the kirtle.

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