The skirt on a renaissance dress is usually somewhere between 5-8 pounds depending on the fabric and the adornments. Given the length of the fabric and the slipping due to the lining, I have long thought that Renaissance skirt sewing could be an Olympic event. The red skirt I'm sewing weighs a glorious six pounds; however if I had opted for velvet or a heavy tapestry, this particular skirt could weigh almost ten pounds. In the end, this dress will weigh right around 15-20 pounds total.
I have heard it said that the over skirt is the easiest to sew. That is not quite true. If you follow the instructions listed on pattern 8881 you will be treated to cartridge pleating. It takes a great deal of time and effort to get the exact look required. I dislike cartridge pleating for two reasons: 1- I can't see evidence of cartridge pleating in the majority of art pieces from the time period. Those who disagree with me mention that it is the artist smoothing the bunching which cartridge pleating causes. That may be, but I prefer the look of the art to the heaviness that cartridge pleating places on the hips. 2) Cartridge pleating is bulky. Granted it is less bulky than machine gathering the fabric- which would be impossible, but it still creates a spare tire between the waist and the hip, usually where the bodice attaches to the skirt. This can be uncomfortable and can take away from the narrow waist look of the renaissance gown.
Because I am trying for the look of Catherine De Michi's flying squadron a narrow waist is key. For this reason, I am choosing Knife Pleating over the cartridge pleat. Knife pleating is what you think of when a pleated skirt is mentioned. The fabric lies smooth back and forward in a "Z" shape. Large portions of the material remain flat and smooth giving a more slender silhouette.
A second deviation from the Simplicity 8881 pattern is my decision to add a modesty panel in the back of the skirt. It is a common occurrence at Renaissance fairs. You see a beautiful dress-- simply stunning. They walk past you, you turn, and the illusion is ruined by a) a bunching in the back where the closure has been artificially pinned, hooked, or snapped closed. b) A non period addition to the dress, like a large bow or other adornment to cover the opening. or c) a open panel of the dress which shows the underskirt or hoop. It's sad but true the majority of beautiful dresses all have the same flaw. The skirt opening! Thank goodness they eventually invented the zipper in the 1900s. :) I determined to give myself a three inch panel so if my skirt opens, it only shows the fabric from the dress. Hopefully this will keep the smooth look all the way around the dress.On to Sewing!
First step when sewing the over skirt is to seam the center back line. For this you take the two huge squares of fabric required by Simplicity Pattern 8111 and seam them together. This is where I made my modesty panel. Instead of lining up the fabric evenly, I had a seam allowance of 1.5 inches on the right side and 4 inches on the left. Once the fabric was sewn, I trimmed the excess from the skirt, leaving seven inches where I cut the fabric to overlap by four inches. Modesty panel achieved. Repeat the process with the lining. Now at this point, I sew the back skirt opening to the lining. Make sure NOT to seam the entire upper portion of the skirt to the lining. This will make pleating almost impossible due to the bulk 4 layers of fabric and lining will create.
I know this because I made that mistake on this dress and ended up unpicking the entire seam. It was horrible! I'm including the picture of my wonderful idea here. You can see from the picture how the panel overlaps... I figured seaming the lining and the main fabric together was a great way to keep the fabric from slipping. I achieved that goal, but ended up with a headache in return.
Step two: Side seams: In Simplicity 8881, there are two other cuts for the skirt. These two pieces are attached to the large squares. Because I have attached my lining to my main skirt, I chose to work with the lining first. The hardest part of this seam is actually figuring out which side of the fabric attaches to the back. I now remember that the ski jump type cut never attaches to the skirt. I will put a portion of that together so you can see what I mean. Now you have two choices at this point... you can seam the lining to the skirt at the front split or you can seam the lining to the lining. I choose for simplicities sake to seam the lining to the lining.
Repeat with the main fabric. It is a bit tricky with the back opening seamed to the lining, but really you will have a nicer opening, less troubles with fabric sneaking under the fabric you're sewing, etc if you do it first. Anyway that is my opinion. :)
At this point I have an incredibly lengthy sewn piece of fabric and lining attached by a small V like seam. It's time to attach the two. The pattern says to place the right sides of the fabric together (on the floor), and line up the outer edges. Pin them and run a seam down both edges. Then take three inches of the fabric on either side and hand stitch them back, so if your skirt moves the lining does not appear.
I like to avoid the folding over phase and whip stitching. I cut my lining down by three inches on each side, lined the lining and main fabric up and sewed my two seams. When I pressed the fabric open, the fold over is automatic. I sewed a top stitch down both sides of the split and I have a very smooth lining without ugly hand work along the edges.Step Three: Run a basting stitch along the top of the skirt to keep the main fabric and the lining from slipping while you add the waistband. (I do not have a picture of this, because I was an idiot and sewed and turned this seam causing me needless headaches when sewing the waistband.
Fun with Folds and Tucks:
In order to do the folds and tucks on my dress, I used my dress maker's dummy to quasi-drape my skirt into position. Like an idiot I forgot to take a picture, mostly because I was busy figuring out where to place the folds. Unless you are cartridge pleating, you'll need a bit of trial and error with the dummy. I ended up with two larger folds leading to the back and several small pleats layered against one another. You can see this in the picture. Once this was decided, I placed the waist band and pinned it in place.
The waist band is fairly easy. Before I attached it to the skirt, I simply seamed both sides, clipped and pressed. Ready to attach the skirt, I opened the band and pinned the skirt into the band itself. It is important to make sure you start with the middle where the split occurs in your over skirt. My second set of pins are used on the opening in the back, leaving the remaining billows of fabric on either side. If my dummy measurements are right, the rest of the fabric should ease into my waistband perfectly. However it is not a perfect world and there is a bit of adjusting needed.
Once I stitched the waist band to the skirt, I folded down the waist band. I added a new strategy to my waist band I've never tried before. I dislike the wrinkling and folding that occurs with my waistbands in the past, so I used some of my left over boning and made channels in the waist band. I slid them in before folding under the remaining waist band seam allowance and pinning it into place.Because my machine was groaning under the weight of the first stitch, I decided to hand stitch the waistband's final seam. I used a simple whip stitch and it worked perfectly.
Over skirt project... check!
Here is the dress so far. The underskirt is not done, I'm simply playing with possibilities for the underskirt. I have decided against the gold fabric because it has a funny sheen to it where it goes green under certain conditions. I have decided instead on an off white lace overlay atop a nice silk damask. It will be lovely. At least in this picture you can see how lovely the over skirt turned out. I'm really quite happy about it.Left to do:
Bodice finishing touches: hooks and eyes, jewelry. (I've lost weight so I'll have to redefine the placement of the corset lacing's.) It's a lot of work but I don't mind... now if I had GAINED weight. :)
Over skirt finishing touches: Grommets, hooks and eyes, hem.
Underskirt
Partlet
Hat
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