Adapting a Pattern: Slimming Down a Tudor Bodice

Working with the Tube: 

As stated before Elizabethan Bodices are basically a tube with sleeves.  If you use a Tudor Bodice the front panel is quite wide almost measuring from armseye to armseye.

(Above) Tudor gown-- Notice the front panel is wide going from sleeve to sleeve.  

(Below) Not a Tudor Gown-- Here the front panel is narrow.  It is still Elizabethan, but it is not Tudor.  (By the way the colors are WAY off of Elizabethan colors.  There was no hot pink and no electric orange in the Renaissance.    

Tudor Gowns can be Embellished to narrow the waist, but notice the front panel still goes from arm seam to arm seam.  

 This wide front can be narrowed with adornments, beading, ribbons, etc.  But what if you want to have two colors of fabrics?  For example: My cousin's dress is mostly blue, but I wanted a splash of the maroon fabric from her underskirt in the bodice.  Can it be done?  Do you have to resort to using Simplicity Pattern 8881  and step away from authentic Tudor--Like the one above?  The Answer-- No, you can adapt your pattern.

The technique is a little tricky, but if you're following my posts, then you're up for thinking outside the box.

For this Tutorial, we will be using my Mock created in the last post for my cousin's new dress.

Fold in the sides of the fabric equally to make the desired center piece for your Tudor gown.  Pin it in place.  

Turn over the pattern so you can see the other side of your center front, below what you have pinned.

Flip over the fabric and pin it in place to match your original line.

Open the fabric and look at the middle section.  Is it what you want?  If not, start over.  If you like it, continue on.  

Here is the underside of what I created.  Note: when you cut out your center front, really all you are going to use is half of this pattern.  I like to make sure the entire pattern is the same on both sides, just in case I need to lay the pattern flat.

Lay the pattern down on the fold like of the fabric you wish to be your center pattern and pin it into place.  

Cut it out, making sure to leave a seam allowance along the side.  Notice, I added the two inches required by my pattern notes to the bottom of the bodice. 

Always read your pattern notes.

Next: Design the Side pieces: 

Slid a piece of paper under the folded section of your Mock.  Pin it into place.  Taking a pen, outline the shape of the angle and line of the bodice.  

Because the bodice is longer than a standard sheet of paper, you will need to make an additional piece.  

Cut the paper down the middle and slide it so the point of the angle touches the fabric where it will connect to the fabric.  (See the picture below)

Take the second half of paper and slid it on top of the piece you just moved.  

Using your pen trace the top portion of the folded material including the top of the bodice. 

Unpin the paper, making sure to keep the two halves pinned together.  I usually take a piece of tape and tape them together to make sure that they stay the right length.  

If you have done this section correctly, when you lay the paper piece next to the bodice, you should have the correct bodice front that matches with the original pattern.  

Lay the paper pattern on the material  and cut it out.  Make sure you leave a seam allowance on both sides of the piece.  You won't need to add the extra inches to this pattern piece, because you already cut it to match the pre-cutout front piece.  

Because I am using stripes it was important to make sure that the stripes matched on both sides.  To make sure that happened, I laid the fabric down putting the stripes together so the pattern would automatically fit.  I also intentionally placed the pattern so the seams were over the larger stripes.  That way if I miss manage my seams, the bodice will still have continuity.  

At last, I check my front bodice with the two side pieces.  I overlapped the seam allowances and then placed the pattern on top to make sure the measurements are correct.  Everything worked out just fine.  Proper Tudor front piece with a slimming effect.  

Last, I cut out my lining.  This is a little more tricky but not by much. 

Place the cut fabric and the pattern together so the center front point lines up.  Place them on the folded lining.  Cut the bottom of the lining to match the pattern to the full width of the front of the bodice.  Follow the line up and cut straight across the top where the cut fabric is... This will result in your lining matching the full width and length of the finished bodice.  It is best to keep your lining with as few seams as possible since seams make putting stays in a real effort.

Adapting a Pattern: Making an Adapted Corset from an Existing Renaissance Pattern

Getting Down to Business: 

As I said before, this portion of my blog is dedicated to making a Renaissance gown for my cousin.  Like a lot of women she has been blessed by an ample bosom that makes it difficult to be comfortable at a Renaissance Fair while still showing off her womanly assets.  My cousin's measurements make an eleven inch drop between her breast measurement and her waist.  Since the Elizabethan corset is basically a tube, the traditional style gives her a choice--have a large waist or squeeze her breasts down to pancakes and pain.  

Historically, this wouldn't have been a problem, because every dress was made specifically to a woman's measurements.  However, in today's modern world, we have pre-designed patterns that assume every woman has the same measurements give or take an inch here or there.  It should be no surprise to anyone reading this blog that they are WRONG.  Especially when it comes to Renaissance wear.  

What do you do?

The simplest solution is to make your own pattern, just like in the days of olde.  Ha-ha, you might say.  I have trouble just putting the normal pattern together, you might say.  Really, you can do it.  To make it even easier to do, I will be teaching you how to take an existing pattern and fix it to fit your needs.  

What do you need?  

Start with some disposable fabric... This will not be a part of your dress, so it can be stained or water spotted, etc.  It needs only two conditions-- 

1.  It cannot be stretchy.  Stay away from anything that moves when you pull it.  It must be as stable as possible.

2.  It needs to be a surface where you can legibly write and read later.  I like bargain lining.  I was taught to use muslin, but I don't always have that on hand, but I usually have a couple end pieces of lining that I've kept for one reason or another, and because it won't be used for your dress, it doesn't need to be the same color.  

Second-- you need a pattern.  You want an Elizabethan style, so you're looking for the tube style.  I prefer patterns Simplicity 2589 and Simplicity 8881 for this type of work.  NOTE YOU WILL WANT TO BUY THIS PATTERN TWO SIZES TWO BIG.

Why?... because you want to have room to work with the pattern.  Two sizes will give you enough room to maneuver appropriately.   Most patterns come with three to four sizes in one pattern envelope, so usually you are buying the size that fits you plus it has two more sizes.  

Which measurement should I base my pattern on-- Bust... definitely bust.  If you were to go off of waist with my cousin she would be a size eight.  The bodice would simply not fit up top.  Go off of the bust to ensure you will have the best fit.  

Now what?

Lay down the pattern on your fabric and cut it out.  Sew the bodice together using the longest stitch your machine will do.  (Technical Term: Baste the Bodice together)  Yes it will look huge.  Don't let it bother you. In the end your bodice will feel better and make you look slimmer than the size eight.  For the purposes of this tutorial we will call this item THE MOCK.

Fitting: 

Now that your mock has been sewn together, you will need to put this on and fit it to you. To do this, you will need to have a mirror and a friend to help you.  The most important things you must remember when you are doing this fitting are---1) You can only take in SEAMS.  It will be tempting to take in the middle of the fabric where there is no seam.  If you do this, the Elizabethan line of the bodice will be lost.  2)  You may only take in the Seams with STRAIGHT LINES.  Think of every seam as being connected to a ruler.  You cannot bend or curve a ruler.  

How to do a Fitting: 

(Note: there aren't any pictures for this section.  I hope you can understand that my cousin didn't need to have her fitting put all over the internet, considering she was wearing lining and was in the altogether.  I hope the text will be enough, if you have questions feel free to write them in the comments, and I will answer them the best I can.)

1) Turn the bodice seams out.  

2) Put on the bodice the way you plan to wear it at the fair-- this includes your planned undergarments (or not).  Pin up the back as if it was laced with the corset.  This is usually one and a half inches in.  

Okay by now you have a large corset sitting on your body and you are feeling slightly self conscious.

3)  Using the rules given above, take in the Center front.  (Yes, Yes... I know, it might be in the middle of the fabric, so it breaks the rules, but you really need this part to be correct.  Make very sure you are dealing with a straight line.  It will be tempting to pull in the under-bust until it is snug.  RESTRAIN YOURSELF.  The front of the bodice must be flat.  It cannot curve under the bust.  Keep the line of the bust straight but pull it in toward the waist so instead of the corset being a tube it is more of a cone.  

You will not need to take it tight against the bust line.  At this point you are simply pulling in the front of the bodice to make a nice line.  Use the shoulder strap seams to measure what you are doing.  It is important not to try and take in the entire bodice through the front.  

4)  Using the rules given above, pin in each of the seams.  Do the matching side seams at the same time and make sure they are evenly taken in. Do the front side seams first then the back. This will stop the shoulders from being pulled of center and narrowing or deforming the sleeves.     

5) Using the rules given above, take in the back until it is snug and adjust the shoulders accordingly.  

6) Repeat, using the same pattern of pinning (Ignore the front of the bodice), until you have a bodice that correctly fits your measurements.  

6)  Now that your bodice fits, look at the fit and the styling.  I usually cut the armseye a little larger under my arm, because it is always tight in Renaissance patterns.  (Keep in mind, if you do this, you will have to adapt any tight sleeves you put on the dress.  If you plan to add billowy sleeves, or sleeves that have gathering toward the top, it will not be a problem.)  

If desired you can lower the neckline at this point.  leave it an inch and a half higher than you initially desire.  It is a good idea to look in the mirror head on when you make this change.  Best plan, cut one side of the bodice to the neckline you want, when you take off the Mock fold the bodice along the center front and cut the other side the match perfectly.  

Big Girls Need Support:

Ladies in the D, Double D, or Triple D etc range need a bit more support from their bodice than the average girl.  To gain that support add an inch to the bottom of the bodice in the back for each size up.  ie.  D=+1  inch, Double D= +2 inches, Triple D= +3 inches.  

How do I do that?  

Simple-- Take a pen and write on the bottom of the Mock, +2 inches where you want to add inches and +3 inches where you want to lengthen it three inches.

(My cousin wanted a longer front to her bodice because she has a longer torso, so I added two inches to the front and four inches (the two for the requested addition, and the two for the support) to the back.  

Writing Notes: 

When you are finished pinning your Mock, you will need to remember where the new seams go.  I personally like writing on the fabric.  It is more stable than pins.  It is simple, wherever there are pins, draw a straight line along the fabric   (Leave the pins in, just in case you miss something.)  

Since you are marking these lines right were the seams will go, you will need to add a note that you will need to add a seam allowance.  (Usually 1 to 2 inches) depending on how much room you need to sew. 

Make sure to mark all pins.  If you are planning to use my corseting technique.  (See the Red Dress tutorial) You will need to make a note to add the required material to the back of the dress.  

Once you are finished, take off the bodice by undoing the back pins.  Leave all the pins where they are.  I like to add a few pins where I pinned the back of the bodice together on both sides.

Next-- This is important-- Label all of the pieces right now.  Front, Left Side, Left Back, Right Side, and Right Back.  When you pull the Mock apart to be pattern pieces, you want to make sure that you know your right pieces from your left.  :)

Following the Rules: 

Now that you have the bodice off, and you have returned to your normal clothes, you need to take your pinned bodice and look at your lines.  Inevitably, you might have made some curved lines in your fitting.  It is time to take a ruler and make straight lines.  Take the top mark and the bottom mark and connect them with a straight line.

This straight line will maintain the look of the Elizabethan corset while fitting to your measurements.  No, you can't leave the curved lines without throwing off the line of the dress.

Go back to your sewing machine and sew the Center Front line of the bodice and cut off the excess.  From this point the center front of the bodice will stay intact.  the rest of the bodice needs to be cut along the straight ruler lines you just made.

Volla, you have your pattern.

If you pull out the original pattern and lay your new pattern on top,  It should still have the basic lines of the original shape of the pattern.  As you can see, my cousin's bodice pattern narrows quite a bit toward the base, but still keeps the general lines of the starting pattern.  The gap you are seeing is where I took down the back of the bodice-- the neck line looked a bit high for her torso.

Just like on the front, I cut one side, and then placed both sides together and made the other side to match.

Cutting it out: 

Now that you have your pattern pieces, you will need to cut it out on the fabric.  To do my style of the bodice, you will need to cut out one outer layer and two linings for each piece.  The most important aspect of cutting out these pieces is remembering to add the needed seam allowances.  If you forget, the bodice will be unwearable, since it will be at least three to four inches two small all around.  

Lay the fabric out on your fabric.  Make sure that the stripes follow the arrows on the original pattern if you are using a striped or patterned fabric.  Notice the stripes do not follow up the bodice through the shoulder.  It follows the center of the bodice.  This way your stripes do not look like they are angling.  

Notice: I added the four inches to the back as indicated by my writing on the pattern and I added the extra width to accommodate the inner corseting of the gown.  

The side pieces were a little different.  Since in the front I lengthened the bodice two inches, and I lengthened the bodice four inches in the back the side seam needed to navigate that discrepancy.  The easiest way to do this is to cut out the fabric with the four inch allowance.  (I used the back piece I had already cut out to define that length.)  Next I measured out the two inches needed to match with the bodice front, and cut the material to meet those two lines.    

To be honest I am a little concerned about the angle here.  I have my cousin's measurements and when I put it on the dressmaker, I will have to make sure that this bottom portion does not dig into her hip.  If that is the case, I may have to curve the line, but for now I want to keep it as straight and Elizabethan as possible.

To make the other side, I laid the angle I had already cut over the second piece and matched the angle.  

To double check; I placed the back piece and the side panel together to make sure the lines matched up.  There is some give, but it will work out just fine.

On to the lining:   Double the lining and cut out each piece.  

You may have noticed that the center front is missing from this tutorial.  That is because I am going to modify the front of the pattern to slim the front of the dress.  I will be providing that tutorial in the next blog.  

If you do not want to modify the front, cut out the bodice front by folding the lining, fold the pattern in half and cut out the lining along the fold.  If at all possible, you don't want a center seam in the front of your bodice.  

UP NEXT-- Adapting the Bodice Front to look slimmer while keeping the Tudor cut.

Of Breasts and Corsets... The Good, the BAD, and the Painful

Big Girls...Don't Cry.

If you have ever been to a renaissance fair, you know there are a couple things that you should expect, cleavage is one of them.  Truth be known, there really wasn't much cleavage in the renaissance and the many bundles of joy you see at the fairs are completely inaccurate.  

Look Ma...No Cleavage Line!!!

Surely the peasants must show more skin....

Nope.... actually they were more covered than the nobles.

So what... I want to show off what God or the doctor gave me...

Fair enough....

Unfortunately, the Renaissance Gown is not very friendly to a woman's girls. (Mostly because it was never meant to show them off in the first place.) The result is that they get stretched, pulled, tucked, creased and overly much abused.  For now we're going to concentrate on those voluptuous women who have big girls to deal with.  My cousin is one of them.  First lets look at the traditional way of dealing with lovely lady parts.
  

Solution #1: Step REALLY out of time period:   This is when you wear a corset that is Victorian, Edwardian, Colonial, or modern rather than Elizabethan, Tudor, etc.

What is the difference?

To put it simply... Shape.

The Elizabethan Corset is designed to work as a tube or an oval with a slight slimming at the waist.  Whether being a noble or a peasant the shape was the same.  Peasants of course could not afford the whalebone stays, so there was more folding and tucking.  

The Colonial Corset was shaped more like an ice cream cone.  The rounded neckline and the long torso are sometimes confused for Elizabeth's extended front.  If you look, however at Elizabeth's picture, her bodice still maintains the tube styling rather than a cone shape.

Edwardian fashion created the figure eight pattern that we commonly see in Steam-punk fashion.  The corset travels over the hip and narrows the waist intending to give the hourglass figure rather than a cone or a tube.  The front of Edwardian fashion is still cone shaped in comparison to the Victorian style.  

Victorian corsets are very figure eight shaped.  The intention is to create an equality between the bust and the hip.  A highly accented waist is the result.   This particular corset does the most to support a woman's chest thus you tend to see a variation of this style at the fairs.   While Victoria was an amazing queen, she is off from Elizabeth by over two hundred years.  

Most online corsets of this nature put your girls on a shelf.   Frankly the shelf support does not look particularly comfortable to me...not to mention the inevitable sunburn.   The downside of this corset is that if you have a very big bust they tend to flatten out and deform.  While this may look pleasing in the mirror, from the side or a distance the view is not a pretty one...  

The picture to the left shows a woman in a Victorian Corset. She has bought the corset too small, thus when she cinched it, her ample bosoms are now up to her throat, her shoulders are pushed higher than her collar bone which reduces her neck and makes her look in a word....strange.  It also has misshapen her breasts to the point where they look comical rather than alluring.   I have to say I'm a little worried about the strength of the stays on that corset.  The look as if they are supporting more than they were intended.


 If you really must wear a Victorian Corset to a Renaissance Fair, keep in mind the silhouette that is intended by this corset.  The corset is intended to cup and support the breast not put them on a shelf.

If you have been very well endowed, it would be best to have a corset especially made for you rather than buy a online corset.

Solution #2: Be a wench: A favorite of the fairs.  Whether you are a bar maid or a pirate wench this look is a very popular style for busty babes.  All it takes is a peasant blouse and a partial bust or under corset and the girls become very prominent.  The internet is littered with oogling pictures of women in these types of costume.  Again, without the support I'm not sure how comfortable this style is.  I would still put it way above Solution #1.  And, it gets points for being somewhat accurate to the time period where Solution #1 is null.  

Downside,  if you are very big, you always look like you're about to fall out of your shirt.  (That may be the point...)  While this is very popular with the men, again I wonder about the support...  Is there any at that point?  To me, having several plastic stays digging like darts into my breasts doesn't look like it would be comfortable, but to each her own.

Solution #3-- Belly Dance.  The Belly Dance costume, if you are up to having this much skin show provides a natural support for women.  Really if you are very large, this looks to be the most supportive.  It is basically a modified bra.  However, in looking at my historical patterns, I'm not so sure how historical the modern Belly Dance costume really is.

Queen Sized:

If you are like me, you want to wear the jewels and be a noble.  I relish in the lavish jewels and fabrics that would have, in Henry's day made me a very poor woman due to Sumptuary Taxes.  Being a modest C,  my biggest problem is my girls slipping down into my dress and disappearing for the rest of the fair.  (Which actually is historically accurate, so I can't complain.)  

However, larger girls like my cousin (Triple D's) has a double edged sword.  One side--she has enough mass to actually have cleavage in a standard Elizabethan gown.  Other side-- there is a great deal of pain involved at the end of the day. 

My tutorial, with this gown will be to make a corset which will provide all of the skin my cousin wants upside, without having red rings around her breasts at the end of the day.  

Let me show you the problems I'm going to resolve:

First: digging--I'm not sure why, but there are many corseted dresses online for sale that promote this look.  In my experience breasts are supposed to be rounded not pinched in the middle. It is common to see this problem at Renaissance fairs.  Women who are wearing the right corset find themselves forced to squeeze their girls in, binding them to their chest and giving them a noticeable breast version of a muffin top.  This dig can appear on the shoulder, under the arm pits, and most noticeably right across the breast where it comes in contact with the corset.  On particularly sunny days these poor women already are bright red along the lines of their bodice simply due to the pressure from their gown.  My cousin has this problem with her current dress. It is actually easy to solve, but it requires you to make your own pattern... I'll take it step by step using a real pattern as a base.  :)  

 Second: Creasing-- All I can say is ouch.  The picture of this crease looks so painful, I can only imagine what this girl is going through.  The cause of this problem is the same as above, except instead of pulling the girls together in the front, the breasts have spread out and are finding escape under the armpit--I know, lovely.  This can also be controlled with a adapted pattern.  Again, this is a problem of the design of the Elizabethan corset in conjunction with Renaissance Fair women's desires to have a huge amount of cleavage at the fair.  As I said before, the style of the renaissance corset is basically a tube.  For the hourglass figure, if you get the  corset tight enough in the middle to give you the right waist, the girls have to be squeezed so tight, you can actually hear them shrieking in pain as these poor women wander the fair.

So... How do you make your own pattern???

Let's Get Down to Business:

Next Post-- Creating a adapted renaissance pattern from an already existing pattern.

A bump in the road:

So.... in my last post, I made the declaration that I was going to make a renaissance dress in forty eight hours.  At that time, it was completely doable.  I had Sunday and Martin Luther King Day to pull it off.  No problem....

At about 2:30 am my Furnace stopped working and started pumping cold air into my house.  Needless to say by the time the cold in the house woke me the last thing on my mind was working on a renaissance dress.  Since service men do not come out on Sundays without requiring extraordinary pay, I decided to go to my parents house.  They have an empty basement.  I could cut out the gown.  No problem...

My younger sister decided to come down from the frozen north to my parents house with her five kids.  The basement was strewn with toys, children, and more importantly my three year old niece, who when she saw the scissors decided it was time to cut the fabric too... Picked up the fabric immediately, put it in a box, locked it in my car.  No work accomplished on day one or day two until after the furnace was fixed... around 4:30 pm.  So.... I'm not going to accomplish my extraordinary goal, which I still believe I can do.  Some other time.

I was able to get a good portion of the dress cut out this evening though, so I thought I would post about adjusting a pattern for a body type, and the first few steps for the dress.

Sorry, if any of you out there were excited to see what was going to happen.  Another time...

Katie

How to sandwich seams in an Elizabethan underskirt.

A Note From the Cutting Table:

This is a strange post because I have to set the orange dress aside to create something entirely new.  My cousin, Melissa needs a new dress... so in the next few posts, I plan to make a dress in only a few days.  This will be a unique project because my cousin has a very ample bust.  Rather than squeeze her into one of the standard patterns, I plan to use my old costuming shop skills to make her a bust that will provide her support AND comfort rather than squeezing down her girls into pancakes.  Stay tuned for the first post in the two day event and wish me luck.

Underskirt Info: 

For now, I am not writing a detailed post.  This is just a holding spot for the underskirt pictures.  I promise as soon as I can, I will return and write a proper blog for this page.

Katie

How to hide your seams on the underskirt without creating bulges: 

I like clean seams.  I prefer to use French Seams.  I have a great tutorial for it in this blog.  However, when making an underskirt that has been heavily beaded French Seaming wasn't an option.  

If you run into a similar problem, here is how you solve it:

1.  First step, I laid the front panel of the underskirt face up on the carpet.  Leave it there.  (It will behave)

2. Next gather up whatever side pieces and center back pieces you need to have.

  NOTE: Do not sew up the center back at this point.  

Sew up the side pieces with their corresponding center back.  Again: I used a french seam, so there are no raw edges.    With the french seams facing the carpet, roll up the two side skirt pieces until only the seam edges are accessible   

3.  Laid the rolled sections face down on the front of the skirt.  (Make sure your french seam folds are facing the ceiling.)

4. Next, lay the lining for the front panel on top of the rolled side pieces and the front panel.  The rolled pieces should be sandwiched between the front panel and its lining. 

5.  Sew up the sides.  No need to French Seam.  These seams will remain hidden throughout the life of the gown.  

6.  Pull open the front panel sandwich and extract the rolled side pieces.  

the skirt should lay out flat with the lining on one side and...

 ....the front panel on the other.  The seams you just sewed will be hidden within the dress.  

6.  Sew up the back seam and presto!   You're underskirt is ready for a waistband.  Now... I choose to connect my underskirt and over-skirt together.  This is a personal choice.  I don't like my skirt twisting as I walk.  If you would like to have a separate waistband.  This would be the time to add it.  For right now I'm setting the underskirt aside until the over skirt is ready.  

NEXT TIME: A DRESS IN 48 HOURS.... CAN IT BE DONE?????

ALSO: HOW TO MODIFY A BODICE.