How it looks

[stellar_muddle]

Hem still needs doing and may or may not put more eyelets in the side but the basics are now done.


More pictures found from here onwards.
Curiously, experimenting with the lacing, the side spiral laced with the short bit of cord where the thread ran out, sits far better than the one crosslaced. Not certain which side is showing in the photo above.
Veil needs the base rounded and then it needs to be ironed and hemmed and the head band hemmed. Gown has had the hem initially pinned by Z and is now hanging for a couple days to see how things stretch etc.

Comments

[stellar-muddle.livejournal.com]

Afraid it is no longer pooling at the feet due to the fact that I was having fun wandering around the house at that length, let alone being able to say dance in it, but it did look cool. Now at floor length. Ended up trimming about 40cm off the original 1/4 circle bits of the skirt so actually a fair amount of waste there, though it would have been less of an issue with narrower fabric.

Lacing holes have been done as pairs of parallel holes, so the cord is tied off in the top two holes, spiral laced down and then goes through the bottom two holes twice and then hitched through itself. This seems to hold the tension fine but haven't tested it for a full event yet. Haven't figured out if it is worth refeeding any spare cord back inside the gown or just letting it hang loose.

The veil we think was silk voile, but it was originally Z's silk sleeping bag liner which went to South America and back 3 times for several month long field seasons from about 1995-1997. Hence it is very well beaten up and rather fragile. I used the largest area out of the length with only one largish hole which was relatively easily darned at the back where it isn't really noticable. There are a lot of very fine holes over the rest of the spare leftover fabric, so not certain what will be done with it. May make a linen version using the silk for the basic pattern later and see how that compares drapewise. Hem doesn't really seem to have changed things much, but haven't really worn it since.

Need a good upcoming event:)

[(Anonymous)]

All my dresses are much shorter for similar reasons. Luckily that bit shorter does seem to have been the majority fashion around 1170. I'm planning on making a german style calf length dress with floor length chemise next - at least I'll be able to belt up the chemise when i need to walk. And wash it more easily.

I was actually wondering about how you managed the point at the bottom of the lacing. My laced one has problems because i need to flare out suddenly for my hips. So I ended up with a mesy point directly below the bottom of my lacing. Maybe it's just me and my hips.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has looked at silk inner bags that way. Unfortunately mine is mauve with a very modern pattern on it, but that's probably jsut as well because it's not even close to worn out yet. Sounds like the rest of the fabric could at least make pouches or pouch linings, maybe a fabric belt? or could you unravel the thread and use it? If you could find some affordable superlightweight wool, (appart from buying the bolt to share your good fortune with the rest of us :-) ) it would be interesting to make a woolen veil too, and complete the comparison.

[teffania.livejournal.com]

All my dresses are much shorter for similar reasons. Luckily that bit shorter does seem to have been the majority fashion around 1170. I'm planning on making a german style calf length dress with floor length chemise next - at least I'll be able to belt up the chemise when i need to walk. And wash it more easily.

I was actually wondering about how you managed the point at the bottom of the lacing. My laced one has problems because i need to flare out suddenly for my hips. So I ended up with a mesy point directly below the bottom of my lacing. Maybe it's just me and my hips.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has looked at silk inner bags that way. Unfortunately mine is mauve with a very modern pattern on it, but that's probably jsut as well because it's not even close to worn out yet. Sounds like the rest of the fabric could at least make pouches or pouch linings, maybe a fabric belt? or could you unravel the thread and use it? If you could find some affordable superlightweight wool, (appart from buying the bolt to share your good fortune with the rest of us :-) ) it would be interesting to make a woolen veil too, and complete the comparison.