The Plan (Revised Edition)

I made some progress yesterday with Finian’s tunic. It’s not quite at the one-piece stage, but I did get to fit it to him, and after a little bit of tweaking I think it’s looking quite good. The side gores are sewn in, the sleeves and underarm gorse are pinned in and the neckline has been cut out. He is quite set on his wide sleeves – he wants to put his hands inside the opposite sleeve in true Jedi style. For warmth, of course. I hope to have it all put together by the end of the week so it can hang in the bathroom for a week before I hem it.

I washed my wool yesterday and have struck a small hurdle – it’s not right for the Moy Gown Mark II. In my mind it was a lovely, buttery yellow medium weight wool blend. In reality its more like a beigey tan colour and quite light. It will make a wonderful underdress to something, and in summer I might wear it without a top layer. But for an event in winter, not quite right.

Having accepted that I am not going to buy any suitable wool in the next week or so, I have resigned myself to the fact I won’t have a new frock for Baronial change over. I do however have loads of the stripy wool left over from Sam’s tunic. I did consider making myself a tabard with side lacings to wear over one of my older frock, but I don’t want to look too matchy matchy. So I have decided to make myself a hood out of the wool, lined with left over burgundy from the cotehardie inspired, recently renovated frock. After making a pattern last night, I have cut out the wool and will cut out the lining tonight. Hopefully it will be together this week too.

I would like a new under dress for the Moy Mark I with nicer sleeves, in a slightly heavier cotton. We will see how the brain and the budget are doing after the Melbourne trip next week. Otherwise I might just go with 2 layers of underdress for warmth, the hood and a mantle on top.

Moy Gown Mark II

So, what will Belle wear to the Ball? Well, the Baronial change over anyway.

As the Moy gown was such a success I have decided to make a long sleeved version with a higher neckline. The advantages of this include that I only have to re-pattern the front panel to get the new neck line right, and fiddle about with the sleeves a little.

So, here is my ‘inspiration’ picture of gowns very similar in style to the Moy gown…. Or at least it would be if the link to her page was working. Hmm, will have ot get back to you with the picture. Moy Mark I was based on the lady on the right, with the short sleeves. I made the neckline lower as that is how the extant article appears to have been made. This time I am aiming for something more like the lady on the left.

So, step 1 is to re-pattern the front panel.
Step 2 is to wash the wool blend fabric I bought for this dress over a year ago (and hope I still like it).
Step 3 cut, pin together and check fit. This lady: http://matildalazouche.livejournal.com/ (see the Moy Gown entry) likes a slightly more snug fit, but I like the way mine hangs away from the body. Still, snugger might be warmer… will see how it feel in the pinning stage.
Steps 4 – 6 sew sew sew.
Step 7 accessorise
Step 8 Look beautiful!

Moy Gown Update

If I have done this properly you should be able to see a photo of Sam and I at 12th Night back in January. I am wearing my Moy Gown. At that stage it was pinned together in front, unhemmed and the bias strips around the neck and front opening were pressed but not stitched down. [And my hair looks rubbish, but you can't have everything]

In the last few weeks I have stitched down the bias strips, marked up where the buttons will go on the front and sewn the first of 8 buttons in place. I have also stitched down the excess fabric behind the tip of one of the gores by way of reinforcing. I will do the other 3 eventually also.

What’s left: sew on 7 buttons; construct and sew on 8 button loops; stitch down the reinforcing on 3 gores; hem.

I then need to figure out what will go under the dress. In this photo I am wearing an old cheesecloth chemise I made for festival years ago. When I decided to wear the Moy to 12th night I didn’t have enough time to make a new chemise so I re-cut the neckline of the cheesecloth to suit this gown (the neckline had been quite high before). I was quite pleased with my ingenuity, but as a long term solution it’s just not quite right. Some of the literature suggests that an Irish Leinte (also known as a saffron shirt) is appropriate, but I printed out a few more articles last week to read which might have different views. I will keep you posted.