Finished kirtle

[theladyrebecca]

I actually wound up finishing the kirtle this morning, since I was super tired by 9pm last night, and just decided to go bed and wake up early to finish. All I had left were 12 hooks and eyes, and a little bit of tacking down of seams. So I finished this morning, and wore it today to go to the faire! It was so nice to attend a faire in a dress that I don't have to worry about, and that allows me to fit in all the shops! Though I have to admit, I do miss the complements. ;) It even survived the rain. It started raining during the joust, and though I had an umbrella, it was coming down pretty hard, so we waited till our knight had jousted and then headed out. By the time I made it to the car, my apron was pretty much soaked (it was actually just a pinner apron I bought in Williamsburg in middle school and flipped the pinner part to the inside), but my nice wool kirtle hardly felt wet at all! I wore it over my 18th c quilted petticoat, and it gave it a nice amount of body, too.

Anyway, it turned out to be a nice, quick, and relatively simple project. I may add the second skirt guard at some point, and I'm debating about taking out the second row of cartridge pleating stitches (I took out the third, since it was pulling the skirt way too tightly). I also had spaced all my hooks and eyes 1.5" apart, and I definitely need to add two between the top hooks, because I had to pin those gaps closed. But overall, I'm quite happy with it, and I have to admit - although I didn't plan it that way (this project is entirely stash-based, after all), it really made me feel like Belle!

Here's some pics:

Comments

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

It looks lovely, and what a fabulous color on you! I'd say I can't believe how fast you put this together, but then your sewing speed is always pretty amazing.

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I normally don't think of myself as very fast at sewing, but this one was really just quite easy!

[wanda newton (from livejournal.com)]

It is absolutely beautiful. How long did it take to complete?

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm terrible of keeping track of how much time I spend on something, but basically, I worked most of Wednesday, at least 2-3 hours each on Thurs and Fri, and probably about 6ish hours Sat and about 45 mins Sun.

Overall, I would consider this one a quick project, especially because the majority of that was handsewing on the guards!

[hiraimi.livejournal.com]

It looks great! I just love black skirt guards - they look so sharp. And the fabric of your shirt (shift?) is awesome - are those stripes woven or embroidered? Floofy sleeves FTW!

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The guards sort of make me feel like I've come full circle - they're strips of the same navy velvet that I used for my doublet gown in 2010, which was my first big historical project. And the shirt fabric is actually a completely not H/A fabric from Joanns - it's cotton, with diamond-shaped tucks, and stripes of lace over it. I liked it a lot when I bought it for the doublet gown, but to be honest, I wish I had taken time to make something a little more H/A by now!

[hiraimi.livejournal.com]

I know exactly the fabric you mean, but despite its non-H/A-ness it makes SUCH a fab shirt.

[vanessa-lynne.livejournal.com]

Looks great & comfy! :)

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was!

[hharris.livejournal.com]

So cute! And where do you find such pretty wool??

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I bought this one from Fashion Fabrics Club a few years ago. Just a word of warning, though - while I'm almost positive this is 100% wool, when I ordered wool from them last year, what I received was definitely not 100%.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

It came out very nicely, but I can see why you want the second guard on the skirt. It would add something extra to what is already a very good-looking kirtle.

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm sure I'll add it eventually. Though I was surprised that adding the guard was actually the most difficult part of this whole project, just trying to hold that much fabric in my hand while hand-sewing!

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

When sewing on trim that is well away from the edge of the fabric, I hold a fold of the fabric from the back with my non-needle hand rather than bunching up everything from the hem to the trim in my hand. The fold is perpendicular to the row of trim. I'm not sure I explained that well, but it works without tiring my hand.

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

Ooh pretty!

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Pretty! That colour is great on you! And yeah, definitely channeling Belle! :)

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And it's funny - what I would think of as my least princessy gown lately actually kind of made me feel the most princessy!

[marianme.livejournal.com]

Turned out really nice :)

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[sadievale.livejournal.com]

Lovely!