Under construction for the last 8 days was the first ensemble for our beloved sister, Lady Stephanie. As it is now complete I have pictures and a lot of construction explanations to give, as I seriously did not follow the pattern instructions...

First up was her chemise. It is made from bleached muslin and I used the Elizabethan chemise instructions from the Elizabethan Costuming page. (I must say, I love this site! Verily, it is full of useful information!) Another set of good instructions for the same type chemise can be found on DawnsPages. This I used for the basic construction. When it came time to finish the sleeves, I pleated the underside before making the drawstring channel, which is on the inside so it does not show. I got the idea to do this from an Italian chemise pattern I found. The picture about 3/4 of the way down that page shows the sleeve poofing more on the underside, as you can already plainly see I like to pleat, so I used pleats to attempt to draw it up like in the picture there. What I got ended up like this, which I believe to be a fair approximation to my point of view. I also added a little lace just to pretty it up a little...

Next came the gown... I used, sort of, Simplicity #3812. The gown is view B, the sleeves are view A. The gown is made from a blue cotton jacquard type fabric, the front portion of the attached underskirt is a poly blend embroidered with stripes crossing to form diamonds and flowers, the remaining underskirt is a blue cotton broadcloth. The first change to the pattern was drafting out the darts. Once that was done, I cut out my pieces. In addition to the fashion fabric and lining pieces for the bodice, I also cut a set out of heavyweight muslin to add additional support to the bodice and to make boning channels down both sides of the back where I would be placing grommets, instead of the *gasp, cough* zipper the instructions called for. I treated this new muslin layer as if it and the lining fabric were one and tacked the 2 together in a few places so it wouldn't shift around. Before I began bodice construction by the directions, I made the boning channels by sewing an additional strip of the same muslin to the muslin/lining combination so there was a channel formed between the 2 pieces of muslin in which to insert the boning later. From there I followed the directions to put the bodice together and turn it right side out.  This is an inside view of the turned bodice.

Here is where the next big change occured. The pattern calls for the faux chemise sleeves to be attached to the bodice and in doing so, the side seam is sewn. As I made a separate chemise, I had to find a new way. I didn't just want to sew all the pieces together right sides facing because that would cause an ugly seam on the inside and I wanted to avoid that if possible. So, that being said, I sewed the side seams of the lining and the fashion fabric separately with right sides facing to make the seams come out on the inside of the 2 layers. I slid the duct ties into my boning channels and stitched the channels closed. Now, how to finish of the arm holes... The way I saw it, I had 2 choices, turn in the ends and slipstitch them by hand or bind them off in some way. I really could have gone either way, but Lady Stephanie liked the idea of binding them off with lace of some sort, so off to JoAnn's we went. Picked a yard of some lovely stretchy lace that did the trick quick and easy. With right sides together I sewed the lace around the arm holes about 1/4 inch from the raw edge, turned it to the inside toward the lining and slip stitched the lace to the lining making a nice neat edge on the outside of the gown while laying perfectly flat and not adding to the bulk on the inside of the gown. Now on to the skirts...

I followed the pattern instructions here, for the most part. I turned under the front edges of the overskirt 1/4 inch then again 1/2 inch and edge stitched before sewing the ribbon down the edges, keeps the front edges of the split skirt straighter... You already know I pleat the hell out of just about everything, so this should not be too much of a shock... I pleated the overskirt, instead of gathering it, as I pinned it to the bodice. The back of the skirt had a few inches of seam unsown to allow for the aforementioned *gasp, choke* zipper. I folded the seam allowance over the edge of the bodice to the inside so that when sewn and straightened, it would fold in to create a neat edge. I stitched the overskirt to the bodice and then I attached the underskirt. This may shock and amaze you, but I did gather the underskirt instead of pleating it. It makes it fuller that way. I did leave the front couple inches on both sides of center flat, but the remainder is gathered. Then I stitched that part on. Then came the grommets up the back and, huzzah, there be a gown!

The sleeves were constructed just as the instructions bade me, with the exception of the addition of a layer of heavyweight muslin as an "inner lining" to help it hold the shape. This was done in the same manner as I did with the bodice. The embroidered fashion fabric and the cotton lining were both very lightweight. I wasn't sure without the extra layer that they would neither hold their shape, nor hold the grommets with which to lace them together and to the dress.