Medieval Dress

I have been meaning to post pictures of this dress for about 3 months now! I finally have all my pictures on my computer, so I thought now was as good a time as any.

First of all, here's a picture of the pattern I used (I posted the pattern in a previous post, but I just wanted to refresh your memory). It's the largest picture:



Now, as you may remember, a while back I found some lovely green fabric that I just love, and I purchased it with the intent of making this dress. Well, dear reader, I did make that dress. Mostly by myself, I might add, since my mother was not at home when I took it upon myself, and I am quite proud of my self-accomplishment. Let me tell you about my process:

First of all, I had to spread out the fabric, lay out the pattern pieces, and cut the fabric out. This was very interesting, as there was so much fabric, that I couldn't completely spread it across our large room! (I think I had 9 yards.) However, I did cut it out, and moved on the the assembly. Sewing projects really do go quickly when you have the whole day ahead of you and no huge consequences if it totally fails - other than a slight loss of $. :) This did not happen, so no worries.

The dress was very simple to sew together, and the sleeves were fun. I had a little trouble with the lace yoke, (the pins kept slipping out) but eventually I got that done, too. I had all but the zipper and the hem done before my mom came back, and then she helped my with the zipper.

When I was done with the dress, I made the vest. I used a fake leather-type fabric for this - it had a cool floral design, and I liked it. The vest went together really nicely, although putting gathers in a stiff fabric can be interesting...not to mention the 20 eyelets...I was tired after that! Anyway, here are some pictures of the finished product. I'm not very pleased with the picture quality, but you get the idea.

This is the front - I seriously love the sleeves! Although the gold rope gets a little scratchy...



And here's the back - I don't have a picture of just the dress, so these all have the leather vest over the top.



And here's one last picture, a close-up of the lace and the trim I used. I forgot to mention the trim before! I found it at Wal Mart, and fell in love. Literally. I thought the trim was so pretty, and it had the perfect green for my dress! It was really fun to sew on, too. I put the trim around the neckline and around the seam on both sleeves.



So, there you have it. My green medieval dress. I wore it on Halloween. For an hour. Sitting on the couch watching movies. Wasn't really the most comfortable thing ever, so I changed very soon, but it was fun for a while. Maybe someday there will be that perfect occasion, and I will be the one to say - "Oh, a medieval dress? Of course I have one of those in my closet!"