The fussiest bit about the whole gown in the cartridge pleating on the sleeve caps and back yoke. I have never tried them before, but I think they're just going to be tedious, not really hard.
The trick is going to be keeping all my running stitches straight and even. I've purchased so stitch guide tape. It wasn't super expensive, so I'll let you know how it goes. Sometimes you really can find the perfect notion, but I've spent plenty of money of stuff that looks like it's going to fix my problem, but really doesn't do the job.
People who do serious Renaissance costuming are all about these pleats and there are several great tutorials out there about them. Here are two that I've found.
Drea Leed's Elizabethan Costuming Page is a wealth of information. She as a great tutorial about cartridge pleating.
Also, Sempstress has an excellent description of her experiments with padded pleats here. If you costume or draft your own patterns, this is definitely a site worth checking out.
Now here are the last of the pictures and they're all about the pleats.
This is the front of the sleeve cap. Notice how the pleats taper. I imagine that this is done by stopping the running stitches farthest away from the seam a few stitches in from where the stitches closest to the seam will stop. Wow! What a sentence. I do some sketches before I sew so hopefully that will be more clear some day soon.
This one is of the back yoke. Notice how the seam comes together at an angle. This could be tricky. If I don't think I can manage it, I may try this approach from the Snape tutorial. Yvette has, I think, joined the sleeve pleats to the back pleats themselves.
Here are two more pictures about how the sleeve seam works, a front view and a back view respectively.
Attaching and lining the sleeves is going to be a little tricky, so I took some time trying to get good close ups of these areas.
Here is a picture of the way the pleats are stiffened. (You were right, Missa!)
And here's the last one. The lining will be something I'll have to work out. I'll post a drawing of it when I get around to it.
Next time, fabric swatches!
4 comments:
I'm about to start this project myself -- good to see that others have documented the process!
Did you make your hood, too? I am sewing a gown, hood, and beret for my physics professor daughter, and am not interested in re-inventing the wheel! Thanks for the great tips on the appliqued sleeve bars. I, too, am not fond of working on velvet!
(A post from my mom, which didn't show up when she tried to post it.)
I did not make my own hood, since that was given to me by the school. Good luck with your project!
Hi thanks for sharing I'm going to try it because I want to sew it my daughter need the graduation gown now I don't know how to draft the sleeve can you help me please its a gentle
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