Getting close

The Bodice, is now done.

There are part I am so impressed with myself with and parts I would have done differently.  But overall it came out very good. 

The bodice itself was too loose on the sides.  I ended up taking it in about 2 inches, one to each side.  I took in only one of the side seams (there are two) to keep the back in the proper slant.  The Bodice is now tight to my sides, and look a lot better when on. 

The sleeves are very heavy.  They pull the shoulders out wider then I planned the top to be, but looks correct when worn.  The panels on the sleeves are too wide.  The sleeves do not give the "Tight" look I was looking for.  I went over all my measurements, and I believe I gave myself too much EASE in the sleeves for movement.  A lot of this extra space will be taken up by the Chemise.  I plan on making the these sleeves very wide so I can puff them out. 

Bottom of the Bodice has been turned and slipped stitched.  I will hang the skirt from this.  It is a strong edge.  This was important because....

There is a lot of skirt.  I have four full 55 inch wide panels, and side gores, which are a full 55 inch at the bottom.  So the full width of the bottom of the skirt is 330 inches. 
The gore panels I made with a flat top section, they do not come up to a point. This is a divergence from following the more Period style of skirt that is shown in the design of Eleanor of Toledo Burial Gown.  Those gores do no go to the top of the skirt, start lower on the side.  I had some problem with this design.  First this gown was not as full a skirt as the Pisa dress.  I would not get the fullness I was looking for.  Also this was more of a under dress/Kirtle, then the Pisa dress. No sleeves were ever made nor planned on for this dress.  If I was making an underskirt, I would use this cut.  But I felt this was not correct for this dress.  Looking closely at the photo's of the Pisa dress, it shows a fuller in the front skirt then the ET Burial.   Since I was not copying the ET skirt, I made the top of the gores  six inches wide.  This extend down for four inches before I started cutting the flare.  I did this to make Cartridge pleating easier. So maybe I cheated a little, but after turning and gathering you cannot tell.

I turned down two inches, and tucked under the edge.  I then hand sewed with a fine button hole stitch the turned edge to the skirt.  This edge is now done in one inch cartridge pleats.  Again, since this is a front closure bodice, the skirt also needs to be front closing.  I will have to sew on numerous, and I mean many, closures along the front edge of the skirt.  By doing this I will also be able to wear this Skirt open in the front with a nice underskirt with Forepart.  (I'm planning another set of sleeves for this dress, so I could use it as English also.  Maybe a set of Black Velvet sleeves, and matching Forepart  But I dream ...) 

Next to attach all this skirt to the Bodice.

This is the cartridge pleated skirt laying on top of the Bodice for measuring.  IT FITS.  Now for another several hours of hand sewing.

The Chemise.   Looking at several portraits in the Eleanor of Toledo book I noticed that many of the gown show an embroidered neck on the chemise showing under the gown.  OH BOY  I get to do some black work.  But this neck need to be the right size.  So some careful measurement.  Some looking at my pattern books.  And thinking a one inch wide blackwork design would be nice, I came up with ...

Getting the corners right took some counting, but I'm off and running.  Of course I could have picked an easy quick pattern.  But that isn't me.  The pattern is from my new favorite book,  Bands from Hans Hofer's New Formbuch'len, Augsberg 1545  Charted and plotted for reversible stitching by Linn R Skinner.  This band will show nicely in the neck.  The Partlett over will be sheer enough (fingers crossed) so you will see it. 

The partlett will be the last piece.  The fabric is cotton lawn with a nice pink and green flower embroidered on it.  I found this fabric at the Lorraine Mills in E Prov. RI.  It was only 1.99 a yard on their discount floor.  It is fancy yet suttle.  Hopefully it will work.  About now I'm just praying it does  because I'm getting tired of looking for fabric that will work with this dress and NOT be another two month of sewing (which a partlett, a fancy fancy partlett could be.)