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Altering my Hand Sewn Kirtle

 Hello there Beautiful Humans!

If I am being honest with us all, this dress did not fit before the pandemic started either. I mad this dress when I was fresh out of college, living on a military base, and in very good shape. I am still in fair shape, but no where near that lean, and I still love this dress. When I made it I was living in Arizona and could only really wear it for a few months our of the year due to the heat. Historically people did not often throw out clothes that don't fit like we do today. 1 gown could cost a significant portion of a laborer's wages to just replace. Instead of buying all new garments all the time they would altar, mend, and redecorate older outfits to accommodate for weight changes, wear and tear, or repurposing of garments. Janet Arnold in Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd even discusses tailor bills indicating that she was not wasting the expensive materials her clothes were made from. Instead she has several dresses that were remade over the years. We could learn a thing or two about slow fashion from this period. A goal of this project was to be positive about my body 10 years later and find a way to wear a dress I had loved when I first made it and bring it back into my costuming rotation. Be kind to yourselves and focus on the bright sides of where you are at. This dress was the first garment I had ever hand sewn and at the time I made it I was so proud of the research I was able to do, my construction, the fit, etc. Because I was so proud of this I used it to enter into one of my very first SCA Arts and Sciences competition which is a funny story for off the internet. I didn't get the highest marks on everything, but I didn't expect to because this was my first time not entering as a novice and I wanted the feedback. Because I have no wish to enter this into competition again 10 years later, I decided to sew the dress back together with a strong cotton thread rather than the more historically correct linen thread because I already had it, the color matched perfectly, and if there is a need to do repairs in the future I should be able to match the color fairly easily. The biggest difference in the construction between these two attempts is the bodice construction. Originally I did what I had always done and bag lined the bodice, stitched the skirt to the bottom, and hit the raw edges under the bodice lining. This sewing technique while effective, was more common after the invention of the sewing machine. This time I went with a construction method that is more historical by flat lining the individual pieces and whipping the pieces together. This construction makes it so much easier to altar or repair wear on garments. I also sewed eyelets into the dress using an awl and reinforcement rings rather than just whipping rings to the lining on the inside of the dress. Below is the link to the tutorial I made about eyelets: https://youtu.be/Nkr1aJ4ubFc The final big improvements were in how I dealt with the skirt. Rather than half hazard knife pleating the skirt to the bodice I finished them separately and box pleated the skirt onto the bodice and stitched a thread bar into the front skirt opening. I hope you have enjoyed watching this dress diary and that you feel inspired to make a garment you love wearable again. If you do remake an item I would love to see it. Please tag me on Instagram with @maridith.smith In the mean time, happy sewing and stay safe out their friends! Bisou Bisou, Maridith

Update!

Miss Philimena created a challenge inspired by this project and her own medieval kirtle. Link to her playlist with others refreshing their wardrobe is below. Go and check them out! Are you going to join us in the Costume Renewal Challenge? #costube #costumerenewalchallenge #societyforcreativeanachronism #tudorcostume #historicalcostuming

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