Picking up where we left off...

Burn's Night weekend is over, tartan was worn, haggis and copious amounts of scotch consumed. Then my dissertation proposal paper returned from my advisor. This past week I have been struggling through the writing process in the mornings, and have treat myself to an hour or so of studio time each day in the afternoons. The gown has taken me all week or so to finish, but now it's done.

I picked up by stitching the pleats into place, and the side back seam on both the fashion layer and the lining.

I had originally thought to include the front lining in that side back seam, which would help with some structural support. I quickly realized that the back lining would be a better choice to include with the fashion layer as support, in that it would lay more smoothly in the end with the front lining covering the finished seam. Yes, I still have to use my seam ripper from time to time as I work through the process. The seam was stitched with a running back stitch and strong thread.

This is the inside of the finished fashion layer seam, the front lining pushed out of the way so it wouldn't get accidently caught. I then folded the seam allowance of the lining under, and whip stitched it down the side back seam and along the waist seam until the front waist dart.

Then, I took apart the sleeves from mum's bodice. I knew they would be too short for me, and likely were the wrong shape, as I had originally made this gown back in the early 1990s when I didn't know how to make or stitch in an eighteenth-century sleeve. I made a modern one piece sleeve instead. You can see in this photo how very different the modern sleeve is from a historical sleeve.

This sleeve is from Fitting and Proper, page 9. You can see that the shape of the armscye is different than the one I cut originally. Number one reason why it is always a good idea to have your reference books out on your work bench as you create. This armscye difference is important when you set the sleeve. A modern armscye won't work.

So I ended up piecing the sleeve heavily from the scraps left over from the old bodice of the gown. The two sleeves are even pieced differently from each other, as the scraps I was working with were quite small at this point. I rebuilt the sleeves and then re-attached the original cuff. In the end, they are substantially longer, so cover my elbows, and narrower through the upper arm.

They now are matching in length and width and fit me.

Onto setting the sleeve, remember what that armscye looks like (the top edge of the sleeve), look for the point 'A' referenced in Sharon Burnston's pattern. This is the single most important point on the sleeve. No matter left or right, it is the starting point to setting the sleeve. Match this point with the back shoulder seam point, here...

I match that point, then working the underarm first, I match right sides together in a big sandwich of all the layers, lining of sleeve, fashion fabric of sleeve right sides together with fashion fabric of bodice, and bodice lining. Yes there will be raw edges. They will be dealt with later.

Once you have pinned all the way around to the front armscye joint, just before the shoulder strap starts, you can stitch this bit in place using a running back stitch and strong thread. I have gotten to the point where I pin the whole sleeve in, and then stich though. When learning, it might be easier to stitch in steps.

The top of the sleeve then gets eased into the shoulder strap, pushing the fashion layer out of the way and just stitching sleeve head to strap lining. You need the ease on the top of your shoulder to accommodate that bone at the top of your arm, but also the rounding of the top of your arm. If you do not include any ease here, the bodice of your gown will pull off your body. There's no getting around it. SLEEVES NEED EASE!

I pin the ease in place, and then pleat the excess into one or two pleats at the top back of the sleeve head, just where the sleeve joins the back shoulder seam of the bodice. To sew the top of the shoulder in place, I use a running back stitch, pulling back on the thread to ease in the sleeve head as I sew. You could also run an easing stitch along the sleeve head prior to setting the sleeve, if you need more control.

Once the sleeve is stitched in place, the fashion layer of the shoulder is folded over the top of the sleeve head and stitched down. I then return to the inside of the armscye, and whip stitch the layers together. This gown will never be washed. Most living history garments are rarely laundered, outside shirts, shifts and stockings. If I were making this gown for theatre, I might bias bind the armscye, but it's really overkill and just adds bulk. Trim your seam allowances nicely, and then just whip everything together. The top of the sleeve head will be between the layers of strap, with just the seam allowance of the strap lining showing at this point.

Here is my finished gown, hemmed and everything. I measured the fabric used to be 2metres of 60"wide straight cloth from skirts of mum's gown, the sleeves left over from the gown, and the bodice cut into scraps for piecing.  Here are my little piles of what is left over.

This was an exercise in rebuilding a gown from a finite amount of cloth. The rest of the original cloth was re-homed decades ago, so I had to be careful with this gown. The finished gown will be about knee length, and will be worn with a wool petticoat of another cloth, likely also one of mum's old pieces. The remaining scraps of wool cloth are now in the trash, the linen from the lining will be used to make char cloth for fire starting. And I have another new piece of clothing from the mid century period that I will wear for years to come. I am also working through proper construction notes to be included in my dissertation so that other folk can build historically correct gowns in the future, and you won't make the same mistakes I did back in the early 1990s.

Next up, Men's suits!