Navigation for this costume:
Introduction – Materials – Smock – Farthingale – Petticoat – Bodice – Skirtings – Rolled Sleeves – Overskirt – Forepart – Ruffs – Partlet and Sleeves – Jewelry making: Headdress; Necklace; Pelican Jewel; Sleeveband; Girdle; Wristbands; Fan – Finished gown – Funny Comments – Miss Starkie – Quiz
Skirtings in the portrait
As I was missing two pattern sheets from the Lady’s Wardrobe (which Margo sent after me without hesitation, but I didn’t want to wait…), I’ve had to make these small skirting tabs myself.
I did so by vaguely guessing the number of tabs around Elizabeth’s gown and came up with a number of 17:
7 on each side from front to back lacing, plus three on the back piece. I then measured the corresponding circumfence of the half sewn bodice bottom and divided it by 17, therewith deriving a wideness for each tab.
The rest I drafted with a ruler and a small glass which vaguely had the right circumfence on a piece of paper.
I cut each skirting tab twice – in velvet and silk satin – then sew those together and decorated the edge with pearls; and afterwards I added those to the bottom of the bodice.
I know that in the portrait, it looks as if the skirtings are edged with golden braids or something. But as this is the only place in the whole portrait where this weird kind of golden braiding appears, I simply left it off, because I had no idea what it could be. It *could* be the painter’s view of the shimmering velvet pile, which fans hard at the edges, but I am not quite certain.
Anyway, here’s one of the finished skirting tabs in a close-up. Curse the flash, which makes the pearls look as if someone had dropped a line of white nail enamel on the velvet… in fact, they really look like pearls and also have “that” shimmer”.
You can also see quite well in this picture how well the ladder-machine-stitch works for attaching pearl strings, I guess:
I’ve changed the three back tabs of the back middle piece into a single, wider tab – I have no idea why, I just had the feeling I would like that version more and that it would look better. Here’s what it looks like – two Quadruples and some pearls/caps decorations are still missing:
And this is how the skirtings looked when I had finished them:
Front (with girdle)
Back (with girdle)
Side view of the finished skirtings on the not-yet-finished bodice
Let’s now get back to the bodice – the rolled sleeves, to be exact.
Navigation for this costume:
Introduction – Materials – Smock – Farthingale – Petticoat – Bodice – Skirtings – Rolled Sleeves – Overskirt – Forepart – Ruffs – Partlet and Sleeves – Jewelry making: Headdress; Necklace; Pelican Jewel; Sleeveband; Girdle; Wristbands; Fan – Finished gown – Funny Comments – Miss Starkie – Quiz
