This gown was originally thought to be a challenge, to be finished in three months time (that was in 2006).
Due to unexpected health problems, however, I had to abandon that challenge.
I still want to make the gown eventually, but until then, these pages shall just remain here as some kind of planning documentation.
Today, on Tuesday, the 8th of August, 2006, I have accepted a challenge to create a gown from scratch within three months of time.
The gown in question is the one Queen Elizabeth is wearing in the ‘Hardwick’ portrait:
…and here are the rules for the challenge:
- You must make it as accurate as possible.
- You can substitute fabric painting for the hand embroidery, but the pearls, the trim, the points, everything else must be as close to what was used as possible.
- You must have the correct underpinnings for the skirt and the ruff.
- You MUST use as many materials as possible from your own collection of fabrics and trims.
However, you have (…) a budget of no more than 20 Euros for anything else you might need to buy for this dress, such as lace, pearls, or (heaven forbid!) fabric.
Things like thread, hooks and eyes, wire and the like are free. (that means anything else *must* come from my own collection of fabrics!) - Because of the complex nature of this dress, you have from now until Nov. 15th (that’s 3 months) to get it done. You will need to get documentation to me as soon after the 15th as you can.
Documentation? No problem. The detailed research has just started on the following research page 
And anything else will, of course, be published here as soon as I have finished it
