Thursday 15 July 2010

Cranach Dress - Skirt's Panels

Sister's order for a Cranach dress. She overestimates me :-) She could have chosen another dress than the most difficult one of the period...
I made a pattern according to Mrs. Kybalová's book.

I measured the height from the waistline to the ground. I added a few centimeters as a technological supplement, as the skirt won't hang exactly vertically (the sticked lower part:-D).

I cut the skirt panels all in one direction. I marked the lower and upper egde and the posititon of the decorations.
The decorative bands were cut in a row. Their long edges ironed down to the wrong side.

I meant to edit the pattern so that I could sew on straight bands. However, I found out I could quite easily arrange them in an arc.
First I pinned the sides of the band to the marked place. Then I stretched the center downwards and pinned it. I added two more pins and could start to sew on. Repeat ninety-five times. (According to the book, the skirt consists from thirty-two panels.)

The golden brocade was quite tough and made the velvet wrinkle. Most of this could be undone with the help of the iron.

I serged the long sides.
Thirty-two prepared panels:-)

By the way, don't get mistaken by the date, the whole process took several days..