Green Brocade medieval costume dress

I decided its time to use up some of my stash so am intending to get to grips with as many of my patterns as possible and specifically those that will use up large quantities of fabric. Its all got a bit much and when you start investigating the cost of renting storage space for your stash its a problem. So time to actually make stuff and lots of it. No more small items and after all winter is coming so wearing voluminous clothing can be the best way to deal with it. By the huge quantities of berries this year I suspect we are about to have a seriously long and cold winter in the UK so I need lots of big clothing to keep me cosy even if it only gets used at the weekend since my new job will not be allowing me to wear much thats a bit "different".

I bought the jewellery I blogged about a a few days weeks before I started to make this dress. I was inspired to make the dress view C from Simplicity 4940.

I really like this dress and have a large piece of green brocade but its hard to measure well since its not a rectangular bit being an offcut I bought as a job lot. Unfortunately not quite enough though as it turns out.

In the end I reduced the width in the front side panels and cut seperate top and bottom parts for these panels. The rest were cut as the pattern says. Problem one is I forgot the mediaval dresses tend to have a low waist and I actualy cut a high waist so I end up with more of a 70's vibe than medieval.

Then after spending ages hand basting the hem of the neck frill I decided to swap it for pleated ribbon round the neckline instead. The black chiffon did not quite have the right feel I felt. Ribbon gave a better effect. Then to hide the join in the side panels I add dark green satin ribbon. I bought the ribbon ages ago and have not till now found a use. It disguises the join well and with a long bit to make a tie at the back works well I think.

I had to redo the ribbon three times because I kept getting them off set to one another. Trouble was each time I unpicked I damaged the ribbon so had to use a new bit so despite starting with lots of ribbon I was getting a bit worried I was going to run out.  In the end its not too bad.

 I only had a turquoise or navy invisible zip and went with the turquoise because it looks a bit better but its not quite right. I can get away with that tho. When I looked online I could not find anyone selling any that are the right colour so its probably as good as I will find anyway. The fabric is not quite turqoise and not quite green but kind of in between. Navy would not have worked well at all.

The sleeeves are made from black chiffon.I did a slight cheat with the sleeves too because I used cord type elastic rather than the ribbon to gather them and then just tied the bows on. This was because my channels were too narrow to comfortably allow the ribbon to thread through.
The neck and hem stitching is hidden by black braid I bought ages ago which is brilliant because its been hanging around taking up space for ages and is just perfect for this dress.

Not so sure this dress actually goes at all well with the piece of jewellery that inspired me to make it but never mind😉.

 I actually forgot all about the jewellery when we took the original photos.

The dress is very long and the back has a slight train. Not something I am used to wearing at all and I have absolutely no shoes that go with this look. I ended up with some cheapo black canvas pumps but they are not very medieval. Mind you the dress is so long you can barely see them.

 

I also think possibly I should have a smaller size though that would somewhat inhibit movement. 

The fabric I used for this is a lovely upholstery weight brocade. Quite beautiful. Its a bit of a shame I had to cut the side fronts as two pieces and join them in order to squeeze it out of my available piece of fabric and the directions of the fabric are not all the same either though I do not see that matters because when I asked friends they could not tell. Anyway  other than that its lovely. I will wear this.......sometime!

I have to be honest here I am loving this dress. It makes me feel like a kid playing at dressing up. Its been a very long time since I indulged in such play.
I have no idea when or where I will actually wear it but I am loving it. It might turn out to be a "going to the theatre" dress. Its got that kind of vibe. Or maybe a Christmas dress. Though the sleeves will be a problem with cooking dinner!

I do not think the dress and necklace actually go together very well at all. Still the necklace caused this medieval dress so whatever. It does not really matter in the end. Its the making of it matters though its very much a "princess dress". I could even get married in a dress like this lets face it it has that feel to it. Not a day dress to be certain. Well unless I happen to end up at a medieval history festival anyway - its happened before and that time I had nothing to wear.

Still it gets rid of a very big bit of green brocade and I can honestly say there is absolutely nothing else quite like this in my wardrobe!

Thanks for visiting

Bracken