Italian Renaissance Dress 2003

I figured I'd put together a webpage to show the Renaissance dress I am making for my brother's August wedding. I had wanted to post "in-process" pictures but the pieces don't really lend themselves to that. If I had a dress form, maybe. Oh well.

This is the pattern I chose, view 2:

Here is the manufacturer that makes it (Medieval Miscellany). I bought it through Amazon Drygoods, which does not have an online storefront.

One reason I decided to make a webpage is I found multiple errata in the pattern, so if anyone else wants to make this dress then they will like to know about it ahead of time, rather than going crazy trying to figure it out.

Another point I'll make was I decided to use lacing rings for the laced sleeves (grommets are neither historically accurate nor would they work very well with the easily frayed fabric, and I didn't have time for handmade eyelets). Finding non-plastic lacing rings proved to be challenging as well. What worked best are little brass rings (they come in packages of 40) made for Warm Windows shades. I had to drive about 45 minutes to get them (most of the local fabric stores didn't carry them) to a JoAnn Etc. store. They have them in the home decorating department with the notions and you can ask for "the rings that are used for Roman shades." Not liking the look of Roman shades, I never bothered to try to find out anything about the construction of them, but apparently these rings are used.

Pattern Errata:

View 2, step 4 should be: Follow steps 7-15 of step 1. (It says 7-14, but 15 is pretty important.)

View 2, step 6 should be: Follow steps 16, 18, and 19 of step 1 (It says 16&17, but 17 is redundant and 18 and 19 are again, pretty important).

Also, the dot on the sleeve should be matched to the UNDERARM seam NOT the shoulder seam.

Notions Used

∑ 1 package "Warm Window Insulated Shade System Brass Rings" item #4423, 40 rings in package (used 36)

∑ 1 package Dritz Size 1 Hooks& Eyes (used 8 for attaching stomacher to inside of dress & underskirt; pattern recommended "flat skirt hooks and eyes" but could not find such a thing)

∑ 1 package Dritz Size 3 Hooks & Eyes (used about 10 for attaching underskirt to dress and for closing the front of the bodice)

∑ black extra wide double fold bias tape (for the bottom of the bodice; since it had frayed too much to turn over and whipstitch, I encased it in this - also for the front of the underskirt for sewing the hooks to)

∑ 4 yds gold cord for lacing the sleeves (this is a little longer than I needed but I have thin arms)

I think that's about it for the notions, other than 2 colours thread of course!

I found this part the hardest... there are so many choices in this dress that they don't give you a hard and fast list of notions. So I found myself deciding I needed things at the last minute all the time. I also would have liked to buy a bottle of Fraycheck to see if that would have helped me, I've never used it before.

Here's the stomacher in process:

Here's one of the sleeves:

Here's a sneak preview of the almost done dress:

Here it is on (what a horrible picture) - the colour is truer in the above picture: