I am so completely excited...I'm almost finished with my first-ever kirtle, and it looks really really good.

For the record, most of what I have been studying for years about this stuff has come from www.elizabethancostume.net/ --this site is amazing and has links to all sorts of great stuff.  One of those links is a Custom Corset Pattern Generator (www.elizabethancostume.net/custompat/index.html ) from which one can create first a fitted corset, and from that pattern a fitted bodice, and from there a gathered or gored kirtle.   It's a really good pattern generator--it only took a little tweaking, after feeding in my measurements, to wind up with a really nicely fitting bodice pattern. I haven't put the eyelets in yet, but it's seeming like I'll even be able to go bra-less and still be well-supported once it's done, which is a nice thought. Nothing like one's bra strap peeking out of the chemise, ya know?

The leine is finished now too, and I'm basically very happy with it.  Only things I'd change would be not trying to do the big parabolic sleeve pockets and just letting them be bit, and making the binding at wrist and neck narrower; since I didn't use bias tape, the neckline didn't sit flat enough. It's still very workable, though. 

The leine--


And the bodice--


Last night I sewed bodice to skirt, using rolled pleats in back and a couple of knife-pleats in front (since back is where I wanted most of the fullness), and I'm about halfway done stitching down the lining.  One of the things I'm most excited about is that it looks like when it's done it'll work as a reversible dress, with one side being all the sort of rust-brown-orange and the other with the rust skirt and grass-green bodice.  Initially the green was just for lining since I didn't have enough of the original fabric, but once I went that route I thought, what the hell, let's try it. And it's looking mighty fine!

And almost best of all--my little 6-year-old knight, for whom I made a nice little particolor tabard, also wanted a coat of arms for it, so today with 60 cents worth of felt and a picture or two from the internet, and about 40 minutes of actual cutting and sewing time, we now have this:



(That's a bear. We've called him "little bear" since he was born; now it's official.  I think the bear is "rampant," though I'm not up on my heraldry...)

I'll get pictures of all of us when we actually do go to the Faire...

This is fun!
--J