- The embroidery is balanced around the sleeves and the stitching is well done. (It garnered me a Competency ranking in Free Embroidery at a Keeper's of Athena's Thimble paneling.)
- The seams are hand finished
- The hem is hand sewn.
The Bad (For a garb apprentice)
- All seams are machine stitched.
- Sleeves were cut too narrow causing the dress to be tight across the back.
- I used A History of Costume, by Carl Kohler as my main source for the style of the dress He fails as a good source because he does not list his own sources for the info given and he does not state what part of a century the style was in fashion.
- Grommets were used to reinforce the eyelets.
- I bought the material at Jo-Ann's, so it is not guaranteed to be 100% linen.
- The colors chosen were not verified as being period.
The Ugly
- The construction of the pendulum part of the sleeve causes the lining to bunch at the bottom.
- It is too short.
- There are center front and back seams.
My first areas of research have been into materials and colors. By all rights, I should use a high quality wool for the dress, but finances being what they are, I will probably use linen again, though maybe a heavier weight. I haven't settled on color yet, however it seems that just about any color will be fine, except for purple. That is definitely out as Marjorie is not royal. I'm leaning towards a yellow because 1) it's one of the colors on my Arms, 2) if I'm using linen, it might as well be considered a dress for summer courts and be a summery color, 3) I don't have a yellow dress yet.
On to more research, with an interlude for the Anglespur/Concordian Yule potluck.
~ Marjorie
Don't forget to tell us how it turned out when you get a chance.
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