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| Waiting for her Medieval prince! |
We were taking part in the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary celebrations on Runnymede in June 2015 and I wanted to make a medieval costume for my daughter.
I used McCalls 5499 as a base.
I found a gorgeous deep red velvet for the surcoat, and a plain white cotton/linen for the underdress.
The veil is a sheer white voile.
Word of warning for this pattern - it uses a LOT of material.
Needed approx 3 metres of each of velvet, lining and white poly/cotton, plus half metre for the veil.
That's 9.5 metres of fabric excluding trims!
SURCOAT
The velvet outer was straightforward. I struggled a bit with adding the lining to the surcoat, as it was a thin silky fabric, and slid about all over the place whilst trying to sew to the heavy velvet. Also had trouble where they join at the sides - complicated instruction on the pattern which I didn't quite understand, so just made it up in the end, and the fur trim covered any messy bits.
The faux fur trim is from a great supplier who do a huge range of really top quality faux fur amongst other things (www.craftretailsupplies.com). It was a bit tricky to sew on as it was so bulky and it shed everywhere - I'm still picking up black bits of fluff!
Word of warning for this pattern - it uses a LOT of material.
Needed approx 3 metres of each of velvet, lining and white poly/cotton, plus half metre for the veil.
That's 9.5 metres of fabric excluding trims!
SURCOAT
The velvet outer was straightforward. I struggled a bit with adding the lining to the surcoat, as it was a thin silky fabric, and slid about all over the place whilst trying to sew to the heavy velvet. Also had trouble where they join at the sides - complicated instruction on the pattern which I didn't quite understand, so just made it up in the end, and the fur trim covered any messy bits.
The faux fur trim is from a great supplier who do a huge range of really top quality faux fur amongst other things (www.craftretailsupplies.com). It was a bit tricky to sew on as it was so bulky and it shed everywhere - I'm still picking up black bits of fluff!
I left the surcoat slightly longer at the back so it created a small train.
The white underdress was easier than expected, (as it had lots of pieces and I was worried it would be complicated). Gave a really nice final shape. The neck slash at the front doesn't sit very well when finished, and if it wasn't covered by the surcoat I'd have to add a button or eyelet...
Speaking of eyelets - my new favourite thing...I so enjoyed adding the eyelets up the back, that I carried on to the sleeves!
Speaking of eyelets - my new favourite thing...I so enjoyed adding the eyelets up the back, that I carried on to the sleeves!
The belt was an end of line black tape which had a chain already sewn onto it. I just added a pewter 'strap-end' (Chape) weight on the bottom (from www.lionheartreplicas.co.uk).
The metal circlet I just made from some jewellery wire, plaited and tied at the back. I had to sew the front of the veil to it to stop it slipping off.
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| McCalls 5499 |
We had a great day - daughter enjoyed wearing it all day - although as it was wet weather the white dress was very black around the hem by the end!
We took these photos the next day at my local 10th Century church - strange to think that this church was standing when people were actually walking around dressed something like this!
