The story of my grey dress 2008-2013
DISCLAIMER: I have to warn you up front: this post will contain a lot of me, and of
my bodyparts! Haha. You can't complain I didn't tell you.
Sometimes when you make a medieval dress, it doesn't turn out quite as you imagined. Sometimes you loose or gain weight, and it doesn't fit as well anymore as it used to do. The options are to either make a new dress, or to alter the one you have. Making a new dress, or having it made is expensive. It is expensive now, and it certainly was expensive back then. Fabric was a costly thing and was treated as such. Garments were used and reused and altered. They were bequeathed to next generations by will, they were sold on the second hand market and adapted to be up to date with changing fashions.
That is why I usually go for the second option. Not only is it easier on your purse, it is also in line with medieval practices and you learn a lot of it - about your own body and about how to translate your body shape into clothing.
Back in 2008 I made a grey woollen dress. It was the second fitted dress I ever made. The fabric was a gorgeous twill from Naturtuche (it is still one of my favourite fabrics to date). I made it using the curved front seam method from Le Cotte Simple. Apart from some small details I was very happy with it. I just love the
buttons. I love the flow of the skirt. I love that it is all hand sown.
The things I didn't like, were the neckline, which was slightly too high, the combination of the curved front seam with buttons (works better with lacing, I find), and the sleeves. The sleeves are a story in themselves. The attentive reader will notice that the sleeves on this dress are not symmetrical ...
This is me wearing the dress for the first time, at an event in The Netherlands. I'm not wearing a modern bra underneath, just with a linen skirt underneath, since it is supposed to be supporting enough by itself. However, as you can see, it is just a bit too loose under the breasts. I couldn't somehow manage to make it tighter and still be comfortable in it. It even sometimes got me the 'double boob' effect. Very nasty. V-e-r-y nasty. Also, you will notice that, very uncharmingly, my breasts are not at the same height. Left is lower than right. This is not becaus eof the dress, this is just my body, but the dress does nothing to visually correct it. I'm sure i'm not the only woman with asymmetical boobs, and I'm sure I'm not the onlyone frustrated with this.
Now, we could ask ourselves 'Isn't this just a modern obsession? Did medieval people aslo bothered about superficial things like this? Well, I still have to see the first medieval allumination of a clothed woman that has one boob that is lower than the other.
Since I changed my eating habits somewhere back in 2008 (because of gluten intolerance) I started to slowly shrink out of my new pretty dress. Because I didn't attend many events in 2009 and 2010 (I was too busy writing a thesis on frilled veils and trying to get a position as a PhD student) this wasn't a very big problem.
In 2011 I did lower the neckline a bit, by cutting away the top two buttons on one side and top two buttonholes on the other. Although the dress was getting too big, at least I didn't feel restricted in my movements when wearing it anymore, Something that made me very happy attending Visby, an event that lasted a whole week.
Between 2008 and 2012, I lost so much weight - 25 pounds, to be precise - I had to do something about my dress. I could no longer deny the fact that I couln't wear it without modern underwear, because well ... I don't think I have to spell it out for you. It was just too big everywhere, also in the waist.
On al the pics taken during this period, you can see me walk and sit about in a very awkward posture - curved back, shoulders haning down and pointing foward a bit - trying to avoid 'double boob' embarrasment. It wouldn't be far off to say I'm a hunchbacked woman here. Wouldn't it? Nothing to be happy about I say.
And then this happened: the bra-shirt (I still don't know how to call it without using the anachronism 'bra'. Maybe I should stick with 'supportive underwear' instead? For those of you who missed the whole 'supportive underwear' hype, here and here and here you can read up on it. Also, if you don't believe me and want somebody else's opinion, go here and here.
Luckily I lost enough weight, to also get rid of the curved front seam...
This is the same dress with the straight front seam! I still have to make some small adjustments to the back and neckline, and replace that damned sleeve. But at least, I finally truly feel comfortable in it and enjoy wearing it.
But maybe, what I love most about this dress in it's current state, is the wrinkles on the torso, exactly as in this altarpiece from Bad Doberan!