Pirate Wench - Part 2

Click here for Pirate Wench - Part 1

I am by no means stickler for historical accuracy, but having seen one too many badly elasticized chemise’s in my day I decided to try to make this costume with absolutely no elastic. Silly, I know. I just kept getting horrible flashes of Party City style costumes with their cheap flimsy materials **shudders**. I didn’t want my friends costume to look like that. So I got to work…

I started with the corset. Now, I had never made a corset before. I’d made the renaissance style bodices that were the beginnings of corsets, but never an actual body altering garment. Instead of being intelligent and using a pattern for my first time, I decided to grab the bull by the horns and make a self drafted corset… with only measurements… and no fittings because it was going to be a surprise. Sometimes my brilliance astonishes even me.

Luckily I had a dress mannequin in her size so I wasn’t completely flying blind.

In retrospect the drafting of the corset really wasn’t all that bad. It wasn’t the body altering wonder that I hoped it would be, but it was fairly respectable. Plus, by drafting the pattern myself, I was able to leave enough room for the best part. Pockets!

My friend is obsessed with pockets. While they weren’t terribly practical, I can tell you that they did make her giddy with glee. I think she kept chap stick and cash in them.

Next I moved onto the skirts. There wasn't anything particularly earth shattering about the skirts. I broke out a pattern, (M4090), I’d used before and made a couple of tweaks to it; like adding a few grommet lace ups along the sides.

As for the shirt, I can’t for the life of me remember what pattern I used. I know that there was one, it was just a simple wrap shirt, but I can’t find it anywhere. Alas.

Any who, I added some bias binding to the sleeves to make a drawstring casing. Simple yet effective.

Next came the jacket, which I’ll state up front, I’m still not happy with. I hadn't started this early enough and ran up too close to her birthday so I didn't have time to search out a better fabric. It’s nice, and it worked. It’s just a bit too heavy for my liking. It’ll definitely keep her warm in the fall though. I was aiming for a tighter fit so I used (V1266) in a few sizes down from her measurements without the sleeves.

Finally it was time for the crowning glory. The article of clothing that pulls the entire ensemble together…

Bloomers!

Okay so I cheated a bit here on my no elastic rule. I made drawstring cases for the leg ties, but went ahead and added elastic to the waistband since her waist is so much smaller than her hips. I thought no one would ever see it, so it’d be okay. I was wrong! These turned out to be my friends favorite part of the entire outfit, so they got flashed around quite a bit

I technically used pattern (M6236), but with as much as I altered the simple pattern to fit my friends waist and hips I basically just drafted my own.



So I’d finally finished my first costume for someone else, I’d managed to keep it a secret for an entire month, and surprise her on her birthday weekend. She was thrilled and ran around showing the bloomers to anyone and everyone who would pay attention. And we even went to the KC Ren Fest that weekend so she got to wear her costume right away.



Patterns Used:
     Shirt - Unknown
     Corset - Self Drafted
     Skirts - (M4090)
     Jacket - (V1266) 
     Bloomers -  (M6236)

Lesson Learned:
     - Don't self draft your first corset. Use a pattern to see how they are supposed to work/fit first. Oh and always put boning down the center panel of a corset if you don't use a busk.... that's very important.

Pirate Wench – Part 1

In my hometown there is a huge eight week long Renaissance Festival every fall. My friends and I usually dressed up each year to attend, and though it changed from time to time we generally leaned toward the pirate genre. This was mostly due to one of our friends having an amazing pirate costume he had accumulated over the years. His girlfriend, one of my best friends for years, desperately wanted an outfit to wear whenever he dressed up. So, about a year or so ago, I decided to surprise her with a costume for her birthday.

After scouring the fabric stores and the internet for inspiration I finally came upon this fabric.

It was perfect! I had been toying with the idea of making a patchwork corset, and this design eliminated the need for all that quilting. Plus it’s got just the right amount of shiny. ~ I know you don’t know me very well, but I avoid shiny fabrics at all costs. They show every wrinkle and are so rarely flattering… I just prefer matte. ~

To top it all off it was on clearance for $3/yd!

So after a bit of tinkering I came up with the below design. I was completely happy with it, and thought it would be perfect. Alas, it was not to be. After a few ‘covert’ discussions with my friend, she indicated that she’d much rather a wench style costume with full draped skirts than captain attire. So it was back to the drawing board.

 

The final costume turned out quite similar to this one, which you’ll see in the next post, and she loved it. I just think I’ll always be a bit more partial to this one myself…

Click Here for Pirate Wench - Part 2