Crafting new from old – a Cranach to a 15th c. Kirtle
A few years ago, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and try a German Cranach style gown. It wasn’t BAD, but when push comes to shove, I did NOT feel pretty in this dress. The bodice felt overly bulky, I hated the sleeves, and it just felt restrictive and cumbersome. I wore it to one event, and then it sat in the closet.
After reading Marie Chantal’s article on 15th c. fitted kirtles (http://cadieux.mediumaevum.com/frontlaced-kirtles2.html), I came to the conclusion that I would salvage the circle skirt from the Cranach gown and use that as the base for the fitted 15th c. waist-seamed kirtle. She’s done research and has even found that the full circle skirt (like I used on the Cranach) is a plausible skirt style for this time period.
So I took the Cranach apart and used my cotehardie pattern block to make a curved-front, self-supportive bodice. Mistress Mathilde’s paper on sleeve construction (http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/Documentation/SleeveClass.pdf) is always a life-saver when it comes to sleeves – I never can find my sleeve pattern when I need it. My old Cranach gown, which did NOT make me feel pretty, was reincarnated into a brand new 15th c. fitted kirtle, which DOES make me feel pretty.
So – Before and After photos:
Before, the Cranach. I really dislike even LOOKING at these photos, but they’re necessary to show the evolution of the gown.
After – a generic 15th c. fitted, waist-seamed kirtle with open hood. THIS makes me feel pretty. 
The point of the story is this – sometimes projects simply do NOT come out the way we want them to. We ALL have those projects in our closet. Don’t let them sit there collecting dust – re-purpose and re-use the base elements of the garment for something new. Heck, even if you cut it up and use it for trim, it’s still better than letting all that fabric go to waste. Right?
In that spirit… today’s project is retofitting a wool kirtle that is WAY too big into something that fits me just right. Fingers crossed it will go just as smoothly as the last retrofit!
Anyone else have before-and-after photos or stories of modified/retrofitted garb?
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Steampunk and pirates and faeries, oh my! » Princess of Bob says:
April 21, 2012 at 6:23 pm (UTC -5 )
[...] too small (sad face!) or simply isn’t up to my standards anymore. So I ended up wearing my pink and gold kirtle with the green linen sleeves from my Italian working class outfits. Straight sleeves are [...]