12th century dress - blue & yellow silk,  12th century projects,  12th century wedding clothing project,  Hand-Sewing,  Projects

12th century dress for the “12th century wedding clothing project” – sneak peek .1

2015-03 - Racaire - 12th century wedding dress - wedding - 12th century dress - sewing bottom border.jpgI used the last days very well by doing a lot of hand sewing and am glad to say that I made a great progress concerning my 12th century dress so far.

There is still a lot to do before my 12th century dress is finished but with every day that goes by it seems that I am getting much closer to completing it. This feeling really gives me the power I need to continue after all the hand sewing I have already done till now.

I actually never did so much hand sewing in so little time. But after finishing the 13th century under tunic and the 12th century silk over tunic for my husband, I am even more determined than before to get all my hand sewing done in time for our 12th century wedding at Gulf Wars in just a couple of days. I wish I could show you how my sweethearts face lightens up when he tells our friends about his new hand sewn and embroidered clothing. *lol*

To be honest, though I was already able to add some some nice embellishment to my husbands wedding clothing, I regret a little that I am not be able to add more embroidery to our 12th century wedding clothing before the wedding. However, it is a great feeling that we will have a lovely new ensemble of 12th century clothing to wear at out very special day – our 12th century wedding at Gulf Wars.

2015-03 - Racaire - 12th century wedding dress - wedding - 12th century dress - sewing bottom border.jpg

I can’t tell you how much I enjoy working with this beautiful silk, especially now that it looks more and more like a 12th century dress. But take a look at the dress yourself and the great progress I achieved so far – enjoy! .:D

2015-03-02_Racaire_12th-century-dress_wedding_pinnend-on-sleeves_1.jpg

My fingertips can really tell that I did a lot of hand sewing recently. But when I look at all the progress I achieved so far, I feel like it is totally worth all the work. The bottom gores are already sewn in, the bottom seam of my dress is also finished and I even made a huge progress concerning my sleeves.

I finished the basic hand sewing of the “maunches” yesterday night and today I pinned the sleeves to the upper arm part part of the dress. 🙂

2015-03-02_Racaire_12th-century-dress_wedding_pinnend-on-sleeves_2.jpg

I haven’t tried the dress on yet – I just pinned the sleeves to the dress based on a raw estimate of the sleeve length I would like to have and on knowing where my upper arm sleeve part ends.

Due to the amount of pins I used for pinning the sleeves to the upper arm part, which you can see at the picture underneath, I am now waiting for my sweetheart to come home. I really need his help to get into the dress and – even more important – to take the dress off again afterwards without hurting myself. I hope that I already estimated the right sleeve length but even if I have to make an adjustment, I don’t really worry about it because this adjustment can be made easily.

2015-03-02_Racaire_12th-century-dress_wedding_pinnend-on-sleeves_3.jpg

And as soon as I sewed the “maunches” to the upper arm part of the dress I can continue with adding the lovely golden silk to the dress. Yes, another keyhole neckline, two long borders along the border of the sleeves and two bands at the upper arm are waiting to be cut and added to the dress. 🙂

I hope you enjoyed to see the new pictures of the progress and that you like the outcome so far as much as I do. This blue silk is awesome, isn’t it. 😀

And now back to do more hand sewing – I have a 12th century dress to finish and so little time left till the wedding! 😉

Best regards Racaire

2 Comments

  • HeatherH

    Wow this dress really looks amazing!! Great work! The blue fabric is incredible and I love how vibrant it looks in the natural light:) What an awesome color! Your dress construction looks fantastic. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together with the gold silk borders. You two are going to look so dashing in your blue and gold garments;P I look forward to any construction tutorials you might post on this dress in the future, after the wedding of course!

    • Racaire

      Thank you very much Heather!
      I am actually planning on making another dress in a very similar style but with lighter fabric where I can show the construction details much easier than with this very dark silk fabric. <3