Overgown of black cotton velvet
Forepart and false sleeves of red taffeta with black gimp pattern

Undergarments:

• One effigy corset, front closing, made using mattress ticking and strimmer twine as boning. See photo here.

• One hoopskirt, made using Alceniaga's pattern from Janet Arnold's book Patterns of Fashion, with willow wands in ribbon tunnels.

• One petticoat, linen (ex-tablecloth) with black ribbon around the hem for stiffening.

• One shift, of white cotton, based on the t-shaped pattern, although the arm holes and sleeve heads were shaped to produce the required tightness.  The neck was cut to match the line of the corset, and edged with black thread.  The wrists were gathered, and the area between the elbow and wrist was gathered to produce the required "puffs", ready for the oversleeves.  See sketch here.

Forepart:

The forepart (both the taffeta and backing layers) were attached to the quilting frame and the black gimp was sewn on, following the pattern chosen. This was then attached to an (indulgent) 5 yard cartridge-pleated skirt.  The bottom of the pleats was sewn level with the bottom of the waistband, then the top of the pleat was attached to the middle of the waistband for added stability.  When placed on the dummy, the line was similar to wearing a bum-roll.

The first picture on the left shows the forepart attached to a "hooky rug" or quilting frame.  You can see the gimp strings trailing off, and the pins used to mark out the pattern.  The second pitcture is a sketch of the pattern used.

Dress:

The bodice pattern was based on the same pattern used for the corset, ajusted to cover the corset but to reveal the shift.  The neckline comes to a point at the back (see below), as does the corset, which holds the narrow shoulder straps in position.  This produces a conservative version of the "no-shoulder-strap" appearance of pictures such as that of Princess Elizabeth. The front closure is hook and eye, rather than the ties visible in the More  picture, as my intention is to add a false front to cover the hooks and eyes and any bumps would show, as well as creating problems at the front waist closure.  This way the skirt can be attached directly to the bodice, while the false front covers the join between the bodice and skirt of the gown.

When the time came to fashion a pattern for the sleeves, the bell-like sleeves in the early 16th century did not produce the correct turn over. I also did not like the idea of sewing the folded-over sleeve to the upper arm, either, so the weight of the sleeve had to be adequate to both look and sit correctly.  I found that a kimono-style sleeve, combined with the effect of two layers of velvet and an interlining layer of flannel worked adequately.  Around the edge of this, on the inside, a stripe of decorative gimp serves to attach all the layers together, and provide subtle decoration.  You can see the edge of the inside sleeve in the picture on the left.

The velvet of the skirt has been reinforced around the edges and from the waist to approx. knee lengh with flannel, and attached to the lining.  The skirt was finished in the same way as the underskirt, then cartridge pleated and attached directly to the bodice.  Despite the weight of the velvet, flannel etc. there is still a hint of a bum-roll curve to the hips.  This is due more to the two sets of cartridge pleats over each other than to any stiffness inherent in the fabric.

 The oversleeves are patterned after the forepart, with a decorative border on the bottom, open seam.  The gimp was sewn to the taffeta and flannel backing.  The fastenings are ribbon, later trimmed and tied with the ends tipped.

Biliments: 

Due to living in the back of beyond, it is rather difficult to find pearls of sufficient size to imitate the neckline and waist banding in the portraits, as well as the biliments on the french hood.  The solution of this was to buy several packets of Fimo plasticine, a bottle of pearl paint, and have a go.  This worked for irregularly-shaped items, but pearls were beyond me.  I also noticed that the vinyl-based paint did not adhere with the Fimo, allowing it to peel off if pulled too hard.  The can of pearl spray-paint helped, and I am hoping that combined with the backdrop of black velvet the end result will look reasonably pearl-like.  These will be interspersed with gold knots, and bordered with smaller pearl beads (sprayed to match the fimo-nightmare-pearls).

I am now a professional pearl-sprayer, having discovered the trick to dulling the surface of pearl beads to match the fimo-nightmare-pearls.  The sundeck may never recover.  A great deal of these will end up on the french hood below.

French Hood:

This was created using the sources mentioned on Drea Lead's incomparable website, something called "pruning wire", plastic canvas, velvet and satin, and prayer.  The pattern of the back overcap was a "cooked" version of the undercap.  As you can see, I did not succeed in creating the graceful side curves on both caps. The undercap was made of white cotton over a wire frame, the crimped gold ribbon (which is more easily seen on the underside in the picture) incorporated into the front seam. The veil was then shaped onto the back of this frame. A chin strap balances the two flaps that cling to the back of the head, under the veil.  The black overcap was velvet and wire, strengthened by plastic canvas.  This was then sewn together, and the pearls applied over.