Whenever you start something, you have to have a first. Well, this is my 'dress of firsts'. Made of a linen-poly blend in 'avocado green' this gown is the first piece of clothing that I have ever made. I used a Butterick pattern, my first time every using a pattern to make something, that has since been heavily tweaked and adjusted, and hand sewed the whole thing using outdoor upholstery thread that I bought by accident (another lesson I have since learned is to make sure that you buy the appropriate thread for the appropriate project and not something that will tangle every two seconds). Hey, at least the thread won't break. Since this was my first project and I hadn't yet gotten involved with the SCA, I neglected to fully document my progress or take any pictures, but it probably took about a month to sew the dress, which I would take to rehearsals and sew in the back of the theatre while I wasn't onstage during a production. Oh, how I miss live theatre.
After getting more involved in the Society and doing some research on the period and location in which I would base my persona (10th century Mercia), I decided that some embroidery would make the gown look more period as well as jazz it up a little. After a little research I decided to base my design on the Bewcastle Cross, also known as the Cross of St. Cuthbert, which dates from the 7th or 8th century. It is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon stone crosses and, although only the crossbar remains, it has beautiful carvings and runes on all four sides.
The hem embroidery on my green 'dress of firsts' is based on the scrolling vines on the crossbar, although I left out the animals. After sketching out my simplified version of the cross's design I transfered it onto the dress using the pounce and prick method of punching small holes along the border of the design, and then using charcoal powder and a fabric applicator (the pounce) to draw the design. At this point I did not have the charcoal powder, however, so I just poked a pen through the holes to make a mark and connected the marks after removing the template. Surprisingly the period method using the charcoal works better, as I found out on a later project.
I also decided to use pearl cotton thread versus DMC thread because I liked the texture of the thicker, twisted thread instead of the thin stranded thread. Gaining inspiration from the Bayeux tapestry I decided to couch the main vine of the embroidery. Not only would this give it a more period look, but it would help prevent the long strands of thread from getting caught and pulled from the dress. Unlike the Bayeux tapestry, however, I only did one layer of couching, instead of two. This was to add a woody, vine like texture to the design.
As well as the vine I added tendrils in a gold pearl cotton in split stitch. Along the cuffs I added double bands of split stitch in gold and a single line of split stitch in gold around the neckline to hide some visible stitching that I wasn't too fond of. All of the embroidery combined took approximately 70-75 hours and the project itself was started at the end of January 2020 and was finally completed at the end of August 2020, although to be fair there was a lot of time between finishing the gown and starting on the embroidery. It took about three months of regular work time.
Overall, the I think that the dress turned out pretty great for a first try. There are some things that I would change the next time around: a fully natural fabric, the correct thread, a pattern more suited to my body and period of choice versus just following a pattern. Although I am really proud of my embroidery I should have probably done it in a frame to keep it from getting bunchy around the hem the way that it did, and to help out my hands some; I have also learned that I really do not like split stitch. I'm amazed about how much some simple (HA!) embroidery changed a simple green dress to period garb; this bad boy is now a gown and I cannot wait to wear it to an event (although I am happy to put it in my closet and not look at it for awhile).
Vivant! ~ Hild