Meesha's "McConnell" Bodice

Original sketch of the dress.

This dress loosely inspired by dresses I've seen people making as "Scottish Renaissance dresses" and "Irish bodice dresses". It would be worn under her leather vest, jacket, and or poncho. She would likely wear the vest and jacket open unless she's about to go on the trail. We'll see. I'll try several armor ideas to see which looks best with the dress. I'm also going to try to rig the skirting to be able to be easily tucked or pinned up for when she goes on the trail.

Another thing to debate is the front closures. Lacing is sturdy, but I'm thinking that if I can find some strong clasps, I'd use them instead. This is mainly due to the nature of the character. You never know when you might have to quickly drop anything that would slow you down, like a skirted dress, to get away from a foe and hide. She often does this with her cloak (which is why she chooses to wear a wrap cloak now instead of a normal circle cloak). I'll have to think about it though.

I decided that the original design, though pretty, just was not practical for this character at this time... not when considering that she will be out in the woods running from things. The skirt is too long for her at this time, and the top would not give real support. I still plan on making this dress design with some alterations for a feast maybe.

So I sketched a few new designs, some with a shortened skirt, some with shoulder straps to make the dress more sturdy when running, and so forth.

The design I have decided to make is:

She found out that her 'significant other' has a favorite color, blue. I searched various fabric stores, but could not find anything that felt right. Luckily, I happened upon some blue material left from a very nice italian dress I made last summer (which will be added to these pages at a later date). I thought I had used it up, so this was a very nice surprise. I'll include a picture here as soon as I am able.

The bodice is a similar pattern to the one I used for this outfit.

The tunic will be a basic 15th century tunic, I think. I will do blackwork (with blue thread though... would that be bluework then?) around the collar and the sleeve cuffs. I am still figuring out what design I want to use for the blackwork. I have several I've been working on.

But I have drafted the pattern, and cut it out of the blue cloth. I was thinking about making this a corded bodice... but I might save that project for something else... when I have more time. I have six sewing projects on my list (1 tunic, 2 embroidered shirts, 1 pair of wrap pants, the changes to the italian blue dress, and this dress). This doesn't even include the other things I plan on making. Just the ones that I need to do now. Hopefully, I'll get the bulk of this bodice/dress done this weekend.

I got a lot of work done over the weekend.

The bodice is coming along nicely. I ran to Walmart to get bias tape to use for the edges of the bodice and for some other things. I decided to use jungle green, since bright green again dark blue would look too halloween-ish. I will try to show the color combination on here, if I have the chance.

The skirting of the bodice is knife pleated in the back, but only on the side backs, with one slight pleat in the center, in either direction. The affect is perfect!

The bodice and skirting have been stitched together, and only a few things remain (the bias tape edging, the front closures, trimming the loose threads, and possibly embroidery). The front doesn't close fully, but I'm not sure if I will put a modesty panel in. I will have to decide that later, after the bodice is done. I still have the sleeves to make, but that shouldn't take long at all.

I really wish I could place more pictures on here of all the changes and steps. Unfortunately, the program on Jim's computer to upload the images from the camera is so slow! We will have to find and install a better one soon.

As for the chemise... I'm still debating if I want to keep it as a basic tunic, or make it into a gathered chemise, or into one of those nice high collar chemises or smocks. I'm also thinking about adding a wrap skirt of sorts similar to the one from the original drawing... in brown too. I will have to sketch this and see how it looks.

Last night, I finished the lacing holes for the bodice and added the bias tape to the remaining edges. I tried on the bodice, and it fits nicely. A little long in the torso, but it has a great shape! The front does close completely too.

Next are the sleeves.

Stitched the sleeve pieces together yesterday, adding a little bit of knife pleating to the bottom of the sleeves where they flair out. I cut small arches down the upper edges of the sleeves to help accent the cleaves of the tunic or chemise (see the above sketch).

I will add the bias tape edging tonight, along with the ties to attach the sleeves to the bodice. I really would love to add trim or embroidery to the bodice and sleeves (leaning more towards blackwork on it), but we'll see when I have the time. Because of that, I will likely not add more bias tape as accents as the above sketch shows. That is still up in the air, since I would easily have both.

Hopefully, tonight I will have this bodice / dress done (save the extra details). I'm so excited.

I finished the bodice and sleeves! The loose threads are all cut and now I just need to post pictures. I am still planning on doing some embroidery (blackwork style but in green) on it at some time, but I have other things to attend. This outfit is not complete though. I still have high-collar chemise to make (with blackwork in blue thread) with pleated ruffles (and make a shirt for her love too... without ruffles but with the embroidery). This will be a prototype too for his shirt, then again, most of the things I make myself are prototypes. I was thinking of using her nice tunic, but unfortunately, the sleeves are too short and look weird with the bodice sleeves. I also want to make a wrap skirt and a kilt (for underneath). She's a bad girl.

I will try to put up a sketch of the complete outfit I want to make. My work is never done.

I've been working on the shirt for this outfit. At this point, I have only the collar, cuffs, pleated ruffs, and hem to sew. Then I will work on the other projects and come back to the embroidery on this shirt. It looks really good so far.

I knife pleated the shoulders (where the instructions said to just gather them), and accidently stitched them the opposite way than I had intended, but it worked out better that way. The shirt has a better drap and fullness due to that little mistake, so I'm going to repeat that on the shirt for Meesha's love interest.

I'll try to get some photos up... with the progress of the bodice and the shirt.

I need to work on some more sketches for the complete outfit.

I also need to figure out how to work in his clan tartan. That was something I didn't expect her to wear yet, even though she had some from a gift he gave her. (The gift was wrapped in a piece of his tartan and tied with a green ribbon... the ribbon she will wear in her hair with this outfit.)

I'm finally posting a picture I took shortly after completing the bodice (minus the possible embroidery). This one is a bit blurry, but I will hopefully replace it with a better picture soon. I want to tighten the bodice up for better support, but it doesn't look bad at all. I hope to post clearer full costume photos yet. The full costumed outfit will be posted once I get a chance. But anyways, here's the photo of the bodics alone (with the tunic I bought for her at a thrift store back in February and is shown in the sketches). Note from 02 May 2006: I have added a Bluework Ruffed Shirt page to chart the progress of this item which was originally started for this outfit. Some of the text mirrors the text on this page, with some clarifications. Entries on and after 02 May 2006 are new and are not reflected here.

Left: Final concept. Right: Completed bodice.