Does anyone know of a good pattern. I want a overdress in a certain colors so I've decided to try and make one eventually. Any help would be great.
Lady Ellie
I think both Simplicity and McCalls have one, if you want to go that route.
I use a simple Bodice pattern from Alter Years for the Bodice part. The skirt is gathered 3 panels of 45" wide fabric with the measurement from waist to floor, plus 2 5/8".\ for the hem and seam.
From personal experience, make sure that its 45" fabric. I tried doing that, and was in a little bit of a hurry, and ended up using 3 60" panels. It worked out in the end, but was a whole lot of fabric and looks bulky.
Quote from: Hoowil on May 03, 2009, 01:09:02 PM
From personal experience, make sure that its 45" fabric. I tried doing that, and was in a little bit of a hurry, and ended up using 3 60" panels. It worked out in the end, but was a whole lot of fabric and looks bulky.
Really? I guess it depends on the weight of the fabric. :shrug: I just used three 60" (50-something after prewashing) panels and I like how it looks. I think two panels would have looked skimpy.
My avatar gown has two panels of 60" (shrunk to 50-whatever) wide linen, box pleated to my waist measurement. It has only modest fullness:
(http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL417/1033223/17691164/275717823.jpg)
It isn't skimpy so much as not bulky/overly full, and b/c of the pleats there's plenty of swish to the skirts when I walk.
When I made this dress, I had recently lost almost 50 lbs and several inches off my waist. The Irish gown I wore when I was heavier had three panels of skirt, gathered to the waist. So I would take your size into account when deciding how much width you need to go around.
Ecxellent job, Gem!!!
Some calculate the waist measurement times 3 for the fullness needed for a skirt. If one is planning to wear a farthingale underneath with an Underskirt, fullness then comes into question.
Shinrone Gown Irish dress pattern
http://www.bigdaddygypsy.com/patterns/shinrone-gown-pattern.html
Alteryears has the best "Irish Kirtle Pattern"
http://alteryears.com/index.html?192.html&1 (http://alteryears.com/index.html?192.html&1)
You can also get a liene shirt patern as well.
So I can vouch this is an easy pattern and looks better than the Big 3!
Cilean