Calontir Challenge - Chemise is done!

 I was aiming to finish the chemise by 1 November and I just squeaked in, finishing it at 8pm 31 October!  After I whip stiched the pieces together I hand sewed three rows of gathering stitch about half inch down from the edge of the neckline.  This creates a frill when the stitches are pulled tight.

Whip stitch the pieces together

Gathering stitch

               

To get the right neckline I measured around the neck of my red silk dress as I am going to use that pattern for this gown.  I pulled the gathering stiches until the neckline was a square in the right shape.  I made a square the shape of the neckline out of gold trim by mitreing the corners.   I sewed the top edge of this over the top of the gathering stitches and through the gathering to hold it in place.  

Mitred corner and neck line

To make the rays around the neckline that are seen in Catherine's portrait I cut 5 inch lengths of gold ribbon and gold rick rack.  I sewed four sections of rick rack to run down from the corner of the neckline.  Along the straight sections of the neckline I sewed alternating ribbon and rick rack (aside from the back corner where I had to have two rows of rick rack together) before sewing the bottom edge of the neckline trim over the ends of these.   This was all done by hand.

Hand sewing trim

Neckline with 'rays'

I was then super excited as I thought I had finished!!!!..... and then I put it on...  The underarm gussets were just too small and I hadn't offset the sleeve and the body of the chemise enough to run from my shoulder to my arm put.  OH NO!  Rather than unpick the neckline I decided to remove the underarm gussets and replace them with much bigger versions as should allow me arm movement.  The linen I used for this is whiter than the body but I figure if you are close enough to my arm pit to find out we have bigger problems.  This gusset runs nearly the length of the sleeve and the body.  While bigger than necessary it allows me plenty of movement.

Giant gusset of DOOM!

I have not gathering the cuff of the chemise as I am hoping to do large pendant sleeves for my dress and will need the open chemise cuff to fill the space.  It is interesting that where we see the wrists of chemises in Portuguese 1520s dresses the cuff looks to just be hemmed and without any form of decoration.  You can see this on St Catherine.

The chemise is now completed and I am pretty happy with it.  It doesn't quite look at stunning as Queen/St Catherine's but once I get the dress over the top I think that will made the trim stand out.  

Aramis my loyal sewing companion!