Butterick 4827 Medieval gown in silk

Presenting Queen Theodolinda, Queen of The Lombards

Wearing a collaboration between mother and daughter.Hat designed and made by her.

The dress was made by me.Pattern: Butterick 4827. A Making History pattern.

Fabric: Silk re-purposed from some old curtains in my garage. Underlined with cotton flannel and trimmed with plastic pearl trim sewn into the seams.We wanted a snug fit, so I went down a size and cut out a size 6. The smallest size.

The pattern went together well. I did one fitting, basting the pieces together, and ended up taking in the bust and shortening the shoulders. Those were the only fitting changes I made to this well drafted, well notched pattern. Granted, twelve year old figures don’t generally require a whole lot of fitting work!

I really wanted to make the belt but my daughter didn’t want one. Ah!

It was for the Medieval Day Fair at school, and she was chosen to be the Queen of her team. There are teams of kids from all grades mixed together, and they compete. They build trebuchets and compete against each other with them, have academic contests, recite poetry, have heralding contests,  perform entertainment, have an archery contest, race on stilts, and then have a big feast together.

It’s a beautiful event! But Gigi had the stomach flu, so I couldn’t take any photos, as I stayed home to take care of her.We used a lace scrap left over from a wedding gown to poke into the hat. It reminds me of a Spanish mantilla from behind. I think she did an amazing job on her hat!

I used a invisible zipper on the back. I had only a day to make the dress, and didn’t want to make the lace up back. But I sort of wish I had now. I was tired and it was late. So no lace up back and a wrong colored invisible zip from my stash. I’m not very good at sewing them, I have to admit.

I just happened to have some purple curtains I made a long time ago, that I ‘d been saving for just such an occasion.

The curtains were lined with cotton flannel already, so I cut both pieces out as one, and serged each separately cut piece together. But to be honest, this flannel ended up making the dress way to hot. Not to self: Don’t underline sleeves with flannel.

I learned the technique of underlining costumes from a professional costumer I was assisting on a play once. It makes costumes more durable, and then you don’t have to line them. Theatrical costumes shouldn’t have lining, because it makes altering them for future plays really difficult.

Since I help out at the school with their annual play costumes, I made this pattern as I would a theater costume, so it can be used in the future. We’ve done Shakespeare, and this dress will be perfect in a future play.Underlining gives the garment a nice substantial look, and it’s also really convenient for stitching hems and facings to, so they don’t need to even touch the delicate outside fabric. I  didn’t press the hem, as it will most likely be let out in the future, and I don’t want to make a permanent crease.This pattern is actually really simple to make. Only eight pieces, which isn’t bad for a historic costume!