Purple Silk Tudor Round Gown & Black Linen Kirtle

Sometime in early to mid 2024, I got a hankering for a new 16th-century outfit. No reason, nowhere to wear it, just wanted one. And not necessarily a fancy one either. I decided to order the Tudor Tailor pattern for a woman’s round gown and see how that made up. Although first, I realized I needed a new kirtle to go under it, and I gave a try at patterning it on my new Beatrice dress form.

There’s definitely a learning curve with this custom form, and I’m still figuring it out. Because it’s a 3D duplicate of me, I don’t need to make all the countless fixes I’ve had to make over the years on standard-issue dress forms. But also, because I had the form made of me wearing a 16th/18th-century corset, there’s a little built-in ease that I have to remove to get a historically snug fit. This first kirtle was a lot better than my old ones in some ways, but had new things to tweak that I’m still working on.

I used black linen for the kirtle and made it side-lacing so I could get in it easily while having a smooth front. The round gown would be front closing. I mocked up the gown pattern over the kirtle. Love the deep V back of this gown!

I made up the gown in a fabulous pink-purple shot taffeta from the stash. It’s plausibly period, but the trim I chose is just pretty and OTT. Purple velvet ribbons tie the front closed.

I finished this before Costume College but knew it would be too warm to wear this in August. So it wasn’t until October when I decided to teach at the SCA West Kingdom Collegium that I had a chance to wear the outfit. Since my class was on 16th-century accessories, I wore an appropriate French hood with the outfit.