French Kirtle Finished

When I left you here back in July I was up to cartridge pleating the skirt of my red kirtle and attaching it to the bodice.

I decided to finish the bottom edge of the bodice with some poly fleece bias binding rather than hemming in order to give it a tiny bit more length. It's just a little bit shorter than I had intended and I didn't want to sacrifice any more length by hemming. And since it is an underdress the visual aesthetic doesn't really matter.

Before attaching the bias I put the bodice on, laced it up and then tried to adjust the three layers (outer wool, canvas interlining and cotton lining) to minimise any wrinkles. I dig this by tugging and stretching and pinning. The wool layer was the one that gave the most. It's more of an art than a science and it's still not perfect but to get rid of those last wrinkles under the bust I would need a corset.

Bodice layers adjusted and pinned before attaching bias.

With bias attached

Next was the skirt.

I finished flat felling the seams

And hemmed the top and bottom edges

Next I used chalk to mark the top edge at equal intervals (i think they were an inch apart)

Then I used some strong upholstery thread to sew two rows of  running stitch using the chalk marks (only one shown)

Gather to the desired length.

Pleated skirt front

To attach the skirt to the bottom edge of the bodice, I layed the pleated skirt over the bodice, right sides facing each other, and spread the pleats out evenly. I only had a really limited amount of fabric for this dress so the pleats aren't really close enough together. But again it's only an underdress.

Using upholstery thread again, I used two or three firm stitches to catch each pleat (half way between the chalk marks) to the bodice.

View of wrong side

View of a side seam/skirt opening

View of right side

Completed dress - front view

Completed dress - back view

As worn at Rowany Yule Feast, Dec 13 2014

I learnt a lot of things that I will be keeping in mind as I make the overdress. Particularly giving myself enough length in the bodice to finish the bottom edge (the bias is really obvious in photos). It's also really really tight so I need to remember to add a little mit of ease for the over gown. And definitely need a nice full skirt.

Thank you again to Lady Christine Duvant who told me last night that half of Ireland has this amazing pattern now :)