Here’s my plan for the Gothic Fitted Dress.

I’ve got the brown linen, 5+ yards, for the overdress.  Lavena likes to cast pewter buttons, and I have an offer from Melissa to carve the soapstone for skep shapes.  (We’re a bit wary of how much the buttons might weigh, and thus flop over, so we’re going to try out the concept this Project Night.)

The brown dress will be embroidered with large green bees volante as in the dancing girl’s dragonfly dress here, in ‘The Allegory of Good Government’, 1340.  That’s the green I’m thinking.  The blue underdress is 5.3 oz linen from Fabrics-store.com, though I haven’t bought it yet – that’s just a sample from them.

I don’t know how many yards to buy, and the underdress, being the most closely fitted, needs to be lined, Lyonet tells me.  I was thinking of getting unbleached linen for lining, and then I can also get some for a smocked apron.  I think I’m going to put off these purchases until after Meridian Grand Tourney, when I can ask advice.  I want these dresses to be quite full for dancing, and I think the gores will drive the fabric consumption more than any other dimension.  Must do some figuring.

The red button sample is from a class I took at Gulf Wars 2007, when I learned how to do eyelets and fabric buttons.  This button is not stuffed, and is the sort of button I’d do on the sleeves,  I think.

Mom helped me fit a straight-front-seam sloper a la Tasha McGann, with influence from Robin Netherton.  It looks FABULOUS on, even when one’s head is full of goo.  The sloper fabric severely influenced my choice of the underdress color, since the sloper fabric was a slightly lighter teal cotton twill, and made me look good even when on the brink of DEATH.  I haven’t gotten any help with fitting sleeves yet, though.