The Crafty Side of Life: Again (17th century kirtle)

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Again (17th century kirtle)

I've already written about my adventures in sewing a 17th century kirtle (HERE), where I finally made a new one to replace the very first one I made back in 2017.

It had issues as it was (the post linked above details those), and I also lost weight, it did not fit me anymore at all. However, I liked the blue and orange combo, and I also wanted to make a wearable "mock up" for a project I am planning for later this year.

I had the petticoat (orange), and I had the leftover decoartions. So I thought, I might get away having to do it as a stashbusting project... Dug through my stash, and though I do have lots of linen, I only found some leftover pieces I made the original one, but I would not use it, because it was running color, like nobody's business. Everytime I wore it, not only my underwear, but even my hands were blue at the end of the day.

What kind of stash is the one that does not have about 4,5 meters of dark blue linen? Mine seemed like one, because the piece I found was like 3,8 meter - not enough.

I already started to dig through the online resorurces I had (Natalie, Bubulákovo, Allegro, and all the rest), but I simply did not have the money to buy one.

Further digging ensued, that meant I had to dismantle the barricade I had at the front of my fabric cabinet (don't even ask about it... it is a constant point of disagreement in the house), which was my last hope... And that cabinet delievered, offering me not one but two piece of dark blue linen, in the size I needed, YAYYY.

I started with cutting the skirt, and I already knew from the previous version, that if I add a slight A line, it will look so much better. This time, I went further ahead, I turned the piece I cut, and added it as a godet.

For the bodice, I knew that the lining and adding some kind of boning is working really nicely, however, there was two things I wanted to change (aside from correcting the fit issues). I added an extra layer of stiff fabric between the boning and the fashion fabric, because in the previous version I could see the lines

Also, next to the lacing instead of the plastic, I used metal boning. Furthermore, instead of the lacing rings, I used handsewn eyelets:

and placed them in a way, so I can spiral-lace, the historically accurate way.

All the trimming I used on the bodice is sewn by hand. I kind of felt sorry, I did not had enough for the three rows of silk and three rows of velvet decoration on the bottom, only two and two, but this way this dress was completely out of my stash.