Making a Tudor inspired gown!

Recently I was asked to make a Tudor gown, but one that would be reasonably comfortable and not restrict mobility for wear as its for a photoshoot. 

Challenge accepted! 

First I built a supportive hoop underskirt to give the gown the fullness and volume required without a ton of heavy underskirts. 

Then I set out to make my fabric choices. The model has stunningly brilliant ginger locks, so I decided to contrast that with rich greens and soft golds. 

This is what I ended up with, though about half way through I abandoned the bright green ribbon in favour of more soft gold. 

From here I draped, pleated and pinned the gown to a waistband I quickly whipped up. 

Then I carefully pulled it off the dress form and returned it to my sewing station- surprisingly only getting poked a handful of times. I built in the waistband and gave it a fancy fold over hem with embroidered detailing. 

Next I draped and built the corset, it took me 7.5 hours from start to binding completion. 

The pattern matching across the front makes me especially happy with how this one turned out!

Next up was the half sleeves, which are elastic at the cuffs for comfort and to keep them up. 

Check out dark knits boutiques social media streams for photos of the finished gown on miss Maxine! 

Tour of the Dark Knits Boutique studio

I am often asked about the space in which I work, which in my highly biased opinion; is awesome! So may I present to you the DKB sewing studio space-  see it now before the next fabric implosion hits!

Our entryway:

Our client area, and where I play the organ entirely too loudly at all hours, because what fun is being an adult if you can't tear it up once and a while <insert classical music here>

We have a handful of lovely displays of our works;

And my main sewing area; 

I currently have four sewing machines, a singer futura embroidery machine nikcknamed Franken-singer because it's got all manner of parts keeping it alive, there's a brother domestic, an old singer 99k that's survived 3 generations of my families sewing (that's impressive with the way we sew!), and a Piedmont blind stitcher dubbed "the medic" because medical attention is usually required when I use it. 

Above is my grommet station, and my trusty setting press, this tool alone has saved my hands more times than I care to imagine. Once upon a time I pressed all grommets with a hand tool; not fun. 

The room below is where all the resin casting, prop making, fabric cutting and generally messy stuff happens. In the interest of containing fumes from paint and resin processes as well as mess- I set up a separate room with large windows for ventilation for the mess-making type activities of the job. It also allows me to easily keep Chairman Meow (resident studio cat extrordinaire) away from anything toxic or in the process of curing. 

That's the DKB studio folks.

 Feel free to email us anytime (darkknits<at>gmail.com) to set up your very own visit and chat about a custom piece of awesome made just for you!