Forepart

Having heard what the Tudor year is at Kentwell this year, I can now get on and make any new pieces of kit. These are: foresleeves, French hood, partlet and, of course, the forepart!

I went to my beloved silk shop in Sudbury to buy some silk for the forepart and sleeves and got some half price in the sale line. To save myself some money, my forepart this year is pieced - the silk is on show at the front, but the back of it is...cotton...yes I know this isn't authentic, but it saved me spending about £10 or so on linen. Because I have made a forepart before (for a different gown), it didn't take me long to make this one, hand sewn of course!

To fit over a farthingale, the forepart had to be at least 3 metres. I cut out 3 panels, one of silk and 2 of cotton. I sewed and neatened all the seams, but left a 10" gap in the CB seam so I can put it on when finished. I then pleated the forepart - one large box pleat at the CF and the lots of smaller ones for the rest to make it my waist measurement, I didn't actually measure the pleats just did it by eye! Once that was done, I sewed down the pleats and added a waistband.

Afterwards I hemmed the forepart - I took the length measurements from my other forepart to determine the length of the new one and it worked fine. The forepart is virtually complete, it just needs a guard sewn onto the bottom of the silk piece to protect it.