This is a close-up of the embroidery I did on a wide collar partlet in 2007 or 2008. I was inspired by the portrait of Katherine Parr in a belted loose gown (image here: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Catherine_Parr.aspx). I made the gown in a red cotton jacquard but machine sewed the trim. I was happy with the gown when it was finished, but the trim ruined it. So that is in the to-do pile too, waiting to have the trim stripped and re-sewn by hand. (I HATE re-dos!) It is true what they say about putting the effort in to hand sew to 'get it right'. In fairness, I was up against a huge time deadline for this gown.
I didn't want an exact copy, just a loosely inspired piece. I was happy with the way the partlet came out. I used a pattern from a sixteenth century pattern book. It is a woodcut, and some of the angles are a bit wonky but I decided not to correct them; I like them the way they are. The embroidery is in a very pale DMC cotton. In period, silk would have been preferred, but my budget usually doesn't stretch that far. I couldn't afford linen and had to use a fine cotton for the body of the partlet. It is hand-sewn except for the internal shoulder seams. They are french seamed so you can't see the machine stitching.
I also made a necklace to go with the outfit, which I was very happy with.
Hopefully one day I will have a photo of the finished re-done outfit to post. I really like the aiglets that I made out of metal beads to go with this one. I also made a wired and pearled white coif. The only thing that I haven't made yet for this outfit is a smock with the gold around the cuffs and the black velvet hat. I have the fabric, but I need to choose a design that will go with most of my outfits.
