Green Wool Low Neck Bodice Dress

21/1/04 - Getting Started

I bought the material for this dress at the end of winter last year. It was half price, so only $10m. I bought 10m, to give myself plenty of options. It is a dark olive wool/poly blend. I would prefer pure wool but that is virtually impossible to get where I live (despite the fact with have a mountain of 1 million bales of wool in our national wool stockpile!). Trim will be the same fabric but in black. This will be for slightly better wear, not so much for camping gear.

I'm not really experienced enough to be making these things from scratch, so I will be using commercial patterns - Elizabethan Ladies Ensemble by Margo Anderson as my basis. From there I will fit when needed.

I have ordered patterns for the arched brim tall hat and they are hopefully winging their way from the USA as I speak. This will be my first attempt at hat making, so I am keen to give it a go. That hat will be made from the black wool blend fabric.

Other accessories will be the needlecase (since embroidery is my "thing" in the SCA) and a pouch for carrying those needed bits and pieces. I am unsure if I will wear these things yet as there is little evidence for them being worn in period. I will most likely stick with the cane basket for carrying those necessary things. But I love accessories, so make them I will.

At the present time, this dress will be number three on the priority list, after a plum peasent camp dress and the Brown Corduroy Doublet Dress so I'm not sure when the next update will be.