Katherine Meeten

Dec 26, 20224 min read

Creating Diana Bishop's Silver Elizabethan Gown (WIP)

Cosplay inspired by Teresa Palmer's character, Diana Bishop, from A Discovery of Witches.

No copyright infringement intended. I do not make any money from this website. Makers marks are never cropped from images. All images found on pinterest.

Research

Costume and Fashion: A Concise History, James Laver, 5th Ed., London: Thames and Hudson, 2012
Tudor Textiles, Eleri Lynn, London: Yale University Press, 2020
The Art of Dress: Clothes Through History 1500-1914, Jane Ashelford, London: National Trust Books, 1996
The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing Sixteenth-century Dress, Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies, London: Batsford, 2006
Tudor and Jacobean Jewellery, Diana Scarsbrick, London: Tate Publishing ,1995
Patterns of Fashion 3: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women c.1560-1620, Janet Arnold, Oxford: Macmillan, 1985
Dressing the Elite: Clothes in Early modern England, Susan Vincent, Oxford: Berg, 2003
Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d, Janet Arnold, Oxon: Routledge, 2018

Conclusions from Research and Study of Character Costume

Undergarments

Sleeveless smock, pair of bodies, large bum roll, corded petticoat, petticoat, stockings

Bodice

Doublet bodice, high collar, folded open V-neckline, closed with loop and buttons, V-waistline, tabs at armholes, long hanging sleeves, fitted full-length under-sleeves, embroidered and decorated with jewels and gold trim

Skirt

Full length, enclosed with back closure, potentially the hemmed slit suggested in Tudor tailor, ties to hold closed with aglets at the end, layer of fashion fabric showing under back closure (modesty panel), embroidered and decorated with gold trim

Patterns Used

Undergarments

Simplicity 2621 – pair of bodies, and shift

Made up petticoats – help from The Tudor Tailor

Large bumroll – Tudor Tailor scaled pattern

Main garments

Margo Patterns 10 – sixteenth century lady’s doublet, collared bodice unbuttoned at top

Margo Patterns 15 – Elizabethan lady’s sleeves, the hanging sleeve

Made up skirt – help from Margo Patterns 10 and The Tudor Tailor

Work Flow

Step One: Creating the Pair of Bodies (Stays)

Using Simplicty pattern 2621 I made the back-closing stays. They are made from drill and calico with bias binding, eyelets, a wooden busk, synthetic whale boning, and lacings.
The tabs on the bottom of the stays are bound with bias binding and then added to the bottom of the stays. Bias binding is sewn onto the bottom edge, boning is cut to length and inserted into the boning channels, then bias binding is sewn onto the top edge.
Eyelets are inserted down the back, at the straps, and on the front where the busk panel is, this is so ribbon can hold the wooden busk in place.
Lacings are threaded down the back to close the stays and ribbons at the straps to keep them in place.

Marking the boning channels on the calico lining, all pieces sewn together with boning channels.

Bias binding on seams to encase raw edges, bias binding on bottom tabs.

Top and bottom rows of bias binding attached along with tabs at the bottom.
Synthetic whale bone has been inserted into each of the channels.

Eyelets inserted at back closure

Step Two: Creating the Bumroll

The bumroll was made from a scaled up photocopy out of The Tudor Tailor. Two pieces of calico were cut out using that pattern, the sides sewn together with a length of twill tape at each end corner, leaving a gap in the centre front to turn inside out and stuff with fibre fill. Finished by sewing the gap together by whip stitch.

Step Three: Creating the Corded Petticoat and Plain Petticoat

The corded petticoat is gathered into the waistband, with a section at the front not gathered so to sit flat.
The petticoat has 6 rows of cording equally spaced over the petticoat.
Back closure with a ribbon that is tied into a bow.

The plain petticoat has 3m of fabric gathered into a 1m band which is then gathered into a waistband. This removed any bulk at the waist.
The front section of the petticoat is also flat, not gathered, so the overskirt will sit flat against the petticoats.
I have added three tucks at the bottom of the petticoat to add a small amount of shape and volume.
Back closure with a ribbon that is tied into a bow.

Step Four: Designing the Embroidery

My chosen fabric did not come with any embroidered design so I began researching images of the garment to get an understanding of the embroidery repeat that is on the costume.
I used a lightbox and black Frixion pen to transfer my design onto my fabric. The Frixion pen can be erased by heat (hovering the iron over the pen will cause it to fade) which makes it easier to fix any tracing mistakes.
Once the design was transferred to the skirt panels, I started to embroider!