Susan's Battle Outfit

Wow. I've gotten a lot done this weekend! Today I worked on Susan's Battle Dress. I had finished the muslin a while back (like two months ago!) so I finally cut it out of the real fabric. Well, fabrics. I had bought garnet velvet for the skirt (back when we thought the skirt was velvet) and I didn't want to waste it so I cut the overskirt of velvet. The underskirt and bodice was a suede cloth that I had bought for Lucy's Rust Red Dress before I found her velvet. I didn't have enough of that for a full underskirt and the bodice so I also used an embroidered taffeta for the sleeves and the front panel of the bodice. A picture is worth a thousand words:

It looks very Victorian in this picture but it's really not. And it's not quite that dark. I was so pleased with this dress but then I put the chainmaille on top and bummer! The sleeves are way too short so I have to length both the dress and the chainmaille sleeves by about two inches. The neckline is too high so I have to lower it about two inches too. And the chainmaille has to be altered to work better with the dress. =(

With the chainmaille it's SUPER HOT. I only wore it for about 5 minutes and I was burning up. Great.

Still to do on this dress: hem underskirt, hem velvet skirt, put gold embroidery on hem, put in invisible zipper, lengthen sleeves, alter neckline, and take in the waist a little.

And I haven't even started on the cuirass. =(