Spanish Farthingale Dress

This dress has a separate bodice, under skirt and over skirt, as well as a partlet at the neck.. The bodice opens in the back, the under skirt opens at the side, and the over skirt opens in the front. There are no fitting seams in the bodice. Although I did not add boning to the bodice, you certainly could. It would help to keep the front point down and add some body to the front of the bodice.

The under skirt was made with muslin in the back to conserve fabric, which was certainly done in the 16th Century. The over skirt closes in the front under the point of the bodice. The straight sleeves have a gathered cap.

This dress is worn with a Spanish farthingale and can also have a bum roll in the back for the support of the cartridge pleating. (see the bum roll pattern under the French Farthingale Dress

Spanish Farthingale

Cut 2 from each of the pattern pieces, adding ¼” for seam allowance (This can be made using muslin or similar fabric)

When tracing the pattern, make sure that you mark all of the lines for the boning.

Sew the seams for each set of the pattern so that you end up with two single layer farthingale skirts. Then stitch the two together at the bottom with right sides together. Finish the side openings by turning the seam allowance in and hand or machine stitching it closed. The top is finished with a piece of bias tape, leaving enough at the sides in order to tie the farthingale into place. Make sure that you add the pleats at the front and the back in order for the waist to fit the dress form.

Now stitch around the farthingale on the lines for the boning. Make sure that they are continuous circles around the farthingale.

Open the back seam in the middle of the boning lines for the insertion of the boning. This can be done easily with a seam ripper.

I used 3/8” plastic cable ties for the boning. ( they can be bought at any hardware store) Buy them as long as you can find. Cut off the ends and insert into the boning channels. If the cable tie strips are too short, just insert another, overlap the first then finish the channel by slipping both ends into the channel and stitching closed.

Resources for the making of the Spanish Farthingale:

Hunnisett, Jean, Period Costume For Stage & Screen, Patterns for Women’s Dress 1500­1800, Studio City, CA: Players Press, Inc., 1991, p. 45­48.

Mikhaila, Ninya and Malcolm­Davies, Jane, The Tudor Tailor; Reconstructing Sixteenth­Century Dress, London: Batsford, 2006, p. 121­122.

Bodice

1. Cut bodice pieces from fashion fabric and a second set for the lining, using muslin or some other lining material adding ¼” seam allowance. 2. Cut out a third front pattern piece of muslin for the inner lining. 3. Baste the inner lining and the lining together for the front piece with wrong sides together. 4. Stitch in the bone casing lines down the front, leaving an opening at the top for the insertion of the boning. 5. Stitch the fashion fabric piece together at the side seams and shoulders. 6. Stitch the lining back pieces to the inner lining/lining front piece at the side seams and shoulders. 7. Insert 1/8” wide plastic cable ties into the bone casing (these can be found in any hardware store) 8. Stitch the fashion fabric bodice and the lining fabric bodice together at the bottom edge, top edge and back. Leave the armscye open for turning. 9. Turn the bodice and iron. Baste the armscye closed.

Sleeves

1. Cut out sleeve and sleeve cap pieces from both fashion fabric and muslin for lining adding ¼” seam allowance. 2. Baste the sleeve cap lining and fashion fabric together. 3. Gather the top and the bottom of the sleeve cap. 4. Stitch the bottom of the sleeve cap to the stitching line on the sleeve pattern. 5. Baste the top of the gathered sleeve cap to the top of the sleeve. 6. Stitch the lining of the sleeve to the sleeve at the wrist. 7. Open the lining from the sleeve and stitch up the side seam with the right sides together and turn. 8. Pull the lining up inside the sleeve and baste to the top of the sleeve. 9. Stitch the sleeve to the armscye of the bodice.

Under Skirt

The under skirt has front and back pattern pieces. Each of these are printed on three pages. You can print them out, cut them out and tape them together to get the full pattern pieces. Make sure to add ¼” seam allowance to each pattern piece. 1. Cut one front piece on the fold from muslin and fashion fabric 2. Cut two pieces from the back pieces from the muslin and the fashion fabric only to the line marked. 3. Cut one waist band. 4. Stitch the back fashion fabric pieces to the back muslin pieces top stitching at the upper edge. 5. Baste the front fashion fabric piece and the front muslin piece together. 6. Stitch the Fashion fabric/Muslin front and back pieces together at the side and back seams leaving an opening at the side for closures. 9. Iron in the pleats at the top of the skirt and baste down. 10. Attach the skirt to the waistband, hand stitch to the inside and add closures.

Over Skirt

The Over skirt has three pattern pieces. The front, back and facing. I have printed out the front and back pieces showing the width and the pleats at the top edge. The length should be measured to a total of 19” long. The Facing pattern is in two parts, which can be printed, cut out and taped together. Add ¼ “ seam allowance to all of the pattern pieces. 1. Cut out the front, back and facing pieces from the fashion fabric. 2. Cut out the front and back pieces from a lining fabric (muslin can be used). 3. Stitch the side seams on both the lining and the fashion fabric. 4. Baste the lining and fashion fabric pieces together with wrong sides together. 5. Iron on a stabilizer (Wigan works well) onto the top of the skirt, ¾” down from the top edge for support of the cartridge pleats. 6. Fold the top edge down ¾” over the stabilizer and baste down. 7. Attach the facings on either side of the front pieces. 8. Fold back and stich in place. 9. Fold in the pleats at the top of the front pieces and baste in place.

10. Cartridge pleat the remaining top of the skirt. (See the resources for instructions in cartridge pleating) 11. Attach to the waistband by hand stitching both the top and the bottom of each pleat.

Resources for the Spanish Farthingale Dress:

Ingham, Rosemary and Covey, Liz, The costume Technician’s Handbook, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003, p. 230­231 (for information on Cartridge pleating)

Partlet

I used a double layer of chiffon Cut 4 of Partlet Front Cut 2 of Partlet back on Fold Cut 2 of Collar piece Add ¼” seam allowance to all the pattern pieces.

Stitch the Front pieces together at the center front then stitch basic body pieces together at the shoulders and sides.

The collar was stitched together with pearls in between the two layers of fabric at the top of the collar then attach collar to the neck opening. Hand stitch the inside collar.

I cut all of the seam allowances down to about 1/8 to 1/16 of an inch so that they would not show on the right side of the partlet.

Resources for making the Partlet:

Hunnisett, Jean, Period Costume For Stage & Screen, Patterns for Women’s Dress 1500­1800, Studio City, CA: Players Press, Inc., 1991, p. 89­91.