Shire Pride GFD

This was one of the first garments I made in the Society for Creative Anachronism and so I didn't take as many progress photos as I'd like (secret, I never do). I was quite bold to choose a gothic fitted dress for my first project, but I managed and it's been one of my favorite dresses to this day. I wanted to make a parti-color dress and divided it into quarters. I later learned that historical evidence only shows parti-color dresses divided in half (one color down one side of the body and one color down the other). You live, you learn.

I began by drafting a pattern off of a modern 4-piece bodice pattern and pinching it to fit. The sleeves were a nightmare I won't go in to here. Then I made about a million fabric buttons, and it turned into a pretty darn good dress in the end.

I wore the dress like this for about a year before I learned about the magic of block printing. I got the idea to print my Shire's populous badge (a green millcross) on the white portions of this dress. My husband offered to carve me a stamp so began the great printing.

I started by stamping the design onto little pieces of paper that I could move around until I got a pattern that I liked. Then it was two looooong nights of carefully stamping this dress. In the future, I will make sure to stamp my fabric before assembling it, as stamping over seams and around curves gets very tricky. Not to mention managing bleed through and being careful not to drip paint on your fully finished garment.

There are things I would do differently if I made this dress again, but I love it in all its green and white glory. For the Shire!