Rotkäppchen

I chose to make several garments for this costume. The challenge was to manage all the parallel processes and organize myself, from ordering fabrics, patterns and notions to creating multiple items. Patterns were sourced from Black Snail Patterns, Mill Farm Patterns and J P Ryan, all of which had fabulous informative instructions included! I chose to go with natural fabrics and threads wherever I could manage. I chose an assortment of Linen, Cotton and Woolens. I began by looking through my patterns and fabric stash and then ordered whatever else I needed. From my gathered supplies I created a chemise, a blouse, two petticoats, an apron and the famous red cap. Because I have been wanting to try pattern drafting and because I have a shoulder shape that makes most standardized patterns hard to fit to my upper body, I drafted the dark brown kirtle according to drafting instructions taken from a costuming handbook. This was the most frustrating part of the project, as it was the first time drafting something for myself and it turned out to be quite a learning curve and required making, then remaking, then remaking – yet it was also the most rewarding I also got to practice lots of pleating on the top petticoat and the apron. My hand-sewing and stitching skills got honed on the 10 ft of bobbin lace I stitched onto the chemise. The shawl was not made by me, but appears in the pictures as it was just too cold.