FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
The Green Knight
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
My garments were made to emulate the Green Knight from “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” by an Unknown author from the 14th Century. This was one of my favourite stories when I was taking my Medieval English Literature Class in University. The character of the Green Knight was always one of the ones from the work that I liked the most because of the mystery of his identity and the striking imagery that he invoked. Literally green with touches of gold from head to toe, with thick embroidery in green and gold thread depicting plants and animals; such a striking image. It was one that stuck with me even years after I graduated. So when I heard the theme for the contest this year, he immediately came to mind. I made modifications to the character’s costume in two ways, however. The major one was that I did it as a gender bend. This is because I spend most of my days in pants for work, so I wanted to make something different from what I usually wear. The second modification that I made was that I modernized it by giving it a shorter hem and a looser fit. This was mostly for comfort, but also for practicality, because I don’t think I would wear an actual shift and kirtle as much as I would the looser cottage-core inspired garments I ended up creating.
Outline the construction…
I wanted to challenge myself with this project; so I drafted my own patterns, and did hand embroidery for the first time for both garments. The underdress I drafted used an existing dress from my closet, but I flared the skirt, lengthened it, added pockets, and moved the shoulder seam to my actual shoulder. I drafted the sleeves by watching tutorials on YouTube, and then modified them to be bishop sleeves. It was a simple dress to put together, and all interior seams were finished with pinking shears. I embroidered green roses – symbolizing masculine energy for the original character – and vines, then added gold beaded berries on the neckline.
To create the overdress I used YouTube to create a bodice block, then used mockups to make sure that it fit. I cut it to the shape I wanted on the mockup, then used that as pattern pieces to cut out the final fabric versions. The final bodice was bag-lined, but the armscye was finished by hand. The skirt was one folded piece of fabric cut in two and sewn together on either side with pockets inserted flat with ribbon supports connected to the waistline. Then the skirt was gathered by hand using two lines of parallel gathering stitches and sewn to the inside of the finished bodice. The spiral lacing eyelets were finished by hand. The embroidered flowers are: Stinking Hellbore for Chivalry, Sweet Fennel for Deceit, English Willow for Enchantment, and Hippomane Manciella for Falsehood.
All those tiny embroidered details are so lovely! I’m a huge fan of this ballad and I can see all the symbolism and references, which are well thought. I’m really amazed!
Lovely embroidery work. Good on you for trying a new skill. Good job.
I’m in love with this whole outfit. I want the skirt. Beautiful embroidery!
The colours you choose are very beautiful and I really love the embroidery!
Lovely embroidery!
Amazing textures and that embroidery is stunning! Great work!
The embroidery and the symbolism behind it is brilliant, can’t believe you’d never done embroidery before it looks so good! And the dress looks so comfy, the sleeves are just delightfully full, I definitely want an outfit like this now! Also you’ve made me want to read the poem, it sounds intriguing!
This looks great! The colours are beautiful and the embroidery is amazing.
I love the details! The embroidery is so good.