How to Make a Renaissance Fair Costume

Making a Renaissance dress can be challenging but fun.

Costumes of the period are an essential part of a Renaissance fair. Wearing such apparel is a must for the organizers but optional for participants. The clothes worn during the class-driven Renaissance period varied from homespun, rough working clothes for the peasants, carpenters and weavers to expensive, silk garments for the nobles. So the kind of costume to make depends on the class of society you plan to represent at the fair.

Things You'll Need

• Cotton fabric for the bodice
• Lining fabric
• Scissors
• Boning tape
• Sewing machine
• Ribbon
• Silk or linen fabric for the chemise
• Solid-colored cotton fabric for the skirt

Instructions

Bodice

1. Start by measuring your chest, waist and underarm to hip length. Take cotton and lining fabrics of your choice and draw a trapezoid with a top line that is one-fourth of your chest measurement, bottom line that is one-fourth of your waist measurement and perpendicular and vertical sides that are the same as your underarm-to-waist measurement. Make four panels with the cotton fabric and four panels with the lining fabric.

2. Stitch all the cotton panels together along the vertical lines. Stitch the lining panels in a similar fashion. Attach the lining to the outer cotton bodice piece. Create boning channels along the bodice by sewing two vertical lines from the top to the bottom of the bodice separated by a width of 1/4 inch.

3. Attach a hook-and-eye tape to the front of the bodice and hem it all around. You may also use the boning tape along the inside of the front seams, and under the arms for additional shape.

4. Cut 1-yard lengths of ribbon and attach it firmly to the central front and central back parts of the bodice. Tie the ribbons on your shoulders.

Chemise

1. Choose a finely woven cotton, linen or silk fabric for the chemise, or shirt. Start by cutting two 20-inch-wide rectangular pieces for the sleeves. The length of the sleeves should be about 4 inches more than your shoulder-to-wrist measurement.

2. Measure the distance between your shoulders and hips, and also between your two shoulders. Cut two rectangular pieces that are as long as the distance between shoulder and hip and twice the distance between the two shoulders.

3. Place the front and back sides of your chemise on a table and mark a point that is 6 to 8 inches down from both top corners of the body pieces.

4. Fold the sleeve in half lengthwise and mark a point on the sleeves that is similar to the point on the body pieces. Trim off the marked corners from the sleeve and the body of the chemise. Sew the sleeves and body together along the side seams.

5. Fold the neckline in about 1/4 inch and stitch along the fold, leaving the front edge open. Hem each end of the sleeve and thread a ribbon to tie them around your wrist for the puff-sleeve effect.

Skirt

1. Add 3 inches to your waist-to-floor measurement and cut a rectangular piece in this length that is three times your waist.

2. Make a waistband by basting two rectangular pieces that are 4 inches wide and 2 to 3 inches longer than the waistline.

3. Stitch the seam of the skirt, gather the top edge and stitch it into the waistband. Hem the bottom edge of the skirt and run a thread through the waistband to tie the skirt.

Tips & Warnings

• For the Renaissance dress, use accessories such as a straw hat, basket and leather strap sandals for a more authentic look.

• You may also use a white or solid-colored loose blouse for the chemise, and use a long broomstick skirt instead of stitching one.

References

• Ye Auld Garb Monger: What Goes into Making Your Own Renaissance/Elizabethan Era Costume?
• Dawn's Costume Guide: Your First Visit to the Renaissance Faire
• Dawn's Costume Guide: A Simple Bodice
• The European Renaissance in American Life; Paul F. Grendler