I made an outfit for my 2.5 year old. Mind you, I started working on this outfit when I found out I was pregnant with a boy…I know the extent of my procrastination.
It’s not an exact copy of Holbein’s painting of Edward VI, nor is it completely period. I’m crazy, not stupid. I used snaps. I also know my son’s oral fixation, hence no dangley aiglettes. Also, my husband would not let me put our son in a full gown even tho he’s not potty trained yet (this has been a fight). So he has little elastic breeches with a codpiece (one of my boys was getting a codpiece and Daddy volunteered CJ to “take one for the team”). That feather in the hat would last all of 3 minutes if I was watching him closely…
However, I did make the hat and sleeves with brocade. I beaded designs into the hat and the sleeves with seed beads. I made the buttons out of thread covered wooden balls in a period manner.
So for a description of the outfit. I used the Simplicity Tudor Toddler pattern which is out of print (I’m not selling it, don’t ask).
I made a separate shirt from an embroidered linen and Venice lace that I had in my stash. I made the buttons for the shirt with DMC floss and wooden balls. The design of the shirt is generically period.
The breeches are a home decor brocade I had in my stash that I embellished by couching the same gold cord that’s on the gown, tracing the lines of the floral vines. The waistband and cuffs are elastic. The codpiece is cotton velveteen right out of the Tudor Tailor, scaled for CJ. Stuffed with plastic bags so it makes a crunching noise and won’t absorb anything if he spills something in his lap.
The gown is made of a red cotton corduroy. I deviated from the pattern by omitting the sewn in false shirt. I also raised the neckline just a bit. The lines are made by a gold cord I machine couched with a zig zag stitch. The neck edge and the sleeve cuffs are piped with a gold piping. The sleeves are a silk blend brocade that I hand beaded with an assortment of seed beads. The back has 3 snaps and I added 4 hand made buttons from DMC floss and wooden beads.
The hat is a cotton velveteen coif that I stitched down a gold braid, then I made a design with the gold cord, then beaded it with red seed beads. There is also some decorative machine stitching. Attached to this is a brocade beret kind of cap. I didn’t have enough fabric to do a proper flat cap. It still gives a good visual effect. I also added plastic gold colored beads that look a lot like the aiglettes on the painting.
