more about this garment. Put on your bumroll. The bumroll, worn by almost all Elizabethan women of any means, was a round, crescent-shaped pad that makes the skirt stick out like it should. Look at Making an Elizabethan Bumroll for more information. If you have a partlet, this goes on now. The partlet was a curious item of clothing worn by Tudor and Elizabethan women which covered only the front and back chest and tied under the arms. Originally it was worn over a dress, but by the mid 16th century it was, for the most part, worn over the corset and under the bodice. The petticoat/forepart/kirtle now goes on. This piece of clothing evolved from a separate dress under the gown, known as a kirtle in Tudor times. Although kirtles continued to be worn under dresses throughout Elizabeth's reign, the term--and the kirtle itself--gradually came to signify a separate underskirt or petticoat, often elaborately decorated, as well as a dress entire. In time, the front section of the kirtle alone would be decorated; known as the forepart, this triangular section at the front of the petticoat/kirtle, which was sometimes detachable and often decorated to match the bodice or sleeves. Sometimes only the forepart was decorated, and the rest of the petticoat left plain. Check out this article on Elizabethan Petticoats. The gown. The gown consisted of a skirt attached to a bodice, with sleeves sewn on or tied on with points. Some bodices had low, square necklines, while others covered the torso all the way up to the neck. most pictures and surviving items of clothing show them laced together or closed with hooks and eyes. Alternately, a woman could wear a doublet over her skirts. During the 1570s the skirt was often split in the front to show the decorative forepart underneath. bodices attached to front-split skirts fastened together at the front, and sometimes had a decorative stomacher pinned over the front fastening. Look at the bibliography for so...
