Greenland dress: first trial

Way back in October of 2009 I wrote about a dress from Herjolfnes that I want to try recreating. the dress is not in great condition and a fair amount of guesswork is going to be necessary. the original picture shows the pleats on the front extending down well past the waist, but the fragment from the chest does not go that far. There is a second piece which looks to be a part of a skirt with pleats. the upper edge perpendicular to the pleats has remains of a seam. I surmise that the bodice and skirt were made separately then, and sew together at the waist. the bodice is V necked with small gores under the arms which are also pleated. the back of the gown shows no pleating.

I attempted to make a couple of pleats to see how they were constructed. the original archeologists remark that the pleats are sew together on the back but otherwise not supported with any other stitches. The upper row of pleats is about 10 mm deep, while the lower row is only 5 mm deep. the pleats on the original gown were about 4 mm. The shear amount of fabric that will be needed to achieve a panel wide enough to cover my chest is going to be prodigious. I am not sure at this point how to adjust the cut of the fabric to take into consideration all the pleats.

Next step: Trying to cut a neckline which will become the shape of the gown when the pleating is completed.