The A.D.D. Costumer!

Okay, so I keep changing my mind. Remember that pink satin I was going to turn into a "medieval fantasy gown"? It became the lining of a zimarra/loose gown/ren coat instead. Since FrankenFeast is only a week-and-a-half away and we are still getting snow I thought it might be a good idea to have some kind of coat to wear while traipsing through the streets of Frankenmuth. (That and I got to wondering of I really wanted to sweat to death in a poly satin gown in the July heat at Silverleaf. It got to be nearly 100 degrees the weekend of the jousting tournament last year.)

I really like the look of Kat's Zimarra over her Florentine gown so I used that as my inspiration. Not finding any brocade that I like locally, and not having the patience to search online, I ended up buying some inexpensive pinwhale cotton corduroy that looks like velvet 'til you get right up on it. Following Signora Katrina's example I used the loose gown pattern from the Tudor Tailor book and sketched it out on some interfacing I had on hand. This was my first experience with scaling up a pattern drawing and it went rather well because luckily the scaled drawing fits my size 12 shoulders and is loose enough that I didn't need to make any adjustments for my size 18 chest. I cut and assembled the corduroy shell and satin lining yesterday and, only pinning them together at the shoulder, I put them on Bertha to wait for the hems to drop. After only being there overnight I can see that the sides of the stin have dropped a good two inches longer than the corduroy. I am waiting for today's mail to see if the trims I ordered will be delivered. I've ordered some 1 3/8" wide gold on black trim that I want to run across the outside of the collar, down the fronts, and around the hem.

I haven't cut the sleeves yet because I am still not sure what I want to do. Kat has short paned puffed sleeves on her zimarra but, looking at several paintings for reference, it seemes to me that the loose gowns generally have long sleeves while the short puff sleeves are generally found on more fitted gowns. I do like the idea of having part of the sleeve of the gown show, though, so I am leaning toward a compromise of elbow length sleeves with a few bands of trim running down them instead of doing slashes or panes. I guess I will wait until I actually have the trim in hand before I make a decision and cut the sleeve fabric.





And remember the sage/seafoam green wool? I bought that with the intention of making a simple side-lacing gown from it but, now that it has been announced that the new Mid Michigan Renaissance Festival set to debut this October has an English/German theme, I am thinking that I might use the green wool along with some very dark green velveteen in my stash to make a German Kampfrau gown. Then again..... that blue skirt with the navy velveteen welts that I made last year could pass as German with the addition of a suitable bodice and sleeves and I do have yards and yards of the blue wool/silk twill left............. Ah...the possibilities.......