Yay!

I've been wanting to post a link to the Showcase at The Realm of Venus but there were some problems with broken links after Bella's recent switch to a new server. Things are now fixed so I can direct you to the May 15 Showcase. See anybody you know? :giggle:

Photos for April 5

A few photos of my complete ensemble as worn to Frankenfeast.

More Changes!

Another upgrade to last year's dress. I took the ties off from the sleeves and switched to buttons and loops.

Accessories!

Aaaaah! Accessories! [:D] I've completed a few things to go with my remodeled gown.
I made a girdle by combining a jeweled chain belt found at Marshalls with part of a pearl lariat necklace I found at an estate sale years ago.


To tie the pearl drop with the chain belt I found similar beads to add in between secrions of chain.


I also used parts from the pearl lariat to make a "leash" for the ebay mink collar to transform it into a zibellino.


I also made a girdle from some antiqued gold beads that DH found for me. I still need to find a tassel or pomander for it. For now it has the dangly from the other end of the lariat.

Florentine Gown- Version B

This is what I've been up to the last couple of days:



(Bertha's waist and hips are still a bit larger than mine and her waist is higher so the dress doesn't sit exactly right on her and doesn't close all of the way. It does fit me but I was too lazy to put it all on myself.)

I remade the bodice cutting a new front with a lower curved waistline and removed all of the black piping. The change in the bodice waistline meant redoing the skirt as well. Fortunately, I got away with only having to repleat the front panel and rehemming. I still need to find some ribbon in the color of the dress to replace the black lacing. And I'm still thinking about replacing the ties for the sleeves with buttons and loops.

All of the underpinnings are things I made myself as well. The camecia/smock, corset, and partlet are things I made last year. Bertha is also wearing the gold and purple petticoat I just made.

My mail carrier just deliver the mink collar I bought off ebay to make a zibellini. (His little face doesn't bother me but the feet creep me out!) I have a necklace and earrings to go with this but I still have to figure out what I am making for the jeweled girdle/belt to complete this outfit.

Here is what it originally looked like with the higher straight waistline:

Gown Re-do

I'm itching to sew but I'm not quite ready to cut into that green wool yet. I've decided to get warmed up by re-doing the bodice of the light gold brocade gown I made last summer. There are a couple of things I wasn't really happy with that I hope to improve. I knew I didn't want the extremely long front waist that the Elizabethan pattern called for but, rather than just softening the curve and shortening it a little, I ended up with pretty much a straight waistline which might have been appropriate for an earlier style but not for a gown inspired by an Eleanora di Toledo portrait. The other thing is that following the instuctions to finish all of the edges with piping and a self bias binding let me with unattractive bulky edges. I've spent the morning with the seam ripper taking the bodice apart. Now I am off to find the leftover fabric to cut a new bodice front and praying that I can get the fabric design centered the way the way it should be.
Here's what it looked like when I wore it to MIRF last summer:

Costume Contest

This past weekend was opening weekend for the Michigan Renaissance Festival and, after missing opening day to attend the family reuinion, Tom and the girls and I spent Sunday at MIRF. We had a fun day in spite of the all day drizzle. They are having daily costume contests this year and I wanted to see what the entrants were waearing so we went to watch. There were eight entrants in the contest. Third place went to a young gypsy girl who said her brother made her costume for her.



Second place went to the baker and her husband (who had to be the cutest couple ever LOL)



And guess which costume took first place.






I wasn't planning to enter because I haven't completed the accessories and I know all the mistakes I made but reluctantly did so after some prodding by Mary Jayne Fitzhugh, Town Seamstress of Hollygrove, and my family. The prize was four tickets to the faire so I told Kim that means she has to visit again and encourage Jason and Lou to come since Tom and I purchased season passes and don't need the tickets.

(edited to add) In hindsight I realize that I should have cut the bodice with a slight downward curve to the front waistline instead of straight across (but I'm not doing it over), I need to fiddle with the plackets on the side-back opening of the skirts to get them to lay right and not gap, and my camicia sleeves are not long enough for proper puffs through the openings of the sleeves so I'm thinking of sewing in some fake puffs or adding some length to the camicia sleeves.

The dress is done!

I spent most of Thursday finishing up all the fiddly stuff like sewing on the pearls and adding the points (ties) and aglettes to tie on the sleeves. Friday morning I shortened the hem a bit and added a velveteen guard to protect the light colored fabric from mud stains. I'll get some photos of me in the gown tomorrow at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. :)
btw- If anyone has any tips on hairstyles or headcoverings from mid 16th century Florence that will work for someone with very short hair please share! LOL

still sewing

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! LOL Since my last entry I have finished the construction of the bodice and it actually fits. I have all the hand work to finish up by this weekend. I've already handstitched all of the binding on the bodice and have half of the eyelets done. So I need to finish the eyelets, sew the skirt to the bodice, hem the skirt, and finish sewing the pearls to the sleeves. If I have time (or later if not this week) I want to add a paned cap sleeve and a black guard at the hem to protect the light colored fabric from the dirty faire grounds.

Sleeves- Part I

First a bit about the cording: I had planned on using some antique gold cord I saw at HL but, when I went with a fabric swatch in hand to buy it, decided the color just didn't go with the fabric after all. Then the clouds parted, the sun streamed down, and I spotted THE PERFECT TRIM :D on what appeared to be a full spool! It was a very tiny (1/8"?) black they called faux suede but it looked like velvet to me. It cost twice as much as the stuff I had planned to buy but I didn't care. I took it to the cutting table and told the girl I wanted all of it. She started unrolling it and saw that there was a short piece wrapped around the outside of the main piece so she set it aside and measured out over 17 yards then went to measure the short piece and noticed that they weren't the same. The 17 yd piece was about three times thicker than the 3 yd piece I had fallen in love with! :( I took the thinner stuff and a yard of the thicker stuff home with me to mull it over. I decided that I really didn't want the thicker stuff so I called the Hobby Lobby in Jenison and explained my dilema. The young lady who took my call told me that they had a nearly full spool of the stuff I was looking for and set it aside for me. I went out there yesterday afternoon to discover that it was actually the thicker stuff they had. The veteran employee on duty told me that the thinner stuff had been discontinued and looked through their clearance trims and called another store in the area but didn't come up with any of the trim I wanted. After I pouted for a few minutes while she suggested alternatives, she finally asked why I didn't just go with the original twisted cord piping but in black instead of gold. Why didn't I?!? So I chose to stop pouting, work with what was availble, move on, and be happy! LOL

Last night I sewed and turned each of the six sleeve sections. I then realized my error in cutting. I had been concerned with making the pattern match perfectly at the seams of my skirt (where no one but I am likely to notice) but I cut the sleeve sections at random. I ended up with one sleeve that kinda-sorta matches and the other not at all. Another lesson learned. I have decided not to worry about it.


This morning I cut and stitched the binding for the tops of the sleeves and turned it to the inside ready to be hand sewn.



While mulling over where I might find enough matching buttons on short notice for the 48 joins in the sleeves or if I wanted to go shopping for beads I remembered and old strand of cream colored Maljorca (sp?) pearls that needed restringing to re-attach the clasp that has 50 pearls and goes beautifully with the fabric! :D
I have the hand finishing and beading left to do and plan to take the project with me to a family birthday party on Sunday the work on while I chat.

Progress so far....

Doubling up the boning greatly improved the line of the corset.


Tracing the sleeve pieces along the edge before cutting the skirt panels.


I figured out the placket ting in the skirt openings. (I confess for my previous skirts I simply tacked down the seam allowance and left it at that.)



A shot of the cartridge pleating.


The finished skirt. Well, finished except for attaching it to the bodice and hemming it.

On to the Dress!

After discovering that I still need to do more tweaking to get the bodice to fit I set it aside and went back to the corset. I did end up opening the corset back up and doubling up on the boning. Much better! In the process I realized that I was wearing it too high on my body the first go round so I ended up replacing the straps with longer ones as well. I don't know why but I had a horrible time getting the placement of the strap right so I spent pretty much all day on the corset redo.
Anway.... I didn't feel like fiddling with the bodice again today after getting so stressed over the corset yesterday but wanted to make some kind of progress so decided to move on to the skirt and sleeves today. I cut out all the sleeve pieces along one edge of my fabric then cut four skirt panels to length. Even after evening up the side the sleves were cut from I still have wide enough panels to end up with a nice full 160 inch hemline. :) And the trimming are wide enough to be used for the paned cap sleeves. :) And... I have enough fabric left to make a forepart to use with the sleeves on another future gown! :) (Um... provided I don't screw up cutting out the bodice 'cuz there's just enough to cut it once and still get a forepart out of the deal.) I took a little break from cutting to typ this up. Now on to sewing the skirt together! Oh, yeah. I should show you my inspiration for the gown and the fabric I'm working with, shouldn't I? I am using the Elenora di Toledo portrait as my inspiration with this yummy fabric I picked up a Field Fabrics a couple of months ago on clearance for $3.97 a yard and plan to trim the sleeve panes and neckline with some dull gold cording I spotted and Hobby Lobby and plan to go buy tomorrow.