Dress Diary!

[isabelladangelo]

The inspiration for this gown comes from Portrait of a Venetian Lady by Veronese and from A Musical Evening by Ludovico Pozzoserrato. I have to fix the sleeves I made for the gown but I think, by the end, you can see what I was thinking.

The above is the pattern I used for the bodice. It's based off the pattern I created for my Eleanor of Toledo gown.

The bodice before I added boning to it. It's over my 1540's/1550's corset. It's made out of the black taffeta I got from Fabric.com, lined with regular muslin, and interlined with canvas. I used muslin for the lining because it's cheap, still breathable, and no one will see the lining anyway.

The gown before I added a bunch of stuff to it. The taffeta, of course, sticks out on it's own, which is lovely.

I apologize for the darkness of the photo. This is the finished gown. I added bows of black taffeta to the waistline. The overskirt is silk chiffon. I gathered that, put a finishing strip across the gathers (basically, a waistband), and then placed the rings to hold the overskirt to the dress on the outside so the "waistband" would be hidden and flipped under. It also give the overskirt an extra bit of fluffiness at the waist.

I have a couple more pictures up on my flickr account if anyone wants to see the back views. You can also see close ups of the photos I posted here.

Comments

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

No, I was actually going to wear it today but got too sick to really do more than stay at home and drink a lot more tea. :-) I didn't want everyone else to get sick too.

For 12th Night, I plan on tackling Catherine Parr's portrait gown. I have the materials (tons of cutter coat fur and brocade) but I'm hesitant to play with the fur just yet...

And you are right, I probably could raise the waistline an inch or two on the sides. Based on how it fits on, I'm thinking just an inch next time.