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

just my two cents that can be taken or left.

[cathgrace.livejournal.com]

look at where the end of the sleeve is on your portraits vs the waist. none of those dresses have their side or back waist lower then the elbow, your dress's waist is much closer to your full sleeve length which can add wrinkles to the bodice and can add to the "off" look that is difficult to identify but one can feel is there.

I know you have a finished dress here so you probably don't really feel like pulling the skirt off to raise the waist, but that is something I would maybe keep in mind when creating new dresses.

Sorry, I know you weren't soliciting suggestions, but I think you are in the right direction it's just the little things.