Isabella's Project Diary

I've decided I need to make this. I have the silk out for the gown and the organza for the partlet. I need some thing blue ribbon with gold edging. I have more the enough pearls to do the partlet.
My question, the sleeves. I think they are just "strips" of fabric with embroidery faux tied with the beaded aglets. Any other ideas? My problem is that the sleeves are very hard to see so I'm basing this solely on other portraits of her.
I'm also kinda curious about that neckline of the gown. Is it just stitching or is there some very thing strips of fabric being curved over to the inside?
EDIT: I remembered that a lady on the showcase at Realm of Venus had done a similar gown as well and had tried her hand at the neckline. I found an interesting take on the neckline there. I think I'll try and do this since it makes sense with what I'm seeing and it's something I can do. /edit


I'm going to use the extant gown of Eleanor as a guide to make this one. It should work... Yes, I have gold embroidery thread. The neckline should be fairly easy...it's the sleeves that will kill me on this one.

The title says it all:
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/38693475/c/69184.html

It looks similar to chopines to me. Of course, they are very $$$ so no way I'm getting them right now but they are totally droolable.

EDIT:
Found them a LOT cheaper at http://gh2online.com/proddetail.asp?prod=vif06-z6511
They are still pricey but they've gone from "Umm, no" to "Well, maybe in a couple of months..."

Mom decided I needed kidnapping today. We took Dad to the airport and then went to Tysons (Corner Mall, 8th biggest mall in the USA). The Hallmark store there was the only store left (that I've found) that has(d) the "New World Candles". It was a group of candles that Yankee Candle brought out in 2007. Mom LOVES the Mediterranean Cypress and I love the Moroccan Rose (It smells like Egypt! Honest.). I also like the Indonesian Ginger (it smells yummy). So, we each bought a ton of candles (Pennsic will smell really nice this year!).
I took Mom around the mall which is always interesting. We went home and I got a bit of sewing in (I brought my 18th c stays with me and worked on those) as well as some knitting (it's looking like a blanket!!!). I also played with the baby and told him all about the contrast and comparisons between the old Charlie and Chocolate Factory and the new one. (Hey, it was on! We must integrate the child into geek...er pop culture sooner or later. Who cares if he's only three months old and thinks Aunt Sissy is amusing?)
Also, it looks like I will be teaching a class at Sapphire Joust. This should be funny....it will be on early 16th c Italian styles (How they vary from region to region, the variations in the first 30 years or so, how to recreate them, ect...) I'll bring (probably be wearing at least one) a few examples and all..

I've decided that I finally know what I'm going to do with the maroon velvet that I've had for four years or so now...it will be a coat. Specifically, the coat on page 122 of your Janet Arnold book as well as page 174 of your Historical Fashion in Detail book. I have pink silk (somewhere. I think it's in Harry Potter's room.) I have silver lace with spangles (Thank you India! I've gotten some amazing trims from people in India...). All that with the maroon velvet should make for a similar looking garment....

It's sewn up. The lining...I gave up when it go close enough to matching that no one will notice. I might have to take out the hem a bit (I'll probably just cut the thing and re-hem since that's easier than taking out more stitches at this point!) but over all it's pretty much done. I just need to make sure it fits Mom, find those silver buttons, and then sew the button holes and the buttons on. Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow....

Well, for at least a couple of hours. I really just stayed in the barn and watched the guys fight. Ginsie wanted to play war dog and I had to tell her that she couldn't. She was only allowed to play medieval dog (she had her plaid coat on cause it was cold in the barn!). There really weren't that many people there and I was surprised by that. I saw maybe 60 people total there...and that includes when I snuck up to the hall for a couple of minutes while Ginsie waited in the car. (It really was a couple of minutes. Don't worry. Ginsie was not traumatized)

I wore my green gown I made a few weeks back. I'm glad I did because I found out it has some minor problems. I need to shorten the waistline in the back by about a half inch and I need to re do the pleating on the front so it will stay open to show the underskirt. Other than that, It was fine. Both of those problems are very easy to fix, just time consuming.

I called Mom when I left and she asked me to come over. (She made cookies. Sugar cookies at that! How can I refuse?) So Miss Ginsie and I went to my parents. My middle brother and his wife bought a new car. (The jeep isn't good for car seats.) It's a Toyota corolla; your standard American family car. They are both happy about it though. Jeannie loved my dress (I didn't have anything to change into at my parents so I was still in my gown) and took tons of pictures of me holding my nephew and wearing the gown. I'm sure they'll end up on snapfish soon enough.

I have a new neighbor. The townhome next to mine has been vacant since I moved in last year. It finally sold on Thursday and the new guy is moving in. I met his Dad. They work for the fire department. It's just going to be him which should be cool.

Anyways, I'm home. I'll finish my Venetian gown tonight hopefully. It's hemmed. It's just a matter of attaching the skirt to the bodice.

I started on the 18th c stays. I think I might bind them in the remaining red silk I have but I don't know yet. I'm using black thread to make the outlines of the boning really pop. I'm going to hand sew it so it might be done by the time I'm back from vacation. Yes, I'm bringing the project with me to St. Kitts.

I was going through my fabric stash yesterday and saw, again, this fabric that I've had for a while. It's gorgeous. It's a cotton jacquard in a deep red and gold. I finally have decided what it should be. I'm going to make (another) 1550's Venetian gown out of it. The slight difference this time is that I've created my own pattern for it. I normally just edit an existing pattern of a bodice and add a skirt. The muslin I made for this one is a slight bit different. Hopefully, it will come out okay.

I basically want to make a couple more Venetians for myself before Pennsic because front lacing dresses at Pennsic are a good thing. Not that I mind asking people to help all that much in the morning but I would like to be able to lace myself in and run if necessary...and have a pretty dress to boot! ...especially a pretty PERIOD dress and not one of the "irish" dresses. (Okay, so I have one up in my room...I only wear it to renn faire though. It's not an SCA dress.)

It was actually a really fun event. There was TONS of food. It wasn't just desserts. There was soup, bread, cheeses, noodles, basically, food. Lots of food. You did NOT go hungry at this event and that was a good thing.
I did finish the mid 16th c gown but didn't wear it because I wasn't sure how big the site was. Trying to rummage around with a hoop skirt isn't easy where there is much room. So I wore my hand sewn red t-tunic and a green skirt under it. It still looked festive.
Asruyn was there which I was so happy about. She only gets to come to events when she's on break from college so I was surprised to see her. She was glad to see me as well since I was one of the very people she knew.
orlacarey and Lady Tirzah did an amazing job with the food. Really y'all, it was good. orlacarey gave me a lovely little bag of really really good hard candy.
During court, St. Nicolas made his appearance for all the little kids. Everyone sang Rudolph the red nose reindeer (not period but hey, the kids know it!). The table behind me was being rude but oh well...not about to let a few drunks ruin it for the rest of us.
There was a lot of singing before court and I knew a lot of the carols. It was a random group of singers but they were really good. The acoustics of the building could have been better but it was fine.
So, all and all, I had a great time and it's definitely an event I'd like to go to next year.

Yes, I know. I have to do the ever after court gown and the pink 1560's Italian wool gown yet but there is a Middle Eastern SCA event this coming Sat so I have to dress the part. :-) I cut out the muslin and it looks like it should fit perfectly. I'm basing the coat off of a couple of extant examples with a curved side rather than a gored side. This allows for more room under the arms (around the bust line) and still has a tight waist. I think I'm going to use the melon colored linen I bought. I thought I had a nice deep orangy-pink linen but I can't find it. I'll look again tomorrow.

After this, it's either the Ever After gown or the Italian wool followed by the Katherine Parr/Jane Grey gown and then the fitted gothic gown...and then there's the blue courtesan gown I want to make for Pennsic (anything that has skirts that can be lifted and you wear breeches underneath is great for Pennsic), a high German gown, and a few more Italian gowns...and coats...There's that heraldry gown I want to make too...