Isabella's Project Diary

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....

Fabric.com is having a sale again. All of their Lightweight linen blend fabric is $3.89 a yard. It's good for summer dresses. They also have this almost Elizabethan looking knit gauze (97% cotton) that I think would look awesome made into a chemise...so I bought 5 yards of it. :-)

Just for mistressfetch: Just read the job titles. Don't read what they actually are, just the titles. Once you get to Beer tester, it gets uh...into either very poor editting or someone has a sense of humor...

I worked on the fairy gown a bit more this morning. It's coming along nicely. I think I'll take part of the dark bodice and make it into a bustle (I know, it sounds wierd). I have tons of this poly purple organza I bought YEARS ago that I can make into a "flowing" back layer. The top of the organza will be hidden by a semi circle piece of the beaded bodice...so it will look like a clip on veil attached to the back of the dress. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's my plan for the back right now.

Mom's dress will get cut out tonight. I hope...

So I was upstairs looking for the bridesmaid gowns when I found my very first ever Renaissance gown. I had been sewing for over a year (probably more like 2) prior to making this gown but everything prior to this had been sewing 50's style dresses to wear. I hadn't attempted Renaissance before.
The reason I did was very simple: I didn't want to pay $1000 for a pretty outfit at the MD Renaissance Festival. I knew how much fabric cost. I knew there had to be patterns for such things...and so, I decided to sew one myself. I bought the blue brocade on Ebay (big surprise there, huh?), the silver silk organza for the sleeves at G-street, and the zipper (oh yes, there is a zipper up the back) came with the blue brocade.
Believe it or not, this dress was decent enough to wear at SCA events at first(I hid the zipper beneath a really nice navy blue twill coat I made I guess back in 2001~2002. You couldn't see the major issues with the coat on.) In 2006, I accidentally washed the poor thing with a strawberry pink silk skirt and the sleeves have never recovered. My plan is to, someday, take the freakin' sleeves off (hmmm...silk organza burns...bonfire!) and remake the bodice so the dress is, once again, worthy of SCA events. (Yeah, I'll take the zipper off too. Sheesh. Ye of little faith) So here are the pictures of my very first Reniassance dress...darts and all...feel free to point, laugh, and snark to your hearts content.

( Isabella's first gown )
As a side note, if you go to my flickr account, you can see the bridesmaids gowns as well. They really weren't that bad. Kat's gown is a lot darker than Ro's gown but they are from the same "family" of color if that makes sense. I'm going to use the skirt from Kat's gown as an under skirt, sew it to the underside of Ro's gown, and cut the front of Ro's gown and "petal" it to make it look more flow-y. I might make some sleeves for the new gown because with Ro's gown I had a very nice plain shawl with the dress.... Have no idea what to do with the beaded bodice yet....

I just attached the skirt to the bodice of the Venetian gown. It looks awesome. I did the pointed back that appears in a couple of different paintings. The skirt is pleated. I made the bodice straps off the shoulder which is more in line with the 1560's style. I need to finish the sleeves, sew the inside, and add the lacing rings. Knowing me and my procrastination rates of late, this might be done next week!

The fabric is the burgundy/wine and gold jacquard I think I mentioned a few weeks ago. So far, I'm really pleased with the gown. It just *looks* right.

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 have this lovely cotton fabric that I have no idea what to make out of it. It's almost a cotton velveteen on one side and a brushed cotton on the other. The velveteen is a gold/red/green/black paisley-ish design and the brushed side is a plain black. I was thinking a sideless surcote but I have a good 6 yards at least of the fabric. Maybe just a 16th c coat? Or a gown of some sort? Any ideas? I want something where I can flat fled or otherwise hide the seams to at least make it look like it can be reversible if necessary. Maybe an early Tudor?

I finally got around to taking the skirt off the Elizabethan. I think I'm just going to make it more mid 16th c Italian now that it's in pieces. I still need to cut the skirt up and then resew the entire thing. That, hopefully, won't take too long tonight.

Poe Dress: In pieces as well. :-) Although I did go last night to Joann's and get the flannel backed satin attack_laurel suggested. It still seemed a bit thin so I'm creating an inner layer of the super thin fleece. That should make it warm. The fleece is grey, the satin is black, and the coat is black velvet. I'm thinking of adding some of the lilac cording I've had since 2003 to the sleeves of the coat around the cuffs. I saw a pattern I liked...just need to find the thing again...eh, that's what's work is for! Looking for random things no one else can find or remember!

...I'm so bringing my muff to this....

18th c gown: Yes, I'm making plans for this now. I figure I'll make one out of the 7+ yards of brown cord I have lying about. That with some sort of pink fabric (velvet?) should look okay. I'll make a second one after I figure out the problems with the first. Which is why I want to use the $1 yard cord I got ummm...three years ago? first. I have patterns for it, I think I'll go with the later 1760's early 1770's style for now but we'll see....

I found where I had stored my 1840's dress. It's most likely from the earlier half of the decade than the later half. However, I found a few interesting sewing techniques that I rather like and will probably use in my own gown.

First, the dress is very light weight silk brocade in a pretty gold color. ( Pictures! )

( Christmas Tree )