Isabella's Project Diary

I really love the side lacing early 1500's Italian gowns. I really, truly do. The reason is not only because the gowns themselves fit like a sports bra with a skirt but because I can have pockets beneath the gown! The side lacing lends itself perfectly to pockets so I don't have to carry a stupid bag. Grr. I hate purses, no matter their form.

The pink dress is 100% hand sewn. I stitched the sides of the skirt together yesterday (herringbone at the bottom but whip stitch the rest of the way up), gathered the top of the skirt, attached it the bodice, and then stitched the bodice closed. I just finished the eyelets today. I'm thinking maybe for Coronation? I might make something else for that...

LONDON — A British medical journal has published findings saying a mistress of 16th-century French King Henry II may have died from consuming too much drinkable gold.

When French experts dug up the remains of Diane de Poitiers last year, they found high levels of gold in her hair. Since she was not a queen and did not wear a crown, scientists said it was hard to see how jewelry could have contaminated her hair and body.

Experts now say that the popularity of drinkable gold — believed to preserve youth — in the French court makes it very likely de Poitier's beauty elixir ultimately killed her. The findings were published Thursday in British medical journal BMJ.

Despite being two decades older than King Henry, de Poitiers was one of his favorites.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580457,00.html?test=latestnews

I totally heart everyone over at laceandflora. Most of them are saying exactly what I would post on the subject. (Hence why I haven't said much)

Anyway, working on my Venetian for tomorrow out of the black taffeta. The bodice is done and looks pretty good. The skirt just needs to be pleated and attached. I'd like to add the bows too and sew up the overskirt but I don't think I have the time right now. I'll do that later, I think.

So, very heavily medicated. Advil is good. Antibiotics are good. Now, to go back to sewing and watch ghost stories on the TV.

The corset and chemise. The dress dummy is set at 34" bust and the corset is still tight on it. This is a good thing...as long as I don't gain any weight back!

The dress and sleeve panels I tried to pin the sleeve together to give everyone a good idea of how it should look when it's done....and the pins kept slipping. I promise I will bead it at Pennsic. The threading idea that I had just wasn't working. I'm going to see if I can use some thin wire or something to get this to work....


So, I'm going to finish packing up and get some sleep.

This page came up on one of the lists I'm on. The thing that fascinates me isn't the bodies/stays so much (although cool) as much as the jackets. The black one looks like the "lesser" styles shown in many late 16th/early 17th c being worn by the middle class and peasants..... I have enough black wool for a couple of projects ago to attempt something like that...I think...

An example of a similar jacket in period art

The dress back. The reason it looks THAT pink a lot of photos is because it's changeable silk. The threads going one way are that pink, the threads going the other way are silver. It makes the dress overall look like a very nice carnation pink.
Anyway, I've done the borders for the couching/embroidery. I changed the trim which helped a lot. This trim doesn't fray (okay, all trim frays but this kind is easily stopped).

The front. My original plan was to make the borders come to a u-shape in the front and just continue around back. However, I went back and looked at other 1540's/1550's portraits and all the portraits show the trim/embroidery just going straight down and terminating at the sides of the waist. They don't join together.

Jeannie's veil. Actually, it's just the nice big circle I cut out and the trim laid out around it to make sure I have enough. Jeannie is very lucky. I thought I only had a little over 3 yards. After looking through all my trim (I have a suitcase and a box full of trim.), I found another yard. I only have 6 inches to spare but that's plenty to go around the edge of the veil. This was trim I bought YEARS ago for my Ever After Just Breathe gown but I didn't like it for that dress. :-) So, Jeannie gets it.

Before and After. It looks a bit better but it's still bugging me.

[Poll #1187971]

The SCA on exhibit at the National Zoo! It was really very interesting and a lot of fun. Well, other than my whole tent thing. You see, the frame, which is nothing more than a modern day shade has issues. It has had issues for a while but those issues were exaggerated last year when I guess one of the guys decided just to yank one of polls out that should not have been taken out...and now it's bent. The frame was having problems way before that but that really causes it to have issues. Once it got staked (thank you for everyone who lent me stakes!), it stayed up.

My tent became the "hiding" tent. It worked pretty well because, with the window flaps down, it's pretty dark in there. (Which is great when you are taking at nap, btw). So, all anyone could see was the tent, with the front flaps partially open, my two Savonarola chairs, my mother of pearl inlay folding table, and my basket(which was covered). I just sat down and embroidered most of the time. (I've been very very slowly working on a 16th c high neck early Elizabethan shift. It might get finished in 5 years or so...) I'd explain about my fan (peacock feathers! The peacock tasted good. :-) ), the Pomander, or about embroidery or knitting. I had a few things with me.

Most of the kids were pretty good. Only one was at the "I'm a brat!" age and then there was the high school senior at the end that re-enforced my idea of never, ever, sending any children I may have to public school.

I think we may have picked up a few new members. There was the lady who really just loved the Renaissance Faire and followed myself and Baron Jurgen up to our space. I gave her one of the Acorns I happened to have which should give her a bunch of information. There was also the lady who came with her daughter and I think she was with some friends. I talked to her a bit and she seemed like she might look into coming to an event in the near future.

All and all, it was fun just getting all dressed up and being able to just talk to people. I got to my parents' house around 10 and stayed until 11. Mom and Dad are in the Outer Banks but all my brothers, my sister in law, and a few of their friends were there. So that was great.

I only got to sew the back of the bias trim on to the neckline of the Eleanor gown. I had a choice; do sewing or actually look through that stuff upstairs for your yard sale on Sat. The latter won. Sorta. I finished doing all the rooms upstairs so I now have five boxes of stuff to sell ready. It looks like this will grow to ten or so. I need to go through everything in the sewing room and the living room still but most of that should be pretty easy...hopefully. I'll go through it tomorrow.

I did get rid of one bag of garbage after going through the rooms. The rooms still look a mess but at least I know what the heck I have now.

Like I said, the bias trim (all pinked even) is full attached. I might just pin the skirt for now to the bodice because I'm curious to see if the bodice might be a bit too big. I've said it before: I'm squishy; my dress form isn't. I'll punch out a few eyelet with the awl, lace it up, and then see if it fits. If it does, I'll sew it up. If not, I'll cut the sides a bit.

The skirt to the gown is done. I'm not sure if I'll add embroidery to that. I really don't see it in many of the portraits from the time but then again, very few paintings show the hems of the gowns. I think the bodice might be enough for now. There are more photos of the skirt and the sleeve pattern are up on my flickr account. The link above should take you there without any problems.