Isabella's Project Diary

It was a lot of fun. I should probably explain that for the past three weeks I've been trying to explain to Mom what "feast" means. She gets it now. As we were going home she said "Okay, I've got to tell Dad that when Sissy says 'feast' she means feast" Yes, Mommy, you will NOT go home hungry unless you want too.
( Did I mention this was a long post? )
We did get up and leave a bit early (I'll explain in the next post) but I did want to say thank you to everyone. I had fun and Mom said she wants to come back next year (woohoo! Dress up Mommy again!).

Mom's coat is looking a lot better. I had to cut out some more inches on the sides but now it should fit properly. I still haven't found the silver buttons but I did find 50 copper buttons that will work a lot better. They have Hadrian on them not that anyone will notice. Mom loves ancient Roman history so these will work a lot better. Not perfect for a 16th c outfit, true, but they are perfect for Mom. Besides, from a foot away all anyone will see are some nice copper buttons with some sort of design. I'm adding the green velvet trim tomorrow night and then the buttons. I should have a picture up Thursday of the coat.

If anyone remembers my hand sewn early 16th c Italian that got watermarked from the Pennsic rains, I finally have a solution. I bought magenta/teal crossweave silk organza to go as an overlayer for the skirt. The dress is a magenta/teal crossweave silk broadcloth so it should mesh nicely. This will hide the watermarks so I can wear the dress again.

Hopefully, the guy with the trailer out in western Maryland will email me back soon. He has a couple of trailers and I'm hoping to get one of them. I found him on craigslist.

and no buttons. They must be in Harry Potter's room...darn it. I really didn't feel like dragging all that out. Hmmm...might check the scarp box first.

Anyway, the Turkish coat looks like a good Italian interpretation of a Turkish coat. :-) Mom hopefully will like it (and get to wear it!). I'll sew up the chemise for it tonight hopefully. I think I might add some simple lace to the sleeves like in the Portrait of a Lady wear the green turkish/italian coat.

I kinda like this:
http://www.mineralistic.com/-strse-978/Taurus-Zodiac-Fairy/Detail.bok

I think I know what I'm going to do for the second "fairy" gown..not that it matters much. Although the Fairy fest is two days, I'll only be able to go on one day so I just need one gown. ::sigh::

I've come to the conclusion I need to take the Turkish coat completely apart. This one side is simply *not* lining up like it should and I can't tell if it's simply because I'm accidentally stretching the fabric too much or if it's something with the cut of the gores or what. The other side is perfect, why does this one have to be giving me trouble?

I couldn't find the silver buttons. I have a few more places to check but I did pull out the fake plastic ones that look like pearl and gold just in case. They aren't the best but they look fine from a foot away. I really need to find the silver ones....

At work. I'm not really sure why I'm here other than I don't have much sick leave left and I don't have a fever anymore. Ugh.

Sewing stuff: I worked a bit on the 18th c stays the other day. I finished the channels for the back of the stays and should have something reasonably resembling stays by the end of the month...I hope. They are red silk on one side and green silk on the other. I'm using the green silk as bias tape around the edges. It should look interesting.
Mom's coat will be done soon too...as soon as I find those darn buttons! I know I have well over 100 somewhere...I just can't remember where. I've been too sick to tear the house apart but I should be able to go through a few things later today. Assuming I don't crash....