December 12, 2003 - Well, I have decided, like so many before me, to create a dress diary. This isn't necessarily my first attempt at a Elizabethan/Renaissance gown but it will be my first attempt at authentic period costuming. So I've decided to create a dress based on the princess on the far right in this Cranach painting. So far, I'm thinking that it will be garnet cotton velvet with black guards embroidered in gold for the over dress and red-gold shot silk dupioni for the underdress. But at this point, who knows? I'm expecting fabric samples any day now and plan to order the silk as soon as they show up. Stay tuned!
January 6, 2004 - After much deliberation, I decided to go with the velvet and silk although it's going to cost me well over a hundred dollars. It will be worth it, though. Here's a sneak peek at the fabrics I've ordered from Denver Fabrics:
January 16, 2004 - Ordered and received my fabrics but of
course, hit a snag along the way. My garnet velvet was SOLD OUT! I ended up
ordering berry red instead and I actually think it's going to work even
better.
Went to JoAnn's and picked up my duckcloth as well as tailor's tissue
to draft my own bodice pattern. I used Drea's Custom Corset Generator
then altered that a bit to make it into a bodice. I then cut a mock-up out of
the duckcloth and fitted it to my dress form. Turns out straps were too short
and the armscye waaaaaaaaay too small. But eventually, this is what I got:
The bodice is going to consist of four layers when it's done: two layers of duckcloth sewn together for the boning, a burgundy cotton lining, the the silk dupioni (which I am absolutely in love with!). I've gotten the two duckcloth layers sewn together and am about a third of the way done sewing the stupid casings for the boning.
It strikes me as oddly humorous that I, my husband, and you the reader will be the only ones to know that my kirtle is really a candy cane...
Bonus for you today: my son's first renn garb!
January
23, 2004 - My sister flew in from California and spent a couple days with us
so I haven't been able to work on the kirtle much until tonight. I finished the
casings and put in the support. I hesitate to call it boning since technically
it's hemp cord...a technique I have lovingly stolen from Jen
Thompson. In any case, the hemp went in and I now have something very close
to being a bodice!
January 24, 2004 - Oh it's a thrill a minute round here tonight. The bodice is so close to being done I can taste it! I got the rough edges around the neck sewn together and attached the first side of the bias tape to bind it. However, I've discovered why I've never decided to chuck the sewing machine and go all authentically hand sewn...I freakin' suck at hand sewing!
January 28, 2004 - Well, it's been a fun four days of hand sewing but at long last, I have a bodice. Tomorrow I plan to begin work on the skirt which should hopefully go quickly. I bought lacing rings too, which makes me happy. Here's a slightly cruddy picture to give you an idea of what they look like.
You're probably wondering when the heck this is going to start looking like a Cranach gown and I have an answer! I have the pattern drafted and as soon as the skirt is permanently attached, the Cranach-y goodness will begin to emerge. I can't wait!
February 1, 2004 - It is 12:43 in the morning, I'm exhausted,
and I have to get up early...but I have a kirtle!! All that's left are lacing
rings!
February 7, 2004 - Lacing rings suck. My fngers are covered with
band-aids and bleed randomly. And I still have five of the things left. As soon
as I'm finished, I will post a picture with my finished kirtle.
In the
meantime, I have been doing just a touch more research. I ordered my fabric
before completely researching my color choices. I've since noticed that black
guards on a red dress are uncommon but I found one example here. It's Cranach's
Melancholy Angel and I dunno how accurate it is but I'll go with it. I was going
to do the brustfleck in black velvet but based on that painting, I'm changing it
to the red/gold silk of the kirtle. Guards will remain black since I don't want
that black velvet to go to waste and it fits with the painting.
I'm also
changing my mind on the sleeve design to something that will hopefully be a bit
simpler. I can't remember which painting
this is but I think my sleeves and the emroidery pattern on the brustfleck will
be based on it. That's it for now, I'm back to the damn lacing rings...
February 10, 2004 - Well, the euphoria of actually finishing something
has worn off and I eagerly began the over dress today. I drafted the new
pattern, laid out the velvet, held my breath and cut. Suprisingly enough, the
stuff cut like a dream. I should have known it couldn't last...
Four hours
and several obscenities later, here's what I have.
I cut the
guards on the bias to prevent fraying but ended up dealing with the even more
distressing stretch factor. And then the edges began to fray anyway. Damn
velvet.
February 26, 2004 - Sorry it's been so long since the last update. I'm
spending my spring break hanging out in California with my parents for a week so
there's not much sewing going on. I did however go to a splendid shop in
Berkeley called Lacis and picked up my very
own copy of Patterns of Fashion! I am the coolest ever. :o) I also picked up a
pattern for a number of Saxon gowns which will hopefully help me out a bit.
Back on the Cranach gown front, I trashed the previous attempt at an
overbodice and started over again. This time I once again took the advice of Jen
Thompson and made my guards like double sided ribbon. Tons better. As soon as I
make my way back to Utah, I will post pictures.
April 12, 2004 - Well, I am back to working on the dress
after battling my way through the toughest semester of my 5 year college career.
But as finals are next week and I am FINALLY finished with my biggest project,
you can expect more frequent updates.
In other news, I have successfully
vanquished the velvet that I have been agonizing over for the last month. I made
the guards back in february and was very happy with how they came out. Also, I
redrafted the pattern so that the red velvet wasn't visible on the shoulders and
I think it's much more authentic. Here's a view of the back. Right now, those
guards are just pinned on but tomorrow I plan to go ahead and baste them down.
To avoid the dreaded topstitch, I'm going to just use the embroidery/beading to
sew them down. I'm brilliant! ;o)
I'm also toying with the idea of going without the kirtle (perhaps using it
for another project) and utilizing breast taping as a means of support. I'm not
busty by any stretch of the imagination but I do have lift issues due to having
nursed my son. Is it period? I have no idea but I suppose some research might be
in order.
Keep an eye on my main page as I will hopefully have the main page
design up in the next month or so. The new page will include some research and
more diaries including but not limited to a 1520 Florentine court gown and
Landsknecht duds for my husband and son.
April
15, 2004 - What do you think of the new look? I'm kinda partial to it! Not
much going on in this diary today but I did start work on the promised 1520 Florentine
Diary. In minor news with the Cranach gown, I added a couple more lacing
rings to make the lacings closer together which looks much better. I also basted
(I think I'm spelling that wrong!) the guards down and began plans for the
beading design. Wooha...
April 19, 2004 - And I have sleeves!!!!!! Due to the unfortunate placement of my wallet in my son's diaper bag which left for my mother-in-law's house without me, I didn't go to school and suddenly had four free hours. So I decided to sew. I cut out the sleeves and went for it. I am sooooo excited about how they came out, if you couldn't tell. :o) Before I attached the sleeves, I put the bodice on my dress form with the camicia for the Florentine dress and I really am leaning towards ditching the kirtle in favor of breast taping. Hmmm... Oh, I also got the skirt hemmed and the guard sewn on but didn't get pictures before my camera ran out of batteries. You'll just have to wait until tomorrow night...
April 23, 2004 - Sorry I haven't gotten those pictures up. My son, husband, and I all came down with a nasty case of the stomach flu. As soon as I fight my way back to the land of the living, you can see the skirt and my solution to my breast taping/kirtle dilemma. Oooh, the suspense. Now pardon me, I'm off to continue slowly dying.
April 28, 2004 - I am feeling much better and back to work on this diary! The promised picture of the skirt is here at last and I'm pretty pleased with the guard at the bottom. However, pleating is not my forte and I'm a little annoyed with my first foray into cartridge pleating. The measurements and gathering stitches I originally made were wrong so I ended up just pinning the whole damn thing one pleat at a time. Well, live and learn...next up: a fun few days of hand sewing the skirt to the waistband and then to the bodice.
May 14, 2004
- My annoyance level for this project is pretty through the roof these days.
I managed to get the skirt sewn to the waistband but the pleats have a nasty
tendency to trun inside out. So I'm going to go through and run thread to
help them keep their shape. I also discovered that I have lost quite a bit
of weight in the last month as the bodice is now too big for me! You can see
how the front edge lifts up in the picture at right. Unfortunately, I made
the thing to be seamless so I'm going to have to create a seam under the arm.
Hopefully, it won't be too obvious. In any case, it's starting to resemble
a dress. If you look carefully, you can see the corded strapless corset I'm
using in place of the kirtle. It's too big for me now too. Alas!
October 22, 2004 - Well, I feel sheepish. I've actually had this project done for about two weeks now but due to computer problems this summer, I haven't actually been able to update until tonight. Full length pictures will probably be up on sunday but until then, feast your eyes upon my hat and caul, modelled by myself and my son.
November 3, 2004 - Well, I still haven't been able to get a pic of myself in my dress but here's a group shot. The four on the left were all made by me. The other half was made by my mom! And as a bonus, here's my husband!
