When I heard there was a Pre-Raphaelite ball at Carnevale 2025, I poured through paintings for inspiration. I love this style and have several pre-raph prints hanging in my house, so there were many to chose from. But being me, I also wanted something dark and gothy, which isn’t as typical of this genre. Then
Sometime in early to mid 2024, I got a hankering for a new 16th-century outfit. No reason, nowhere to wear it, just wanted one. And not necessarily a fancy one either. I decided to order the Tudor Tailor pattern for a woman’s round gown and see how that made up. Although first, I realized I
Carevale 2024 was the year of last-minute costumes for me! I normally hate last-minute sewing and try to plan things out so I’m done well before the event or trip. And I was this year! But I also got new ideas about a month before leaving for Venice so… One of the events was “A Night
The Bella Donna Historical Performers were invited to perform at Carnevale in Venice for the Boticelli’s Primavera Dinner. While I don’t sing with the group, I’m a supporting member and needed to dress the part. Alas, my old black and gold gown was in sorry shape, and the bodice no longer fit. Also, I’d always
When I decided to go to the Anne Rice Vampire Ball in New Orleans for Halloween 2023, I just wanted to wear something fabulous. Much like when I made my first outfit for the Portland Vampire Masquerade Ball, I let myself fantasize about what shapes, styles, fabrics, and trims inspired me. I wasn’t going to
At some point during the summer of 2022, I was cleaning out my costume closet and decided I could revamp my old 1570s French Valois Gown into something … my friend Loren of The Costumer’s Closet had made some very pretty gowns inspired by The Borgias (2011-13) TV show, and that gave me an idea.
Lockdown was a drag, and I didn’t feel like sewing anything but I had the idea to commission stuff. At some point in 2021, I requested a custom version of this Spanish 16th-century gown from Fiorentina Costuming on Etsy. The fit and workmanship is great, and the style is exactly what I wanted. Highly recommended and
I’ve had this fabric earmarked for Leonard’s 16th-century suit for ages, and I finally bit the bullet and commissioned Jenn to make it for me. After all, she’s the pro, having made countless gorgeous such suits for fellas in the Court of St. George. We had a great time planning the design and during the
Specifically, this is a review of Patterns of Fashion 5: The Content, Cut, Construction, and Context of Bodies, Stays, Hoops, and Rumps c. 1595-1795 by Janet Arnold, Jenny Tiramani, & Luca Costigliolo with Sebastien Passot, Armelle Lucas & Johannes Pietsch, to give the full title and credit to all involved. It’s on sale exclusively from
I’ve only been wanting to make this gown for a decade. No lie — my first blog post about it was in 2009, and I’ve loved the portrait for longer. So for my birthday this year, I planned a fancy dress party where I would be the queen, wearing this dress, surrounded by my ‘court’
Two things you need to know about this dress: 1) Marguerite du Royon‘s heraldry is purple and gold with three fleur de lys, 2) Marguerite started her reign as Princess of the Mists wearing 1490s and has proceeded to wear later and later garb until this, the end of her reign, where she wanted to
Also know as my goth courtesan gown. I’ve wanted something like this ever since I joined Bella Donna Historical Performers, but it took a while for the right fabric to come along. And even then, I didn’t have the time to make it myself — so I commissioned Sarah to do it. But I did
This is a custom-made Venetian courtesan gown commission for Lady Léa de Villaverde, first worn at the SCA West Kingdom 12th Night, January 2015. Materials were provided by my client. She wanted a late 16th-century Venetian gown in the classic “courtesan” style with the ladder-laced front, made of a rich damask from her fabric stash.
This is a custom-made French hood commission for Lady Elizabeth de Belcaire to go with a late 16th-century English outfit made by Mistress Elena Edgar and embroidered sleeves made by Elizabeth herself. It was first worn at the SCA West Kingdom’s 12th Night in January 2015. Since the fitted gown and kirtle were inspired by
Last year, Sarah and I started a West Kingdom Largess Makers group on Facebook, with the intent of encouraging more artisans in our SCA kingdom to make largess — that is, small gifts that royalty can give out, as they often need to. There’s a very active general-SCA largess makers group on Facebook, but we