When I went to Fete Galante in 2023, I also had the chance to attend a costumed dinner at the château de Vaux le Vicomte outside of Paris. In summers, this baroque palace not only allows guests to come in costume but they light up the grounds with candles at night and end the evening
Here is the finished gown, in photos taken by Wendi Koble, right before Sarah’s Laureling ceremony at the SCA West Kingdom 12th Night 2012. The only thing I’d change is that the silver, black, & pearl girdle I made ended up a few inches short (but I swear, I measured!), so I couldn’t wear it
I couldn’t help but add a few more little bits to my 12th nite outfit. First, some new pearl-drop earrings because all my 16th-century-esque ones are gold-based. That took about 10 minutes. Then, a silver, black, & pearl girdle. I had bought this silver beaded necklace on eBay to use for parts — look at
I hemmed the 12th nite gown on New Year’s Eve before the obligatory visit to a party (followed by champagne in the hot tub at home ;-). However, I took the cheater’s way out on that hem — my pal, Steam-a-Seam. Aw yeah. Because done is better than perfect. Which also left me time on
Kendra came over yesterday, & we sewed, sewed, sewed. We worked on skirts for our gowns & got to the point where we could sit on the couch, watching “Elizabeth R,” hand-sewing vast piles of black silk whilst drinking cocktails. Good times! Well, I cartridge-pleated the skirt & attached it to the bodice, so the
I was a little bit surprised when I sewed up the sleeve side seam, turned it right-side out, & *ta da* the sleeve looked liked I’d hoped & planned it would look all along. Sure, there were some fiddly bits to fix like trim not lining up perfectly & basting lines still showing, but those
I’ve spent a week on these sleeves, & they’re still not done! Took three nights to trim them (piping, two kinds of trim by hand, then pearls), & a full day to figure out the stiffening for the panes & the best way to attach them. Then I redid the white silk taffeta inside puff
Who’s idea was it to make crazy complicated sleeves? Oh yeah, mine. Well, I’m chugging along… Tuesday night, piped all the panes of the slashed puffs (say that five times fast). Yeah, the girl who said she’d never pipe anything again after the Eugenie Project is on her second piped sleeves. Never say never. But
The only kind of pattern drafting I enjoy is making sleeves. Not sure why, but it’s something I feel like I can handle. Maybe because the fit isn’t as weirdly tricky as going over the bust & around the waist. There’s only the armscye/sleeve head to deal with & then it’s done. The fit is
Finally got back to some sewing this weekend, admist putting up xmas decorations, dealing with a Very Bad Cat, & discovering that our house has termites. Good times! (Not.) I’m going with trim pattern #2 in the previous post, but may intersperse that with lines of the narrow trim — depends how much time I
Sarah & Kendra came over on Saturday, & we got shit done! There was draping & cutting, & we all have bodices for our 12th Night gowns under way. I sewed my together today, but now I’m stymied on trim. The Isabella portrait has no trim on the bodice, other than a few pearl clusters
Finished the smock. Seems like such a little thing — it’s just underwear! And, indeed, most of it went swimmingly. I used my pattern from ye olde smock generator from Drea Leed’s site. I remembered to add some width to the body, but not too much (I have a history of not trusting this pattern’s
Aka, finally a new 12th Night gown, aka Trystan wants a black dress, or more properly, a 1560s Medici-inspired Florentine gown. But the impetus for this gown is that one of my best friends in the whole world, Sarah Lorraine, was offered membership in the Order of the Laurel in the Society for Creative Anachronism.