This black silk robe a la francaise is about 80% hand-sewn, more than I ever intended. I've retrimmed it 4x now!
Recreating the pink portrait of Mary Queen of Scots had long been a dream, & I finally did it for my birthday.
My drag alter-ego is Leonard Autie, hairdresser to Marie Antoinette. He sometimes gets a new suit for Carnevale.
Stayed up late sewing last night. What? On a weekday? Snowballs en l’enfer? Yeah. Added some freshwater pearls to the points in the cutout cross shape of the over-sleeves on my pink Florentine gown, plus at the corners of the collar. On Sunday, I’d sewn narrow gold trim along the collar & the cuffs of
Perfect is the enemy of done … this is definitely not perfect, but I’m calling it done… And I mostly finished the waistcoat today too. Need to sew on the buttons, that’s all. Tried to take photos, but lighting in the sewing room is weird, and pix kept coming out crappy due to the crossweave
First take on my Leonard wig, and I’m not sure. Ok, it’s super-messy, that’s a problem. But that’s not my real problem with it. I think the shape is too girly. It’s been sitting on a head clamped to my cutting table for a few days, and every time I look at it, I think
Before I embark on styling Leonard’s wig, I want to collect and look at some historical images of wigs worn by Macaroni or fop men in the 18th century (a topic near & dear to my heart)…
I think I’m just gonna buy a shirt, because, bleh, who wants to make a frickin’ shirt? Not me, that’s who. I like this one on Etsy, and inquired if she could add sleeve ruffles and deliver by July 1. Considering this neck stock too, but waffling because, well, it costs as much as the
After spending most of the weekend in Napa, I finished embroidering the other half of Leonard’s waistcoat. Whew, managed to mirror it pretty well! Have to assemble it all now and add some finishing embroidery touches. Now he just needs, oh, a coat, breeches, a shirt, shoes, a wig … y’know, little things! Managed to
On Saturday, I swapped Mom’s embroidery machine for my wig-wefting jig from Williamsburg. It’s a win-win, well, for me, because late last night she emailed me saying she’s already woven 9″ of hair! I kinda think that’s as much of the human hair as they gave us in the class. Meanwhile, I embroidered one side
I have a bee in my bonnet that I want to remake the black silk overgown of my Veronese outfit. I really love this piece, but it entirely doesn’t close anymore and likely never will. But I want to wear it, it’s so pretty! I think there’s a way to revamp the front to make
By Lady Violet Ruthvene in the SCA This is an accompaniment to a lecture and demonstration class I taught at the Province of Southern Shores’ Newcomers Tourney in May 2011. This is intended as a guide to help those starting out in the Society for Creative Anachronism to improve their costumes in easy, budget-friendly
Long time, no update! Nearly a year later, I realized I could/should wear this outfit. I was a little concerned about the size (having started it so long ago), but realized it fit rather nicely without the corset. Just needed an additional set of eyelets on each side for better lacing, plus hooks and eyes
I think I may have a use for those Georgiana shoes after all … Maybe *those* could be my Leonard shoes! Dye them purple and wear with big rhinestone buckles. Sure, they’re fabric, which is not really common for men, but they’re not as totally girlie as the Fugawee Marthas (& I just couldn’t get
Photos from SCA Principality of the Mists Coronet 2011… Still want to add a little pearl beading at the corners of the oversleeves, plus some gold trim along the collar and at the cuff edge of the undersleeves. But it’s perfectly wearable and felt comfortable and pretty!
The pink Florentine is wearable and screamingly pink. I should add neckline trim, and I really should have sewed the inner sleeves in instead of safety-pinning them in (I’m going to worry about them popping out all tomorrow). BUT, I’m tired. I absolutely hate sewing late the night before an event! I really hardly ever
Since we are day-tripping Mists Coronet, I need something to wear. And while the black and grey kirtle is basically done and looks fab, I kinda want to save it for Beltane. Then I saw that Sarah was working on a pink gown and I thought, ah-ha, maybe I can finish up the pink Florentine!
All this talk online of the American Duchess shoes got me thinking — I should just get some Fugawees for Leonard! Because he deserves it 😉 Ok, well, I want it, and leather shoes are more correct than silk for a man, even a super-fop like Leonard (though according to his autobiography, he was *quite*
