Burgundy 1580s Court Gown, Revamp
Me in the revamped gown at the Crosston Ball, photos courtesy of Chris Nelson.
Author Archives: Trystan
It’s a dress
It’s officially a dress because it has sleeves. Sewn on even. The croissants shoulder rolls aren’t actually sewn on in these pix, but they are now in real life. The velvet trim is sewn on neither in the pix nor in real life, it’s merely pinned down to show what I’ll be going for. Colors
An Introduction to Masks in 16th-Century Venice, Italy
By Lady Violet Ruthvene in the SCA, written to help the West Kingdom prepare for a masked ball Two great medieval traditions made mask-wearing popular among the citizens of the Republic of Venice: the festival of Carnevale and the Commedia dell’ Arte theater. Between these, you have a variety of mask styles to choose from,
Big phat shoulder rolls
Just recording weeknight progress so it feels like I’m getting somewhere…
Plausible
Accomplished sewing stuff last night. Added a 3″ hook-and-eye placket to the 1580s bodice. Fits beautifully now, and while the placket is nothing great to look at, it’ll all be covered up with trim soon enough. Still need to add to the skirts waistbands, but that’s a quick fix. Then I can wear the gown
Seam-ripping at 6am
Explanation: I decided I wanted to wear this gown to the SCA’s Crosston Ball, but the dress no longer fit. So I came up with a way to extend the size … a week before the ball! At 6am, riddled by insomnia, I just bit the bullet, got up, and did some seam-ripping. I removed
It’s not motivation, it’s desperation
There’s a smell of fear in the air — I looked at the calendar. I realized I have way too many costumes to produce in a shockingly short amount of time… Motivation won’t come to me, I just have to force myself to get shit done. NOW. Thus, tonight I cleared away some sewing room
Oww, oww, oww
My fingertips and my back are keeeeeeeeling me. Hand-sewing all day (you may all laugh now, or check for snowballs in Hades since that means TWO full days of hand-sewing for moi). However, it looks like a dress now… Front picture shows where I always screw up the very front edges on a curved or
Stitch ‘n bitch day
Good sewing progress, thanks to the fabulous influence (and cheezburgers) of Kendra and Sarah. I got the skirt of the Valois gown hemmed and cartridge-pleated, both by hand, as one does. Now I’m ready to attach it to the bodice, though I still need to prep the bodice edge. And I think I’d like to
Guarding
Doesn’t look like much, but I’ve been at it all day, off and on, between errands and chores around the house and, of course, screwing around on the computer. Cut the skirt panels, shaped the waistband and hem (the front comes to a point and there’s a small train in the back), finished the top
Eugenie Part Deux
Finished and worn at Dickens Fair! More pictures on Flickr.
All but trimmed
Here’s a crappy iPhone photo before I left for work… Late that night… The jacket and belt are wearable! No pix — it looks like this morning’s photo but with a lot of trim on it and parts that you couldn’t see were unfinished are now finished, plus there are a lot of hooks and
Slappin’ it together
Needs a buttload of trim, plus sleeve hems, but the concept is proven. Can kinda see the paper diamond pattern I made for the belt (I was inspired by the handy pattern Koshka drew from an extant 1860s Swiss waist; I didn’t actually print that out, but I eye-balled it). I’ve since sewn the velvet
Zzzzzzz-zouave
Got the basic form cut and sewn last night. Added darts for better shaping this morning in between bouts of “OMG MIGRAINE.” Probably should not have sewn first thing in the morning, more importantly, probably should not have had half a bottle of red wine so late Saturday — that contributed to the sewing frenzy
Calm down, have a cocktail
I keep having to talk myself off the ledge when it comes to what I’m going to wear to Dickens this year. It seems like every morning I wake up with some Great New Idea about making a partially new costume in One Week! What was that saying? Right, as-if, and monkeys might fly out