This is a pretty vague concept so far … I have this unusual black and grey fabric, 100% polyester (because I don’t care!), woven thistle / pomegranate pattern that’s rather 16th-century by way of Art Deco, with a nice supple hand. So far, I’m thinking it’ll be good as a kirtle, perhaps with sleeves. There’s
Pattern-drafting is not my strong suit, but I don’t live near enough to, well, anyone it seems for me to easily beg/barter that service on a regular basis. Thus, I had to start on my own for to make this 16th-century doublet. *sigh.* I was inspired by what I could suss out of the seam
I actually sewed this morning, before going to work. Shocking! Instead of laying around in bed listening to NPR (one of my all-time favourite activities, but one that I do fairly frequently), I got up and got dressed (in a fairly cute CorpGoth outfit, by the way). But I still had 40 minutes before my
This time, it’s stripey! But still a big black sack! The most unattractive dress shape possible! But it’s historically accurate, it technically fits, and I’m going for it! I can never get the hang of mirror pix, but it does look better on me than on the dressform. Marginally 🙂 Just need to hem it,
I’m half an hour into an one-hour dress for Gatsby. By the way, the one-hour dress pattern takes me about two days to make, though I did just finish all the “tricky” patterning, and I even bumped it up a notch by trying the two-piece pattern this time. It’s from a 1925 pattern booklet that
Don’t know if this will actually happen in time for this year’s ADSC Gatsby Summer Afternoon. But I bought a new hat at Convergence 15, a lovely hot pink confection trimmed with big black feathers and a whole bird, made by Caveat Emptor. Which is ’20s-ish in style and makes me reallyreallyreally want a dress
I’ve loved this dress since I first saw the portrait in a book, sometime in the early 1990s. It’s the classic refutation of “pink is not period” for renaissance faire or SCA. It’s super-girly. It’s fantastic! It’s very Pretty Pretty Princess! This has been my dream gown, and dammit, I’m going to make it. So
Another fabulous collaboration with my dear Donna of Original Sin Design! I’d gotten this piece of hot pink sari fabric from a costumer’s garage sale and knew it would “pop” against black. But I didn’t know what style of what. Then fabric.com had a sale on black silk shantung, and Donna suggested we both wear
By Lady Violet Ruthvene for the SCA West Kingdom Arts & Sciences Tourney 2009 Resources Larsdatter.com Pouches & Purses: Excellent collection of image links, including extant pieces and artwork. Museum of Bags and Purses: A Dutch museum with a nice photographic timeline of purse history. Also has a catalog book, sometimes available at
This fantastic gown was made for me by SarahBellem Designs, aka my good pal Sarah. I bought this stunning (and frighteningly expensive) embroidered silk in the LA Garment District at Costume College ’08, with the vague intention of making something 18th century. But, knowing me, the material would have languished in The Stash because I
I wore this dress at Colonial Williamsburg in 2009, and all my photos from the trip are on Flickr, plus we have a Williamsburg trip photo pool dedicated to this event.
And then, on the last weekend before the con, I finally made it. Just the wire rebato, not a new outfit (perhaps another day). I decided I could wear it with some 16th-century things in my wardrobe, in particular, the rebato could hold up the 1590s ruff quite well. First, I sketched a design of
Madly pushing along on the To-Do List of D00m. Did lots of bits on various things this weekend, but only finished a couple. Started and completed a new chemise, a quilted supporting petticoat (that’s a real hack job, gah, but functional), and the bat pocket. Finished the inside of the polonaise and made the black
Almost making it out of Polonaiseville alive! Technically, the stripey polonaise itself is done — I only have to finish the petticoat. Want (but do not absolutely *need*) to add a ruffle at the hem. I cut it out, sewed it together, hemmed one edge, and wave-roller-cut the other, so it’s completely prepped. Have to
After finding a very helpful video showing how to do a blind hem stitch on your sewing machine, I realized I need a new foot for my machine. Additional research showed I might could use a specific guide, not necessarily a full foot. I’ll check and see if I already have such a thing (because,