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Pleating hell

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Trystan
WTF

I F****KING HATE PLEATING!!!!! Stupid polonaise. Stupid skirt. *This* is why I put the damn thing off all week. I have to rip it out *again* bec. I still can’t get the back to lay down properly. Not all that pleased with the front either, but it’s not as entirely sucktastic as the back. ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: failure is always an option, stripey polonaiseville |

Poufy hat thots

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Trystan
Purple stripey fabric, black lace, & trims

Hat ideas for stripey polonaise. 1780s gothic pouf hat: Kendra calls it a capote, but I say POUF because that’s what it does. I have a thrifted straw hat to un-spiral for the raw materials. I also want to dye it purple because that’s how I roll. Fabric will be black floral jacquard that I’ve

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: hats, stripey polonaiseville |

Tired

Posted on March 15, 2009 by Trystan
Time

I should be sewing, but I don wanna. Put sleeves on the stripey thing, feel like that’s huge, and now I’m all tuckered out.

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: stripey polonaiseville |

Starting into stripeyland

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Trystan

I’m not making any promises, but I did start something today. I mocked up a polonaise bodice — based on ye olde Butterick not-very-accurate-but-darnit-it-fits-me bodice I used for Cosi Fan Tutte and the blue caraco. Modified the front for no stomacher (for the caraco, it was a zone, so I now I have another variation).

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: fabric, pattern drafting, stripey polonaiseville |

Venetian Carnevale Francaise Gown

Posted on March 7, 2009 by Trystan

Photos from Venice, Italy, in February 2009 during Carnivale. Also, here’s a costume video shoot of me. It features my mother and step-father, all at Campo San Zaccaria. Click the image below to play or click this link —  Trystan’s carnivale costume video. The video is about two and a half minutes long, and the

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Posted in 18th Century, Venetian Carnevale | Tags: finished costume, pink & black robe a la francaise, pretty in pink, travel, Venetian carnevale, video |

whew

Posted on February 1, 2009 by Trystan

It’s done. All hemmed, trimmed, even skirt hooks and miscellaneous tacking. Now it’s late, my back is killing me, I’m going to bed. But the gown does look damn good, if I do say so myself (also, it’s done just shy of 2 weeks before we leave — BOOYAH!!! m/ !!1111!!!!)

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: pink & black robe a la francaise, pretty in pink, Venetian carnevale |

panic in the streets of Venice

Posted on January 31, 2009 by Trystan
Time

I feel like I’m never going to get this damn dress done! Hemming takes forever. I’ve got tons of trim to put on. OMG!!!11!!!111!!

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: hats, pink & black robe a la francaise, trim trim trim, Venetian carnevale |

Welcome to Stripey Polonaiseville

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Trystan
Purple stripey fabric, black lace, & trims

Another bandwagon jumped. This one started by Lindsey, Loren, and Leia, and the CC27 18th-century posse, inspired, iirc, by the movie The Duchess. Conversations started on LiveJournal in, I think, January, probably when the movie came out on DVD and people started obsessing over every last costume, especially the huge, poufy, stripey polonaises Georgiana and

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: stripey polonaiseville |

Let me show you my obsessive documentation of boring things

Posted on January 25, 2009 by Trystan

It’s only a paper stomacher… The easiest thing to pattern. Just stick some paper under the francaise and draw a shape. Smooth out the lines. *Ta da* It’s a stomacher. For the actual item, I used an inner layer of white mid-weight canvas-y stuff, covered w/the pink silk on both sides and the sari fabric

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: pattern drafting, pink & black robe a la francaise, pretty in pink, sleevils, trim trim trim, Venetian carnevale |

Never too OTT

Posted on January 24, 2009 by Trystan
Venetian carnevale

I was about to post a picture of trim pinned to the Carnivale gown’s stomacher and ask “is this too much?” and then I realized, no, there is no such thing as “too much” on a Carnivale gown. It’s like a Spinal Tap “none too black.” Add moar trim! Big fluffy craaazzzy trim! (Not that

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: hats, pink & black robe a la francaise, trim trim trim, Venetian carnevale |

Pink progress

Posted on January 18, 2009 by Trystan

It was kind of a girlie weekend, in more ways than three. Saturday, I did a ton of pleating and pinning and re-pleating and pinning to build the petticoat for my Carnivale outfit. I just took two widths of silk — made the back one half-again as wide, for some oomph — and stitched them

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: jewelry, pink & black robe a la francaise, pretty in pink, trim trim trim, Venetian carnevale |

Satisfied evening

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Trystan
Venetian carnevale

I set the sleeves into the black francaise. They fit and look decent. I see how I could have made them look better by curving in the sleeve head in the front, but it’s not unattractive as-is. Good enough for government work, as they say. The overall fit of the gown is pretty darn awesome,

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: sleevils, Venetian carnevale |

I p0wn sleeves

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Trystan
Venetian carnevale

Thanks to help from this Threads article (which is actually the cheatsheet for a full article that’s more about theory), I successfully graded a pattern that I’d scaled up from Hunnisett. I’m pretty decent at sleeves, but I usually guess and have to make three muslins to get the right fit. The Threads article showed

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: pattern drafting, sleevils, Venetian carnevale |

Look ma, no pins!

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Trystan

Made great progress on the Carnivale gown today, although these photos will not seem like much. However, I’ve now sewn all the bits that Kendra draped and pinned on me. The only things left on the black francaise portion are to bind the back neck edge, draft sleeves, and hem the skirt. The only semi-hard

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Posted in 18th Century | Tags: draped by Kendra, handsewing is weird, pink & black robe a la francaise, Venetian carnevale |

What dreams may come

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Trystan
Time

This idea is brought to you courtesy of strange dreams about CC27. Kevin and Radar were each trying to get me into their own masquerade entries, both very complicated and strange. Kevin’s had s’thing to do with machinery he was testing for work and demonstrating it on stage with lights and costumes. Radar’s featured interpretive

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Posted in 16th Century | Tags: 1590s ruff, bat rebato, ruffs |
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