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.
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,
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!!!!!!!
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
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.
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).
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
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!!!!)
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!!
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
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
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
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
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,
