Me next, me next!

After having taken the summer off from sewing in order to run a day-camp, I'm now back in the mindset for something fabulous. I would like to make myself something that's as historically accurate (in design, at least, if not construction - I do so love my machine) as possible because everything else I have is period-oid. I'd like to go whole hog.

The inspiration arrived in the form of a nice chocolate-brown jacquard I found on the cheap at a yard sale. I originally thought it was natural fiber, but I've since changed my mind: while it has the nice drapey-ness of cotton, it is entirely too shiny to be so. Maybe I'll try out that "burn test" everybody's talking about. I got something close to six yards. I have a remnant that I thought would go just swimmingly - it's off-white, green and brown upholstery brocade. It turns out that I have SUBSTANTIALLY less of that material than I thought, so I needed to find a dress that I could make in predominantly one fabric with only accents of the other. I was able to find this glass painting, "Susanna & the Elders" by Aert van Ort (1525).

And for a more targeted image:

You can see Susanna's gown is almost entirely white, but has these really interesting sleeves that seem to use practically no fabric at all! This is PERFECT for my "Wow, I really thought there was more here" bit of fabric that I want to use.

So, now I'm on a mission - how do I best re-create this outfit? I have started by looking up other portraits from the same time period (this glass is from the Netherlands, but I have a number of other locations that provided back-up portraiture) to find similar sleeves, necklines, overall styling and that sort of thing. I'm working on compiling an easy-to-decipher file that will keep all my notes in order. More later!

Doei! (that's "Goodbye" in modern Dutch!)

She breathes a sigh of relief

Yes, it's been awhile. That's because I was buried under a pile of Tudor.

The couple for whom I was making four outfits decided that the bride would pick up the two bridesmaids' gowns. I think the thought behind that was, "If I can make one, I can make three just as easily - they're pretty much the same, right?" Well, they all turned out lovely, but if _I_ were the bride, I think I would have wanted two less things to worry about.

Given all that, however, I am EXTREMELY grateful that I didn't have to work on them. The men's outfits turned out to be SUBSTANTIALLY more of a bother than any of us could have guessed. They did, however, turn out gorgeous. They were based of portraits such as these. I have learned that I NEVER want to make another pair of paned (pained, for sure) slops EVER again.

NEVER.
Well... maybe one more pair. I made a set for my husband back in March for the Golden Seamstress Competition (my group WON the Novice Division, by-the-way), but everything that comes out of Golden Seamstress is a little bit jank. As you can see, we didn't get the socks done... or the trim all the way put on... and I think the pants are held on by safety-pins and one of the leg-bands is missing. (These errors have all since been rectified, I just don't have any pictures.) Also, that's me in the background.

I've learned a whole lot about how to make paned slops, however, so maybe the next time won't be such a trial.

Oops, did I say, "Next time?" I meant, "the final time."

Anyway, the wedding outfits sure did turn out nicely. The groom (whose outfit I made) in the foreground, left, dancing with the gal whose dress I had nothing to do with, and the bride in the background dancing with her brother, whose outfit I also made.