Purple Tourney Dress

I needed a new tourney dress, and wanted one that I could wear without a corset. (My health problems mean that often I can't wear very restrictive garments like a corset, and sometimes one just needs to be able to do more than a corset allows.) I decided that a short-waisted Italian style like those popular around 1500 would be ideal.

'The Betrothal' by an Unknown Artist c. 1490
from: http://www.oceansbridge.com/oil-paintings/product/93934/dieverlobungenglishtitlethebetrothal


'The meeting of the betrothed couple' by Carpaccio c. 1495
from: http://www.oceansbridge.com/oil-paintings/product/54796/carpacciomeetingofthebetrothedcoupleandthedeparture


'Portrait of a Venetian Lady' in the style of Albrecht Durer
from: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/jeromack/velazquez-rediscovered12-16-09_detail.asp?picnum=8


Detail of "The Legend of St Ursula' by Carpaccio, 1495-1500
from: http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/john-ruskin-on-carpaccios-dream-of-st.html


Drawing of a Venetian Lady by Albrecht Durer 1495
from: http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/16thital/durer-vene1495-1.jpg


I had some purple drill that would be ideal for the project. I adapted one of my existing Italian patterns, reducing the length and making it front-lacing for ease of dressing. I usually wear a pair of boned bodies under my gowns, but for this one I decided to bone the gown bodice itself.

I used a cotton canvas interlining and a new type of plastic heavy duty boning that I have not tried before. I machined casings in the interlining fabric and used fourteen plastic bones. The top edge was machine stitched, but I did the rest by hand.

I added a black feature panel at the front of the gown and edged it with black bias tape and hand dyed brown ric rac braid. I did a running stitch along the bias in a matching brown embroidery floss, and added detached button hole stitch ovals between the peaks of the ric rac braid. (I opted not to use the additional purple braid shown in the picture above.)

The skirt was pleated on and secured with a line of machine stitching for extra strength (as I have a habit of stepping on my skirts when carrying tourney furniture to the car.) I tacked the bodice together before hanging the gown up for the hem to drop. After it had hung for a few weeks, I secured the bottom edge of the bodice with hand stitching.

The next step was to add eyelets for lacing and lucet some cord to lace with. I added some hooks and eyes and a modesty placket. I finished the embroidery on the skirt trim and whip stitched the front edge closed. 

The skirt has a much smaller hem than usual. I will probably add a hem guard in the future for extra durability. I am also working on a set of tie-on sleeves.

The gown is very comfortable and easy to move in. I will post photos when it is totally finished.

Blue dress update

I wore the mostly-finished blue drill dress to an event last night. It was 'one of those nights' where everything went wrong while I was getting ready, so I didn't have time for anything more than a quick mobile phone snap before I ran out the door. I will get some nice, good quality shots soon, but this one at least gives you an idea of how it looks.

It was a warm and muggy night, so I didn't need the undersleeves after all.

Blue Drill Dress Update

Yesterday, my friend Heather (Queen of Luceters) presented me with the cords to tie on to the sleeve puffs of the blue drill dress. Thank you Heather!

The dress looked so nice with the ties on the sleeves that I was inspired to hand sew the trim onto the hem of the dress. I think it looks very nice, and the trim really stiffens the hem.

Blue Drill Dress Update - Sleeves

Here are a couple of pictures that I took (before the hem was done) to try out sleeve colours. I just used lace-on sleeves (that I already had) to see how they would look. I think I am heading towards white for the final sleeve colour....

Blue Drill Dress Update

I am still working on the blue drill dress. I put the hooks and eyes on and hemmed the skirt yesterday, and there was enough fabric left to turn the hem under, even after my terrible back-to-front skirt panel disaster. What a relief! The dress is now at a wearable stage. Not 100% complete, but wearable. Ideally, I would like to add trim around the hem, and make some sleeves to go with it. I also need to add the cord ties to go on the puffs, and I would like to put a band of trim around the bottom of the sleeve caps.

Hand sewing the sleeves in place. I thought they looked a bit bare, so I decided to add some trim tabs around the stop of the sleeve head. I think it looks much more 'complete' with them.

I have joined the third Italian Renaissance Costuming Challenge, so I need to get this dress finished soon.

Sleeve ideas for Blue Drill Dress

I am still playing with the sleeve heads for the blue drill dress.

Originally, I planned to have false puffs peeking out from anchored strapwork:

But in the end, I decided that rows of false puffs would be better:

The hand sewing is quite time consuming because I have to angle the needle quite heavily to hide the stitches. It will be worth it though, because I have a tendency to catch real slashes on every door handle I walk past, and always end up ripping them!

One sleeve has all the straps and puffs sewn on, so I am halfway there!

Blue dress update

Here is a photo of the blue dress 'in progress'. The front has yet to be hand stitched together. When I placed the trim, I didn't consider that it would have to match up with the trim on the bodice and I put the trim too far from the edge. Because the skirt seam edge is doubled over, the edge is quite thick. This is causing a bit of a problem with placing the hooks and eyes. I am focussing on the sleeves at the moment, and will come back to the skirt later. Hopefully inspiration will strike in the meantime!

Blue drill dress update - brain fog

I have continued working on the blue drill dress since my last post. As many of you know, I have health issues that involve pain, fatigue and 'brain fog'. Well, the brain fog struck again this week. Over the last few days I have been hand sewing trim onto the dress, sewing skirt panels and grading the slope on the front panels to accommodate the point of the bodice.

Last night I was feeling quite satisfied with what I had done and was getting ready to start sewing the last piece of trim onto the skirt. As I was looking at the last panel, I noticed something odd in the way the light was hitting the fabric. It took me about a minute to realise that I had sewn the final panel on back-to-front. I was horrified, because not only were all the seams pressed open and the edges finished, but I had trimmed the top of the panel to allow for the bodice point. These sorts of things happen to me so often that I am well beyond the stage of bursting into tears. Usually, there is just a very resigned sigh and an extended internal monologue about how much I hate sewing and how bad I am at it!

Needless to say, I spent my leisure time today unpicking, and re-doing the last two days worth of work, hopefully right side out! I have my fingers crossed that there will still be enough hem left to fold up when the dress is hemmed. I had hoped to be able to put a tuck in around the base of the dress, but this error has ruled that idea out. I really do believe in the "measure twice, cut once" rule, and use it. Because I suffer so much from fatigue I am actually very careful about double checking what I do, but these mistakes slip through.

Over the next few days I will be pleating on the skirt, and then I can try it on and get an idea of where I stand regarding the hem length. Hopefully it will all work out!

Front-opening bodice with exposed lacing holes

Over the Easter long weekend I have been working on a blue drill dress that I started in about August or September last year. There have been lots of changes to the plan as I work on this dress in dribs and drabs. I re-made a pattern which has straps further off the shoulders and a pointed bodice. I wanted a front lacing dress so that I can dress myself, as often I don't have anyone to help me dress.

I had planned to close the front of the dress with hooks and eyes, but when I basted them in, they didn't seem terribly secure. Because I am big busted, I plan to wear a pair of bodies underneath the dress anyway, but I didn't want to take a chance on the closures opening up when I bend or move. I also considered ladder lacing, but I have not done it before and I need this dress to be finished within a month. So I am planning on doing ladder lacing through eyelets. This is not a very common bodice closure based on what I have seen of period portraiture.

I have a whole roll of some very nice blue and gold trim, so I can 'go to town' with the decoration. The real trouble is making a decision on which way to go with it! I am also unsure about what type of sleeve head decoration to use. I played around with the pattern for several hours this week and am completely fed up with the whole concept of sleeves, so the sleeve head pattern is on the back burner while I work on pleats and eyelets.

Here are some portraits that have been an inspiration to me:



http://starlightmasquerade.com/PortraitGallery/Ladder-Laced-Venetian/inspiration-pages/Venetian8.htm





http://starlightmasquerade.com/PortraitGallery/Ladder-Laced-Venetian/inspiration-pages/Venetian11.htm






http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Judith_with_the_head_of_Holofernes.jpg




http://starlightmasquerade.com/PortraitGallery/Ladder-Laced-Venetian/inspiration-pages/openbodice118.htm



http://starlightmasquerade.com/PortraitGallery/Ladder-Laced-Venetian/inspiration-pages/openbodice7.htm




http://starlightmasquerade.com/PortraitGallery/Ladder-Laced-Venetian/inspiration-pages/openbodice74.htm

Daily Inspiration - Licinio?

Today's inspiration comes from this interesting portrait where the sitter appears to be wearing two partlets.

Anonymous Painter- possibly Licinio

Portrait of a Woman c. 1550

from: http://starlightmasquerade.com/PortraitGallery/Ladder-Laced-Venetian/inspiration-pages/openbodice15.htm

Daily Inspiration - Anonymous

Portrait of a Woman - Anonymous Painter

circa 1550

from: http://starlightmasquerade.com/PortraitGallery/Ladder-Laced-Venetian/inspiration-pages/openbodice23.htm

Update

I haven't posted much lately because I have been unwell, and I have been struggling with my projects. One of the problems I have been having is with my hands, which are not working well. This has been making it difficult to get the embroidery for the 'Perfectly Period Pink' IRCC Challenge done on time.
Also, I tried on my blue front lacing dress and it looks pretty awful. I must have lost a lot of muscle tone during my recent illness because it is too big (! what a shock - that has NEVER happened before :-)  !) Now, it just looks sloppy.  (I am happy with the way it looks on the hanger.) That setback has made it hard to keep my motivation up to finish the complete outfit. I will get back into my regular exercise routine, keep plugging away at the Realm of Venus mini-Challenge, and hopefully, when I get back to the project it will look better on me.

Blue dress update

Not much has been happening on any of my projects due to being away and also health problems. The sleeves are a little closer to completion, but not much!

Blue dress update

Hand-sewing the gold bias binding onto the split sleeves is keeping me busy....

Blue dress update

The blue dress is getting very close to completion. I have been playing with different sizes and colours of pearls to see how they will look along the front edge of the bodice, and working on the sleeves.

Testing how pearls will look along the front edge of the bodice.

Blue dress update

Today I have some hand sewing to do on the sleeves that match the blue dress. I made some more bias binding which needs to be hand stitched into place.

The tie-on sleeve and lining waiting to be sewn

The sleeves will be tie-on and have gaps where the chemise will puff out. I have saved some blue fabric to do 'fancy' sleeves later.

I also bought some toupe clips to sew into my Juliet cap to help hold it in place.

Blue dress update

I managed to blunder my way through my first attempt at knife pleating, and I am quite happy with how it turned out. The knife pleats sit much more smoothly than cartridge pleats, and I am now a fan of knife pleating. I had forgotten how much sewing down pleats hurts the fingertips- no difference there between knife and cartridge pleats!

The knife pleats sewn in

I also finished the lacing holes. I am playing with different ways of lacing - here is X lacing. The ladder lacing also looks nice.

I now need to add some hooks and eyes in the gap in the skirt. I am considering adding a modesty placket as well. I will hang the dress for a few more days, then hem it.

I am also pleased to say that the dress fits. I made it a bit looser than I normally make my gowns, mainly because I normally wear a corset which smooths out the lumps and bumps. I won't be wearing a corset with this one, so I think the world doesn't need to see my back fat!

Progress Update

Today I worked on the sleeves for the blue dress, and also started tackling the skirt pleating.

I had hoped to start my project for the ICC Mini-Challenge, but didn't get time. The fabric is washed and pressed, and approved by my furry helper.....

and I have worked on a handful of test panels to pick which design will work best. Now I need to mark my design out and start embroidering.

Blue dress update

I am working on sewing on the bias binding at this stage.

Blue dress update

I worked on the gold bias binding last night but have had a few hiccups with the joins being too thick. I think I have enough in one strip to trim the bodice, but will have to try again for a longer piece for sleeve trimming.