New Blog!

As some of you know, I gave up on tumblr to publish pictures of the extant gowns I come across due to their near constant changing of their various formats. Basically, they took away the format I preferred without warning or reason. Without the ability to post in a slideshow format, the gowns and other outfits I posted looked...stupid for lack of a better word.

So, I've come over here to play with various formats and I've had some success. You can see the new home for the extant gowns in private collections here at All the Pretty Dresses or http://extantgowns.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to add and comment! I'm looking for advice on what format looks the best. I have three different options up right now; the slideshow, the multiple pictures together with links, and the table format with brief descriptions of each photo. Each has it's own pluses and minuses but, since that blog is specifically to keep a record of extant gowns for researching purposes, please tell me what style you like best.

I'll start tagging the entries soon and they'll use the same tags as I had on the tumblr site.

Coif

I wanted to put this over here to with a bit more explanation. Coifs were worn in the 16th Century as a cap for underneath other hats when you were out, as just a hat when you were in your own home. I wanted to make one because I do some Elizabethan in the SCA but also because they are a nice smallish project that you can finish and show off your embroidery skills at the same time. It's much easier than bothering with a full chemise!

I used red silk for the various designs. The real metal spangles are sewn on with silver/white silk thread. The cap itself is linen. The designs are all based on extant embroidery projects from the 16th Century.

It's hard to tell, but I added small loops of cord at the bottom to act as a drawstring; similar to many extant coifs.

The seahorse design is based off of the Oxburgh design here: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O138490/panel/

The seaweed design is loosely based on this:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O13571/pillow-cover/

Under the Redcoat

As anyone following me on LJ knows, I've been going nuts trying to get a ton of outfits done by this past weekend. I did it. Here's the photographic evidence:

Just read the caption on flickr to figure out that one. It was worn the first day we were there.

I swore there was one of me wearing my tan and pink striped round gown but I can't find it now. I wore it Saturday. It needs pink linen trim around the neckline, badly, because I'm only a shade lighter than the tan!

On Sunday, I wore this:

Originally, I wanted a red velvet belt to go with it but I couldn't find my belt buckle...until we got to Williamsburg. By then, I didn't have access to red velvet! Oh well, next time.

Ignore my face in this picture. I look like I swallowed a bee and ate a blueberry. I re did the trim on the pink dress...again. This is the third time. I think I finally like it. It looks right with this style dress. Now, to make sure I don't swallow a bee or a blueberry next time I wear it....

Mom's outfits:

I can't find any pictures of Mom wearing her brown striped dress although she liked that one.

Mom and me. No, I have no idea what we were looking at. Probably the campfire...or Ice Cream making!

Mom's green silk dress. It needs a bit of work but she loved it. It's going to be her Halloween outfit. Now to get Dad to be the headless horseman!

My latest Regency Gown

While I've been working like mad on everything for Under the Redcoat (I need to make mine and Mom's outfits!), I did squeeze in a new Regency era gown. This one is in the style of about 1803~1804. The bodiced petticoat is out of purple silk. The overdress is out of off white cotton voile. I wore my blue stays and a Regency styled chemise beneath the gown...and gray boots!

The picture is stolen from Maggie (thanks, Maggie!) since I forgot to take any of myself. The skirt is embroidered with white cotton cord down the front and around the entire hem line. I bought that material off of etsy a while ago along with another piece, both of which are about 3 yards, because they did look lovely and are easy to make into skirts. The hard part was finding a "vanilla" NOT white matching sheerish cotton to make the bodice out of. I found it recently on ebay and went about making this dress on Thursday. :-)

A quick post to show I'm alive

It's didn't come out the way I hoped, but this is the Steampunk Ever After Just Breathe Gown. I'm planning on ripping off the sleeves and redoing those completely. I want to shorten the bodice and the straps of the bodice but that's it for the main body of the gown.

Elizabethan!

This was me on Friday Night! I wore my Elizabethan.



Although this photo is a bit blurry, I thought the side view gave the perfect shape.




I loved seeing everyone and hope y'all had a good time despite some of the issues we all experience. Sunday was an awesome day if nothing else.

Elizabethan!

First, hello new people! I think I have five new people on my blog since last time I posted.

Second...



I actually finished it! Yay! After a huge issue with the first pair of stays in which I cut out the wrong pattern -the stays themselves were perfect...for a Venetian bodice to a dress; anyone have a lot of bright coral pink linen lying around so I can make a skirt for it?- I decided to go back to the drawing board and made a pair of pink silk stays instead.


I drafted my own pattern:





I used my 18th C stay pattern as a base, lined up all the pieces, drafted out a few of the lines, and then redrew the stays into one piece on muslin. I then tried on the muslin, corrected a couple of minor issues, and used that as my Elizabethan Stays pattern.


The stays are made out of pink silk, linen, and buckram. I used good ole duct ties for boning and it's fully boned in the front but only lightly boned in the back.


The smock is 100% linen. It has a couple of minor issues but nothing that should show up while I'm wearing the entire outfit.


The skirt is 100% linen as well but has cotton (machine) blackwork all over it. The difference between the weight of the skirt linen and the smock linen is night and day. The skirt almost has the same weight as a pair of jeans and the smock feels like a handkerchief. I know some people were thinking of using the skirt linen as a chemise but I really don't see how. It's so heavy! Which is great for a skirt or a kickin' pair of 16th C Italian bloomers (hmmm...) but not so much for a chemise/smock.


I'm planning on wearing this Friday night. I should get some good pictures from that!