German(oid)

 

I finally got off my tush and started on the Collegium gown.
I went through a moment last night of "X told me that I have to start building my reputation all over again, since Noelle did 13-14th C English and French, and nobody knows that the Serafina who does Italian is the same person".  But meh - I get bored, and want to learn MOAR STUFF.  On that same note, I have kind of forgotten how hard it was in the beginning of the Italian Experiment.  I didn't know what websites to frequent, what books to reference, what people to bug for info.....it's all coming back to me now.  It's exhilarating and a bit frustrating all at the same time to start over from scratch!

But anyway, back to the gown.  I decided that my turquoise linen had marinated and aged in the stash long enough that it'd be the perfect candidate for a German gown.  I took an existing bodice pattern I had drafted for Holly and squidged it around to move the seams to the sides, lengthen the body, and move the shoulder straps around.

Bertha does not at all showcase how well it fits on me, but you'll get the idea (I hope).  The neckline looks way high on Bertha, but since I have a crazy long waist and a crazy short ribcage, it hits just a bout right (when taking into account the seam allowances.  (I'll post piccies of me in it once the side seams are put in.)

(The linen IRL is a smoodge brighter and a bit more green than shows in this pic.)

I got all the bodice pieces cut out and realized that I had no interlining.  D'OH!  I was really frustrated for a minute, until I realized that I still had the little problem of headgear to deal with.  I've been surfing around the 'net, and haven't really found anything that makes a whole lot of sense to someone who has never done anything like this before.  I found what appeared to be a very basic head dress, but the more I read it, the more confused I got.  (It's over here.)  Because I'm a wuss, I haven't emailed the author yet for clarification.  I should, tho.  I'm most confused about:

1.  the football and half football shapes.  Is there two half footballs?  Are the two differently-shaped pieces sewn together, or are there two separate entities?

2.  How does the cap stay on?  Is it the unterhaube the only thing keeping it on the head?

3.  the linen unterhaube......what's up with the pleats?  To what am I pleating to fit to, size-wise?  I'm pretty sure the pleats are in the back, but I don't at all get how it all stays on the head and gets the end result she has in her pictures.

I figured I could forge ahead and make the 'bump' with relatively little problem.  (Even if it's not following the instructions above)  I made a tapered tube (looking a lot like the shape on the right side of the instructions above), but instead of cutting notches, I stuffed it first, shaped it, and tacked darts into the underside to shape it since I didn't know how much to take out for the notches.  I'm torn as to whether it turned out too small, or too big.  It feels wrong on my head somehow, yet on the foam head, it looks pretty good.  (Maybe it's just my face.  There are certain hairstyles/headwear that don't look good on me no matter what I do.

(Note, the head is seriously about 10% smaller than the size of my head, so proportions *are* off, which may be why it doesn't look so good on me.  Hm.  Maybe.)

Do I *NEED* a new dress? No. Do I *WANT* a new dress? YES.

 

The Mary gown I want to do *RIGHT*, so that means that it's out for Collegium.  So, on the less-complicated spectrum of things, There are some of the ones I'm thinking about.  (Yes, I've been bitten by the German bug, canyatell?)

I'm thinking of doing the earlier style below - it's not done a whole lot in these parts, and I love the big long sleeves, and if I can find it, I think I have a bodice pattern all ready drafted up that would start the process along nicely.  I'll probably end up doing the high-necked shirt (as in the first two) - I might even be able to repurpose one of my Italian shirts for the purpose.  (Totally TBD at this point)

I just need to figure out what fabrics I want to use, and I'll get rockin' and rollin' on this project.  I don't think it would be terribly intensive, so hopefully I can finish it in a reasonable amount of time.

I have other pictures that have this shoulder-cape dealio, (that seem to be worn with the style above - but I can't find 'em right now) and if I have time, I'd LOVE to do one of these, too.

Smocking patterns - the decision (maybe)

 

Many thanks to those of you who weighed in - I was pretty much at the same place, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't off in left field!

To recap, the pattern is this:

To avoid any potentially uncomfortable situations, I will be replacing the not-actually-a-swastika with something else.  (A concession I'm totally OK with, but it grates me to no end that a perfectly fine (and ancient!) geometric pattern has been absconded with and made to have extremely negative connotations.)

Graphed out, the original looks like so:

I've come up with two alternate versions:

or

I'm kind of liking the second alternate.  What do you all think?

Huh.

 

ARGH!  So, the Queen Mary gown I'm starting on........back in the day, I did a *ton* on internets research on it.  (Things happened, I got distracted by Italian, etc. etc.)

And now that I've come full circle, I can't find all the stuff I found the first time 'round.  (Namely detailed Janet Arnold-esque construction details.)

Argh.

Anyway, I've been looking for some portrait comparisons in the same-ish date range that have similar attributes:

All three have the extra-long sleeves, and the two on the right have the right neckline.  I've not found anything that has the same type of chemise (or whatever it's called in this time and place), however.  Total bummer.

ETA:  Hold the phone!  it's the wrong 'style' of gown, but here's one that has a blackworked underdealio (smock/chemise/camacia-y thing.  Must find correct terminology so I don't continue to look like a total dweeb.)

HOLY CRAP!!!!!

 

I've read about color-shot fabrics in period, but here's the first evidence I've found of it in portraiture.........HOLY CRAP!  Does anyone else have any concrete visual examples?  Do share with the class!

Queen Mary Gown - New Obsession

 

Thanks to Jaquelinne, I have a more-different-other obsession to pursue.  (heh)

Because of my gold and green brocade obsession, I'm completely prepared for this project.  :D

Here's the original damask, and the top two picks:

(The first one has the best drape, and has a richer tone, though the gold is more bronze.  The second and third are the same fabric, right and wrong sides.)

The smocking is going to take a whole lot longer than construction of the gown, so I think I will have plenty of time to decide which fabric to use.

I've spent a great portion of today researching the gown and drafting out the smocking pattern.  The smocking is really interesting - it's satin stitched, rather than a 'normal' smocking stitch.  I'm a bit nervous about it, but the more I look at it, the more I think I'll be able to do it.  (After a bit of practice!)

Thanks to the miracles of graph paper, Photoshop, excel and paint, I've drafted up a pretty good pattern (if I do say so myself.)

The major downside of going with the exact pattern is that there is a reversed swastika.  See it?

So, here's the dilemma - do I carry around a picture and explain it any time anyone says anything about it and do a faithful re-creation of the pattern, or do I find some other pattern to fill the square?  Hm.