Winter is Coming mini-challenge begins

Via Renaissance Tailor

Via The Walters Art Museum

I've got a bunch of stuff to do this month, but since some coats are on that list and Realm of Venus has warm clothing as the focus of the current mini-challenge, I figured I'd go with it. I'm planning to make a fur lined coat like the one Countess Livia da Porto Theine is wearing in this Veronese portrait held at The Walters. I have a pink silk satin as well as a lynx faux fur in my stash and it just seems so sumptuous. Not to mention the fact that a surprising number of other projects in the queue are in pink, purple, and orange, so I think it will mix and match well.

Posting to the Realm of Venus group, I seem to be in the minority in my thought that the bunching under the arms and fold at the shoulder tip point to a hanging sleeve. Bella agrees with me, however, and pointed out several other portraits with hanging sleeves as well as the possibility that the overall fullness comes from a cut of gown called a Romane/Romana, Roman style. Even if the portrait gown doesn't really have a hanging sleeve, there are enough Venetian and Roman gowns that do, so mine will.

Via Realm of Venus

Of especial interest is this one from Vecellio titled "Women during the Winter, especially courtesans." It has the folded back fur collar and front edges as well as extra fullness and is referred to as a Romane. Plus it has the nifty hanging sleeves. It doesn't have the secondary full sleeve as well, but you can't have everything. The text also talks about it being belted with a silk sash or veil with two tassels on the end. I love that little detail. I've also made one in the past and like how easy they are to wear as a belt, so that may end up being made.

Another image helping out with design is this one of Irene di Spilimbergo by a follower of Titian held in the National Gallery. Her coat does have both the full regular sleeve as well as a second thin hanging sleeve. She's also in a very similar color scheme to Countess Livia, so that's a bonus.

Via National Gallery of Art

Further happiness ensued when I found the pattern layout for a Ropa Romana de pano al Vso in Diego de Freyle's pattern book. Renaissance Tailor has a copy of the image on her site (first image and link of this post,) or the original manuscript is in the Folger Shakespearean Library and giant zooms can be accessed there.

So, fabrics are getting prepped today. I'll probably start the pattern draft tomorrow. It shouldn't be too difficult. I just drafted a gown from Alcega and this should be similar. There is supposed to be more fullness so I'll get to do a comparison of the two drafts, which sounds like even more fun.

Finally found the super zoom so I can see how to tie the frogs

The inspiration for my overgown is another painting in the Prado's collection and I've been taking advantage of the super duper zoom feature. It's a portrait of Catherine of Austria (the wife of Juan III of Portugal.) I saw it first in Janet Arnold in one of the little portraits above a couple of loose and academic gown layouts. The two things I found most interesting were the full sleeves, slashed open and then buttoned closed, and the fact that Catherine is a larger woman. Always nice to see how something fits a bigger body before embarking on its manufacture.

This project is actually supposed to be my mock up for a more extensive version down the road. The inspiration portrait has all that lovely goldwork. I didn't think about it too hard when I started this, but grabbed a blue and yellow cotton upholstery with a pomegranate print I had in stash. That was over a year ago. I'm still working on it and thinking I should have considered harder. This has become a lot more than a quick mock-up, quite obviously. Thankfully, I don't have anything against the fabric, but it is probably not the most accurate choice. With the bright colors, its certainly going to turn out to be much more whimsical than the inspiration. 300 yards into making trim and dozens of buttons later its staying those colors though. I better like it once its done. Like it a great deal, or I don't see myself doing the goldwork, let alone a bunch more buttons in order to make the "real" version.

I stitched on several of the buttons, just to see how I wanted the layout to be. Not particularly thrilled with it. Hoping I'll like it once I get the frogs tied and stitched into place. There are loads and loads of those to make. They don't seem too bad. Just a 4 loop configuration and a knot with a bit of tasseling fringe on the end. Only issue is the sheer number with a pair for each button. Each sleeve has 9 slashes. The inspiration has 3 buttons per slash. I was trying to do less, in part because I have two sizes of button and wanted to use one size only for the sleeves. I alternated 2 on one and then 1 in the middle of the next. Doing that leaves the openings too large. I was going to just fill them with a poof of some sort, but I'm not seeing that sort of treatment on a zimarra with the buttons and frogs (the sleeve on this portrait is unusual enough)so I decided against it. I also have no idea whatsoever what fabric I would use for the puffs. I got 3 opinions on alternating the slightly smaller buttons with the large ones I've already added. The consensus is that it will look just fine as long as they are done in a consistent pattern. I'm going with that. Just need 27 buttons per sleeve. I have around 50 of the buttons done, so that's not too bad. I'm not even going to count the slashes in the chest and the front opening yet. I'm not going to like the totals.

So, I guess I'm going to take a break from button making and switch to tying frogs for a bit and keep experimenting with this sleeve. Doesn't really look like its getting completed this month to be honest. It takes me approximately 25 minutes to make a single button and the whole thing is consuming more time than I'd hoped.

Good luck to everyone doing "Over and Above."

We got keys to the new house and tomorrow should see the heaviest stuff taken over so we can start sleeping there. Today was my daughter's last day at her school and she starts the new one in the morning. Most of my fabric and sewing supplies are packed and ready. Hopefully we'll be settled in a week or so.

I'm still hoping to "play along at home" with the mini-challenge and finally finish my zimarra this month. I made about a hundred yards of a two color trim that I'm tying frogs with and trimming everything with. The sleeves are multipaned and I have one sleeve sewn completely with most of the trim couched on. I'm planning to catch the panes at intervals and sew on decorative buttons. I'll also slash the front and put buttons along those openings as well as center front. I had 10 dozen of the buttons made (there's a picture of some of them up top,) but I've run out of the crochet cotton I was using and can't match it. My estimate was 12 dozen buttons needed. It was suggested that I just make due with what I had, butI also don't like the shade of bright yellow against the gold and blue of the gown. So, I bought a softer color and am starting over. I'm doing two sizes this time around and I think that will add some more interest. The first time around I attached turquoise beads at the tops of the buttons and I think that they will sew on better if I attach the beads when I'm making the shanks and sewing them to the gown. I've got 10 of the larger size and 5 of the smaller. Hoping to do a few more in between moving this week. We'll see how that goes.

Peek a boo

My boys are helping me model the last couple of things.  My 4 year old is under the parasol.  I had thought about making one back in June and found a really great tutorial from Threads Magazine on recovering an umbrella and read up a little on parasol history.  Then I decided that I was probably too chicken to try doing one and just planned to purchase one.  Then I got nervous.  I freely admit that competition has seized me this last week or so and I've started to think about maybe winning this competition by sheer volume of stuff.  With other people working clear up to the deadline and making more and more items I couldn't just sit here today like I'd planned.  The knot in my stomach wouldn't let me.  So, I just started cutting and it was really easy.  Then I spent a few hours sewing on fringe.  I don't know if its apparent, but there are two layers of chainette fringe whipstitched to the edge and then a round of gold trim attached on top of that.  I added a couple of gold rings to the top just for fun.  I'm sort of thinking about adding a large pearl as a finial and then adding a few more along the ribs and in the center of the gold trim on each panel.  That's going to wait though.  It's dinner time and I really am done for sure.  Feeding the kids and sitting around this evening without a project and then going to bed.

Colin is going to help me show off the last thing.  Its another thing that needs more trim after the competition is over.  I intended to wear it open anyway, but I do want to eventually do the buttons and braid all the way down the front.  I concentrated on the shoulder treatment and I'm very pleased with it.  It doesn't look like much on my chair, but really looked great over the dress when I took pictures yesterday.

Just a couple more days and we'll know how this turns out and I'll post all the pictures.

In the mean time, I have a rug to make for a prize for a rapier tournament in a couple of weeks and need to start working on my Russian ensemble for the Artemisian Costuming Challenge.  It's been going on for a bit and I've been doing this.  By the time I get around to starting on it (hopefully Monday) I'll only have 4 months to do another complete outfit.  I guess at least I'm confident that its possible.