Bits, bobs, and buttons for the belt

I'm hoping to have something of the underskirt ready to show tomorrow. I've got one eyelet left to do on the band, finished the seams on the shell and lining, and have most of the lining attached at the hem. I'm a little worried because the eyelets are HUGE due to the size of the aiglets. I think I need to find something other than what I have (small gold bolo tie ends I got on clearance several years ago) to do the aiglets for the sleeves and for the side back lacing. They aren't any larger than what they'd be if I'd reinforced with a washer, but they sure seem gargantuan and I don't think I want to put holes that large in the velvet. I've never done eyelets on velvet so I'm a bit nervous. It doesn't seem like the fabric would spread without having to cut them. Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough.

Fretting about the size of the eyelets took out a good portion of my morning work time. I also had a new SCAdian come over and we got her a basic underdress and Norse apron dress designed and cut out so she can make herself clothes for the first camping event of the season in two weeks. I'm pretty sure she thought I was nuts ripping rectangles of fabric and drawing big triangles, but we got it done quickly, and I think she's going to have something fun to wear. There went the rest of the morning (but I had a lot of fun.)

So, in a moment of sacrifice, in order to have something to show for today, I went shopping again. The girdle has been on my mind. I've been really concerned about the scale. Its such a large piece, there's nothing dainty about it whatsoever. Most of the findings and components I've been looking out that have the look of those in the girdle are far too small. I've been sort of considering making them from polymer clay, but am afraid that won't look quite right for such a large piece, especially if I do the zibellino's head in clay too. I lucked out yesterday and found some pendants and some buttons that I think are going to work. They aren't as rounded and dimensional as those in the portrait, but the scale is right. That's a quarter in the center of the picture, just to give you an idea. I also have some other large goldtone beads with a filigree finish that I couldn't find for the picture (my big bead box is hiding somewhere in the house and I'm going to need to clean to locate it. Last time I saw it was mid-March.) They are a little bit smaller, but should work texturally with the rest of these and are still pretty large beads. I'll probably swap them out for the pictured beads which I bought for a Russian necklace and I think they're a much better match for that project. I still need to find some tube shaped beads to fill in, but I think I have a start. I may need to add a bit of enamel paint to the filigree ovals just to break up all the gold and approximate the look of the portrait. Even better would be if I could find a glass gem to put in the center depression.

More sewing on the skirt to do today, maybe playing with patterns for embroidering the breeches, and always more lace to make

Itty bitty details of no consequence

I spent all yesterday making the underskirt lacing string because I am silly. I also worked for quite awhile on the waist band. This was also a ridiculously silly thing to do.

My backstitch has gotten better recently. It is much more regular and even, not to mention straighter, than it used to be. I taught a class on trapunto quilting at an SCA Collegium a couple of weeks ago and sewing up the demonstration samples and practicing so I could teach it really improved my sewing. So, I figured I should use the skill and sew the seams for the waistband by hand. Yeah, probably not my smartest move for time management. No one is ever going to notice as they are all hidden seams. Ah well, I guess I know.

I also decided to braid the lacing string for the skirt. I already had my marudai set up to do one of my favorite kumihimo braids and the colors just so happened to be red and gold with black They're my heraldry colors so that's not really a surprise, but they do match the dress nicely. It's one of the braids in Jacqui Carey's Beginning Braiding (which has been retitled in the new edition.) So, that's what I did with my day, I braided and backstitched, and suddenly the day was gone.

The braid came out nice, but I wasn't thinking about the fact that I needed it to fit my aiglets when I rejoiced over the fact that the braid was already set up. The braid came out quite a bit too thin for the hardware. I sewed it in and the ends aren't going anywhere, but its not a smooth transition between the braid and the aiglets. They're more like little baubles dangling on the ends. I should have put twice as much thread onto the bobbins. I guess its a good thing no one will be noticing the tie on my underskirt, because I'm not replacing it after spending hours making it. I feel like a total loser for deciding to braid it and then doing it wrong, when I could have just grabbed a piece of cording and accomplished the same thing in under 5 minutes. PPPHHHHPHPHT. Let it go and move on I guess. I still have 5 of the 6 eyelets on the waistband to sew and a day or so of cartridge pleating to do once I finish the seams on the skirt, because now that I handsewed the waist band, I felt duty bound to hand fell the skirt seams. Not to mention the hem that has to be sewn. I'm considering cording the bottom of the skirt as well, in addition to stiffening the hem with braid since I'd like to be able to use it for double duty under my Elizabethan loose gown.

I bought my fabric!

I didn't intend to buy my fabrics yesterday. Really. Not that my husband believes me. "If you went INTO the fabric store, you obviously intended to buy something."

I was just sort of vaguely looking. I didn't think I'd find anything. I assumed I'd have to order online. But then I got a deal. I had a 50% off one cut of fabric coupon. Home dec fabrics were 50% off, and red tagged clearance fabrics were an additional 50% off. I found silk in the red tags. In a pretty rosy gold. For $4.50 a yard. It was a sign. So, I started looking for the other fabrics.

I had originally intended to buy silk velvet. I hadn't found exactly the color I wanted though and was ordering swatches at a couple of online shops. Instead, I gave into impulse and bought red cotton velvet yesterday. Its not exactly what I wanted, but to be truthful, having the cleanability (is that a word?) of the cotton is probably a wise choice with my children. It's easier to work with, and since I got it for $6.50 a yard I really am not going to complain.

I found a nice cotton jacquard with scrolling pattern in the same rosy gold as the silk for $3 a yard. Its going to be the underskirt. I'm going to start working on that today I think. Cartridge pleating and more cartridge pleating. I'm actually rather pleased with the color I got. As I said before, I've been working on a never ending Elizabethan loose gown project. The colors for that are blue and gold. The gold cartridge pleated underskirt should be perfect for wearing under that as well. So, I'll be making twice the progress. Whoo-hoo!

Speaking of progress, I just emailed my second progress report in and did a recap of the last week. So there it is, a week in and I have purchased my fabrics for the dress, found a fur to make into a zibillino, put together a pocket, finished a fan, made a muff, and hand sewn a handkerchief. I also have about 8 yards of lace made for the camicia sleeves and have pretty much figured out the pattern for the lace I will make to go in between the body gores.

Not too shabby, even if the biggest projects are still to come.

Frosting

There's snow on my front lawn. Not a lot, but it stormed pretty badly yesterday. While it made for a pretty image with the lace and the snow on the grass (even if I can't take a decent picture so you don't get to see the great image,) I am done with snow.

Trying to think of something summery to do in protest of the weather. I'm considering making another fan. The one I made seems a bit sad. Not sure if its the handle or the the feathers, but it just doesn't seem as nifty as I'd hoped. Maybe real ostrich plumes would help, I'm not sure. I'm thinking I might try a flag fan style to see if I like that better. If not, I guess I need to buy some ostrich plumes and fuss with the handle a bit more and see if I can get it to something I like.

Lacemaking continues. Slowly. The hand sewing I did for the hankie sort of derailed my handwork time. I'll work on it more today.

My Great-Granny would have something to say.

I'm not sure if it would be positive or not, but my great-grandmother would most certainly have something to say about my attempt at a hankie. My mother is a fabulous seamstress, but it was my great-granny who started me sewing. We would go out to her house pretty much every spring. She lived on main street in a tiny town. There wasn't much to do, but I remember everything we did. We went asparagus gathering by the railroad tracks with my grandpa. He showed us the boat he was building. He taught us to play pool. Grandma taught us how to play poker. She taught me to crochet and started me making interminable hot pads. Most importantly, she taught me how to sew. It was on handkerchiefs. The year I was five she taught me how to iron on hankies and then she handed me a needle and thread and showed me how to make a tiny hem. Her little hidden stitches were absolutely amazing. My hems will never be that neat and precise and beautiful. So, as I said; my granny would have something to say.


It still isn't finished yet, so you'll be seeing this again tomorrow when I actually get the reticella looking squares inserted and the fabric cut away. Right now they are just sitting on the linen to show you the proposed layout. I was going for something sort of like this hankie in the V&A (288-1906) dated around 1600. I really love this one too with its frothy lacy and this one all embroidered in red. The first one won out because a) its Italian and b) I had lace that would work. If I did the reticella by hand I'd still be here in a year or so, so my hankie isn't going to be that spectacular. I had some bits and pieces of lace I got in a grab bag from a local manufacturer of children's heirloom clothing about 2 years ago. They've just been simmering in my stash and this was the perfect place for them. I wish there had been 2 different motifs, but having something that looks sort of vaguely at all like old Italian lace is a stroke of luck, so I suppose I can't complain. I just hemmed the edge and whip stitched the lace to the edge. I had sort of planned to do a drawn work edge and thus do some handwork of my own, but since it took a day to get the hem done with all the interruptions at my house, I'm just going to do the insertion and call it good. Not nearly as delicate as I would like, but it does at least reference the extant piece. Its just infinitely, infinitely cruder. That's the frustration, isn't it? Wanting to have more skill than possible and wishing I could make all the pieces when no one actually did that themselves.

But, I almost have a hankie. Should finish it later today and then either move on to the hat or take a detour and start the underskirt just to work on something other than accessories. I'm starting to get a little worried about how slow the lace is going, especially since this is just the insertion for the sleeves and I still need to make different patterns for the hem, neckline and insertions between the gores. Its only a week in, how am I this far behind?

Tiny bubbles

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; Seraphina is the best. While she was fitting my bodice the other day, I was babbling about the partlet and how I wasn't sure how I was going to get the right look. I'd looked at goblet pleats (shape if good, but the fabric lost its sheerness,) smocking pleats (too rigid and geometric of a shape) sculptured box pleats (both problems) and a few other types of treatments and was getting nowhere fast on the partlet problem. She smiled, went to her stash closet and pulled out this sheer linen with gathering threads woven in and handed it to me. PERFECTION!

I was over thinking it. Rows of gathers is going to give me the soft bubbly dimensional appearance of the portrait. The plan is then to couch over the gathering lines and add some sort of decorative stitch as well. That should stabilize the gathers and give me the finished look I want for the partlet.

Big sigh of relief from me. The partlet is such a large part of the visual for the portrait that I knew I had to get it right. Doing pleats was going to be pretty time consuming as well. This should be much faster and easier. Since the gathering threads are already in the fabric I don't have to measure and hope the threads I put in stay and don't break. There is much happy dancing here. A project that was going to take a month of handwork should be done in a week. At least that is the hope. Depends on what I decide to do for the decorative stitching.

I should finally get back to making progress on the project after a weekend of family. I have some lace that is really reminiscent of reticella. The plan is to play with that a bit and see if I can come up with a hankie. I also need to get the wood rasp out and start shaping my chopines. Probably most urgent though is the need to shop a little harder and see if I can find a fabric for my dress.

Edumacating myself

I was planning to just keep the research for this to what I needed to make a nice dress, since Italian is not my area of research for my persona. Shows me for thinking. This is just far too interesting to not read and read and read.
I decided on my portrait because of the subject matter. Finding a little more out about Camilla is really fascinating and I think its going to add to the outfit.

First of all, she's not from either Venice of Florence, which I suppose does explain why her dress is a bit different from so many other portraits. She's from Mantua and married into one of the most prestigious families in Emilio-Romagna, living near Parma. Parts of the house she lived in still stand, decorated with amazing frescos.

The house apparently offers tours and as part of their production, they do a reenactment of Camilla's marriage to her husband Pier Maria Rossi. That's him in the picture to the left. It's a companion piece to her portrait, also done by Parmigianino. How cool is that! If I ever decide to get ambitious again, my husband might need garb to match mine. Sounds like a totally fun vacation destination too. I'm pretty drawn to the wallpaper behind Pier Maria there. Maybe artichokes will find their way into some of the embroidery on the drawers,

I also started looking into shoes. I knew I wanted to make some chopines, but wasn't sure what the shoes to wear with them looked like. Hadn't thought too much about it yet, but since I am down at my parents, and my dad has a pretty great woodshop, it sort of asserted itself. I started thinking about shoes so I could make sure to size the chopines correctly. I found some wonderful info here. I adore the cutwork effect of the pinking on the extant pair to the right. The pinking on this pair of chopines seems sort of similar and I might fiddle with it a bit to see if its something I can do if I simplify the pattern a bit. A trip to Tandy is in the works once I get home. I'm hoping to get the wood for the chopines at least crudely cut today so I can carve and shape it later this week.

Lots to do today with family, so I don't see much else happening with the project until Monday other than more lacemaking in the car on the way home.