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I tell myself: you do not need a new outfit each year. And yet, I'll attend 5 - 6 days of Renaissance festivals each year, so whatever I make will be worn. And technically these outfits aren't all new this year; I started the pants at least 5 years ago. It just took that much longer to find matching materials and patterns for the rest of the outfit. Click through the slides to see how it was put together. Here are the patterns used. Click on the pictures to go to the Simplicity website to see the front of the pattern envelopes. I didn't have a pattern for the underskirt; it was two pieces of fabric, gathered at the waist, each with a curved hem and attached ruffle. The corsets were custom made from the pattern on the Elizabethan Corset Generator.
In past years when attending the KC Ren Fest we've either stayed with friends or found a great deal at a hotel nearby. This year the great deal was actually in Topeka, about an hour away. We stayed at the Senate Luxury Suites in a two bedroom unit. Of course we were sewing late into the night getting buttons on everything. And here is the infamous matching trio at the KC Ren Fest! Hubs is sporting turkey leg stains on his shirt already. 
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The spring Renaissance Festival came and went in April, and we got LOTS of compliments on our costumes! As promised, here is a picture of us all in our finery:  And did I mention that Kate and I had matching outfits? We were busy that day! Part of the time was spent handing out prizes from the musketeer's treasury. We were also in charge of reading the story during the Queen's Tea. The kids were enthralled! We read "The Knight and the Dragon" by Tomie DePaola.
My dearest hubs was also busy pulling triple duty as both Hearald for the Court and Executioner later in the afternoon, plus a Prince of dubious origin when the rest of the Royal Court was at the joust. He loved it all! We have found that elusive thing all couples desire: an activity we like doing together for fun.
And, lest I forget! L looked great in her purple gown. So good, in fact, that I'm doing an Anne Boleyn style dress for her this fall out of green silk. More blog posts to come on that for sure!  And you should see LOTS more from me in the future too. In October Kate and I have a bachelorette TEA party to host. I've already made a miniature music box for that. I just need to get the photos uploaded.... In addition Kate is doing our fall Ren Faire dresses, I have a skeleton of a plan of some pirate/steampunk/renaissance inspired costumes to wear to the KC Ren Fest, new skirt material to make over the Italian dresses from several years ago, a Renaissance princess teddy bear to make for some friends who just had a baby, brown pants to make for the hubby's new fall outfit, plus his black and brown doublets to re-line. Instead of making them reversible I'm just lining each with something more lightweight. I'd say that's enough to keep me busy!
You may recall these green/black Renaissance dresses I'm making are meant to be matching. As such, the pictures of the garment construction up until the little differences DO start to appear is a little confusing. I didn't even try to post photos on Facebook, although I did keep Kate up to date with progress pictures.
Sewing this chemise the second time around took waaaaay less time. This could also be because I already had the pieces cut out, but I'm sticking to my initial sense of accomplishment. Similarly, the underskirt took almost no time at all. Granted, the pleats aren't even, and I didn't even use a style of skirt closure that requires me to get even close to Kate's waist measurement. If I ever sell these skirts on Etsy, this is how I'm making the closure. So, so easy and can cover a variety of waist measurements! Plus, I didn't even melt any fabric with my iron this time around!
Part of the reason the underskirt took less time was because this time around I knew exactly how much fabric I could use for it and how much would need to be left over for the color blocking on the bodice and skirt. I didn't take any pictures of the construction process, and the bodice even looks the same as my own, even if the decoration on the sari is different.
What I didn't get last time was a progress picture of my cheater's method of putting in even-ish box pleats. Having a dress dummy around for this part of the construction saved my bacon. And sanity. Also, because of the way Kate's sari was embroidered she actually has a little more fabric in her skirt than me, but I did have to do some extra hemming and the pattern at the waistband meant the seam allowance on the bodice/skirt seam has no extra wiggle room. I serged the inside edges just to be safe.
And that's all she wrote folks!
No, I did actually get her dress done and delivered. Funny story about the sleeves though: I ran out of wunder-under for the black bands on her sleeves. (Wunder under is a sort of iron-activated web of glue to fuse larger pieces of fabric together.) 3M heavy duty spray adhesive to the rescue! Seriously, it worked almost as well. And of course there were slight adjustments to be done to the shoulder seam, but otherwise it fit pretty well. Kate and I were also able to work on the headpieces to be worn under the black hats for this dress, and for the outfits she's designing. I was relieved because now I can concentrate on Ryan's outfit and...my dress commission! I'm excited, so look for future posts about the dress for Ms. De La Cruz. :) |
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