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Taylor, in Teal (part 3)

5/18/2020

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Ta da! This is the trim design Taylor chose! It was secretly my favorite too, but I didn't want to impose all of my design ideas. It was a WHOLE LOT OF HAND STITCHING but since the faire was cancelled for the spring I had time. 
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It honestly took me a little while to work up the creative energy to get it finished. Pandemics are no joke, even if your local area isn't affected too badly. However, I even had enough trim to do the exposed chemise sleeves and the back where it laces together. 
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The lace edging made it onto the oversleeves!
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You might be wondering if the bodice laces in the back and the skirt ties in the front, how is it held together? I tried brass rings to lace them together, but it sagged weirdly. I settled on dress hooks (think hooks and eyes, but on steroids) all around. I may need to add more when it's worn. 
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Until the general health of the public at large clears up this is Schrodinger's dress - both finished and not. I can tell some re-fitting will need to happen with the sleeves, but I won't be able to tell what needs to happen until the final fitting. Good thing I always build in the ability for my dresses to fit through several sizes - I know I've put on a few stress eating pounds.
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Taylor, in Teal (part 2)

3/29/2020

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A continuation of this previous blog post.

When I started this project, I could tell it would be finished in a time crunch, since we started a bit late for the spring fair. This was to be the first costume I completed from scratch since I had a very busy near-toddler taking up my time. I have been working late nights. 

We decided earlier on that the accompanying color would be grey in the underskirt and sleeve lining. I pulled a budget trick I have used many times before and ordered a cotton sheet set to use for lining fabric, which I used for a very simple chemise. 
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Ah - the first and last time my dress dummy would be used for this dress. The lovely Taylor is smaller than this.
Technically this is an Italian cut, and much of the rest of her dress would lean more to the English style. But, this is also by far the easiest chemise to make with less than exact measurements available.

I rigged up a way to display the dress going forward by hanging my hoop skirt on suspenders, which were in turn hanging on a pretty sturdy hanger.

The grey silk available for contrast also happens to be nearly as thin as tissue. The underskirt is lined with the same grey cotton as the chemise. This is a pattern I've used before: the waistband has no opening, but is several inches bigger than it needs to be. A portion is folded over to take up the extra and ties hold it closed. The ties aren't in place below since I wasn't sure where it should be folded.

I was able to use the full width of the silk, so no hemming on the bottom!
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The teal overskirt was equally as simple - just gathered on a waistband. She wanted a split front, so it just ties there. The bodice will cover it up.

Unfortunately because of the shape of the fabric left over after cutting out the bodice and sleeves I had to turn the fabric and cut panels instead of just gathering the edge. The hem was just serged and turned. The panels did leave a design at the opening and in the back that turned out rather nicely.
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Here is the part I was disgusted with myself later. I didn't take pictures of the construction of the bodice. Time was getting tight. However, it was identical to what we did for the bodice of the Blue Bees dresses. With one crucial exception. Instead of spacing out extra large zip ties like we've done before, Taylor wanted something more flexible. Time to research!

Historically, grass reeds were sometimes used, as were sticks from hedges and rolled linen fabric. These would be replaced from time to time. One option I stumbled upon was hemp twine, or rope. This lovely blogger has already done the research, and I heartily recommend you read her posts if you are headed that direction yourself.

In her post one of the problems she had with sewing corsets was getting the cording into the channels after they were sewn. For my part I used two cords per channel and installed them as I went, using a zipper foot to sew close to the cording.

It was also highly recommended to go with uncoated hemp, and I only found one brand available in the US - fortunately available on Amazon. One spool will do for dozens of dresses! It's usually used in jewelry making with the very largest of openings in beads. As a side note - as this is uncoated hemp, it still smells "fresh." Well, as fresh as a barn full of alfalfa. Good thing Taylor works grooming dogs and I grew up on a farm! 

​When I was done it didn't look weird on the outside - a good sign!

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I upped my display game, filling out the bodice with packing airbags.
The next thing to do was sleeves and trim, and here I stalled. See, this little event called COVID-19 started to affect the middle of the US. It's all happened quite quickly. Schools have shut down, my library is closed for now, and it is looking like our little faire will be cancelled for the spring.

I got some mock-ups pinned on to see what things would look like, but since I'm able to take a breath and not rush through the end of this project I am counting my blessings. Here's a preview of the sleeves, however! 
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The neck trim is from the Falling Leaves dresses.
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Not sure I have enough of this to make the final cut.. But I like it for now!
I will leave this post with the three options I gave Taylor for trim placement. The trim is deconstructed from the Blue Bees dresses. I was more than happy to use up my own stash, since I don't typically use gold tones myself. We'll see what she chose when I make the next post!
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Ladies in Red (Part 2)

3/21/2020

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When the linen first came in, I couldn't wait to get started. Finally, all the blogs I'd read about how to do authentic Renaissance smocking seemed possible on this type of fabric.

I should back up a bit and explain the shirt design I settled on, though. Last year, before I moved, I'd tried doing some smocking on some scrap cotton (I think it was an old sheet), just to see how it would work. Well, it didn't work out too well. I concluded that it was just the wrong fabric. And perhaps I needed a better tutorial. 
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Look how sheer this bleached linen is! What you can't experience here is how soft it is while still holding on to some "body".
When I made the first sketch of the red renaissance dresses, I just put a generic gathered-necked chemise underneath - the simplest design to both draw and make. But the more I researched the style of dress I was going for, the more I realized that I would want an actual hemd (German shirt/chemise) with a higher neck and actual collar. 

​In researching German hemds, I came across the wonderful Cathrin Åhlén's  blog, Katafalk. She is a trained tailor and dressmaker who has a passion for historical dress. The walk-through of her hemd seemed straightforward but also detailed enough that I was willing to give it a shot.
Of course, the real show-stopper here is all the smocking, done by hand. Hundreds (and I do mean hundreds!) of tiny, perfectly straight folds, with meticulous embroidery in decorative patterns over them - daunting for sure. But with every new project, I want to learn something new. 

The next slide show of pictures took many evening hours after work in front of the TV to complete. Each gathering line stitch meant picking up only two or three threads in the fabric, and they had to be a straight and even as possible. And once the gathering lines are all pulled up, each embroidery stitch has to be as neat as you can make your hand stitching. Thankfully (for once), I have a short neck, so there's only a little embroidery that can fit on the collar. 
Once the neck was done, the sleeve cuffs follow suit. After the yards of fabric in the collar, the sleeve cuffs went by in breeze by comparison! I used a different color gathering thread, both for variety, and so I tell in the pictures what I was working on.
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​Before I was even completely through with the neck, I had to get the trim fabric out to see how it would match. I can't believe how well they go together!

I didn't talk about it in the last post, but the shape of the white flower, and the little paisley shaped teardrops are actually very period appropriate for Renaissance Europe, which is one of the reasons we chose it.
As I was nearing the completion of this hemd (I will be making a second one, of course), the pandemic hit. Everything about it feels surreal, but at the same time, I am taking things seriously.

After 4 days of working from home, I could already tell I would need to make an effort to reach out virtually, or my natural introvert/hermit tendencies would leave me miserable. So, I planned a little Facebook Live book review/tea party, and invited friends. It also gave me a deadline to finish the hemd, because I knew I would want to feature it during the tea party.
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Once I got it on Sewing Babe, I was actually impressed with myself. (Please excuse the white bra underneath - this is a necessary size adjustment to Sewing Babe.)
For the tea party, I put the hemd on my dress dummy, Sewing Babe. I'd already purchased some black broadcloth for some simple underskirts, but I hadn't had time to sew the skirts together. So, what you see on Sewing Babe is actually just pinned together!

Even so, I am encouraged that it's already starting to feel more like a dress that could belong to a German Baroness. 
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In this outfit, Sewing Babe has startled me more than once - she makes for an impressive roommate.
There is a post-script to this part of the project, and it has very little to do with the actual project. Life feels very uncertain with the onset of the pandemic. No one knows how it will play out, but I do know myself, and I know that being entirely by myself during this shut down is not good for my mental health. Theoretically, working from home will give me more time to work on projects...it just may not be from my own home. Stay tuned!
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