Yay I've got a pretty costume!
I've had a bit of a garb emergency. I found out FRIDAY I need to play a noble character this WEDNESDAY. And I need to be dressed and ready to go an hour after I finish a full day of work, and half an hour of that is taken up with a subway ride. So I've been sewing like a madwoman all weekend trying to get the costume ready. And I did it! Hooray!
Full length
Close-up, with appropriately haughty noble face!
Back view!
The sleeves are the same yellow cotton brocade as the gown, lined with black (shudder!) polyester. Don't judge, this was a fast and cheap project, and this was the only fabric that a)co-ordinated and b)was slippery in the remnants bin at Fabricland. The sleeves are attached with the highly technical method of attaching shank buttons to the sleeve and hair elastics to the arm hole of the dress. Since the arm holes of the gown were not designed for sleeves they needed to be fairly loose so I only used one point. Luckily my chemise has enough poof to it that it looks good!
The cap is my first ever beading project. I used real pearls, but the fabric is actually a scrap of some sort of piled knit that my mom had left over from attempting to make my Dad a housecoat in the '80's. It's a weird combination of high and low quality materials, but it stays on my head, looks good, and doesn't require me to do a lot of fuss with my hair.
And I once again pride myself on no visible machine stitching- except sort of on the hat, but you can't really see it because it's hidden in the fabric pile.
End result- a fairly decent looking costume that your average person is going to say "yeah, that's renaissance!" that I can put on by myself with minimal fuss (the back of the gown is low enough that I can lace myself in). Yay me!
p.s. The only thing I had a pattern for was the hoop skirt. Everything else I drafted myself. YAY ME!!!!!!!!
Full length
Close-up, with appropriately haughty noble face!
Back view!
The sleeves are the same yellow cotton brocade as the gown, lined with black (shudder!) polyester. Don't judge, this was a fast and cheap project, and this was the only fabric that a)co-ordinated and b)was slippery in the remnants bin at Fabricland. The sleeves are attached with the highly technical method of attaching shank buttons to the sleeve and hair elastics to the arm hole of the dress. Since the arm holes of the gown were not designed for sleeves they needed to be fairly loose so I only used one point. Luckily my chemise has enough poof to it that it looks good!
The cap is my first ever beading project. I used real pearls, but the fabric is actually a scrap of some sort of piled knit that my mom had left over from attempting to make my Dad a housecoat in the '80's. It's a weird combination of high and low quality materials, but it stays on my head, looks good, and doesn't require me to do a lot of fuss with my hair.
And I once again pride myself on no visible machine stitching- except sort of on the hat, but you can't really see it because it's hidden in the fabric pile.
End result- a fairly decent looking costume that your average person is going to say "yeah, that's renaissance!" that I can put on by myself with minimal fuss (the back of the gown is low enough that I can lace myself in). Yay me!
p.s. The only thing I had a pattern for was the hoop skirt. Everything else I drafted myself. YAY ME!!!!!!!!