Geometry

I'm on the 4th patterning of the hairnet, and have made it all up once only to fail (7 hours down the drain).  The cording is so stiff that any slack in the shape turns into a big wing off the side of the head.  I thought I'd be able to draw up an oval at the bottom the way store-bought snoods are done but the stiffness had it looking more like a pizza hat.  Failing that I flat drafted it with zigzag edges to be able to weave the net together at the bottom and I really thought that would work, but it was still huge in back when I sewed it up.  Building it on a headform gives a skullcap with a bubble in back, still not where I need to be but closer.  I need a hat block the right shape!  That's not going to happen today so I will drape a few more shapes & see if I can stumble on the secret.  Chalk up another frustrating day. 

Oh look! A peek!

I still have to make the chemise & hairnet but the dress is wearable. It's all about finding that perfect fabric. I found enough random parts to make the pendant too! 

 

Light at the End of the Tunnel

 

Here's the finished partlet.  You can see where the tension got wonky.  It looks worse in the photo than it really is because the mannequin isn't shaped like a  corseted body. The lines should lay straighter when it's on and pinned to the corset in back. 

 

Today's goal was to get the skirt attached to the bodice & get the hemming done.  I put a 2.5" canvas guard around the bottom to protect the velvet from abrasion & because the period examples I've studied seem to do that consistently.  This photo is where the train turns so there's a curve to ease in.

Still plugging along

Today's goal: pleat the skirt.  I have the partlet done at last.  The scale isn't a match to the portrait but it would have taken twice as long to make the grid squares half as big, and only hardcore folks who know the portrait will know it's off.  Lesson learned: shoulders are multi-curved.  Gold braid is stiff & not curved.  If you want the shoulder to lay truly smooth you have to compensate for the curves and hollows when you plan the grid pattern.  That forces you to really look at the shoulders in the portrait and they seem unrealistically sloped.  I've seen shoulders like that, but only on small frame excessively overweight women.  Certainly not on the waiflike figure that was Eleanora.  We'll see how much I can force the grid to lay flat when it's on and pinned to the corset.  It's already obvious I won't be able to dress myself & get all the pieces to lay right.

I've been studying the portrait, the copy dress that King Studios did, other period paintings, and the fabric to figure out the best way to make the pleats look like I want them to.  I'm ready to start pinning & see where it goes, while contemplating where I'm going to find the jewelery bits.

Christmas & 12th Night are creeping closer & I'm making minimal headway on dear Eleanora.  I feel like I've been sewing pearls on snakes for a week.  The actual labor time so far is a surprising 8+ hours on the partlet and I think half of that is replacing the pins that got stuck on my sleeve and torn out requiring re-tensioning, or de-knotting the thread every time it gets hung on a pin.  I'm not a fan of handwork and this has to be some of the most frustrating and slow I've ever done.  Kudos to you folk who do network & the like by choice. I hit the point where I stopped trying for perfection & went for just get it done about 6 hours into it.  Sadly, it's obvious.

Partlet time

Stitch & bitch on a wet, cold Thursday evening with costume obsessed folk & I managed to get something done despite the good company & great books.  I discovered that foamcore poster board now has 1/2" grid marked on it.  That's convenient, because my plan was to get some foamcore & draw the pattern I draped on it and then grid it, pin the cord to it, and sew right on the pinup.  So far, so good.  I pinned the gold cording (surprisingly tough to find this time of year) in a 1.5" grid pattern.  I tried to layout as if it were network (zigzags) but there was too much curve in the joins. To get that clean 90 degree at each pearl the cords have to cross.  I left the sides open so I can lattice them together easily after it's off the foamcore.  That's all one continuous piece of cord. I'm not sure if I'll add something in the center back on that V or not, since most of it will be under the dress. I feel very productive!

Partlet

I've finished draping the partlet (on myself, in a corset, must be nuts).  3 tries to get all the key places to lay flat.  The shoulders have some curve that I'm not sure if I can transfer to the net layout or even if it will matter given net's flexibility. Looking at the closeups of the painting the original didn't have any curve but we don't know what the back looks like and straight over the shoulder will skew the back a bit (and the flat vs curvy problem comes into this as well, part of the shoulder curve offsets the extra fabric caused by where the corset breaks). I have this idea that I can transfer the pattern to a piece of foam core & draw the net grid, then pin the cord to it and sew right on the board.  Task for tomorrow: find a big piece of foamcore.

Finally back to Eleanora!

bodice front

with sleeve

bodice back

At long last, time for the first real fitting.  I thought I'd try something different & put the lacing rings inside instead of trying to do worked rings on the velvet but it doesn't hide the way I'd hoped.  That I'm totally unhappy with so I will have to re-do the closing.  The fabric was too bulky to do the sleeve tops the way I usually do but I think they'll be OK when there's a chemise & real aiglettes on it.  On the bonus points side, the fit is near perfect.  I drafted the corset off the bodice pattern so the lines would match up and that was worth the effort.  I'm hoping the tabs will help support the weight of the skirt . Now you can see how I fit myself--mirrors and a camera!

Unexpected History

The holidays are a great time for just stumbling into all sorts of discoveries.  I've been rooting in my parent's slide files hoping to find a photo of me in the halloween costume that traumatized me enough to influnce wardrobe choices forever.  It doesn't appear that one was immortalized, but I found a previously unknown pic of the first thing I ever sewed.  Funny, as much as I hated it then for the mismatched fabrics, it fits right into the now with its salvage esthetic and (heh!) mismatched fabrics.  Here I am, aged about 10, in my first maker finery. I learned to sew without patterns & still have a tough time using them.

Gaaah! It's December!

Has it really been a month already? The holiday season has bumped up the activity level and I'm of course getting behind, but it's time to regroup & evaluate what's coming. 

But first, a word on books (in time for gift giving!):  Latest find at the Barnes & Noble bargain book table is a small-format version of Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century, The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute.  $19.99 and it's been reported at this price in Portland and Seattle stores so I bet if you poke around you'll find it somewhere.  For the fashion lover or the period costumer this is an awesome book packed with color photos (aka eye candy) of the extant stuff in their extensive collection.  You have a friend who wants it, or perhaps you can hint to them to get it for you.

For a bigger budget bite, take a look at Fashion The Definitive History of Costume and Style.  This is a coffee table sized book done by Smithsonian/DK that's a timeline of silhouettes with vignettes about who you might have heard about that wore them, photo details of random extant examples, construction notes and bits of history.  If you need a quick reference to show other people historical examples to get the point across, this is the best I've seen and it's a fun read about costume history.  I expect it to become one of my most-used very quickly.

I'm feeling very inspired by all the positive feedback after wearing the turquoise Venice gown to Swashbuckler's Ball (which was a nice ball indeed! ~so many lovely pirates).  I must find time to do another and I've joined an 18th C stitch & bitch group to see if that can keep me on task.  Oh look! Squirrel!

The holiday costume season began yesterday with the santas and bananas descending en-masse on NoPo and kept on last night with the Krampusnacht Ball.  I sincerely WISH that promoters would stop slapping "ball" on the name of every event because it devalues the ones that really are balls and gives folks the idea that a ball is a place where jeans and a T shirt are OK.  A BALL IS A BIG DEAL REQUIRING APPROPRIATE DRESS.  It's not just another bar gig with DJs.  Lady Raven has it figured out, wonder why none of the other promoters can hit the spot? 

12th Night is coming on fast and I'm still staring at pieces of Eleanora but she's now joined by the rebuild of last year's Vespertine gown (Ralph Lauren fabric embroidered in pearls & silver thread!) and fabrics I've been accumulating for something pewter colored and inspired by that last 3 Musketeers movie.  There's a red satin prom dress looming on the horizon so I need to get my plate cleaned up a bit. This is going to be one crazy busy holiday season!

Taking Shape

Status: We have a plan

OK I’ll admit I’m backing into the first parts of this.  The materials were accumulated over a year ago.  I’ve made a lot of Italian gowns so I have base patterns to work from though the fit has to be debugged for each fabric.  I was a good way into the project before I thought I’d blog it so I'm catching you up. 

Status: Limits: must be wearable for an event in January, so deadline Dec 31. I wish I’d tracked the hours & $ to date but I didn’t. Suffice it to say expensive in labor and $. I also know better than to do a project this big in spare time in a 2 month window, but apparently I’m a glutton for punishment. It would have been reasonable to do this over a 12 month period. So I will not be the one surprised if I miss the deadline.

Status: Material substitutions: I’m using modern materials which have the look but are heavier and won’t move as well.  The fabric is brocaded cotton velvet.  I’m using cotton canvas inside the bodice for stability and to keep the expense down some.  That will also give me something sturdy to anchor to for closures b/c the velvet is a bit fragile despite its weight.  Plastic buttons for the jeweled sleeve clips b/c they were the right shape and scale. Premade cord trim instead of corded gimp for the neckline & sleeve openings, and the base is black not linen.  If I bother to blackwork the chemise it will be done by machine.  I will substitute metallic soutache or trim for the lucet cord used in the partlet and hairnet because I’m not competing with this, just wearing it.

 

 Status:Authenticity Level: Close but not authentic. Sleeve strips lined in silk.  Brass rings sewn inside for closures.  Hem guard.  Material substitutions as noted.  Machine sewn because I’m not a martyr (see handwork reference above). Chemise is silk. All goldwork is synthetic. Pearls are real.

Will it look like the painting? Um, nope. Eleanora di Toledo was a much smaller woman than me.  Janet Arnold notes dimensions on the extant burial gown to be about 26” at the waist and 31” at the bust, which puts her near a modern size 6-8 and she seems unusually flat chested compared to other paintings in her period.  We’ll  see in the end how much difference the neckline makes to the illusion.

Status: Pattern drafted & tested.  I started from a 1550s Italian I did that mostly worked in the wearing.  The front waistline and neckline had to be reshaped for the dipped front and to accommodate as much of the brocade motif as possible.  I made a mockup of the bodice in another brocade & lined with the canvas so I could use it for another dress some other time.

Bodice mockup front

Bodice mockup back

Once I had the fit issues worked out in fabric I traced the parts on transparent paper & tweaked the lines to accomodate where the brocade motif would fall.

Pattern front

Pattern back

Strip sleeve upper & lower front.

Note about the strip sleeves: the strips on this one are wider at the top than the wrist by a decent amount. They’re also shaped to get that roll effect at the top. I took a liberty by curving out the front underarm and curving out the back one (freehand so you don’t see that on the pattern). I can’t prove they did it, but it makes the sleeve work better when the fabric is this bulky.

 

Bugs: That neckline.  I tried every possible trick to get it higher but the geometry won’t work.  Before you say “wear a period corset” think a minute.  I fitted it over a period corset. I’m not a novice. I’m also not a 31A.

Status: Dress cutting complete.

Status: Bodice & sleeves partly assembled.  I did the strips as tubes & left the wrist end open so I could do final length adjusts in the finishing when the dress is fully assembled.  Strip sleeves can be bulky and these have really heavy trim for the edging that makes them stiffer.  I might want to shorten the strips later.  The trim all had to be hand applied.

 



Raw edges on the armholes will be hand finished & reinforced for the rings to tie on the sleeves.



 

Statusing Eleanora

I learned a new word this week: statusing.  I’m sure it’s been in use for years in certain environments, but it’s not something I ever thought about.  I tell folks what I did. I’m done. I don’t have to name the process of the telling.  Blogging though, especially blogging backward, seems to require a new presentation method.  You'll recognize this method I'm certain.

Statusing.  A project must have a plan.  Even the creative process can be forced into a Visio chart to make us, the messy creative class, appear more organized and efficient than we ever truly are.  Here then is the bona-fide Plan for the Eleanora Dress (or any other period costuming project)

1.       [Evaluate Project] Study the 2 Bronzino portraits for detail. Take notes. Ask “why?”.  How do you put it on, close it, clean it, move in it? Research other period paintings and sources.  Find out a little about Eleanora. Why is she wearing that dress? Is it a reasonable dress or something Erte-esque?  Make a list of all the materials and the pieces necessary to complete the illusion.  Remember, period costumes require period underpinnings and period materials to look truly period. What sequence do you need to build the parts in? You can’t fit a pattern over a corset you don’t have!

2.       [Determine Scope] Will it be period or peri-oid?  Are there material limits? Time limits? What corners are you going to cut and why. Always ask why.  How authentic does it need to be? Who will see? Who cares?

3.       [Draft Pattern] and [Obtain/Prepare Materials] These two key processes depend on each other.  The materials can and mostly do affect the pattern, but you may need the dimensions or even the pattern itself to decide what to buy and how much.

4.       [Test Pattern] You really think it will fit on the first try? You’ve never done this, have you?

5.       [Cut] The most stressful part from whence there is no return, only success or failure.

6.       [Assemble] Sew. Glue. Rivet. Pray.

7.       [Fit] You did this eleventeen times in the test step, so you should only be making minor tweaks here. 

8.       [Finish] If it’s a period costume this always seems to be the longest part.  Handwork handwork handwork! Did I mention handwork?  I hate handwork. See item 2, scope.  How can I avoid the handwork?

9.       [Show Off] You did it, you earned the glory, take it!

 

The Project Begins!

Croeso! Welcome to the still nebulous “new blog”. Here I jump in with both feet and a wish that I can find time amidst my two hundred dozen hobbies to write something interesting about a few of them. Well-intentioned folk are always encouraging me to sell, teach, post, without the remotest idea of how impractical such a thing may be.  This, I guess, is for them.  Pray forgive my lapses in time and coherence and take joy or entertainment if you will from my feeble attempts to beat the universe (and some really nice textiles) into submission.

Illusions & Lagniappe was the name I gave my once and future business, some time around 1979.  It seems an apropos title for my ramblings.  Illusions are the best products of a costumer, and the lagniappe is what takes the illusion over the top. Accessories? Language? Lighting? Carriage? A hundred little details take clothes to fashion, and fashion to costume.  Without the lagniappe, Johnny Depp is just a guy in a fancy coat. 

Thus we begin.

We begin in the middle.

This we must, for the beginning of me, of what I do, seems so many lifetimes ago that I’ve lost a bit of it, and family history isn’t what you signed on for.  One truly horrid Halloween costume and a sewing machine in a dumpster launched a lifetime love of “those dresses you can’t wear”.  A bit of silver eyelash was the lagniappe.  And then there was Eleanora.

Meet Eleanora:  Italian, regal, flawlessly gowned, and, well, dead.

Which is how she got my attention.  Somewhere in a boring history book there she was, serene as Mona Lisa and covered in swirly-curly op-art (or possibly auntie’s curtains).  **PING**On my bucket list: one brocade dress.  Never mind that I didn’t have the language yet to call it brocade, or the remotest idea where to buy such a thing (New Orleans—you should be able to get ANYTHING there, right?). I needs must have the dress.  Small towns in South Mississippi are not repositories of 16^th century Italian brocades however, and that proved an insurmountable obstacle.  If you’re a costumer yourself, or a fan of Renaissance art, you’re nodding sagely. Yes, I too was captivated by “THAT DRESS”.  In the costuming world, it has a life of its own.  I salute all the others who have come before me, and the ones who will come after.  I finally (after 30+ years) stumbled upon an acceptable fabric.  I must make the dress. 

For you who are completely mystified, here is a link to Bronzino’s Eleanora di Toledo portraits and a history lesson (thanks Wikipedia!).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_Toledo

And here is my oh so glorious fabric.