How I Will Lose My Mind

Arrr! And welcome to more Pirate Insanity! Last year 'twas Once Upon a Time pirates, this year 'tis rather more insane than last! To begin we decided to go to faire (New York Renaissance Faire) as pirates, specifically Captain Calico Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Mary Reed. Pretty easy when you think about it. I am to be Anne Bonny. That doesn't change we (Lover and I) just decided we needed to go to the Blackbeard Pirate Festival in Hampton VA too.

Now here's where the insanity strikes. There is a grand ball Friday night of the event. Ergo one must be dressed appropriately.......and what better reason for a robe a la francaise! (I know, I'm nuts.) Originally I thought I'd finally make the curtain along dress, but calculated out I'd need four panels, rough $100! I don't exactly have $100 lying around to spare. If I did there would be shoes. So Stash Shopping it is. Stash then grants this:

Actually 5 yards of this. The tag still stuck on it read that it was an Upholstery/Slipcover fabric and original retail was $4.79 a yard. The tag was written by a typewriter so this fabric has been around for awhile. It has a nice shine to it and a heavy-ish hand. The edge claims it was made for Concord Fabrics by Joan Kessler. A quick Google search turns up several similar fabrics. All are polished cotton from the 1980s. So it works. plus the print is almost identical from this example found in Patterns for Theatrical Costumes by Katherine Strand Hokeboer:

Pg 231

I feel pretty happy with myself. I know cotton isn't fully period but so far one of the biggest pieces I've ever made has cost me absolutely nothing! Which is always an awesome feeling.

I intend to use these two patterns from Norah Waugh's The Cut of Women's Clothes as inspiration along with Katherine's tutorial from The Fashionable Past (link goes to the start of the tutorial. With the fabric amount I have, I feel the second is better for conservation of fabric, but I love the cuffs on the first. 

Now if only I could have stays that actually fit and no fear of hoops........

More on Lover's clothes later!

Cheers,

Merlina

Plotting a Challenge, AKA Boredom Takes Over

Alright, so with semester over for now, I can fully participate in the Historical Sew Fortnightly! This requires a bit of planning on my part and alas a bit of luck as well, but it's me so there's loads of luck. Anyways.....

I looked through the list of upcoming projects and found that by my sheer luck, I can participate in the next few without having to buy anything! YAY! This is rather important now, because my dear Data, my laptop of six years, is no more. So money must be put aside for that. Luckily I already bought the fabric for some of the upcoming challenges.

Next project will be for #11 which will be a red petticoat, I need one for my damsel 1.0 gown for faire. Following that is the secret project for #12. Then possibly corded stays or a new corset for #13. But this post is about my planning for Challenge #14, the Eastern influence. :)

I went digging through all and found this pretty fabric.

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The original plan had been to make an awesome fantasy princess gown. But the image I have in mind,  requires more fabric then I possess. So back to the drawing board, sorta. 

Looking through the Pinterest for the challenge, I found this.

It is a furisode kimono style dressing gown from 1885. It's housed in the FIDM Museum. It's really pretty and who doesn't want a gorgeous dressing gown, or robe in general? Which leads to more digging. Giving us these:

The first is from the Adventures of Robin Hood with Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn. It was the only full length shot of the dressing gown for the love scene I could find. The second is of Padme Amidala from Attack of the Clones. Image is from Padawan's Guide. 

So these three plus the pretty wrapper/dressing gowns in Gone with the Wind, have influenced my project for Challenge #14. I'm still playing with how I want it to look, but so far definitely romantic and flowing. Eventually I'll put a pretty nightgown under it, probably more influenced from the Padme image, but that can be another challenge.....

Ooooo yay! I love sewing plotting. Now on to the red petticoat!

Cheers,

Merlina