Baroque gown of midnight-blue silk with embroidery

Yes, seems I'm going completely round the bend now, but take two nutters of the same kind and you'll end up with a baroque couple in matching, hand-embroidered costumes. So actually this isn't my fault. At least not entirely ;)

My dress is basically the same pattern as the burgundy gown I made two years ago, only this time I worked with dupioni-silk. No point in investing hours of embroidering on artificial fabric. I'm working with cotton thread nonetheless, as this is going to be just some kind of test-version before I go completely nuts and start silk embroidery - the next dress is already in planning... The colour of the fabric is a beautiful, very dark blue in daylight, seeming almost black in artificial light.

The embroidery:

As the name of the character I'm playing is Marguerite, I decided to work a pattern of little flowers all over the bodice and sleeves, the edges decorated with a pattern similar to wooden trellis. I knew it would cost me hours, but thanks to Dr. Who and various other BBC productions that infiltrate your brain with valuable information on things you never knew were that interesting, quickly made good progress.

I started with working the trellis-pattern along all the future edges of the bodice and the sleeves in dense herringbone stitch and stem stitch as an outline. Marking the flowers was almost as much work as embroidering them. I fear I'm just too much of a perfectionist... The marking was done in white pencil, as it stays on longer than chalk but still rubs off after some time. The draft was done with five petals, in reality it turned out it looked half-hearted, so there we are with eight spokes on the little marked-out wheels that are to become the marguerites. Each flower is about 1.2 cm in diameter.

The next stage after the marguerites was the leaf border to connect them. I really came to hate those tiny, fiddly leaves that forgive not even the tiniest mistake. But after like a hundred leaves or so you get the knack. Only by then, you're almost through with them anyway! The stems are stem stitch, the leaves satin stitch, and the dots french knots added to create the arcade effect.

And then I could go really crazy and do the little bouquets... Here's a close-up of one, with a french knot in the centre and fly stitches as decoration. They only have six petals, otherwise you couldn't interlace them. And as the flowers were slightly larger than in the sketch, I worked only four of them instead of five and left the stems aside. That made for a literally more well-rounded picture.

With the edges of the bodice nicely framed, I was left with the design of the front, which should be a little more elaborate. I decided to but the bouquets on stems which give the stomacher a nice horizontal balance.

Still there was some space left in the top corners of the front closure. I toyed with some more flowers, but it looked plain. Too many flowers already. I needed something extravagant. And as the dress was designed as my character's engagement gown, I worked the initials of me and my fiancé into the corners. They look as if they had always belonged there right from the first sketch ;)

The sewing:

Basically this dress is the same pattern as my burgundy gown. Only as I did that one in great hurry back then and had no time or nerves for taking pictures, I will post some here.

The bodice consists of four layers: two between which the boning is sandwiched, one top layer (in this case, the embroidered silk), and one lining. All parts are thus cut out and put together so you end up with four bodice shapes, more or less identical in size. I always try to make the outer layers a tad bit larger (we're ralking here only of millimetres), but that's just my perfectionism. I used black cotton twill to carry the boning and light black cotton for the lining.

The inside of the bodice was exactly the same tedious kind of work as my burgundy gown a couple of years ago. You cut all parts twice from sturdy fabric that won't be seen in the final product but will carry all the boning. I used plastic boning that I zig-zagged right onto the fabric of one of the inside layers, this is covered by the second inside layers so no boning is seen anymore, and no plastic edges can dig into your hips. As this second layer will cover the boning completely, you don't have to worry about visible seams, only about the exact position of the boning. I took pictures of the outside and inside. As the boning I used comes by metre in a large roll, it's still bent. In this case, use it the way you will be squeezing it towards your body when the bodice is worn, so it will make a nice shape and gradually adjust to your shape.

I had already forgotten just how much effort it takes to squeeze a fully boned bodice through your sewing machine again and again until all the boning is done...

The sleeves are cut out twice, once from silk and once from cotton for the lining, sewn together on their left sides right beside the embroidery, and turned over to form a neat edge that is now hand-pleated evenly and secured with invisible stitches.

You will want to sew on the hooks and eyes before the embroidered silk layer to avoid visible machine stitches at the front. And once the top fabric has then been hand-stitched onto the boned bodice, you have to maneuvre the whole, stiff thing through the machine again to attach the sleeves and the skirt. I swore. A lot. Because, of course, as always, time was already pressing, and the hours until the ball melted away, and still there was the packing and shopping to do... Which, in the end, thankfully was done for me this time, with the result that indeed we managed to get to the ball in time. What a new experience! :D

White regency ballgown

Another quick one to use up fabric that has been in my store for at least five years. I was just waiting for the perfect pattern, because I wanted a very low décolletage - which requires a clever solution for the understructure to go without any bra or modern tricks.

The satin fabric is for the "pushup-chemise", the actual cream-white fabric is a cotton-something-mix with all advantages of a mixture and so far no notable disadvantages. It's iron-free, drapes nicely and wears well. The small woven pattern demanded a cut without much gathering of the bodice to show the pattern. That was the biggest challenge about that dress, and the reason for my waiting so long. You need the perfect day to design an almost immediately fitting pattern! The dress is garnished just with slender needlepoint lace and satin ribbon. It closes with three square mother-of-pearl buttons (and a few hidden hooks and eyes) at the back. The skirt measures almost five metres round the hem and was pretty tricky to gather to give it a perfect, slender silhouette without wrinkling or bulging. The train is two foot long and can be taken up for dancing. Maybe I'll add some little pearls for decoration round the neckline and sleeves, let's see...

Striped 1870s summer dress

I've had this dress in mind for a couple of months already, and now I finally found the right fabric: blue and white striped cotton, light enough for making ruches but not too flimsy. Trimming will be red satin ribbon and white lace.

The pattern will be merged from several period patterns, as I couldn't find any that perfectly fitted what I have in mind.

The skirt is made of four parts, an alteration of a six-part skirt pattern. I didn't want too many seams with those stripes. The front part is rather flat, the side parts half-pleated towards the back, and the back part, which is the largest because it has to cover the bustle, is heavily pleated to keep the pleats in place (i.e. keep them from slipping off the bustle sideways and having bulky sides and a flat bum). So far the skirt is almost finished, the pleated ruches took me a full day or two, but I think it was worth it ;)

And here a close-up of the trim: the satin ribbon goes through the holes of the lace, which fits much better than the previous idea of using a different lace and making it into a frill. Less work, better effect...

What's still missing: the bodice, and a hat. And if there's still fabric left (I'm not even halfway through the six metres I bought, so there will...) I might try my luck and make a matching parasol.

Yay me, the skirt is finished! A quick glimpse, the light isn't very good, but anyway... ;)

I seem to need the pressure of upcoming events to finish things... But it also helped that I took the pains of making a perfectly fitting pattern for a Victorian bodice - which I can now adjust to whatever style I need! A great help indeed. And this done, I eventually finished the matching bodice. Lots of frills and fiddling, but the outcome was worth the effort. All that's now missing are the white mother-of-pearl buttons, I haven't been able to find the right ones yet...

Elven outfit

Due to the lack of time of a friend himself very talented with needle and thread, I designed and sewed this outfit for him. It is modelled after a few of Elrond's garments from LotR, but I decided not to stick to a particular one but to mix and match what looked best. From left to right in the picture: fabric for underrobe, robe, and lining.

The underrobe is made of olive green fabric, very soft and flowing, and BTW rather crappy to sew. Focus has been put on the sleeves, which are leaf-shaped. The yoke is modelled after Elrond's grey underrobe, and yoke as well as sleeves and collar are embroidered with gold thread.

The sash is the same fabric as the underrobe, with a narrower sash of the robe-lining in the centre.

The matching velvet robe is lined with reed-green-brownish fabric that has a wonderful, soft touch (hence would be ideal for an elven bathrobe *bfg*). Also here, the sleeves are leaf-shaped, but as long and wide as the amount of fabric I bought allowed (and I bought all there was left). As with the underrobe, the sleeves and the collar are embroidered in gold.

Baroque traveling outfit

By the amount of time I'm currently investing in raising the number of my baroque outfits, one can tell that there might be another baroque event in the nearer future ;)

The traveling outfit is planned as the female version of the musketeer outfit I did last year: hat of the same style, skirt and jacket made from the same fabric.

The hat is the same making as the musketeer hat: two pieces of double-layered felt for the crown, a double-layered, stiffened ring for the brim, edged with 1.2 mm wire zig-zagged to the outer edge of the brim and covered with the matching yellow ribbon. Brown ribbon went into the hat as a hat-band (mainly to cover the seamline of brim and crown). Slender brown trim on top of the yellow ribbon makes the outer hat-band that also holds the two white ostrich plumes. The right side of the brim is turned up and secured to the crown with invisible stitches.

The skirt is is made from 4.5 metres of brown cotton/linen-fabric gathered evenly into a waistband to be closed by means of hook and eye, decorated at the hem with two rows of gold-yellow ribbon.

The jacket is a modification of a 1660s jacket that I found in a Janet Arnold book (I think; have to check...). It took me a while to find the guts and the nerve to alter the pattern so it would fit me, and again it turned out surprisingly nice! The fabric with its striped pattern this time isn't worked in a zig-zag but is mainly straight, lined with matching cotton and interlined with stronger fabric to carry some boning along the seams and at the front. All the seams are covered by slender brown trim. On the first outing (again time was pressing; and it was hot; and we went to shoot with bow and arrow, where too much of a sleeve would only have been a hindrance)) I left the sleeves aside and finished the armholes just with epaulettes, which will, in the second, proper version, accompany the actual sleeves. Maybe I'll just tie them in with eyelets. Let's see... A narrow peplum in two parts finishes the jacket, and it's laced in front.

I bought enough fabric for two male outfits and the female jacket, and with a little luck it's enough for three male outfits. The musketeer-outfit I finished years ago. Now in the enthusiasm of sewing we threw in another well-we-could-make-this-and-that-as-there's-still-some-time-and-fabric-left to have a matching outfit for the "couple". I fear MY male outfit will be a game of pattern-tetris!

The chemise this time has to be long-sleeved and will be my first attempt at making a baroque chemise. Up to now I always substituted baroque underwear with rococo underwear. Well, details... ;) At least I've already chosen the antique lace that will go around the neckline and the cuffs.

Burgundy baroque dress

It's always the same: once you find the (almost) perfect fabric for a project, it turns out that half a dozen other fellows from your circle have already bought exactly the same!

The novelty is that the fabric is synthetic fibre (baaaaaad!) which I usually avoid, but colour and design looked so nice that I decided to make an exception and give it a try. Big plus is that I would be able to machine-wash the dress and wouldn't have to bother with cleaning the hem and train by hand after every play. Weeeell, that was the plan until I opted for metal trim, which - of course - is not machine washable.

The pattern is that of a 1660-gown, styled very much like Elizabeth's burgundy dress in PotC - which is, actually, a baroque pattern, except for the neckline. Kinda crossover of that PotC-dress and the dresses in "Stage Beauty". Of course it's trained, the bodice lined with raspberry-red fabric, and decorated with golden trim.

Beneath it goes a chemise of cream-white soft-weave cotton with wide, elbow-length sleeves. The extra-wide neckline as well as the sleeves are lined with broad tulle lace and gathered with a narrow satin drawstring that's simply stitched through the fabric right above the lace. I bet it's not period bit the fabric is strong enough and it perfectly does the job.

The dress itself can be worn without stays, as it is fully boned with soft plastic boning zig-zagged between two layers of cotton. (Not period at all, but it saved me the additional labour of making period stays...) This, in turn, is sandwiched between the top-layer of brocade and the lining, each of the four layers cut and sewn together so you get four separate bodices that are then put together. I cut the brocade and the lining a tad too small, so I finished the neckline, front opening and stomacher with bias tape cut from the same fabric. It's invisible anyway, as it's hidden under the gold trimming. The front closes with hooks and eyes, which this time I bought as ribbon by the metre. I was on a tight schedule yet again... Worked quite well, after a bit of fussing with symmetry. Mind to sew in the hooks and eyes, THEN finish the top layer, or wou'll see the stitches, and finish with the trim. The lower part of the bodice is finished with tight zig-zag-stitch on the parts that remain hidden under the skirt. The skirt itself is sewn to the bodice with a short slit at the front where the bodice opens. This part is strengthened with a piece of ribbon on each side and closes with hook and eye, the bodice then closes over this part and hides it.

I wear the dress over a small hoopskirt and my four-layered tulle petticoat - which is not period, but it'll have to do until I've made a decent hoopskirt. I still had fabric left and made an underskirt the same colour as the lining. It hardly ever peeps out, but anyway, I know that it's there :D

What's still waiting to be finished is a hat of the same fabric, broad-brimmed like a musketeer's hat with lots of plumes and trimming and baroque frippery. In the picture I'm wearing a tricorn, which looks quite nice but not nice enough yet ;)

Ball gown of cherry-red silk damask

What a surprise - this time it was going to be a 21st century gown to enhance my wardrobe. The fabric being showy enough, the cut, on the contrary, is very simple.



The floor-length skirt is a three-quarters-circle with hand-sewn hem and was the product of a relaxed evening, partly in front of the tv. It is worn over an underskirt of 20 metres of white tulle worked in four layers and finished off at the hem with red bias tape. The main idea was that the skirt must get enough volume to look pretty without restricting me when dancing, like a hoopskirt probably would.

The bodice had to be fitted, strapless, give a nice shape and let me breathe - kind of a jack-of-all-trades device. The result turned out very nice - I used the pattern of a well-fitting corset to be worn over a strapless bra. The mock-up was made of rather stiff cotton and, as it fitted perfectly, was used as the middle layer of the actual bodice. It's boned at the seams and sandwiched between the outer layer of red silk and an inner layer of pale red taffeta.

Both parts are sewn together invisibly and close at the back with a zip fastener.