Drags Friends Along

[threadwalker]

I'm doing that 'thing' I do. I'm not sure how to describe it. Green Cat Mama says I have an "aura" that sucks people in. My trusted allies have nick named me "Drags Friends Along". Unka says I can make unusual things seem like a good idea. I dunno. I just get really excited and I feel like my skin is practically crackling with creative excitement. Then I bump into someone kindred spirit who gets snared by one of my visions and it becomes like a covalent bond. Then I crackle even harder.

Right now I can barely contain myself. I sparked with a few artisans recently and I'm terribly excited about sucking them into the world of Italian costuming. goodie, goodie, goodie! muh-ha ha ha!

Of course I still don't have a vision for my Ropa's under bits, but that's okay. I'll forage ahead and even if I don't drool for my own project, I'm very excited about mentoring some other folks.

Do-dah, do-dah.

Happy holidays, all.

Comments

OK, you can drag me along...

[mad-duchess.livejournal.com]

I'm thinkin' I might like to whip out a quick Italian by 12th Night to surprise their incipient majs because I origianlly told them I wasn't planning to make anything... I don't know if I'll actually have time, so I still don't want to make any promises... ;-)

Anyway, to be honest I haven't been paying much attention to what they're up to--can you give me some guidance on what period they are shooting for and maybe send me some links to get me started? Or if you have any of your lecture material soft copy that you can send me, that'd be awesome!! I already have some red brocade that's not quite "right" for a cotehardie but I think it'll do for this project, so I'd like to get started this weekend if possible.

thanks!

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

Hey -

they were ensnared by the fashions of 1540s. The court is doing 1480-1540 and it's been left up to each person to choose something.

I dont' have any soft material and what I do have is really, really out-dated with what I have learned in the last 10 years.

check out Jen Thompsen's website, Festive Attyre. She's got some really good dress diaries and her portrait gallery (I think it's under the research tab), is very thorough.

I have my doubts about her "corded" corset - not the existence of a corset in the 1530s and onwards, just the cord-materials for the corset. But that's a more detailed go-blah than I can post here.

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[mad-duchess.livejournal.com]

Rockin'-I will check that out. I think I will tend earlier--late 1400's so. I worked a bit on a pattern this weekend for the V-neck style--what I was most curious about (and can't tell from the portraits) is seam line placement on the bodice--I'm too chesty to not have 'em. I finally opted for a diagonal cross-the-boob seam similar to what Mary Houston claims was going on in Flanders around that period... figured it wouldn't be too out of line. Any thoughts on that?

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

I'm not recalling any V-necked gowns. Mostly they are scooped. Are you referring to the overgown?

I'm not as "well endowed" as you are, but I have draped some very endowed folks who shall go nameless (more endowed than you!). I can get a very fitted and supportive bodice with center front, center back, and side seams. I can find pictures of these seam placements, too. That does create what you lovingly refer to as the "mono-boob" look. Last time I had my victim lay on her back so I could tighten the thumb screws ... err .... mold the bodice more closely.

You may find it necessary to inner line it with something burly. I've been leaning away from canvas because the wrinkles seem to fix them selves into place. I've been using medium weight worsted wool and I like it. It adds support, smoothes lines and it breathes. Rosalyn has some interesting inner lining she uses - I don't recall what it is, but I asked her to order me some next time she places an order. It was some sort of horsehair thing.

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[mad-duchess.livejournal.com]

D'Oh!! OK, it's been a long day at work, that's my excuse. OK, actually, yes, what I was patterning is an overgown-but it's one of the more tightly-fitted ones, like this (only less extreme on the shoulder width):
http://realmofvenus.renaissancewoman.net/wardrobe/Miraclecross1.jpg
or this
http://realmofvenus.renaissancewoman.net/wardrobe/CarpaccioBetrothed.jpg

For some reason when you said overgown, I was thinking of the looser drapey ones like this:
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~rowen/renbk/ghirlandaio13.jpg

What I have planned is a chemise, then a gold underdress, then a red brodade overdress (sorry,I haven't learned the proper names for these layers yet).

Am I making sense yet?

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

Of course you speak sense. You're speaking costume. I never waste brain space on proper "layer" vocabulary. Especially since it's so hotly contested in some circles. And since the Italians seemed to invent a new name depending on region, weight of garment, whether it was lined and what it was made of. I'm getting too old to memorize this stuff.

Personally, I'd have dressed you in something with a lower waist, like Ghirlandaio's "Birth of Mary" (1486-ish) - Gold and white dressed woman in the middle. (Web Gallery of Art has it) Or other similar ones by him. I think it's more flattering on womanly shapes.

http://homepage.mac.com/festive_attyre/research/earlyflor/3flor13.html

Or the white one here: (she has her train pulled up and wrapped around her arm)

http://homepage.mac.com/festive_attyre/research/earlyflor/3flor18.html

Jen's 1475 website has a bunch of nice pictures from this era in Florence.

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[mad-duchess.livejournal.com]

ooo, I like this one you sent...
http://homepage.mac.com/festive_attyre/research/earlyflor/3flor18.html

I can still do this as I am still in pattern drafting stage. It's not too unlike the one I was working on except the waist is a bit lower--still short waisted though....

So, in your opinion, what's going on with the red layer--could that be a V-neck too, or does it just appear that way because she seems to be wearing some sort of silk partlet thingy over it? Can I do away with the partlet thingy and not look "undressed"?

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

What a timely question!

The red/fitted dress is probably a scooped neck. ... in my copious free time (hahaha!) I did a class/workshop last year on the four-paneled bodice. In my angst of not being prepared enough, I decided to survey the English, Italian, Flemish/French and Italian gowns. I examined necklines, sleeves, smocks (when visible), etc.

Stop laughing at me. It's a disease and I'm compulsively looking for patterns in things.

What I noted was the Italians (and Flemish) favored the gentle scoop. Among the others I found scoops and squares. I didn't find any V-necks.

I hope that helps.

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[mad-duchess.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the info!! I'm still not sure I'll have time to crank this out by 12th Night due to work, but I will shoot for March Crown at the outside. :-)

The true beauty of this project is that it's allowing me to use up a bunch of fabrics that have "accumulated" in my sewing room that I can't figure out what else to do with...All I should have to purchase is silk for the chemise. Oh dear, that sounds bad... They're fine fabrics really, just not stuff that I would normally buy--like funky colors I bought online that didn't really match the color my screen showed, and some stuff people "gifted" me with....
Uh oh. Now I've probably got you worried that I'll show up in something really attrocious and proclaim that Threadwalker helped me make it. ;-)
Heh. It's almost worth making an extra ugly one just to see your face...

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

You don't scare me ... lol. The Italians mixed red and yellow, red and green, red and blue .. basically, red and anything else was fine by them. I read accounts in one of my textile books of brocades that had colors that would clash to the modern eye. Besides, I can't imagine you letting yourself out the door in something nasty. I don't see you doing mauve and tweety bird yellow.

I do understand the "how did I buy THAT color" reaction. I was trying to venture in a new place - I bought pink linen and it looked like a dusty or faded pink on the monitor. What I received was an in-your-face cross between pepto-bismal pink and salmon pink. It was too much for me. It was soooo bad, I couldn't get anyone to take it off my hands for free - just to get it out of my house! LOL! I ended up lining something with it. Phewie!

Re: OK, you can drag me along...

[thread-walker.livejournal.com]

Just looked at the picture again.

The V-effect is from the little shear shoulder chemisette/partlet thing.

I think they are cute, but honestly, most people don't do them, so to the SCA eye you wouldn't appear lacking. You'd out-swag everyone if you did one, though. There are pictures of some that are trimmed in what looks like narrow black, flat braid.

[beanolc.livejournal.com]

I really, truly, and honestly cannot wait 'til I'm done with my degree. :)