Diego in his black velvet Charles IX doublet, with matching balck and copper velvet pluderhose, and hand embroidered black velvet cloak from Patterns of Fashion. Doesn't he look awesome?

New directions

Unfortunately I've recently found out that I can't afford to go to Canterbury Faire 2011 next year, so all my rush to get the Allessandro Allori dress finished in time was all in vain. All I had left to do was finish stitching the ribbon onto the organza sleeves and attach sleeves to the chemise. And now I can't show it off until some other time next year. Sigh. However, now that I don't have to sew my own things (several chemises and a new kirtle), I have time to finish off the Svante Sture outfit for my gorgeous man. Its fitting really well so far, the main torso has been put together, just have to get him to stand still to mock up some sleeves. I'm thinking of couching three lines of gold cord around the edges as decoration, or getting him to spring for some green taffeta as in the description in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion. I could probably argue that the green velvet in the pluderhose doesn't match the shirt green (its actually not a nice shade of green velvet at all) and then the entire outfit can match! Last night I quickly sewed up the olive green linen I bought a few weeks into a shirt to go under the doublet, all french seams that were handsewed down. Only have to make up the left wrist and neck box pleated ruffles. The green really suits him.

I'm not a fabricaholic....really!!

So I went for a wander through town today, even though I really shouldn't with my money situation but I ended up going into Goldings and chatting to the sales lady about the best fabric dyes to use and so on. I have at least 5.5m of red cotton velvet that I want to use to make a replica of Hans Holbein's c1537 Jane Seymour portrait. The problem is the red velvet is just a little too red for someone with pale Irish skin that reflects any bright colour held next to it. I do not look flattering in bright red. So I want to dye it a darker, more flattering red, closer to the colour in the portrait. I also have 5m of white damask silk that would be lovely dyed an olive green to match Agnolo Bronzino's Unknown Lady in Green c1540. However having never done a fabric dye before I needed advice. If anyone has any for me, it would be greatly appreciated

Then I ended up at Arthur Toyes looking for lining for a friend's Cranach style gown when I was surprised to find a whole stash of good quality linens at a reasonable price. I couldn't help but grab a couple of metres of a dark olive green to make a shirt for my man to go with the black and green outfit I'm supposed to be making him. Should get onto it but real life awaits.

Birthday Awesomeness

It's my birthday!! Thanks to my lovely man for buying me some gorgeous butter gold patterned silk - I have visions of a beautiful Tudor gown. Come to think of it, he gave me some great red coton velvet last week (cos he didn't like the shade) that I was going to use to make a Jane Seymour Hans Holbeinish gown. So three Tudor gowns (to compliment existing black velvet Tudor that was my first ever project, mostly hand sewn except for bodice seams and boning channels eck). But then Tudor gowns are so lovely, especially the Henry VIII era ones.

Humble Beginnings

So now I have a blog on my love for sewing garb. Hopefully I'll be able to post some helpful insights for people or just be able to put my own thoughts in order.

Projects I'm working on at the moment:

 - Allesso Allori 1555 Florentine Doublet gown (profile pic) in turquoise mauve shot taffeta with gold trim, organza oversleeves and underskirt, and embroidered partlet

 - Gold doublet to go with either a pair Elizabethan trunk hose or detachable skirt (cos playing a boy would be fun and then I can switch back to girly easily)

 - 1530's italian gown modelled on Eleonore de Toledo's gown in Patterns of Fashion in blue and yellow damask

- Svante Sture outfit from the Janet Arnold Patterns of Fashion in black and green velvet with gold cording for my man

Will start blogging and post photos on these projects and more soon