Hi-ho, Kermit the frog here…. Wait, no, that’s a different show. I’ve been working on the overdress for the Eleventh Century German costume, and it’s finally on the darned doll. Yay! It’s not finished, by any means, but it’s progressing…
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I’ve been doing a crazy amount of research on armscyes, lately, particularly in terms of when they started being curved. I was expecting that to be after 1515 or so, based on the piecing in Gerard David‘s Deposition. But no, much to my complete annoyance, there are a lot of examples of curved sleeveheads and armscyes going back into the late medieval era. This annoys me greatly, because it means that if I want to show try out a fashion that does not use a curved sleeve head/armscye, I’m stuck back in like, 1000 AD. This is not my happy place. But I’m gonna make a ding-dang, major-olde-timey, at-least-it’s-not-a-T-tunic dress, and I’m gonna like it, gosh darn it.
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I’ve spent the last couple days jimmying around with my pattern for a cloth doll with legs, and now I have a doll pattern that goes together almost entirely on the machine! Yay! While I was fooling with the pattern, I decided to make her figure slightly more, well, you know, realistic.
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So I’ve been on this doll kick lately, but I’m still a pattern-maker at heart and for me the best way to understand the proportions of little dolly-bodies is to make little dolly-bodies and play with the pieces until I get something that feels right. (No, really, you can tell if a pattern is right while you’re still cutting it. If it’s awkward to cut, it’s going to be awkward to sew.) I’m finalizing patterns, but here’s some preview pics….
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The holidays are a busy and stressful time, and I like to add to that by making christmas gifts. This year, I had some sort of “Move over, Martha!” moment and decided it would be fun to make my holiday cards. Thing is, it’s an excellent opportunity for some serious precision sewing practice.
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I was scouring the web, looking for information on period boots, and I stumbled across Francis Classe’s excellent page. This is a picture that I have never seen anywhere else before. It’s charming, but it’s quite odd. I wish I had far more information on it, but Google doesn’t seem to know anything about it!
8 CommentsI’ve been called in to work (yay!) for a dance recital. In 19 hours of sewing time, I’ve emptied three full 500 yd spools of…
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Since I’m off-topid right now anyway, I thought I’d crow a little bit about the amazing amount of dirt I’ve moved over the last couple months. Mom and I decided we needed to make some changes to the front yard to add a second walkway. (She apparently thought my habit of shoveling through the middle of the grass to get to my car last winter was tacky or something.) We watch entirely too much DIY network…
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Well, ok, not really. I get to stay 34 until Monday. But the BEST PRESENT EVER arrived today – a 2010 Tonner 16″ Basic Miss Piggy. Beyond all the obvious reasons that’s so great, here’s the one that seals the deal: I can finally show costumes and drafts on different body types!!!! I’m so geeked!
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I’m totally obsessed with the Alcega farthingale. I mean, I’m always a little obsessed with it, because it’s sort of the great rock candy mountain for costumers, right? But I’ve been working on an eBook about drafting gored skirts for period costumes, and I thought I’d throw in a little bit of a redraft for the Alcega farthingale. Oh, silly me… I went back through some of my old notes (mostly questions, like “Why aren’t the gores at the same angle?!”), and I’m struck by how much there is to know about the darn thing. So I’ve been in obsessive research mode since yesterday evening, and I’ve learned some new things….
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