6 days to go...

Originally the plan for 12th night was going to be matching Andalusian coats for my boyfriend and I, with super pretty gold snake applique on them. I even ordered 20 yards of a cotton/silk blend dupioni (yeah.. um.. my boyfriend is *hard* on fabric so 100% silk made me cringe.)

Meanwhile, the lovely proto-Baroness of our Barony asked me to be a Lady in Waiting for her. Its a cool gig for a person I like, and as Khalid is a little older than before, I'm willing to serve her. Thankfully, she understood my concerns though and as such I'm a special  different  LiW ... okay I have a different sort of assignment. While I will still serve when I can at events with attending and standing court, my main duty shall be to actually serve as the Baronial Scribe. 

I love love love LOVE this job, and since it seems I'm becoming more of a scribal apprentice than a garb apprentice it will actually be a perfect vehicle to continue to improve my craft.


ANYWHO...

The pattern is my sottana, the green cord
will be the zimarra, and the velvets and
trim are going to be layered
and pearled.

Its time to start thinking about garb. Their nexcellencies are going to be doing late period (Tudor for her.. and.. late for him??), and their impressive garb is being made by the Lovely Maestra Serephina, so you just know it's gonna be full on awesome, dripping with more awesome and probably stuffed with, you guessed it, AWESOME!!!! 

My plans thusly changed. We were not specifically asked, but still dressing late period to match would help with someones investiture dream and I'm willing to help that out.

I think its going to be bias tape of
chocolate velvet, then the fawn
velveteen, then the trim.
All pearled :D

Originally I was going to make a new sottana and Veste, but changed my mind and am going for a sottana and a zimarra. I have my fabrics already and pulled them out of my stash. 



And in very Superwhy fashion (ask my kids) what do we do when we need an answer? We look in a book!! Out comes Moda a Firenze and I start tabbing pages. 

Florentine School, Eleonora of
Toledo, Bronzino

The green one, during
fitting

I want a pretty basic dress, because I have some stunning fabric, and I want a zimarra to rival my green one.

I started pouring thru the book and found MORE than enough pictures. I also got out all the sources I've had on this subject for a while. While a fitted veste is something I've wanted for a while, a looser zimarra will be easier in the short turn around I have to make this outfit. 


I do have a couple of things I want to change/add of course.. because its like.. Mine.

 Janet Arnold Pg. 111 Patterns of Fashion 1560 - 1620

1. Short capped sleeves - sleeves, according to my book are as wide and varied as any other dress/coat in this time period. The ones I really really want are shown the best from Patterns of Fashion. 

I do want to split them and use some of that lovely gold silk in it though, so its going to be a hodge podge of sleeve ideas, then the bad around the forearm is going to be my layered trims, and scallops.. Yeah.. SCALLOPS!! (and of course the portrait that shows the scallops can't be found on google at the moment, so I'll scan my book later.

Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici (detail):
Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo), c. 1555-1565
(Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) 

1. High collar - I want a high collar.. I think they are lovely and it means YES I will have to make a new partlet (see first partlet that actually fits and works) but I think its a nice touch..  There are actually lots of examples of the high collar, and on the looser fitting zimarra as well, not just vestes.

   

   Alessandro Allori, Eleonora of Toledo,
   c 1572 Florence

   
   Probably the  most famous one is the portrait of Eleonora of Toledo by Allori. Seriously, you probably don't do late period Italian and not know this painting.

1. More fitted thru the waist. There is one example of it being more fitted thru the waist. Not as much as a veste of course but it does have an obvious waistline which I like. The trim placement is fun as well. Though I'm starting to think its more goldwork and less trim. I'm crazy, but not *that* crazy.
   Granted its Giovanna of Austria but its still a good example of the tailoring I want and the sleeves are awesome, allbeit a little small. 

So I have a lot of art to look at. I have fabric. I even have a working pattern for both sottana and zimarra.

But I sit here an blog.

I think I'm scared.

Oh well, I only have 6 days to make this happen.

Time to get a move on.

(Btw. the whole point of really blogging this is so I can *hopefully* enter it as a Realm of Venus Showcase. It'll be my first one ever so we'll see how this all goes.. 

Wisest choices

Gryphon's Pride scroll

I never did make it thru the IRCC last year. Real life kinda snuck up on me, which it tends to do A LOT. Makes me wonder if I'm just lazy (most likely) or I really do have a busy life that prevents a lot of things to be finished.

*sigh*

In any case, I started looking thru the pages of the entrants of this years IRCC and am kinda sad I didn't enter the challenge. In the end though, I really think it was the wisest decision before me. I'm still currently the scribal Coordinator for Their Majesties, Sean and Nisa, and that's taking enough time as it is. I find it hard to ask people to do last minute scrolls, so I end up doing them myself. The Gryphon's Pride scroll was done in about 3 days and it has my very first ever gilded versal. I <3 Gilding.

Now there are two different challenges coming up that I'm going to participate in. I wrote about the headgear one yesterday but Mistress Bethany has offered a "scribal blank" challenge for our barony. It doesn't start until May, but it certainly does give me time to consider what I want to do..
Kind of exciting actually..

I need to finish the gryphon banner.. Its KILLING me. I'm not finished with it yet but its just taking forever. I'd say I've got about 1/4 left of the original embroidery to do, then it has to be attached. I know its something that I could get finished if I'd just concentrate on it.. but... *grumble*

Things I forgot..

Rule no 1 -do not make a new pattern for your sottana the day before you intend to wear it...
No 2 - you are as good a seamstress as you want to be. Cutting corners may save you five minutes now, but it will irritate the hell out of you when you have to go back and fix it later.
No 3- you will run out if bobbin thread at the most unadvantageous moment -- wind two..
No 4- show me where its written you must use matching thread at all times. Whoever wrote that obviously doesnt have to unpick seams very often. White, black, and cream work perfectly fine.
No 5- if you are a big girl, dont think for a moment that heavy interlining alone will give you a picture perfect smooth conical shape. Sorry honey, gravity works both down and out.
No 6- all day sewing marathons are great. Stop to eat.
No 7- give the nine month old your tape measure if she wants it. You have six more.
No 8- procrastination is the mother of creativity in a pinch, but what can go wrong, will. Better have a back up plan...
No 9- ironing, pinning, lining, basting, clipping, and tacking are annoying. But it makes the job sooooooooooooooooo much easier.
No 10- measure twice. Measure again. Double check your figures. measure again. Cut once. Save yourself the headache of fixing bad measuring.
No 11- if the fabric will rip evenly, RIP!!
No 12- there is no such thing as checking facebook fast. Just leave it alone when you are crunched for time.
No 13- background noise is good, but make sure it's a movie you have seen plenty before.
No 14- going to the store for needed supplies on the middle us a pain.
No 15- if you want it bad enough, you'll figure out how to go on less than the hours sleep.