Blue gown diary.

The sleeves were fairly straightforward. They are fuller at the elbow so as to not be constrictive of movement. Lace adorns the cuffs and has points as the Venetians did at the time. Sleeve attach to the shoulder of the bodice with buttons and loops.

The bodice is made the same way as my Pink Venetian frock, and the skirts were also made in the same manner also. for a better idea of how these all come together have a look at my dress diary.

Unfortunately the frocks always look different on the mannequin than on a real body. Real bodies always squish into much nicer shapes.

This dress has 10 metres of 150cm wide fabric. This blue brocade was purchased especially for the livery, and features a lovely pomegranate design in a large repeat.

A ruff in a rush. My friend Naomi came to help out in the fabulous sewing frenzy. She kindly sewed the lace and wire into my ruff and then pinned all the pleats in place, top and bottom. Then it was up to me to sew it all into place.

Naomi also made my veil for me. It is in a black silk chiffon edged with black point lace that I dyed myself. Isn't she wonderful!

A ruff in a rush. My friend Naomi did most of the work on this.

The ruff was finished first up this morning. Next is the hem and the girdle and it is finished. This has to be finished tonight as I am leaving for Melbourne in the morning and the event that this gown is to be worn at.


The dress on the mannequin with the partlet being sewn into place, showing the front and back views. Also visible is the facing strip I apply to the back of my skirts for the cartridge pleating. At the shoulders the loops for the buttons of the sleeves can be see.

Still working on it. I am trying to get the girdle done and will finish the hemming tonight in Melbourne.

The lacing is done in a fancy cord of white and silver metallic cords plied together.

When the finished dress worn it is accessorised with a girdle, brooches, necklaces, earrings, rings, fans, neck and shoulder ruffs, and hair accessories, like my veil, to top it off.

This is definitely a court gown, and has an elegant sweeping effect when you see it being worn. The skirt is very full and feels so wonderful when you walk and turn in it. Nice and swirly. Does it make my bum look big? I hope so! You can't have that much skirt and have it look any other way. And that is the way it is supposed to look.

I've been working on my shoulder ruffs the past few nights. (The ones in the photo on the mannequin aren't mine, they belong to some one else.) I decided that I had more than enough ruff there so I cut the remainder off. Now what do you do with left over ruff? Make a standing ruff of course. I'd hate to see all that beautiful lace go to waste. So now I am experimenting with a standing ruff or two. To see my research into Venetian Ruff click here.

All of my ruffs are now finished. I have my lovely standard neck ruff and, my standing neck ruff. Along with my shoulder ruffs the ruffs for this outfit are complete. In fact the entire outfit is now complete.

Now I need to get Mio fabuloso Ragazzo to take some photos of me wearing it. With both sets of ruffs!

Standing ruff and my shoulders ruffs on the dress.

All intellectual content, composition, layout, designs and photographs copyright 2007 to Deborah Lane © , 2003 to Deborah Murray © or Mistress Oonagh O'Neill ©. All Original renaissance art works and artefacts are not copyright to Deborah Lane, and are shown for educational use only. If you see something you'd really like to use, please contact me!


Back and front views immediately after the skirt was attached. Not looking its best a the moment.		On my mannequin with the sleeves attached prior to hemming.