| Faire 2005 Dress Diary? |
| 7/6/05 Well, here I go to join the crowd. Since I have some time at home between school and more school, I have decided to attempt a diary for my garb for this season. I am planning on going to Sterling Renaissance Festival in New York, and also to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this season. So, I must make something that will work for Sterling's 1585 time period and something else that fits in with Maryland's year of 1537. So far I have some ideas, and have already started on a new payre of bodies that will have boned tabs. My other ones were first attempts, and while they fit tolerably well and give the right silhouette, they are not the most comfortable designs. To remedy that I combined elements from the extant corsets found in Janet Arnold and Nora Waugh. Because I want my Tudor style gown to be front opening with a stomacher, I didn't want the extra bulk of another lacing underneath the dress lacings. I therefore chose to make the bodies back lacing like the German style corset. I know some people don't like getting into back lacing corsets, but as long as the laces are long enough, I don't really mind. One thing I will have to see about is the ease of getting into it with straps on. Straps severly limit the mobility in my experience, but because they tie into the front like the effigy corset instead of being permanently attached, I think I will be able to manage. One requirement for these outfits is that I need to use material I already have. I packed my material to move at the end of the summer, and found that I have six very large plastic tubs of material, and a few odd and ends pieces that are in other boxes. I don't really want to think about how much room I will need to pack my garb and works in progress. So, that meant that I pulled some duck cloth and linen scraps from my tubs and dug out my reel of spring steel and found that I now have a linen white payre of bodies with mint green linen blend lining and tan leather binding for around the edges. Not too bad for not having to spend any more money than I have already on garb. |
| 7/08/05 Owie, owie, owie! I have spent most of the day cutting spring steel boning for the bodies. After cutting and rounding the ends of 60 bones (ouch!), I dipped them in plasti-dip, and am waiting until the morning to put them in and see what it will really look like. Unfortunately, the only dip color available locally was black, so I am hoping that the inside of my bodies does not look like mint chocolate chip icecream when I put it together. Pictures I also picked up a nice piece of maple from the hardware store, and made a new busk to go in the front. This one is straight instead of tapered like my last one, and it is significantly thinner as well. The other one felt like I was wearing a 2x4 down the front of my stays! I have pictures on my digital camera, but am just too tired right now to put them up. I will try to get them up soon. I only have about two weeks before Sterling, so I must put aside the wonderful thoughts of Tudor and concentrate back on the 'bethan. Why must I always want to work on the outfits that I shouldn't be working on instead of the ones I should? |
| 7/7/05 I tried something new by putting my old stays onto my dress form, and then draping the new bodies on top of them. I then took in the side seams to account for draping over the other corset, and the stretch that I am anticipating from using linen. It was definitely easier than my normal method of drafting from measurements, so I hope that everything will fit right. I am also trying the historical method of making each piece as an individual unit, and then whip-stitching them together afterwards. This is a very experimental garb season for me. |
| 7/10/05 Okay, I finally finished the 30 eyelets in the back closure, and I think that the binding and other eyelets for the busk and farthingale will have to wait for now. I just can't look at any more at the moment. I normally really like doing eyelets, but I think that after spending the summer working as a cutter/draper in a costume shop with really long hours, I need to work on something a little more instantly gratifying, even if ultimately all of the work is for myself. So, on that note, I plan to drape/draft the dress part for the Elizabethan over the new bodies tomorrow. On the bright side, my old petticoats and skirts still fit over the new bodies, but the bust area is a little different. I am feeling much more...umm... uplifted than in my other pair. I added a bit to the length in the center front, and am quite pleased with the result. Actually, after wearing the bodies for the last few hours, I am very happy, and can't wait for the garb to go over them. They are extremely comfortable, and my only hesitation is that they are slightly more eighteenth century in silhouette than I think they should be. Although the pattern I made is based a little later in the century than my other pair, it shouldn't have made that extreme a difference. Unfortunately, I think the later period effect is due more to my personal figure than the boning configuration or pattern. Again, I did take pictures, and it is on my to do list for tomorrow, along with many other internet things, so be assured everything will be posted then. My biggest problem now is that while I have some research portraits that I would dearly love to recreate from the 1580's, but I don't have the time or materials right now to do them justice. Therefore, I have to come up with some garb that is more suited to the occasion. I think I will have to do some surfing of the old internet tonight to see if I can overcome my lust for Tudor and get the 'bethan bug back again. Hmm, maybe something foreign, like German, or Italian, or Spanish or... |