Photo Shoot

Okay, since my green dress had the benefit of a final photoshoot on its page, I figured the orange deserved the same honor. I loved some of the pics from our day in Roanoke, but all of them featured me either without complete jewelry, or in glasses. That just won't do. I let my husband, um, I mean photographer, pose me how he wished.

This is our best attempt at copying a vecellio woodcut (lets ignore the fact that I'm way shorter--perhaps she was cheating with chopines?):


And me trying to look engrossed in playing "my"(aka rented) new ren guitar, much like the girl in this pic.

Ah, and lastly, my feasting pictures. I couldn't resist the grapes:

The Orange Courtesan. A Recap.

As this project comes to a close, I figured I should just sum up my experiences/techniques/etc before I move on to my next endeavor.

Ah, so, the orange dress. Wow, what an experience. I am quite thrilled with how it came out, honestly. There are, as always, some things that could've been better and things I'd like to add/improve someday, but I also am fairly happy with it as is. Sewing this wasn't bad at all, since I'd already finished the green as practice, and thus had the patterns all in hand (and had a looming deadline). So really, this went pretty quickly.

From the bottom up:

1) The camica was the same one as I made for the green dress. Its cotton decorator's gauze (I wanted something even MORE see-through than my hanky weight linen. Yes, I'm a courtesan huzzy). I made it using the pattern from the Realm of Venus. I finished it with hand-done redwork in rust embroidery floss, and an edging stitch in gold thread on my sewing machine. My inspiration was the ruffly bit on the top of the camica seen below.

2) The roped petticoat was mostly for my sanity. Yes, it does hold the skirts out a bit. But only a bit, as my dress fabric is intensely heavy upholstery velvet. Mostly it keeps my overdress's skirts from wrapping round my legs in hot weather, which keeps me happy and sane. The gored pink (ick) petticoat was made with pink cotton shirting. A spiraling ribbon channel was sewn up the body of the skirt. The channel is dark pink grossgrain ribbon filled with two strands of cotton clothesline from Walmart. Someday I'll make a new one of these, as I hate this one--my original plan was to have a red dress with pink bits underneath. But the pink and orange just doesn't do it for me.



3) The corset from my green dress turned out to be unnecesary for my orange dress. Its quite heavily boned on its own, and I don't need the extra heat, quite honestly. There are still questions as to whether the venetians always wore corsets. This way I have one dress that answers yes, and one that answers no. ;-)

4) The dress itself is in an orange cut velvet I found at a locally owned fabric store.

The bodice is side back lacing. I wish I'd been able to angle the lacings a bit more--right now the back panel is almost rectangular. I found this to be the best way to avoid butt puckering from the venetian backpoint, so I'd much rather have rectangular than buttpucker. The bodice is interlined with two layers of white denim which holds the boning (and provides a lot of support itself) and the innermost lining is a burgundy synthetic silky fabric. I also wish I'd made the shape fo the bodice a bit more conical. Somehow in my translation from green dress pattern to orange dress pattern, it managed to both grow larger and get less conical. But not so much as to make me rework it.

The skirts of the over dress are three panels of 56"wide fabric, pattern=matched along the selvages as well as I could humanly manage. There is a seam straight down the center front of the skirt, an idea i stole from Beth, and one that worked well for me so that I could have exactly one whole panel on the centerback part of the bodice, and 2 full panels gathered into the front/side part of the bodice. This means the natural seams fall right under my sideback lacings, which makes for a less grotesque gap there (a lesson learned from the green dress).

The skirt is cartridge pleated onto the bodice. The cartridge pleats are padded out with 2 layers of hideous yellow felted wool (an idea from Semptress), which gives them a nice full look, and also makes the skirt poof at the waist--more subtle than a bumroll, and better than just hanging flat. The skirt is unlined, cuz I was already warm enough, thank you. And the underside of the fabric is pretty. All the guards on the dress are strips of burgundy wool that I found a remnant of.

5) The sleeves decorated with a helical wool guard on dress fabric, inspired by several vecellio woodcuts.

vecellio

6) Accessories:


I beaded a girdle onto copper wire using brass metal ouches from ebay that I "antiqued" with black acrylic paint, glass pinkish pearls, black plastic beads, white plastic pearls, red czech glass beads, and little gold plastic sead beads.

My necklace is alternating pinkish glass pearls with smaller white plastic pearls, with two silver glass pearls and a huge plastic teardrop pearl as the charm (a former earring from goodwill). I also have a "gold" and "pearl" brooch (also a former earring), and a large string of plastic big and small pearls to drape around my neck and over the "brooch".

The flag fan is a sample swatch of home decorator's fabric that I embroidered in gold. It is stiffened with Timtex interfacing and cardboard, trimmed with lace and velvet ribbon, and attached to an antique gold painted dowel rod.

My purse is "whimsical". Which basically means I have not a smidge of research on venetians having purses. But I can only tuck so much in my bosoms, so purse it is. Its made with burgundy wool and strips of fabric swatches I had cuz I coveted them but couldn't afford them.

Lastly, I found a pair of pretty silver goblets at goodwill, and I think that completes my accesorizing.

Notes for Additions and Future Reference.
1) Adding an inch guard at the bottom wouldn't hurt, since i hemmed it a bit on the short side. This is especially true if i ever wanna wear shoes with a bit more sole or heel than my china flats.
2) Getting a partlet together would really make it more authentic. I'm not sure what style or when, though, so this is a big hazy in the future thing.
3) Learning a venetian hairdo would be nice.
4) Next time, work on getting the side back lacing more in the eleanora di toledo angles. And the bodice more conical.
5) I've got enough fabric left over for the eleanora di toledo strip sleeves, and the buttons for the pinch points. I will definitely make these some day, but for now, I am thrilled with my "candy stripe" sleeves.

Permission Granted

Beth has kindly okayed my posting of her face and dress ALL OVER MY BLOG! ;-) As requested, I hereby promise not to include ones wherein she does not look stunning. Also, thank you to niter for letting me steal the photos from her far-superior-to-mine-camera.

I was so excited for this shot. It is my favorite of the whole day! Beth was very beautiful and intently listening to the talented harpist/vocalist. I think I snuck this picture. Either that, or she was very good at pretending not to notice. Doesn't she looks regal and serene? You can also see her pretty sleeves and bead clusters! Not to mention the spectacular horned hairdo.

Beth looking fetching in a field. I tried to sneak this picture, but she caught me. Blasted plastic trashcan. At least her skirts cover most of it.

coy--I like this picture cuz it looks like we're checking out/flirting with some off-screen fellow. And I'm pretty sure that fellow was Beth's husband. No worries, dear, I know he's taken.

lovely ladies

Actually paying attention to the photographer this time.


Elisabeta and I waiting for costume judgement. I'm making a sour face from the sun, but the dresses are worth posting. This was BEFORE drunk guy came. And, I just noticed that beth's hair compliments my dress quite well. ;-)

And, a series of "action photography" courtesy of Niter. Here, we are playing ragball. Which is like hot-potato and musical chairs all in one. Running in these dresses is warm, I tell you:

ragball--action beth!

ragball, action Julie!

Don't we look lovely while waiting for the ball? And the big plastic trash can. Again. Isnt it lovely?


Beth in her stunning-ness. And my butt. But also a decent shot of how niter cleverly braided and wove pearls into my hair. Huzzah! Thank you niter! Good servant girl. Oh, and hello, trashcan. sigh.

And lastly, the only of the two of us faking the whole musical thing that came out well (at least in my opinion). We are covering a very non-period green transformer box with our multitudes of skirts. Worked rather well. What didnt' work well was me fake playing the ren guitar. My E strings were grossly out of tune, and many of the pics are of at least one of the two of us making a hideous face. The hairspray loving nats didn't help, either....

guitar

Weekend Adventures

Well, this weekend was the venetian dress debut at the Virginia Ren Faire in Roanoke. I FINALLY got to see Beth's dress in person--simply stunning. Internet pics (though lovely) just don't do it justice, and the costume contest judges agreed. More on this later in the post, as I'm already digressing.

First, a Disclaimer:
I forgot to ask Beth for permission to post pics of her, and I'm not comfy doing so without getting her go ahead. Since its sunday night, and I'm anxious to post SOMETHING, I will do the totally egocentric thing and post pics of myself only. Thus, I will gush over Beth's dress and show pics only of me... Just know that I'm not TRYING to be self-centered. I'm trying to be considerate. I also stink at photoshopping, and since my hubby's out of town blurring is not an option. Cropping's about as much as I can handle.

And now, a recap:
I started my trek to Niter's Friday morning, and made it in "excellent time", which is just a nice way of saying that I drive like a speed-demon when I'm excited to get somewhere...

Friday afternoon/evening we ran around her town collecting fun wines, dinner ingredients for a very tasty "paella"( which I now know how to make for myself), and the most sinfully delicious truffles from The Chocolate Spike. As strange as it sounds to combine flavors like curry, chipotle and lavendar with chocolate, it was amazingly exotic and wonderful. And I ate "too many" of them. Not that one can eat too much chocolate, as Beth correctly reminded me, but I do eat it at the expense of becoming more booty-licious. And my booty-licious-ness is quite enough already, honestly. ;-)

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to don our garb. And ran late, as women are known to do... hehe. We met Beth at her house later than expected, with my hair undone, my brooch fallen off, my girdle yet-untacked-to-my-dress, and our flemish servant Niter barefoot with broken shoes. Beth was spectacularly (and punctually) attired, coifed, shoed and packed for the day. Bad Julie. Teehee.

After I finally got my stuff together, we took some photos in Beth's lovely wooded yard (thank you to aaron and niter, our photographers), and headed off to the faire in Niter's SUV. Um, I mean carriage. Yes, carriage....

We arrived at the ultra-small faire (they're only in roanoke for one weekend) being some of the few patrons to dress. "Elisabeta" got to be my sister for the day, which was great, as we often joke that we're clones. Niter got to be our insolent lady's servant. She was quite a brazen little thing, showing her ankles for a sixpence and drinking from my goblet when i bid her hold it. I showed mercy and refrained from a public beating. ;-)

We were mistaken for faire workers more than once, and had the opportunity to talk to many-an-interesting member of the court and towne about various things, mostly their lovely elizabethan costumes. We were even formally introduced to the queen, who offered to find us husbands. (Elisabeta and I promptly avoided her for the rest of the day--a courtesan does not need a husband, right? Besides that, we actually DO have husbands squirrelled away in the 21st century, who would probably not take so kindly to her majesty's offers).

Here is where I confess that while I love making the gowns, I am socially inept (and shy, and self conscious) when I have to play a character or talk with any sort of accent. Really, I should work on that....
I bring this up since I think that I offended a man with my courtesan banter--and I wasn't even being lude. I simply asked what the use of only ONE husband was when a girl can have MANY a rich suitor? Not all at the same (exact) time, of course. (innocently bat eyes). I couldnt' tell if he was playing to be offended, or honestly offended, but he really did walk away from us rather quickly. Anyway, sorry, dude. I was playing. In real life I'm monogamous and quite happily married to only one man! :-)

Highlights of the day were:
1) The weather---it didn't storm as threatened! It was in the 70's and mostly cloudy, so we didnt' overheat until the early evening when the clouds left and the sun appeared. We even got to comfortably wear our fun fancy sleeves for most of the day.

2) sitting at a harp concert where we got to provide percussion (myself, a-rhythmically--my drummer husband would be so ashamed). This inspired me to listen to both of my Lorena McKennit cd's on my way home, since the harpist was talking about her.

3)The alpacas that go "mmmmmmffff" and have freaky horizontal pupils. And are super cute.

4)Doing "women's work" and gossiping about husbands with the townfolk.

5) prancing about in our dresses playing ragball with various patrons/workers.

and, last but not least,
6) the costume contest we enrolled in as elisabeta and julieta. I got an honorable mention, and Beth received silver in the contest, with only a dashing and knowledgable Welsh woodsman ahead of her. I think we both enjoyed "strutting our stuff", so to speak. (Until the sun came out and we just fanned maniacally. People were impressed by the uniqueness of the venetian flag fan! Even the queen herself.) Oh, and the judge's subsequent use of us as examples of certain styles in the costume lecture. That was fun.

The downsides:
1) my boobies are sunburnt
2) I think i need to add about an inch to the hem of my dress
3) my boobies are sunburnt
4) I am jealous of beth's "horny hair", and must work at teasing my own locks. However, I must mention that Niter did a lovely job of braiding my hair and twisting pearls into it. I just long for horny head.
5) Did i meantion that my boobies are sunburnt?
6) Oh, yeah, that drunk guy.

After the faire, we rushed home to beth's to loosen all our corestry, and made plans for a fondue/wine/pasta/chocolate evening with the boys. Twas delicious, and much fun. Very nice to see niter and beth in comfy 21st century clothes after all day of prancing about in gowns. And also great to spend some time with their respective hubby's, since I get to see/talk to them less, and they're both very fun guys.

I'd like to thank niter, beth and hubbies for inviting me/helping me dress and do hair/feeding and eating with me/taking and sharing pics and generally giving me a very fun and happy weekend! Huzzah!

Oh, right, and some pics:

me alone

field

Okay, so in the first one I'm missing my brooch, and in the second one i've got computer nerd glasses (forgot my contacts, and I'm blind as a bat) and my pearls are crooked (and yes, I know it was against sumptary laws for courtesans to wear pearls. Guess I'm not exactly a law-abiding citizen,eh?). No one's perfect. ;-)


ren guitaring. I'm kinda faking, as I've only had one lesson, and don't know any songs yet--but I will! Still, its a nice pic.

ITS OVER!!!!

Yes, I think I'm officially finished with this dress for some time. Okay, still wanna do a partlet. But that will wait. Especially after learning that Beth is not partletting this time around, either (despite making a beautiful one!). I will be like her and delude myself that i'm making one for october. Actually, I'm fairly certain that I will. Just in good time. This Saturday is the unplanned "early" weardate, and the "real" day is to be sometime in October at the MD Ren Festival.

I've neglected my blog for the past few days in the interest of finishing fiddly bits before posting.
I've hemmed the sleeve bottoms, added utility loops for attaching items to my waistline, hookneyed the slits under the lacings, trimmed all long threads. I've also hemmed the gown (a bit shorter than i intended), and attached one guard of the burgundy wool. I'm still considering a second guard for later, but for now, I'm thinking one is just dandy, especially with the time contraints AND my need to feel reasonably finished for saturday. These pics are all sans accessories, but i'll have my fill of pics in the whole getup come this weekend!



front



back


Oh, also, I got my cool (but way more huge than expected) ring off of ebay, it matches my dress very well, and is deliciously gaudy:


ring of power! NOtice my newly shorn fingernails--a sacrifice to the lute lesson gods!

And a trip to the little asian store yielded the stereotypical not-really-period-but-best-i-can-do $3.50 babydoll china flats:

shoes

The cool thing is that this store also sells these in white, and as i'm pretty sure they're cotton I could get white ones and dye to match future outfits. Huzzah!

There shall be a feast of photos early next week! I'm so excited!

Limp Dress, Limp Fan

Chugging right along. 8 days till wear-time (assuming the rain gods smile on us). Tonight I hunkered down to do the girdle and the flagfan.

The girdle is made from plastic pearls from the cheap trim store nearby, red czech glass beads, black and gold plastic beads salvaged from a $1 goodwill necklace, and ouches from ebay that I previously antiqued with black glaze. Its all strung on copper wire. Here it is on my limp dress:

girdle
I was especially proud of how I brought it together in the front. You probably can't tell, but the left side of the center is a necklace clasp for ease of dressing. Its ingeniously hidden. ;-) If by hidden you mean small....

girdle detail

I also finally finished my flag fan. The gold outlining embroidery provided me much entertainment on subway rides. It also got me some rather strange looks. Oh well. The fan is from a swatch I bought at a going out of business fabric store (sob), edged with some lace and then covered with red velvet ribbon. I painted the dowel rod brown then put gold over for an antiqued look, though really it just came out looking like muddy gold. I'm so-so on this fan, the embroidery is regretted now, since i'm not too fond of the gold. And I made the tabs to loop onto the rod just the right tension so it doesn't swing freely, but it doesn't stay still either. Kinda a flaccid fan thing going. Hrm. Regardless, its done, and it'll look nice in pics.

fan

Thoughts on Jewels

Well, now that the dress is coming closer to finished, and definitely closer to its debut (9 days, but who's counting?), I have moved my eye to accessories (the dress is hanging out. Literally). Here is what I've got currently:







The big ole' clip on earring I bought looks good in its second life as a "brooch" ( i think i'll engineer a way to have it a bit lower on the guard than this pic--as in below the camica at least). I took the liberty of adding a bit of huge gold-link chain I had from an undergrad toga party (don't ask) in the loopy style of the time. Okay, its only SORTA the style of the time, as theirs would be a full necklace looped over (see portrait above), and mine mysteriously disappears into my bosoms. Hey, the chain was short.
Anyway, I wanted to know my public's (i think my public right now is about 3) opinion of this. Short chain, or should i string a long thing of pearls, like the lavinia portrait?

I still like my earrings (the ones on my ears), but now with the whole ensemble, the necklace I was originally so excited about seems to not match my other jewelry. Its copper colored metal (all my other stuff--sleeve buttons, ouches, brooch--is gold), and its got really stand-out-sparkly rhinestones (everything else is subdued gold and pearls). A shame, cuz I really love this necklace. But it just doesn't match.

I set to making new one. A very simple new one. Cuz I'm lazy. ;-) Its creamy pinkish pearls interspersed with ivory whitish smaller pearls. With some silver ones and a leftover teardrop from a goodwill earring. The clasp is something I picked up to use in my girdle but then didn't. So i guess it was leftover too.


new necklace


necklace clasp

Baby Got Back

I've been a busy bee. Realization set in that my dress's debut was a mere 10 days away!!!! Then, realization set in that I'd like to let my dress hang/settle with the skirts attached for about a week before I do the hemming. Thus, a-cartridge-pleating and a-skirt-attaching I went. I've got the multiple punctures to prove it. And yes, I own a thimble. But it pinches my chubby little fingers so....


Now my dress has 7 days to hang so that i can hem it a week from now and go to the faire two days later. Cutting it close? Maybe. But i can work on the sleeves/flagfan in the meantime.

I used semptress's felting-the-pleats method. I think it may have worked a little too well! This is a pic (form the side) of me trying to get a sense of the poofiness before I was finished attaching the skirts. That butt is shelfy, yes? I was worried, honestly. But I stuck it out and finished. Once I had the whole dress on and laced, it wasn't quite this bad. But this is a funny picture:


And, drumroll......Ta-DAH! Here is my dress with skirts:


front



back


I am undecided. I can go back and cut off about an inch of felt pretty easily and I assume that would lessen the butt-shelf by about an inch, too. But, it may settle and be unnecesary. And honestly, i'm a bad judge of whether my butt looks too big or not. I personally think it ALWAYS looks too big.

I'm asking for a vote. Big Butt, or smaller but still big butt?

OOOOH! and please note that the lengthof the skirt is not too short as I anticipated. This is cuz i folded over as little as i could get away with before cartridge pleating it. Its actually almost exactly the right length when i wear my brown leather cloggy shoes, which are the best renfest shoes i currently own. Hehe, I love when things are easy. As long as the settling doesn't change this too terribly much, i'll be able to just slap a guard on the bottom and go my merry little way...

In other news, the jewelry bits I ordered from ebay came today. I plan to use them as ouches on my girdle. THey were a might bit brassy when they arrived, so i took to antiquing them with some black acyrlic glaze I had on hand from painting christmas ornaments. It actually stuck to them, which amazed me. In this pic, the one on the left is antiqued, and the right is not. Its a little hard to tell a huge diff in the pic, but in person i promise it makes a world of difference. The difference between cheap looking and pretty cool. hehe.

ouches