Can't Stay Away Forever

...From the blog OR the 'Bethan work.

I didn't get around to much more Regency work but I was drawn back to my Elizabethan projects sooner than I expected.

In January I found out a new Bristol St. George cast member was cast as Mary Radclyffe so any visits I made would obviously not be as Radclyffe. I was surprised and a little sad, having put so much of myself into my Radclyffe, but I embraced the change as an opportunity for new growth. My "Grey-clyffe" dress had by now seen almost 4 years of use and was beginning to tell. She cameoed as other characters at other faires, but she would always be Bristol Radclyffe to me so kicked my butt into gear to finish a dress I started years ago.

Goodbye, Grey-clyffe!

photo by Duchess W Cortland-Canon

Unfortunately I was still in an I-don't-want-to-do-this-all-again mood regarding sewing and faire costuming so I was rather hermit-like about the process. I took very few photos, consulted no one, and obviously didn't post any blog updates. I also gave myself the smallest window for construction I ever risked. Work on it in earnest didn't begin until February and my goal was opening weekend for RPF (recfaire.com/socal) April 5th&6th. 

I mention I had started this dress but all that had been done was the seaming of the skirt panels and laying the silk piping/silk velvet trim on the skirt. At some point I also put the pearls on the trim. So maybe about 10 hours worth of work had been done. Otherwise I put together Overskirt, Bodice, Underskirt with embroidered/beaded forepart section, sleeves, Attifet, new chemise, Ruff partlet, and wrist ruffs all in about 2 months. 

Enough talking about it. Here it is! 

As Douglas Howard, Baroness Sheffield at RPF

(with Sarah Dufresne as Bess Throckmorton and Clayton Hamburg as Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester)

photo by Ken Leonard

As Mary Radclyffe for the day at WMRF 

(with Christopher Forest as Edward deVere, Earl of Oxford -suit by myself)

photo by Richard Doyle

As Penelope Devereaux, Baroness Rich at BRF

photo by Nicole Dh

Feel free to shoot me any questions about details or construction as I neglected documenting the process. 

Now that I'm back up and posting I should be following up with more soon. I PROMISE! 

Special thanks to the following:

Terri Casey- for welcoming me as always with your great cast at RPF

Marybeth Townsend- for making me feel loved and never-forgotton

Victoria Dzenis- for welcoming me to your cast at WMRF for a fun-filled day

Christopher Forest- for your assistance, input, inspiration, your large table; letting me bully you; and for looking great in my work

Adventures in Regency: Part One- Unmentionables!

I think I can count the number of non-Elizabethan projects I've undertaken since creating this blog on one finger. For such a long time my costuming has been so driven by the Faire-purpose and the passion for that era that I could think of making little else. I'm sorry to say that this year something in me--not so much "snapped", but frayed out, rather. As I took on more and more projects for clients and I pushed myself to meet deadlines and create unique hopeful-showstoppers for elite and stellar performers I burned myself out.
For many months now I've been loath to even go near my fabric or workspace. While I told myself this will wear off and by next spring I'll be eager to sew again, a large part of me kinda hoped it wouldn't. Never having been fond of making day-to-day clothes or halloween costumes or other sewing crafts I started to wonder if this loss of my one main passion would deter me from stirring needle and thread again. I was almost resigned to never find out.
And then I was inspired. But not the kind of inspiration that entraps you and enslaves you to a project that gives you sleepless nights fretting over but rather the kind of inspiration that frees you. The kind of inspiration that returns you to the simplest pleasure that's at the heart of why you began this hobby in the first place. "That's pretty. I should like to create something like that and feel what it's like to wear something pretty like that." This phrase is what started me down this road nearly 10 years ago watching the beautiful Guilde of St. George at Bristol parade by. And lo, in the pit of my dispassion, it came to me again. Watching the BBC/A&E Pride & Prejudice for the 100th time I felt that inspiring, politely compelling desire to create and experience those clothes.
With no event looming, no performance to cater, no expectations (my own or others) to meet I'm just going to enjoy my way through some regency era garment-making. If this is the first, last, and only post  I make on the subject, I will bear no disappointment. One of the most profound and ofttimes heartbreaking axioms I have come across in the world of these hobbies is "If you don't enjoy it anymore, it's time to stop." I don't believe that time has come entirely but I can't fight it if it does.

So with no more ado, the palate cleanser of my costuming ennui beginning with UNMENTIONABLES!!!
I have now made a shift/chemise and Regency era "short stays"

 Front view of chemise with short stays over. Chemise comes to just below knee length.

 Back view

Angle showing the "shelf" effect the stays create

Gresham's Dutch Coat

And also a long time coming and seen in action; here is Sir Thomas Gresham's Dutch Coat!

Photo by Ivan Phillips

Final post for the Sidney Gown

Crap I know this was a long time coming and many of you have already seen the final product live in action but for any of my followers who did not get to attend Bristol I'll post some performance shots taken by the wonderful photographers who frequent Bristol.

The Sidneys and Lord Essex taking in the entertainments

Photos by our favorite Nicole Dh

Sir Robert and Lady Sidney

I love the jaunty set of the hat, she pulls it off so well!

photo by Duchess Canon

The REAL last post of May!

I didn't get quite as much done today as I could've and therefor don't feel justified titling it "Holy Crap! It's Almost Done!" even though it is, in fact, almost done. In relative terms.

I lined and turned the bodice today. Hateful part of the process and yet most gratifying to complete. The pointy corners are like wrestling crocodiles to turn sometimes.

I mean, look at that. That just LOOKS a mess.

And the physics of that placket did not help, despite their being quite awesomely effective.

evil little corners

I also did a bit of topstitching buried in the trim along the neckline to sharpen and secure the edges. The armholes are prepped for binding, which will get done this weekend maybe. I did get the lining secured, by hand, along the waistline.

Looking pretty good, dontcha think?

(also, the way the fabric is bending w/ the weight of the sleeve pinned to it, it totally looks like the left side of skirting is way longer than the right. But it's not. I promise.)

Now that truly will be the last post of May. The armholes, grommeting, and some nit-picky finishing details and the bodice will be DONE-ZO! The skirt just needs a waistband, to be sewn TO that waistband, and a hem and it too will be donesauce. I guess that is almost-done. Fine. HOLY CRAP IT'S ALMOST DONE!

My God! It Looks Like A Dress!

Today's unexpected day-off status proved vitally useful! At this point all components are detailed and completed and have only to be combined and finished.

The skirt trimming has been finished:

The bodice got it's own S-curve treatment:

And trimming and flat-lining...

This placketeroo got made

And cable-tie reinforced. God I love those things.

 And lightly trimmed.

Epaulette's got hemmed and hawed over then finally came together in a round about sort of way.

And of course they got trimmed too. (When in doubt, more trim)

 Flipperoonie...

Fancy-ass studs echoing the skirt and bodice detailing...

Epaulettes and skirting pieces all done...

And this is me laying out all the pieces to approximate what the soon-to-be-finsished product will look like...

I've begun preparatory work to flip the bodice out with the lining, which is always kind of a pain when I've improvised crap like that placketeroo thing. That will be the next step and this thing will be finished before we know it.

Last post in May. June here we come... BAPA and rehearsals will be underway this weekend for my friends at Bristol. I'm definitely missing those days, despite being busy and happy out here. Part of me will definitely be with you in spirit during these exciting days of creation, inspiration, collusion, and anticipation, my friends!

I HAS EVERYTHING!

I NOW HAVE EVERYTHING TO FINISH(aka start) THIS DRESS!

The silk and patterns I was waiting for have arrived and thanks to being sick I had a couple extra days home to crank out some progress. I'm not exactly at a stopping point but I've been at it all day and need to tend to other things for the evening so I'm using these few moments to celebrate the progress!

Waiting for the silk and patterns I tried to do everything possible without them so I cut the skirt panels and prepped them for cartridge pleating (I'll be doing the hem from the bottom this time). Once all the trimming is done on the overskirt I just have to yank the threads and BOOM! PLEATED!

The pattern arrived first. One of my friends and fellow costumers is making the new corset for this Miss and was wonderful enough to send a sloper (bodice) pattern and the corset pattern so I can draft my bodice pattern from those. So I did exactly that and got the bodice cut out and ready to be trimmed.

THEN the silk arrived! It was on the cutting table within minutes.

 The silk's primary purpose is as piping so it was subsequently marked, cut, pieced end to end, and piped.

Who's a pretty piping? That's right! YOU ARE! (That's what I said to it)

Then it was on to making the crazy S curve details on the skirt...

Used a tracing wheel to go over the stencil on the right side of the velvet (the impression from the wheel was enough to mark it before going over the outline with a light line of chalk)

Six of those on each side

 Then laying the piping down on the right side...

Then flip it welt-style with the gunmetal silk behind it...

 And stitch-in-the-ditch!

 The curveys by themselves looked too plain so lord help me I pulled out the trim...
This was too boring /snoooooze

 This was better but just a bit too much silver (a nice dark silver though)

Then it all came together. Well it's not all together yet but first we did some of this...

 Let's all say it together... "sOOOOOOOutache!"

 mmm yeah that's a good start... (that's all I have done so far)

 But this is what WILL be happening to it next...

*just* enough silver and layerage.

Here's a peeksie of what the skirt intersection is gonna look like...

 Ok. This is all starting to feel muuuuuuch better. Time for a weekend.