Black skirt--what color guards?

[gem]

I'm *finally* making a proper skirt to wear with my pink corset! I have given up trying for the perfect color, and am going with... black. LOL


(Shown with the random blue peasant skirt I grabbed from my wardrobe... and have been wearing with it ever since.  )

Instead of the gored skirt above, I'll be making it from 3-4 yards of cartridge-pleated linen/cotton blend, so it will look more like this or this. (Probably a little more like the white one, which is also linen/cotton--it's a little springier than 100% linen.)

But! I don't just want a plain, boring black skirt. It needs guards! Probably not pink... but something. I'm also planning to make a waistcoat/Jacobean jacket from peacock blue velvet to wear with the ensemble. I really like the way Laura Medlin (Extreme Costuming) mixes colors in her 'bethan middles, like here, and I would love to be that brave!

So! Embolden me! What color should my skirt guards be? (I will in all likelihood be using cotton twill tape, if that matters.) PICTURES WELCOME! 

Gramercy!!

[operafantomet]

I'm also planning to make a waistcoat/Jacobean jacket from peacock blue velvet to wear with the ensemble. I really like the way Laura Medlin (Extreme Costuming) mixes colors in her 'bethan middles, like here, and I would love to be that brave!

So! Embolden me! What color should my skirt guards be? PICTURES WELCOME! 

Based on this... I would say that this colour combo (reversed skirt colours) could be cool with pink:

[CenturiesSewing]

Black guards in a different textured fabric wouldn't be amiss, but any color is going to pop more from the black skirt so go loud! Dusty lavender, eggplant, tawny orange...

[isabelladangelo]

I'd go a slightly different route:

http://www.rachaelarnold.com/images/archives/fete-detail-1.jpg

The stays, black skirt, and maybe a gold-ish/cream-ish apron.   If you are going to cover up the lovely stays with a doublet, why not make a skirt or petticoat to match the doublet instead?

[gem]

Thanks, all!

Wow, Anea, you really nailed it with that painting--every color we're talking about, right there together. You're a wizard!

I've been playing around with some croquis the last couple of days, and I liked a lot of colors (particularly a pale green and the eggplant that Centuries suggested), but then I remembered that I have this wonderful fabric in my stash that I'd been saving for a set of sleeves or a doublet:


That's pinked faux suede! But I have gads of it, and could easily sacrifice a yard for bias tape.

My artwork is atrocious (the guards on this first one were meant to be the same width), but here's my attempt at putting together a color scheme:



And with the waistcoat that may or may not ever materialize...



I prefer the narrow, double guards, and anyway it's a more economical use of fabric. Haven't exactly figured out how to work with the suedecloth (do I prewash it? How to attach the guards without the seam allowances obscuring the holes, etc.), but I'll keep you posted!

[DonaCatalina]

I think I prefer the narrow double guards also, though it does mean more work. 

[gem]

I haven't decided yet (twill tape in color, or pinked faux suede), but I've done the math and I can make 2" guards from just under 1/2 yard of my suedecloth, which is an amount I can live with. 

I've also done a test strip with the black linen to see how it all looks, and I'm really pleased! Obviously I need to keep a closer eye on cutting/pressing the fabrics *straight,* although they don't look that crooked IRL and probably won't from normal skirt-viewing distance. More critically, I will be trimming off as much seam allowance as I can get away with, so I don't obscure the pinking:



(Forgive the odd angle; I was trying to take a photo on my ironing board from above... by raising my hands above my head and shooting downward. LOL I probably should just have moved the fabric somewhere else. :b)

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

When I washed this plaid skirt, it shrunk so much (even though it was pre-washed, it's just that kind of material), it was too short, so I put 2 bands of solid blue to lengthen it.  I like the look better than 1 large band.

[DonaCatalina]

Nice work on the skirt Lady Renee....I think the solid blue bands actually improve the overall look.

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

Nice work on the skirt Lady Renee....I think the solid blue bands actually improve the overall look.

Thank you, Dona.