Improvements to Fairy Garb

[elthefairy]

What is a liberty bodice?

A liberty bodice is a bodice with little or no boning



To others, I have a rose crown, a vial of perfume oil, and a hair twister. Should that be good?

[Sunshine]

A very easy and versatile accesory to make is a clip. Just take some cheap fake roses (or pretty much anything else light - I just did this with sand dollars for an ocean-themed outfit) and hot glue alligator or single-prong hair clips to the bottom with a bit of felt to keep the glue from getting on the other half of the clip. (Your layers should be rose-hot glue-top of clip-small square of felt-bottom of clip.) Then, you can put your clips not just in your hair, but also on your dress, your belt, your bags, anywhere you think a rose might be nice.

As for glitter, it's only a problem if it's loose. You can make "glitter paint" with glue, water, and glitter, and then decorate anything you like as long as it doesn't need to be washed. Once the "paint" dries, you only see the glitter, but it stays on well.

What are you doing for shoes? I find shoes really complete an outfit, and make it look more like your character than just someone dressed up like a character.

[isabelladangelo]

What is a liberty bodice?

A liberty bodice is a bodice with little or no boning



To others, I have a rose crown, a vial of perfume oil, and a hair twister. Should that be good?

Actually, that sounds bad.  What you described is a vest, not a bodice.  A bodice has boning in it to keep you where you need to be and gravity at bay.   Also, without boning, a bodice will roll up and wrinkle in odd places - like a too tight vest.   

As long as you are going to a fantasy based faire and not a historical based faire, I'd go with a billowy blouse and dye it pink, red, or green. 

Something like this

Or this

Tie a scarf around your waist.  I think something with a loose knit, maybe in green like this would work.



I'd keep the vial of perfume oil at home.  Some people can be very deathly allergic to perfumes.  Imagine what would happen if that vial broke? You will bump into things and you will drop things.  Like I said earlier, one drop of oil on the wrist will probably be okay but no more than that. 

[Rani Zemirah]

I would agree with Isabella about a perfume oil.  There is a difference between a perfume and an essential oil, and often it's the perfume that will set off allergies, where essential oils (which are natural oils extracted from the plants they derive from) won't bother anywhere near as many people. 

And a very faint, wafting scent is much more intriguing than being bombarded with an unnatural perfume-y smell.  It will sell the rose fairy far more effectively than any sort of overwhelming scent would, and there is really nothing quite as lovely as the scent of natural rose oil. 


As for the "things" you carry... you will find things here and there that "speak" to your character, the more you develop her, and will want to hang them on your person here and there... and in time you will have many fun and interesting things to play with as you wander about the village, interacting with others.  Lots of times a small "prop" can open a doorway to communication with others, and facilitate exchanges that might never have happened if you hadn't been carrying around that strange looking stick, or the shiny stone, or even the pretty scrap of ribbon!  If you go to youtube and google faeries you are bound to come across video footage of several of the more well known Faire frequenting Fae... and if you watch them interact you will often notice that they are using something as a focal point for the exchange.  You will also see that they usually have a number of small pouches, or pockets, or things tucked in their sock, or a sleeve, maybe... or under their hairfalls... and they are all simply things to play with, that help them to find ways to play with humans. 

I'm not sure if you are familiar with Twig... but if you watch her at play you will notice that she often does this type of thing... and she always has a wonderful time with it!   

[Jade]

 While not  accurate for the  Renaissance era,  liberty  bodice  were called just that.  They came about in  early 1900s  to be worn in place of restricting  corsetry.

[Rowan MacD]

While not  accurate for the  Renaissance era,  liberty  bodice  were called just that.  They came about in  early 1900s  to be worn in place of restricting  corsetry.

A true liberty bodice looks a little like the basic faire bodice, or a vest with a laced front.  It's not meant to be tightly laced, just fitted.  It don't think it's meant to support the ladies either, unless you are very small chested.
  A little oil of roses on your wrist would be perfect to smell the part.

[PollyPoPo]

My not-quite-12-year-old granddaughter just got her first bodice (thought it is more of a waist cinch) with very light boning.  Cheap on-line - she ordered herself (Dad's permission to use card, otherwise, all her research and choice) - it's pink, candy pink, back lacing, front hooks.

PUTTING IT ON - HA HA HA HA HA

She wiggled and squirmed trying to get it fastened (and it was LOOSE), til I told her to lay flat on her back on the floor and fasten it that way.  Like a pair of really, really snug jeans.

Then she found out about POSTURE and why all those old fashioned paintings had people sitting straight up.  She lasted about 1/2 an hour, then out of it.

I wore girdles back in the day.  Same concept of pulling/pushing stuff where it did not want to go. 

Oh, also, she knows she cannot wear it outside of the house without a high neck, sleeved blouse under it.  After a three-sided look in the mirror (wearing just bodice and bra) she does not want her Dad or Brother to see her in without a full-cover up.  That's kind of the fall-back for her to figure out what is too grown-up for her to wear.  Makes it easy - no arguments.

[isabelladangelo]

While not  accurate for the  Renaissance era,  liberty  bodice  were called just that.  They came about in  early 1900s  to be worn in place of restricting  corsetry.

Yes, sports corsets or medicine corsets came about in the late 19th C but they still had boning of some sort (cording or thickened straps of fabric) and were meant to hold a female shape, not hold it in.   They often had elastic.   The Liberty clothing company was known for it's freer fashions but they still very much had structure- it was often hidden on the inside of and otherwise loose looking gown.  This is what a liberty bodice looked like in the 1900s - still a lot of boning.  Yes, in the modern age (1970s, Liberty was still making what they called a bodice) they didn't have boning but, by that point, it was a bodice in the sense that all dresses have a bodice/torso section to them.   Just as our modern use of the word chemise is nothing like the 16th century usage of it.   Spaghetti strap tank tops were called chemises before the mid 90's. 

[Rowan MacD]

After a three-sided look in the mirror (wearing just bodice and bra) she does not want her Dad or Brother to see her in without a full-cover up.  That's kind of the fall-back for her to figure out what is too grown-up for her to wear.  Makes it easy - no arguments.

She was raised well, and with an appropriate sense of modesty for her age. 
  Too many preteen girls adopt the 'hooker look' the minute they enter Jr High (around here they still don't allow that kind of clothing in Elementary school).
  I know some 12 year olds that dress like Bratz dolls; high heels, leggings and see through tank tops with lacy bras in full view.  We won't even describe the heavy makeup, nails and hair.
   Hubby said it makes him uncomfortable to be around children who dress like that; he says he spends his time watching the other men to make sure they aren't checking out the little girls in an inappropriate way. 
  Once a father of a daughter, always a father.