Frock problems!

[Kate XXXXXX]

I find myself in sudden need of a Lady-In-Waiting-to-Elizabeth I frock...  For an afternoon game!   

Can I get away with Lady Prudence's teal Maelstrom frock and the Amazing Lace Shirt (both worn for a season or two of Maelstrom, and therefore dragged through the camp mud and washed several times!), or, at a time Jolly Dicey are at their almost busiest ever, do I try and do summat a bit more spectacular?  Whatever I do it WON'T involve full corsetry!  NOT for a single afternoon of my life!  But I do have a need to fail miserably to Let The Side Down!   

The Lady Pru frock - a reminder!

 

[DonaCatalina]

I think it will work. The Lacy shirt will provide the difference that makes it seem more Elizabethan.

[Kate XXXXXX]

They were made to go together, and they work...  But I feel my character needs more BLING! 

Trouble is that we have a frock coat and a waistcoat, another three dresses along those lines, three costumes for a shopping mall Christmas grotto, and a repair to a bejeweled costume we made last year to do for round the same date!  Plus a 50's style wedding gown to titivate, two 40's outfits to make, I have a wedding to go to, and we have the event this is for the weekend after the National Living History Fayre, at which we have a stall...

[Marietta Graziella]

The frock is lovely on it's own but can you not bling it up with some jewels and accessories?

Do not further tax yourself, good lady!

[Kate XXXXXX]

I was wondering about that...  I may well look into mad jewelery rather than more sewing!  Ebay, here I come!   

[PollyPoPo]

Perhaps her Majesty might lend you several ropes of pearls with drop earrings?

[isabelladangelo]

I'd say go a bit more spectacular.  The dress is nice but it looks like Princess Fiona's to my eye - and I'm not sure that's quite what you want. 

[Kate XXXXXX]

Perhaps her Majesty might lend you several ropes of pearls with drop earrings?

Hehe...  Oddly, a couple of decent ropes of real pearls wouldn't be a problem!  I have a sister with a passion for pearls!  And no kids!   

[Kate XXXXXX]

I'd say go a bit more spectacular.  The dress is nice but it looks like Princess Fiona's to my eye - and I'm not sure that's quite what you want.

Yeah...  Problem there is time!  See list of Fings Wot We MUST Make between now and then!  Adding to it...  Prolly not going to happen!

[gem]

What part of QEI's reign are you doing? For earlier, I think this could pass as an early Tudor kirtle... any chance you might be hiding some big sleeves somewhere in the WIP pile?

But I'm kind of wondering if one of your later period pieces (or a combination of things) might work, too. The black Musketeer gown--are the collar and cuffs removable? I say this b/c I'm not sure Pru is entirely *big* enough for an Elizabethan lady-in-waiting. I know she evolved from a basic kirtle, but she seems to want some ooomph--more volume in the skirts, etc--which your later pieces have. I know those aren't the correct silhouette either, but do they have more of a court gown sensibility to them. I can't really see what separate parts and pieces everything is made up of, but I'll bet if you start pulling things out, a new combination will present itself! Maybe Pru as a kirtle with another gown on top? (I was trying to figure out if you could turn your banyan into a surcoat, but I think that's going a little too far...)

[Rowan MacD]

   I agree with what's been suggested so far. 
  The dress really only has to be basically right if you load that sucker up with jewels!
   Dig out some looong ropes of the fake costume pearl necklaces from the 1920's, and one of the biggest brooches you can find that doesn't look modern.
   Pin the brooch in the center of the bodice neckline and swag the pearls over it (if you don't have a brooch- you can also use a large earring).   I used that system while saving up for a proper bodice swag set.
   Add a jeweled girdle belt that will be pretty much all you need.   You can fake that too if you have a couple more extra long ropes of pearls and creatively knot them together, or go to a hardware store and get a length of chandelier or fancy lamp chain.   
   

[Merlin the Elder]

Unrelated...and pardon for the interruption, but one must be careful when reading the subject of this thread. My eyes aren't what they used to be... Carry on.

[Kate XXXXXX]

What part of QEI's reign are you doing? For earlier, I think this could pass as an early Tudor kirtle... any chance you might be hiding some big sleeves somewhere in the WIP pile?

Period doesn't matter, and the setting is a theatre, so anything vaguely Shakespeare in Love will do...  No BIG sleeves, only the ones in the pic.  They are removable.

But I'm kind of wondering if one of your later period pieces (or a combination of things) might work, too. The black Musketeer gown--are the collar and cuffs removable? I say this b/c I'm not sure Pru is entirely *big* enough for an Elizabethan lady-in-waiting. I know she evolved from a basic kirtle, but she seems to want some ooomph--more volume in the skirts, etc--which your later pieces have. I know those aren't the correct silhouette either, but do they have more of a court gown sensibility to them. I can't really see what separate parts and pieces everything is made up of, but I'll bet if you start pulling things out, a new combination will present itself! Maybe Pru as a kirtle with another gown on top? (I was trying to figure out if you could turn your banyan into a surcoat, but I think that's going a little too far...)

Actually, the skirts in the Musketeer gowns and Pru's mock kirtle are exactly the same size!  Two widths os 60" wide fabric!

I can't use Pru's gown as a kirtle under one of them: it's cut for modern undies and they are cut for wearing with the 17th C stays...  Just not compatible!

I shall have a natter with Su later today...  I have just remembered that a Simplicity pattern project lies unfinished in the loft, and if I can still get into it...