Gallery of In Progress Projects

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

When I get to this project, I plan to make the necklace part of the ruff, buttons down the front panel, then repeat the buttons and pearls at the waist as if a belt. That will keep in spirit of both versions of the Bathory portrait.

[operafantomet]

I wonder about the necklace item that is worn in both paintings.  Do you think that in the red version, the artist painted the pearls then painted over them, only leaving the black spacing jewels?  See how they follow the line to the waist, a little offset, just like the one in the black dress.  Where the pearls just reappear at the waist.  hummm

Might be later overpaint too, or an artist working from a b/w etching or similar which led to misunderstandings. As far as I can tell, all other copies of the portrait have the necklace-girdle as in the "green" portrait above. I would think it is an original detail. They various versions are gathered at Wikimedia. Most Wikipedia sites have a Wikimedia button in the lower right side of the page; this leads to all kinds of pictures on the related topic - in this case Báthory.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Elizabeth_Báthory

The "red" version is there listed as a copy of an original from ca. 1585. The original is apparently lost. But all info there is very scarce, so I don't know how much to trust it. Also, the "green" and "blue" one seems to have been uploaded twice, so in effect there are four different versions in the link above.

gem and Tygrkat, thanks for the credit! Lady Kathleen, this is such an intriguing project, thanks for sharing your initial thoughts on the matter. Looking forward to the progress!

[PrincessSara]

Another reason I <3 LOVE <3 this forum!! ~ I did quite a bit of searching online, and it was very difficult to find any information on Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Bathory that seemed free of fantasy and fictionalization (as much as any re-telling can be), and yet here, within a short period of time more accurate portrait is posted  

I've only managed to find a few books about her, and most of them seem to be more novelizations or at least based in historical facts with wide liberties taken...if anyone could point me in the direction of stronger biographical works, I would be most appreciative!  

Sorry, this is a bit of a hijack, but have you seen the website www.infamouslady.com?  It has some newer research about the Countess from a new book about her called Infamous Lady.  I just found that website a few days ago because I was just reading a novel about her.

[Valencia]

ooh, I love that dress!!!  I just clicked to the website, WOW!!! I'll have to read more later, but what a story!

[Syrilla]

To those that have corded items before...  At the moment I am sewing all of my channels for the cording.  How did you pull the cord through?  What cording did you use?  And did you stuff the material or the cut out piece.  This is for and outer garment, not a corset.  Ideas?

[gem]

Syrilla, there are *lots* of fabulous threads on cording on these boards (erm, most of them started by me! LOL), but IMO this one is the best. It contains Hemp Cording Goddess Mythrin's best tips, along with a link to her photo tutorial on the technique.

To synthesize the most important info: I assemble the garment (or the flatlining for it), then sew all the cording channels, just like you'd do for any other boning method. I use the thicker hemp cord (1/8" maybe, but the spools aren't labeled), which is about the width of a heavy yarn. I find I have the best luck with a channel a scant 3/8" wide (or exactly the width of a cable tie). Using the width of my sewing machine foot, which is frequently suggested, produced channels that were too narrow to squeeze the cord through, no matter what I tried.

I use a combination of drawing the folded cord through using a length of stiff floral wire folded into a hook at the end (seriously, skip right to the floral wire and don't waste your time trying anything else), and Mythrin's brilliant method of *pushing* the cord into the channels with the steel from inside an old windshield wiper. I got lucky and found some lying around in my garage (finally, a reason to be grateful Milord  never throws anything away!), but if you can't find old windshield wipers, the floral wire will work, too. The wiper steel has the advantage of enabling you to add cord where you don't have two open ends to the channel (like angled channels in the sides of a corset).

Since this is an outer layer, you may wish to use the really, really skinny cord and use 4 per channel. You'll get equivalent stiffness/support, but the cords won't show as ridges in the garment as much.

***
I tried for YEARS to master this technique, but for me, it required upgrading my machine to one where I could really tweak the needle position to get the channels *exactly* the right width. That, plus finally getting some floral wire and a wiper blade, and I was off and running!  Good luck!

[operafantomet]

To those that have corded items before...  At the moment I am sewing all of my channels for the cording.  How did you pull the cord through?  What cording did you use?  And did you stuff the material or the cut out piece.  This is for and outer garment, not a corset.  Ideas?

This is also a great site:
http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/cording/cord.html

[Syrilla]

Thanks Gem... I don't have access to hemp cord.  Other easy access suggestions?

[Syrilla]

Thank you both.  I have been reading over the items that you posted before, and loved the idea, but the application isn't working for me.  I used  a twin needle for the channels, which may be my problem.  The other issue is that one material is silk while the other is cotton. 

[gem]

Can you tell us what the problem you're having is? Is it feeding the cord through the channels, or the fabric is puckering, or it's not stiff enough, or what?

It really takes--or at least it did for me--a lot of experimentation to get things to all work together. Seriously--it took me years and tons of frustration before I hit on the right combination of channel size + cord + tools.

Hemp cord should be pretty easy to find--they carry it in the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby, JoAnn, and Walmart. It's good for things like bodices and corsetry because it stays stiff, even when it's dampish. But if you don't need it for support--just a little added stiffness--you could use anything, really--cotton cord sold for piping, or other types of thick twine, maybe? Koshka the Cat did a corded Regency corset with (I believe) cotton cord. You could take a stroll through the craft stores or the hardware store to find something the right size.

You say you're using a twin needle--which makes me think your channels must be really narrow! But as long as you can feed something into the channels, it should work. I wonder if looking at resources for trapunto quilting (where designs are stuffed with cord to give a raised effect) would help or give you some ideas for what fits in narrow channels.

[Syrilla]

Trapunto quilting is actually what I am going for.  There will be slashing be between the raised areas.  If I get the needle/ guide wire to start the thread, it takes forever to get the cord through. If I use two small cords then you see the ridge from them, If I only use one, then the channel is going to be two narrow to pull it to the end.  The width is a bit less than a half foot width.
Here is the progress so far.

About  5" apart, but I didn't like it.  So...
About 2.5" apart, I still didn't like it.  So...
This another line close to the another.  Better.  It looks raised, due to the stitching.

[gem]

Ok, so... what about laying down the cord and then sewing along it directly to make the "channel," using a zipper or piping foot? Instead of sewing the channels and then feeding the cord through? It would be tedious, but I think you could get more control that way.

Here's a couple examples that sort of show what I mean:
http://wearinghistory.blogspot.com/2009/01/corded-petticoat.html
http://storyofaseamstress.blogspot.com/2010/01/corded-petticoat.html

Oh, and here is the original Koshka the Cat link I was looking for!
http://www.koshka-the-cat.com/corded_corset.html

It looks like everyone is advocating Sugar & Cream brand cotton crochet yarn for these projects.

Am I even remotely helpful here? I feel silly giving YOU advice!!

[Syrilla]

It's what I should have stuck with as that was how I planned it.  But nooooo, I had to try something new.  On my sample, I was able to thread things through, but on the length of fabric it's just not working.  Sadly, I have already sewn all of the channels as you can see from the pictures.  Sigh 
Thanks gem.  We can all learn!

[operafantomet]

Trapunto quilting is actually what I am going for.  There will be slashing be between the raised areas.  If I get the needle/ guide wire to start the thread, it takes forever to get the cord through. If I use two small cords then you see the ridge from them, If I only use one, then the channel is going to be two narrow to pull it to the end.  The width is a bit less than a half foot width.

*pics removed*

I don't think I'll be able to drag this guy over here, but there is a very talented garb maker in my LJ friend list who's worked on something similar for a Bronzino project. The result is quite spectacular. Maybe you could PM or email him and ask what he used/did to get it neat? I seem to remember he had some issues in the beginning as well.

http://peteyfrogboy.livejournal.com/tag/bronzino

[Syrilla]

Thank you, I will do that.  At this point I am willing to try most anything.  I don't want to toss this one on the unfinished project pile.