Gallery of In Progress Projects

[isabelladangelo]

Well, now the red velvet makes TOTAL sense! (Your damask is PERFECT! So perfect!) So now I vote velvet. Maybe velvet + gimp, b/c that inspiration pic trim looks more elaborate than just a solid ribbon...? Ooh, or maybe you could overdye or paint the cream/orange jacquard trim....

LOL!  I was thinking -briefly- of going completely psycho and hand embroidering the velvet with gold thread...but I need to get three other outfits done by July 25th.     I do have some gold embroidered velvet trim but only 2 yards of it which isn't enough for the trim lines of this gown.  It's barely enough to add some trim to an earlier style.   

I *could* dye the cream/orange with a scarlet dye.  That would compliment the orange nicely.  I'm trying to use up my stash.  With 3 IKEA shelf boxes full of trims and another full of lace, I need to destash badly.  I also need to use what I have for gowns/dresses/outfits of my fabric.  I *think* I bought the cotton damask last year.  I saw it at Joanns and realized the pattern was similar to some 15th and 16th c fabrics I knew of.  I think it has 2% man made fibers but I do know the rest is cotton - which works well for a nice simple camp court gown.   

...wait until you see the linen I'm going to make a nice early 16th C Venetian out of.    It's a pink/green cross weave I got two or three years ago at an 18th C fair for $6 a yard.  I only remember the price because a month later I saw the same fabric at the local jack-it-up fabric store for $42 a yard...

[gem]

Since you're doing this by hand anyway, what about tacking the red/rose velvet down using some kind of simple embroidery/decorative stitch, but with gold thread (I'm thinking something like Sulky, which is easy to work with, for a metallic)? Not full-on, I've-lost-my-mind-and-forgot-I-only-had-a month-embroidery--even a buttonhole stitch would add a little pizazz; you could throw in a few gold beads along the length... Or, hey--what happens when you pink or slash the ribbon?

Cross-woven linen! Isn't it fun, and don't you think there should be more of it?! I just snagged some from Fabric Mart for a steal--russet and green. I'm hording mine for a Flemish peasant ensemble (I think it's going to line a deep teal wool gown).

(And on that note, my biggest fabric regret is not buying the cross-woven navy/cocoa corduroy that JA carried for a couple of years. *sigh* I've never seen anything like it again. It would have made a spectacular doublet.)

[Rani Zemirah]

I love the doublet, Stuben!  It's going to look wonderful when it's finished! 


Isabella, I like the pink braid with the fabric you have, also... but I agree with Gem that is's not quite wide enough for the inspiration gown.  Do you have something else in your stash that you can pair it with (as Polly suggested), to make a wider trim, perhaps? 

It could just be my monitor, but the rest velvet seems too harsh against your fashion fabric.  I like the orange, but I agree with Gem that the white could be dyed... maybe a slightly lighter russet than the main pattern on it?  Or deeper, even.  Either way it would be lovely with your foundation fabric.  Can't wait to see the finished product! 

[Stuben]

Thanks Rani!

[isabelladangelo]

DSC03665 par Isabella, on ipernity

The roof to my soon to be shower tent!   I need a shower tent for Pennsic.  The old one is owned by some friends and the last time I saw it - two years ago- it needed work.  So, I decided to make an entirely new one.  It's not going to be h/a (showers aren't but how I'd be able to transport a wooden bathtub on site is slightly beyond me...) but it will have a 16th C look.  The roof is actually a papasan chair that is older than I am and...looks it.  :-)  I was going to throw it away but saw someone tie sari trim to one to make a lovely outdoor setting.  I also saw the hula hoop shower tents that you just hang from a tree and thought to combine the two ideas.  The fabric is outdoor fabric that I have had in the stash for years.  It was left overs from my original tent I made to go to my first Pennsic.  I still have more of the tan left over despite making the walls and roof for this shower tent. 


DSC03658 par Isabella, on ipernity

These are the walls.  I still have to attach the walls to the roof and add some sort of ties to the doorway as well as loops to the bottom of the tent.  This way, I can stake down the walls using the loops so it won't blow around in the wind.  :-)   

[Rani Zemirah]

What a great idea, Isabella!  How do you plan to attach the walls?  Will they be permanently attached, or removable? 

[isabelladangelo]

They are permanently attached.  I sewed them so that the front flaps overlap enough to give some privacy.  After doing a normal seam for the walls and roof, I encased the seam using some old 2" bias cut hem tape I got at the thrift store.  It's red and acetate (well, most of it was red.  I also had to use some of the green acetate) but it's just to encase the seam inside the tent and to help with weathering.   I'll have pictures of the finished tent later in the afternoon , hopefully.

[Rani Zemirah]

It sounds like it's going to be a popular spot at Pennsic...    You'll probably have your neighbors asking if they can use your "falling water" tent! 

[insidiousraven]

Finally working on something again!  Been working on this with Gem, and its finally coming together.   

It is an Italian style kirtle based on the ascension day art and dresses. Lots to do still, but I'm pretty excited. This is my first attempt at pad stitching, hand sewing and limited boning.  There are only two bones - one at each lacing edge.

[isabelladangelo]

It's lovely!   Are you going to do an apron with it?

[Rani Zemirah]

Ooooh... that yellow is just dreamy!!!  Like wearing sunshine!    I love the red trim, also!  So pretty...

[gem]

She has an apron! Just wait!!

(I, OTOH, am in home improvement limbo and have had no time to work on my half of this project.)

[CenturiesSewing]

Raven, that looks great! What did you finally decide on hat wise? 

[Butch]

What did you finally decide on hat wise?

I think she's going with a blue thrum cap?

[isabelladangelo]

DSC03705 par Isabella, on ipernity

This is what I'm stitching up for a $10 or under challenge.  The dress is out of silk dupuoni curtains.  I plan on adding silver silk lower gauntles.  I still need to make the lower gauntlets, sew up the neckline, stitch the eyelets, sew up the insides, and then it will be done.  :-)   So far, a grand total of $8.35.  The curtains were a pair I found at the thrift store for $5.90