What to make?

[LaurenLee]

I bought a bolt of the loveliest fabric recently - it's a deep navy woven upholstery fabric (sort of a dulled satin finish) with white embroidered fleur-de-lis about the size of a quarter all over it.  It cried out to me to buy it, but I don't know what to make from it - any suggestions (male or female garb)?  Or should I just cover an ottoman with it and be done with it?

Lauren

[justsomeguytn]

You could make me a jerkin 

[isabelladangelo]

It depends on a lot of things.  How heavy is the fabric?  What is it's fiber content?  Does it have a backing like some high wear upholstery fabrics do?

I'd be tempted, based solely on your description, to make a medieval surcote out of it.

[Anna Iram]

Perhaps a forepart for a gown if you dress as a noble?  If there's enough use it in the sleeves as well?

[LaurenLee]

I have at least six yards, and it's light and will drape nicely - nothing heavy or synthetic on the back.  It's really a great piece of fabric...I thought about a forepart  and sleeves...  but nothing I can come up with seems to go nicely with navy without looking very clownish (apologies to all Flamingos and FOPS )... red (red white and blue? nope)... nothing matches navy and white very well, in my opinion....  and matching navy fabrics is almost as hard as trying to match reds... *sigh*

Maybe another trip to Joann's with a swatch...

[isabelladangelo]

With 6 yards, you can easily make a lovely dress without an open front.  A closed front dress done in the mid 16th c would look really beautiful.   I'm thinking like the very lovely dress here that you can only see the back of.

[gem]

Tons of things look glorious with navy blue!  Butter yellow!  Coral!  Pale green!  Rich light browns!  Deeper reds! All of the above!

(I'm currently doing some needlework on navy blue fabric, and the colors are spectacular.  I am totally making a navy blue and coral Campi gown one of these years.)

White is a neutral (it goes with everything), and navy is a pseudo-neutral (not a true neutral, but like neutrals it also goes with everything), so you can really go in any direction here.

[Lady L]

Burgundy looks beautiful with navy.

[operafantomet]

With 6 yards, you can easily make a lovely dress without an open front.  A closed front dress done in the mid 16th c would look really beautiful.   I'm thinking like the very lovely dress here that you can only see the back of.

Oooh, that's a lovely one!

And as for colour combo... what about a paler blue or silverish white towards the navy blue? Though I do agree that burgundy or coral would look smashing as well...

[Cilean]

Let me buy it from you? LOL

With 6 yards you can make an entire gown, I can at 5 foot 10inches.  So I would suggest perhaps Salmon forepart and inner sleeves. H/A shows foreparts were(for the most part) lighter colored than your outer gown fabric. I would suggest cream, gold, silver-grey, pinks all sorts like a very pale one that was called Madien's blush.  How about darker? Burnt Sienna would look smashing!


Okay so here are some suggestions on what to make with your lovely fabric.




This is a Kirtle that is a Doublet with a Gown that is open in a more manly fashion, so you could use the fleur de lis fabric for the gown and find some awesome fabric to do the kirtle with.


Since you are using a Fleur de Lis fabric perhaps a french princess should be something we look at?


Front Opening gown would be fetching as well this one is in blue to give you a look



Here are some Dress Diary Blogs on some wonderful gowns to make
http://www.elizabethanmafia.com/Black%20Silk%20Kirtle%20and%20Blue%20Wool%20Loose%20Gown.htm

Here is a Spanish Ropa Blog
http://www.who-gives-a.blogspot.com/

I hope these help you out!

Cilean










Cilean

[Margaret]

I have this.  It's going to be a kirtle with detachable sleeves....

[DonaCatalina]

I have at least six yards, and it's light and will drape nicely - nothing heavy or synthetic on the back.  It's really a great piece of fabric...I thought about a forepart  and sleeves...  but nothing I can come up with seems to go nicely with navy without looking very clownish (apologies to all Flamingos and FOPS )... red (red white and blue? nope)... nothing matches navy and white very well, in my opinion....  and matching navy fabrics is almost as hard as trying to match reds... *sigh*

Maybe another trip to Joann's with a swatch...

actually I'm making an suit for his excellency out of Navy, white and butter yellow.

[LaurenLee]

Here it is:

Your ideas about a closed gown make most sense, I think.  My feeling is that other fabrics and colors will take away from this pattern... I'm just so torn!!!  Any trim should just be white - or maybe silver or gold, instead of an additional color?  You are all so helpful... but NO I won't sell it!!     I have a very weird attachment to this fabric, I have no idea why!!

Lauren

[Margaret]

Wow.

I'd have an attatchment to that fabric as well.  It's stunning.

You could go all black/white/silver for the trimmings, but maybe some slashes with bits of red showing.  Nothing over the top, but just little flashes of color.

[gem]

Those bees with the laurel wreaths make this a more Napoleonic (circa 1800) fabric, so a Regency ballgown would be gorgeous, accented with a bit of lace.  Look through the Gallery of Finished Projects for the wedding gown that Mythrin made for her daughter for some inspiration.

The fleur-de-lis is also the symbol of Florence, so you might think about Italian garb, of almost any Renaissance era.  Italian garb is often more about the cut of the costume and less about gussying it all up with trims and baubles, so you could let the fabric just speak for itself and not worry about trim. 

Early Florentine Gown
Later Florentine Gowns
Venetian Gown

Also, a nice late men's doublet would look very fetching from that fabric--late, b/c you can use the starched white ruffs at wrist and neck for the accents.  I also sometimes think we can get away with more severe (less trimmed-out) stuff for men.