Gallery of Finished Projects

[Rani Zemirah]

Related, really?  How so??  I'm all kinds of curious now

Bookwench... I think I might be seriously dense to have not seen it before... but I believe you and I are related. 

Did I know this, and manage to forget it somehow?  It has been a rather, uhh... interesting... last couple of years, to say the least. 

Oops... my mistake, but funny that my cousin is actually a close friend of yours!   


Ok... this is the hat I mentioned a couple of weeks or so ago.  I finished it last weekend, but couldn't post it until our own Mouse presented it to his lovely wife for their anniversary celebration this evening.  Sorry for the large number of large photos... but the many details of the hat kept begging me to show them off.   


Newest design - "Leather and Lace"

Commissioned for an anniversary gift. Red satin crown with crown top and brim made from paper, and trimmed with black leather "corset" laced with braided trim, black cotton hand crocheted lace and red silk and cotton blend looped trim. Gears and hands from an antique clock grace the peacock feather pin, and the bustle is hand gathered and stitched in a red silk blend with beaded black fringe trim and black lace overlay, with cascading curled black satin and organza ribbons tied in a flirty bow.







Silk blend hand gathered bustle with hand stitched beaded fringe trim.


Bustle with gathered black lace overlay, and satin and organza ribbon bow.


Top of the crown... hand made felted paper with hand painted gold arabesque design, matching the lower side of the brim.


Upper side of brim, with hand folded paper, reminiscent of a tuxedo shirt-front... coated with many layers of Mod Podge and clear gloss, to simulate the texture of leather.


Underside of brim, using same technique to simulate leather texture. Red satin looped braided trim overlaying hand crocheted black cotton lace trim.


Handmade pin, from the gears and hands of an antique mantle clock, trimmed with peacock feathers.

[Sabrina Black]

Absolutely gorgeous, Rani!!

[Rowan MacD]

Wow.  Just Wow!
 

[LadyStitch]

A friend's daughter needed a last minute corset for an event this weekend.  This a pure stash project.  It is a textured back upholstery remnant, polyester lining, fusible interfacing, and left over rigaline boning.  The grommets I had to get at Tandy leather but were $5.  I didn't have anything to lace it with, so they will have to provide that.  For 4.5 hours work I would say not bad. 

[isabelladangelo]

Technically, this isn't a Renaissance project but I think we got away from that a while ago and are just going for anything costume-y.  :-)  This is my new 18th century jacket I wore today at the Fort Fred market fair. 

[gem]

That is adorable! I love your 18th C. stuff (and am so jealous of your events to wear them to!).

And LOVE your new avatar, too!

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

Stunning hats, Rani

You have outdone yourself this time. 

[Rani Zemirah]

Stitch, your speed on projects is absolutely amazing to me!  I know you do this for a living, but still!  Great work, and I'm sure your friend's daughter is thrilled that you could get it done in time for her event!  I really like that shaping over the hips... it gives such a figure flattering silhouette!


Isabella... your jacket is gorgeous!  Wonderful fit, and the fabric is so lovely!  That cranberry color in your flowers looks like it might come very close to matching one of the papers I'm using for the new hat I'm working on right now, in fact.  And I agree with Gem... I wish we had even a fraction of the costuming events you have to attend! 


Thank you, LadyK, Sabrina and Rowan!  I'm starting to get a real feel for making the hats, and it's starting to become as much an expression of my art as it is apparel, at least in my own eyes!  Of course, there's really very little of any sort of historic method used to make them, but I'm starting to use some very nontraditional materials, as well... so I'm not really too concerned about using glue instead of stitching when I would need a hammer to get a needle through the 4 layers of Mod Podged and acrylic coated papers, felts and cardboard!  I'm now starting to hand paint some of my papers, and some of this new series will even be made with my own handmade papers, as well! 

You might not be able to tell, but I'm just a little excited about this new artistic direction I'm heading in...    heheh 

[isabelladangelo]

Thanks Gem and Rani!   I swear, my costume calendar is filled from now until October!  I just found out about another event this weekend.  I have plenty to wear to it (it's Regency) but I also need to make a new 1910's dress this upcoming month and a Regency outfit for Mom on top of a lot of Renaissance sewing (new Elizabethan Jacket, new Elizabethan Dress) I have to do.  It will be interesting.  ;-)

Rani, there is actually a lot out there on hat making, if you want to at least look at the historical route.  (I've found it often gives me good ideas on other ways to get crazy things done.)  Janet Arnold goes into what was used in hat making (yeap, even glue!) in Patterns of Fashion.   Also, although much later, you might want to contact the Millinery store down in Williamsburg - I know the ladies that run the shop are experts in 18th century hat making.   They would be happy to give you pointers on where to find more information on historical hat making.  They might know of a few books on earlier stuffs but most of their information will be 18th century focused.  Still, that might prove helpful as a lot of the techniques probably didn't change - just the shaping. 

[LadyStitch]

Stitch, your speed on projects is absolutely amazing to me!  I know you do this for a living, but still!  Great work, and I'm sure your friend's daughter is thrilled that you could get it done in time for her event!  I really like that shaping over the hips... it gives such a figure flattering silhouette!

Actually no I don't do it for a living. I work 8 hours a day, come home make dinner and clean.  Then if I get all that done I can sew for an hour.  I can get in about 2 hours a day of sewing  but I have to go into it knowing what I need to accomplish that day. And I put away where they belong all my tools when I'm done.  That way I don't have to go hunting for something.
I also have a large stash that is organized, and I was trained to be theater seamstress.  This means I was taught how to make things efficiently, and practical, and some times at the last minute.  (My tutor had to make a victorian wedding dress in 8-10 hours. )

The daughter loved the corset.  She wants to wear it to school.  My only quibble is that when I put in the grommets some of the edges cut the fabric so I will need to go back and reinforce them by hand.  The daughter is trying to decide if she wants to add trim or anything to it.  What I care about is that it made her happy, and it did the job it was set out to do.

[Rani Zemirah]

Oh, I'm sorry... for some reason I was under the impression that you were the paid seamstress for a theater company?  I guess I wasn't understanding everything I was reading... but I do sometimes get some of my facts mixed up.  Even so, it's very VERY impressive that you work so quickly, and are able to get so many projects done! 


Isabella, CenturiesSewing just sent me a link to a wonderful guide to VintageSewing.info, with course material for "1928—The New-Way Course in Millinery and Hat Design"... and it looks fascinating!  I can tell I will be staying up way too late reading for quite some time!    heheh  I do eventually want to learn more about historical hat making, but I will be spending at least the next year or so exploring the use of some rather nontraditional materials before I attempt anything more historically accurate, I think.  I'm considering trying to get a showing for my hats sometime this fall/winter at one (or more) of the local galleries, and I want to have a whole series of the paper hats to display by then, each with it's own theme, in this particular shape.  After that, I believe I will want to start exploring more of the different, more traditional, shapes, and that is when I will be bothering all of you wonderfully talented hat-making ladies and gentlemen on here, and wherever else I can find anyone willing to answer what I am certain will be my irritatingly incessant questions on every minute detail I can think of!    LOL 


And I am now even MORE RENvious of your incredible list of costuming events, and definitely considering moving somewhere that has a much more crowded cosplay/costuming event social calendar!  Of course, I would have to be able to afford to move the studio, so if there is a choice between bringing it and bringing our furniture and personal belongings... well, we might be showing up with nothing to wear but GARB... and no beds to sleep in!  heheh 

[LadyStitch]

Oh, I'm sorry... for some reason I was under the impression that you were the paid seamstress for a theater company?  I guess I wasn't understanding everything I was reading... but I do sometimes get some of my facts mixed up.  Even so, it's very VERY impressive that you work so quickly, and are able to get so many projects done! 

I  have been a costumer for a local theater but  i haven't done a show for 6 months. Trust me I don't make much doing it but I love my actors, and the theater.  I have been doing customer work for the past 8 months.

[Rani Zemirah]

I understand the not making very much part, believe me!  For some reason, though, I guess I thought that was your primary job.  I was probably just wishfully hoping to see someone else (along with LadyK) who is able to make an actual living from her creative endeavors!  Much as I would like to be able to do that, unfortunately the little I bring in from commissions doesn't go very far.  I have a hard time charging enough to cover the amount of hours I put into my pieces, and wish I was able to work as quickly as you do!  I can't imagine how you get all of your projects done with your tiny one there to hold your attention, also!  I was hardly able to get anything done when my ScallyWag was that age.  I also can't imagine working a full time job, being a full time mom... AND taking commissions for sewing!  I wouldn't last a month... you must have the energy reserves of Wonder Woman! 

[bookwench]

Rani, that hat is beautiful!  I'm another hat person, so maybe we are related in some way after all  

[Rani Zemirah]

Rani, that hat is beautiful!  I'm another hat person, so maybe we are related in some way after all  

I'm sure we MUST be!    Hats are amazing, and so much fun to work on!  Thank you... high praise indeed, coming from an actual milliner!    I would LOVE to see your hats!