- or on my bed, of course. Projects do like to spread all over everything.
Today I'm putting finishings on a medieval gown. It's generically 1200s, I think - some shaping in the seams but no openings which keeps it on the early side of the middle ages. It's made of suuuper dark blue wool coating, which is suuuuuper tightly woven and like very nearly waterproof (which I discovered when the iron dripped on it and formed a perfect little water ball which I could blow across its surface... is it wierd that that was my immediate impulse? "drop of water, oo, blow on it!" Right.). I bought the fabric in two 2m sections for 10euro apiece at a fabric market in Lübeck when I was studying abroad in Germany. It was like $1.30 per Euro when I was there but I still think it worked out to something of a bargain, especially since this fabric is ludicrously good quality. I think generally folks recommend lighter weight wools for dresses, but as I do attend outdoor garb events sometimes (and preferably in cold weather) I think the bulk is worth it. The drape is pretty good even with the thickness - its so heavy it sort of weights itself down prettily.
Today I'm putting finishings on a medieval gown. It's generically 1200s, I think - some shaping in the seams but no openings which keeps it on the early side of the middle ages. It's made of suuuper dark blue wool coating, which is suuuuuper tightly woven and like very nearly waterproof (which I discovered when the iron dripped on it and formed a perfect little water ball which I could blow across its surface... is it wierd that that was my immediate impulse? "drop of water, oo, blow on it!" Right.). I bought the fabric in two 2m sections for 10euro apiece at a fabric market in Lübeck when I was studying abroad in Germany. It was like $1.30 per Euro when I was there but I still think it worked out to something of a bargain, especially since this fabric is ludicrously good quality. I think generally folks recommend lighter weight wools for dresses, but as I do attend outdoor garb events sometimes (and preferably in cold weather) I think the bulk is worth it. The drape is pretty good even with the thickness - its so heavy it sort of weights itself down prettily.
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The color photographs badly. Or, well, but there's basically no visible detail. Here, the dress is inside out. I'm hand tacking the very large neck and cuff facings in. The fabric is a little on the scratchy side so I went for the extra large neck facing, and the cuffs expand a little bit down over the hand so I wanted the extra coverage there as well. The fabric is thick and stiff enough that some kind of facing seemed the easiest and most comfortable option to hem those edges. I suspect it's super a-historical, but I'm fairly firmly of the opinion that anything literally inside of your clothes can be fudged if the spirit of the thing is still honest. So of course all the seams are machine sewn - actually, on a sewing machine that I was randomly offered by someone in the dorm while I was abroad. This is the only project it ever worked on...
Now I just have to figure how far to hem it up. It drags about an inch on the ground at the moment. I really like the aesthetic of the very full length skirt on these sorts of dresses, but how close to the ground am I willing to put this gorgeous fabric..
Now I just have to figure how far to hem it up. It drags about an inch on the ground at the moment. I really like the aesthetic of the very full length skirt on these sorts of dresses, but how close to the ground am I willing to put this gorgeous fabric..
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