I've been working on two new Medieval gowns the past while. They have been going slowly since most of the work needs to be done by hand, and I have to pace myself so as not to aggravate my wrist. The gowns are for two new Iple FID ladies I ordered during their recent Holiday Event. I ordered Grace in Special Real Skin, and Yur in Normal. Both with faceups. It's been over two months now, so I can be getting a shipping notice any day now. Which means I need to have the two gowns ready.
The first one is made from a purple and rust sari from Value Village, with a cream and beige brocade under-dress. It's in the style of the Italian Renaissance gowns I've made for my bigger ladies, with a higher waist, and hanging sleeves.....
The first one is made from a purple and rust sari from Value Village, with a cream and beige brocade under-dress. It's in the style of the Italian Renaissance gowns I've made for my bigger ladies, with a higher waist, and hanging sleeves.....
The second gown will be all in gold and cream. The gold brocade is from an old blouse from Value Village, and the underdress is from two similar cream brocades. I didn't have enough of either one, so used the fabric I had the most of for the bodice and skirt front. The back of the skirt is from another cream brocade. I'm also going to use the pale tricot hanging sleeves that were rejected by that last green gown I made. In fact I'm planning a double set of hanging sleeves.
The machine sewing is fast enough, but then it's all hand-sewing from there. I gave up on making sleeves so narrow that I have to remove the hands to get the gown on and off. That got old really fast. So I'm back to having an opening in the bottoms of the sleeves, that close with snaps. The thing is, to hide the bulk of the snaps, it's best to have the sleeve seam up the back of the sleeve, and not lined up with the bodice underarm seams. Which means sewing everything in by hand.
And I forgot that the under sleeves belonged on the underdress, having planned to make them part of the overdress. But all those layers of sleeves would have made the shoulders of the over-dress bodice way too thick, so the under sleeves had to go on the underdress after all. And of course, the underdress armholes were already nicely finished. So I had to fold in the sleeve and lining fabrics at the top of the sleeve to finish the top edges before I can sew the sleeves into the armholes - by hand again. One sleeve is finished, but the other still needs a lot of embellishment work....
And I forgot that the under sleeves belonged on the underdress, having planned to make them part of the overdress. But all those layers of sleeves would have made the shoulders of the over-dress bodice way too thick, so the under sleeves had to go on the underdress after all. And of course, the underdress armholes were already nicely finished. So I had to fold in the sleeve and lining fabrics at the top of the sleeve to finish the top edges before I can sew the sleeves into the armholes - by hand again. One sleeve is finished, but the other still needs a lot of embellishment work....
Then there's the hanging sleeves. The thin tricot sleeve edges are getting beaded, so I don't think I will be beading the gold brocade ones. Maybe the embroidered edging will be enough.
I prefer to finish each one completely before sewing it into the dress bodice. The two little oblong cream pieces are the little shoulder puffs, which need to be sewn onto the tops of the oversleeves before they can be sewn into the bodice....
I prefer to finish each one completely before sewing it into the dress bodice. The two little oblong cream pieces are the little shoulder puffs, which need to be sewn onto the tops of the oversleeves before they can be sewn into the bodice....
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