medieval stuff
many pics under cut.
some of you may remember this dress from two years or so ago. made from silk brocade with a lightwieght wool lining
It was based on the painting "The goldsmith and the young couple" by petrus christus, whic is here-
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/08/euwl/ho_1975.1.110.htm
and the news for today (well, a good few weeks ago, actually, but I only just got round to taking a picture) is that I finally got round to making the appropriate headress to go wiht it.
This this took several weeks. The side cauls were the main job, they're made from two shaped pieces of thick leather (shoe sole thickness) which were based on a cardboard template I shaped to my head. This was then covered with a layer of wool fleece, then a herringbone silk. the decoration is done with smooth passing (gold thread) couched down with real pearls (8 wholes strings of the buggers). the shaping is achieved by pulling the sides of the leather, which was pre-drilled before sewing, tight using a thick silk thread. everything was edged with black velvet.
the cauls were then mounted onto a silk skullcapp made from the same silk - it took a bit of jiggery pokery to get them in the right place. the viel is held up by wires which are wrapped in white linen tape, then pinned to this and the cap - I was worried about loosing expensive authentic pins so I fastened them down by looping white silk thread round them. its not the best pic cos it was taken while i was fiddling with the pins
all in all I'm quite pleased with it. My main worry was that it would move about whilst being worn, but it actually stays in place better than any of my other headgear, mainly because i bound my hair into a tight not and pinned the skullcap to it. This left me easliy able to move my head without the thing budging at all. the main problem was the viel getting upskuttled by wind, so I;ve been adding a few discrete stitches here and there.
the really suprising thing was that nlvb thought I looked pretty in it - he hates costume!
some of you may remember this dress from two years or so ago. made from silk brocade with a lightwieght wool lining
It was based on the painting "The goldsmith and the young couple" by petrus christus, whic is here-
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/08/euwl/ho_1975.1.110.htm
and the news for today (well, a good few weeks ago, actually, but I only just got round to taking a picture) is that I finally got round to making the appropriate headress to go wiht it.
This this took several weeks. The side cauls were the main job, they're made from two shaped pieces of thick leather (shoe sole thickness) which were based on a cardboard template I shaped to my head. This was then covered with a layer of wool fleece, then a herringbone silk. the decoration is done with smooth passing (gold thread) couched down with real pearls (8 wholes strings of the buggers). the shaping is achieved by pulling the sides of the leather, which was pre-drilled before sewing, tight using a thick silk thread. everything was edged with black velvet.
the cauls were then mounted onto a silk skullcapp made from the same silk - it took a bit of jiggery pokery to get them in the right place. the viel is held up by wires which are wrapped in white linen tape, then pinned to this and the cap - I was worried about loosing expensive authentic pins so I fastened them down by looping white silk thread round them. its not the best pic cos it was taken while i was fiddling with the pins
all in all I'm quite pleased with it. My main worry was that it would move about whilst being worn, but it actually stays in place better than any of my other headgear, mainly because i bound my hair into a tight not and pinned the skullcap to it. This left me easliy able to move my head without the thing budging at all. the main problem was the viel getting upskuttled by wind, so I;ve been adding a few discrete stitches here and there.
the really suprising thing was that nlvb thought I looked pretty in it - he hates costume!