Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Costume Musings

I'm in the mood to make a really freakin' huge costume. The sort of costume that makes people part ways for you and mouths drop open. I really, really want a gown like this Elizabethan gown that's in a stage play called The Lost Colony.
I've never really made a late period gown like that before, and I love that I can just go all-out with embroidery and bullion trim and such. ^^ I never really went in for the look of the wheel farthingale, but after seeing the Lost Colony gowns and some of the gowns others have made, I really want to give it a shot. I don't have any fabric to work on this now, but I have some white cotton and some soaker hose, and I'm ready to make a farthingale!
On a side note, almost every single wheel farthingale gown I've seen others make is in some shade of gold or white. I don't know why this is, and it's driving me nuts! I can only bring one gown to mind that wasn't in that colour scheme, and that's Sarah Lorraine's Elizabeth Brydges Gown. There are plenty of examples in portraiture of wheeled gowns in all sorts of colours - black, blue, pink, red, etc. (I really love this blue gown.) But all these gold gowns makes me want to make one in a really rich colour, like burgundy, or a hunter green. ^^
On another side note, I only found one site that was offering wheel farthingale dresses, reproductions from portraits of Elizabeth I, for sale....for $15,000. Yeah.
Next on the list is Du Barry's black and silver gown from the 1938 production of Marie Antoinette. I know, I know, it's black and white and I can't really know the colour, but considering that Marie Antoinette was in this frothy white cloud of a gown in this scene, and the nature of their relationship, it made sense that she would be in a heavy black gown. I'm guessing velvet. And I want it. WANT IT. Need to save up for the silk velvet, but Silk Connection has it at under $10/yard. ^^

I'm wavering on whether or not I want to make an Italian gown as my bridesmaid's dress for next year. I still want to make an Italian gown at some piont, but I have such a particular vision in my head of what I want the gown to look like that finding a suitable fabric is driving me bonkers. I was considering doing a late period gown like the one above in greens and silvers, but one doesn't want to distract from the bride, and it would be hell to get on a plane. ~le sigh~ I did find this fantabulous fabric at the Fabric Masterpieces eBay store that I think would make a beautiful underskirt or forepart.
Blarg, I'm waffling! There's another part of me that wants to make a Rococo gown for the wedding, even though it's completely the wrong time period, but I want to make an Elizabethan I could wear to faire and cons and such.
Speaking of green Elizabethan gowns, I've started work back up on the green/gold embroidered gown. I'm hoping to have the entire thing finished by the end of the year so I can wear it for the new faire season. I also dug out the light blue gown and came up with a few things to improve it, but wouldn't you know it, the bloody cup with all my gold beads in it has vanished! I originally based the gown off of the dress Viola wears by the river in Shakespeare in Love, but that forepart was just hideous. But, I'll come up with something. I still need to make the partlet, too. It'll actually be my first attempt at a partlet, but I'm not worried about it.

So, here's my goal: I have this big plastic bin out in the garage that Mom put all of my in-progress stuff into when she cleaned out the entry hall. (My makeshift sewing room.) It includes the mauve Marie Antoinette gown, Mina's red bustle gown, my lattice smocked detachable sleeves, Ashlotte, and various other costume bits and pieces. By the end of the year, I want ALL of those costumes to be finished. I should probably work on them simultaneously, but I really just want to blitz through each project and have it finished. I'm going to start with a small project, the lattice smocked sleeves. Hopefully, I'll have pictures soon. ^^

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