Sumptuous Seams

I wanted to provide an update on projects that are in the works. I was fortunate enough to get enough of the Sartor Eleanor of Toledo fabric to make the entire dress. This has been my dream gown, ever since I switched to 16th century Italian fashion about 17+ years ago. I’ve been to the Uffizi and stared at her portrait for hours, memorizing every detail. I’ve researched every source I could get my hands on regarding this dress, as well as Eleanor’s life and legacy. I even got her tattooed on my arm, so I’m kinda a fan!

When Sartor announced they were doing another limited run of this fabric I was thrilled, but then apprehensive. Knowing it would be highly coveted and probably well outside my price range, I had decided that I just couldn’t manage it. However, a friend messaged me as soon as it went on pre-sale and not only was the price incredibly reasonable, it was also on sale! There was no way I could pass this up! This will be my “Magnum Opus” and will challenge my years of historical garment research and construction experience to do this fabric justice. I will, of course, be documenting my process along the way.

However! Before I start on the Eleanor project, I am currently working on recreating the Pisa dress. This has been on my “to do” list for years and especially after seeing the dress in person when it came to the Met two years ago. I took detailed photos of key areas of the dress, so I had a visual reference that is sometimes lacking in the patterning books and portraits. Understanding that the dress has been restored, and may not have been put back together in the same way as it originally was before, it still gives a very good jumping off point to build from, in addition to the research that others have provided before me.

After Pennsic, the goal is to start the pattering for a dress for myself, to work out all the bugs. As the final dress will be for a friend, I will start the pattering for her dress once I’m confident I have the right pieces figured out. I intend to have her mockup ready by September Crown, with the final gown done by Twelfth Night. Her body is significantly different than mine, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of adapting my pattern, scaled down to her graceful form. Getting the Pisa dress down will be the perfect exercise to prepare for the fabulousness that is the Eleanor of Toledo dress! This should be exciting, so stay tuned as I will be peppering this page with progress updates!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve been busy with life. Anyway, I decided to try a different style with this luscious olive green silk sari. I was inspired by what Sibylla wore at Crown. This should be perfect for the hot weather we’ve been having this year!

This is why I wanted to get the apron finished! Inspired by the 1580 painting “The Fruit Seller” by Vincenzo Campi. Made of wool, with woven wool trim. The bodice is interlined with quilted canvas and linen. I added boning to the front opening to keep the lacing from bunching up. I used lacing rings, although I could have also used eyelets, both are valid options. I just thought the eyelets would be too much alongside the trim. The sleeves are tied on, so they can be removed completely, or worn hanging off the back. Most likely this would have been worn with a kirtle underneath, or at least an underskirt, which I may make later. I’ve now met my desired two new dresses for Gulf Wars!

“The cobblers children have no shoes…” About 8 years ago I took a class at Pennsic on honeycomb smocking. I made my first apron shortly thereafter and while I made a lot of mistakes, I figured this was something I could teach. I can’t tell you how many dozens of people I’ve taught, or even how many aprons I’ve made for friends, fund raisers and largesse. However, all this time I’ve still been wearing my first apron, FILLED with mistakes. About 6 years ago I decided it was time to make one for myself, while documenting the process. I got all the way to the point of adding the waistband/apron strings, then we won Crown. It sat on the ironing board until I stepped down, then immediately got packed in a box for my move to An Tir. It was then lost until I moved into my new house, 4 years later. I finally got the gumption to finish it, while making my “fruit seller” dress (blog to come later), and I made my last stitch at An Tir Kingdom A&S. I now have my very own smocked apron that I can wear with pride! Here’s my process…

I have to share this! The amazing Sandra Brenchley cleaned up this picture and removed the background clutter of my sewing room.

I got a wild hair today and decided to make a wee coronet hair comb during my back-to-back meetings. Basically, I wanted something low profile that I could use to hold my veil on. I used a hair comb, which I covered with black silk. I made “ducal” leaves out of metal leaf charms I threaded on a headpin, then glued into the triple strawberry leaf shape. I added the pearls on head pins, because I’m also a baroness and why not be extra?!?!?! I used hot glue behind the strawberry leaves, mostly to provide some stability and to fix them at the angle I wanted. I then sewed some cord onto the edge of my veil, tacked down every 1/4” or so. I can slide the comb through the loops of the cord and voila! I have a cute, fun, wee coronet I can use to hold my vail on, or by itself when I’m not feeling like wearing one of my regular sized coronet.

Done! Well, mostly. I still need to add the ties to the sleeves, but if those don’t get added before Gulf Wars, it’s not a tragedy. This is my “mourning” gown, in honor of my Mother, whose favorite color was blue. I based this off of portraits from 1515-1520 Venice and surrounding areas. There are a lot of variations to how the sleeves are configured. I went with a single layer open sleeve, like shown in the inspiration portrait. The open drape sleeves were something I’ve not tried before, so there were some lessons learned, like make them fuller and longer than you think and don’t make these sleeves if you are short on fabric, because then they won’t have the right look if you use the bare minimum. Same applies to the skirt, hence the black velvet hem. The black “silk” ended up not being 100% silk, as originally advertised. Which was a little disappointing, but it still has the right look, so I’m not going to die mad about it. However, it was also much thinner than I had realized when I planned this dress, so I ended up adding a linen lining to the skirt. It makes the skirt “flow” better and no longer see through. The peacock blue silk lining is delicious and adds a nice pop of color. I was able to find a few portraits of the time that showed what appears to be lined sleeves. Since the black was so thin, it needed the blue silk lining to provide the right “drape”. The redesigned bodice pattern still needs some tweaks, but worked out well for this project. Overall I’m happy with the way it turned out and have plans to make more of this style, with much poofier sleeves. I’ll just be sure I have plenty of extra fabric to work with next time.

Dress is almost done, but it’s too short. I knew it was a possibility, because I was trying to eek out a dress with less fabric than I normally use, so I fu**ed around and found out. I need to add a bit to the hem, but don’t know if I should go with a band of the blue silk or black velvet. What do you think?

Okay, I know it was after midnight, but I was too excited to see what this would look like to wait until tomorrow. It looks fabulous!! I just wish the lighting in here would do the colors justice, but trust me, they are much better in person. Tomorrow I’ll get the sleeves set in and the skirt attached, then there will just be some handwork to finish.

There’s an order of operations to this thing. I want to sew the trim and ties in before I line it, so the stitches don’t show on the inside, since I might want to wear it open, showing the peacock silk lining. I debated a lot of different options in how to trick this dress out. The majority of the dresses with tied front had ties and trim in the same color as the body of the dress. Several have this fringie trim (blue dress), which I could probably figure out, but that will be for a future project. For this I just used some black velvet trim I had, as a nod to the fringe trim shown below. There is a lot of variation in the ties used for this style, some use cord, some use a wider ribbon, that makes fluffy bows, and some narrow trim like the thin velvet ribbon I’m using. Once I’ve sewn all this down, I’ll sew in the lining. I’ll do that tomorrow, since it’s almost midnight.

Proof of concept. I like the fit of the higher neckline and the gap for the ties, but I need to adjust the armscyes to smooth out that fold.

I decided to make the open, tied front dress out of the black taffeta, but found it is kinda thin. So I found in the first portrait where the bodice is lined with a constrasting color, that shows a bit when worn a little loose. I have this amazing peacock blue silk taffeta, which isn’t enough to make a whole dress, but is perfect to line the bodice and sleeves. For the sleeves I went ahead and drafted a pattern for the loose, poofy sleeves, with the opening from the shoulder seam down, like in the second picture. Since this is for Gulf Wars, I don’t know what the weather will be like, so I like the option of wearing it open and flowy, or closed up, like in the third painting. This one also shows a lined sleeve, which gave me the inspiration to line the thin black silk with the peacock. I know this painting is a slightly different time/place than the others, but it gives the best example of what I’m going for with the sleeves. As a note, I didn’t make the sleeves as voluminous as some of the portraits imply. Partly because I didn’t have enough fabric to really go wild, and partly because I’m not sure how much this style is going to drive me nuts getting in my way all the time. This is really proof of concept, before I commit to using yards and yards of silk for bigger sleeves. Anyway, I’ll post more pictures as I progress.

Seeing pictures of me in the dress I made for Twelfth Night I realize that my body has changed and my patterns need to change with it! Today I drafted some new patterns that will accommodate my larger bust size, while curving in to my much narrower waist. I also raised the neckline an extra inch and a half. I like my décolletage and all, but I don’t want it spilling out all over the place, like they were in the 12th Night pic. 🫤 Additionally, I made a new lower sleeve pattern. The one I currently have is like a vambrace, with an opening down the inside arm, closed with ties. I wanted a fully enclosed one, like the one in the red dress portrait shown below. I’m debating whether to make a solid front bodice like the red, or an open front with ties like the green dress. I have two pieces of gorgeous silk taffeta, one black, one periwinkle, so I think I’ll make one of each. I want some new lightweight, packs down small dresses for Gulf Wars, which is the drive for this project.

Largess I made for the various Royal Consorts at Ursulmas, for Their Highnesses of Oertha to gift.

New dress in the works! I’m hoping to have it done for this weekend.

I wanted to have something new for myself for Twelfth Night, but with everything else I had on my plate, it would need to be relatively easy for me to knock out. I used an existing pattern I had for the dress in the portrait below, which is a dress I’ve made many times before. I had this luscious dusty purple cotton velvet and silver lacy trim I bought years ago, which I thought should really see the light of day. The lower sleeves were made from slate blue duchess satin. While the sleeves in the portrait are solid, mine are open down the front of the forearm, tied closed with ribbons and buttons, so the chamise can pull through in puffs. I beaded the silver trim in blue around the neckline and in purple on the sleeves, to tie the colors together. I also made matching necklace and earrings with purple and cream pearls, and a carved bone Rose/Pelican pendant. I then made a sash out of purple and blue shot silk, with a subtle pinstripe running the length. I didn’t end up getting a picture of me wearing the dress, except from the back, so I’ll add that later when I have one. It’s not the fanciest dress I’ve made, but it was lovely, wearable and got lots of “pets” on the velvet sleeves.

A few months ago I got a phone call from my dear friend Crystal Leake (Christine Chappell) letting me know she was being elevated to the Order of the Laurel and asked if I would help make her clothing for that. I was honored to be asked, but trepidations because she wanted a cotehardie, which I had never made before. I had taken a patterning class from Mistress Tasha a few years back, so I went to her page La Cotte Simple (https://cottesimple.com/) and followed her instructions to make the pattern for the supporting kirtle, made of cobalt blue, medium weight linen, with heavy weight linen supporting lining. I used this same pattern for the cobalt blue, cotton velvet gown, but modified it to button the full length of the front, as well as down the sleeves. The sleeves also “belled” out at the cuff and were lined with green silk, meant to be turned back. Additionally, I had cut green silk leaves, to be crafted into tippets her son would place on her, once she was made a Laurel.
Unfortunately, while I was I was making this dress, my beloved mother was placed on hospice and passed away before I could finish it. My Mom was a theatrical costumer and was always happy when I showed her what I was working on. I was actually sewing on this dress when she passed and I could feel her looking over my shoulder with pride. There’s definitely a part of my Mom’s love and skill in this dress!
The finishing work, buttonholes, beading, etc, were done by Crystal, her Mom, Kalista and a few other friends (I’m sorry I can’t remember all the names!) I was so happy to be a part of this project and I was able to help my dear friend feel so magical and beautiful on her special day!

My latest project was creating a robe for my protege Ana De la Sara’s elevation at An Tir Twelfth Night. We discussed various options, Pelican mantle, cloak, coat, etc. and she decided she wanted a sleeveless robe, like the portrait inspiration I’ve posted below. I had made something similar to this years before, which I could use as a guide for the patterning, but I wanted it to be “extra” and added the pleated back and embellished sleeve caps. This was made out of emerald green wool, with matching green silk lining and gold braided trim. At her vigil, guests were invited to sew a glass “blood drop” bead to the collar and body of the robe, not only to add “legacy” to the garment, but also as their witness of the service they have seen her give. As this was a surprise, I left it unhemmed, so I could make to her specifications afterwards. This was absolutely a labor of love for one of my most cherished chosen family.

This was from the Darkwood 20th anniversary Bayeux style tapestry, documenting the history of the barony. I chose to embroider Sebastian petitioning Their Majesties to create the Barony.

I’ve created this page to showcase my art and store research, inspiration and process documents. I know I’m fairly outgoing and confident in person, but putting my work publicly “on display” is kinda scary for me. However, when have I ever let fear get in the way of doing what I love?!?!

Sumptuous Seams updated their business hours.

Sumptuous Seams updated their website address.