Huzzah

I signed up for the Realm of Venus Costume Contest.(link) I've been wanting to compete for a while, and now the chance has come, or will come April 14th. Do expect a lot of ramblings between now and mid-August, when the construction deadline is.

My goals are three fold: to a) finish my outfit, b) accrue at least 100 points by the scoring system and c) have a new outfit for Comic Con. Fingers crossed.

Update on a coif

Note: I first started the draft on this post back in November. The first two paragraphs and the top photo is from then.

I'm still slogging along on the coif. I like how very straightforward the design is. All geometric and not too complicated, but still an eye catching result. I get distracted with other projects, but I can take this anywhere. I worked on it through most of the week of Hurricane Sandy, and stopped only when I ran out of floss. I have restocked, and all is well.

You need to peer closely, but on the upper left corner you can make out some of the back stitching.

By December, I managed to finish the grid and make my eyes sore for a couple of days from staring so much as at the warp and weft. I'm a bit more careful now with my eye muscles. I washed off the grid marker, got blue on the threads because I was too distracted to wash them off, and drew in the diagonal lines. Which I forgot to photograph. My silliness can be annoying.

The diagonals are done in chain stitch, with the lines all pointing up. Between the larger stitches and less lines overall, it only took a few weeks to complete. The blue is now fully washed off, and the coif is ironed and awaiting the next stage. I'll hold off on that for now in favor of my other embroidery project and some other sewing plans.

My Italian Debut, part 2

There's not much to say about the camica. I followed Jen Thompson's instructions and machine sewed the whole thing.The only place where one would see the machine stitching is at the neckline, and I doubted many people would complain about this modern touch. it is made from voile and is very sheer, so I'm not putting up any pictures of me wearing it and nothing on top.

I have chronic bed head, and the caps I've seen in contemporary portraits are small. There are far too many chances for my hair to break free and make a mess. Fortunately, there is Botticelli's Portrait of a Plainly Dressed Lady.  A documentable extra cloth to keep my hair in check, yay!

The cap was less exciting. It is an oblong semicircle, hand hemmed and stitched into a three dimensional shape. The edges are very wonky, and I folded pinned it down on the sides to look tidier on the day I wore it. As I am making a much prettier coif, the first one will be taken apart and used for more exciting projects.

Grid O' Doom

The preparation work for embroidering this thing is notable enough to warrant its own post. Step number one was lengthy as I did it at my leisure between other projects, where I cut out a basic wavy coif pattern, basted it, tried it on and fussed with it until i was satisfied with the look. It ended up as a trapezoid.

Here is the mock up placed on the linen (a smock I'll never wear again) about to me marked and cut out.

 

Then came the joy of marking out the grid. Each square is supposed to be one centimeter, but some part are definitely rectangles. I eased my mind with the knowledge that not all period things were perfectly crafted. Maybe some wonkiness will add charm to the project.

 

 Marking this out took days. I took a break after gridding the edges to baste-hem the edges so nothing will unravel mid project.

Preamble to a coif

I've been looking at The Realm of Venus, its showcase, and its contests for a while. The web mistress has been kind enough to set of some guidelines for her next major costuming challenge that is to begin on April of next year. One of the new rules is that if a piece contains painfully time consuming handwork, such as lace making, weaving large items and so forth, you may begin earlier than the official start, provided that you document it and present the evidence when you register officially.

There is a pretty embroidered coif featured in one of Ghirlandaio's portraits, which I know as "Portrait of a Lady," circa 1480.

I can't make you the details of the pattern, which I am using as an excuse to use any design I please. The edging will be a bit more of a challenge, as I would rather that the final product not be so ostentatious, so no pearl border like some have done. I'll probably do a bit of needle lace or picot trim instead.