The First Dress

The dress that started it all. This gown was made by my mother for me to wear to my second Renaissance Faire, all the way back in 1991. And it still fits me! The dress was made according to the instructions in _Elizabethan Costuming For The Years 1550-1580_ by Winter & Savoy and it really shows. It's basically cookie-cutter faire-wear, made from red corduroy and silver brocade and trimmed in silver lace. In creating this costume I wrestled with the instructings in the book for what amounted to about 2 years before giving up entirely and searching out other methods of constructing renaissance costumes. It wasn't too long before I learned how to draft my own patterns and found Janet Arnold and the internet to aid my costume passion.

Still, this dress is a little piece of nostalgia for me. :)