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Click Here To Visit The Diary Featuring This Outfit
This is one of those projects that I started a few years ago, lost interest in and then came back to. The gown is a fabulous green cotton damask uphulstry material I found heaps of at Hancocks sometime in the late 90's. I initially made a doublet for an ex-boyfriend from some of it, but after that relationship went south, I decided I wanted my own outfit from the rest of the fabric. It took me another year or two before starting on it. Below are images of the doublet taken sometime in 2001.
It is lined with matching dark green wool gabradine. Originally, the doublet closed all the way up to the neck, but I've gained a bit of weight in the last few years, so I'm no longer able to wear the doublet closed. The skirt was added much more recently in August of 2003. It is a simple rectangle, lined with orange and pink shot duipioni and then box pleated to the doublet.
This is a close up of the sleeve. I recycled the pattern I drafted for the Eleanor Benlow's gown (ie. The Dress That Never Was...) and used more of the green gabradine for the outer sleeve. The bright pink you see through the slashes is the pink and orange shot duipioni silk that I used to line the skirt. The white puffs on the sleeve head are linen. I added some glass pearls and garnet beads on the slashes, but didn't have enough time to add more before I had to wear it. The buttons on the front of the doublet are not functional at this point. They are made from wooden beads wrapped with dark green embroidery floss. The doublet is actually sewn shut at this point in time, as I was sick of fussing with the closures I'd tried inserting earlier. I don't have any pictures of the kirtle alone, for one very good reason. I'm not satisfied with it. I had a huge battle getting the skirt sewn to the bodice, and I never was completely thrilled with how it turned out. I have a few more yards of the lovely, super drapey, non-itchy Italian wool, so I may try to improve the skirt a bit more. |
