Lucy Westenra inspired gown.

No, I am not mad. I am not going to attempt to copy an Eiko Ishioka design. Come on, I would never achieve that. And yet I am allowed to get inspired by this beauty:

It's the snake gown worn by Lucy Westenra in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). It's SO gorgeous with those embroidered snakes, also I love that shade.

Well, there's a 1890s event in June and I'm going to adapt this dress into a more historically accurate one. First, I'm not convinced snakes are very suitable for a lady? They work wonders for the metaphor in the film but in real life... I don't think they were very popular. Specially when most designs I've been checking feature butterflies and flowers and all sorts of pretty geometric decorations:

So I'm going to create a similar pattern as the snake one but with a satin leaves trim and some flowers, the fabric is actual silk this time:

Then, moving on to the shape, everything looks fine but the sleeves. For an evening dress short, puffy sleeves would work best. So this is my design and what I've done so far:

I'm quite happy with it! The neckline will be heart shaped and of course, it is not sewn yet, only pinned. Again, sorry for the pics but I left my camera in England (ugh, weight restrictions, I hate them when I'm carrying tones of fabrics with me!). See you soon!

Pre-Raphs in Sheff.

Been exploring what Pre-Raph items could offer the art galleries in Sheffield. The adventure turned out very interesting since I found some unexpected stuff.

The Millennium Art Gallery is currently showing a very impressive exhibition on landscape following Ruskin's taste. It is called Force of Nature: Picturing Ruskin's Landscape. Not all the artists featured are British, nor 19th century, but the whole thing is great. No pictures inside but I specially loved Turner's and Millais' paintings (what a surprise), although some Italian landscapes where quite astonishing too.

As I said, the different works in the collection are not similar, they are connected through Ruskin's ideas of the landscape and the most evident ones are the representation of its grandeur and the perception of its light and colours. Some of the Italian landscapes show as much detail they even seem photographs but then Turner and Millais are masters of colour and of capturing a landscape with a much less precise stroke.

The Moon is Up, and Yet it is not Night, Millais (1890).

There is also a permanent collection called the Ruskin Collection which is quite inspiring. They have great pieces showing Ruskin's love for both nature and architecture.

At least they show the face of the person who collected all these marvellous things...

It is not really worth posting the pics of Medieval prayer books because you can't appreciate the amazing details they have.

Also...yum.

Moving on to the Graves Art Gallery, there are great portraits there and lots of 18th and 19th century awesome works. Namely:

Burne-Jones' allegorical painting The Hours (1882)

And this one here which was new for me but with a well-known topic...
The Lady of Shalott by William Maw Egley (1858)

Had lots of fun, I'll be exploring more things these days, hope I discover new treasures!

Renaissance at last!

Hey guys! Our dear photographer Roberto posted his pics last week and The Seamstress of Rohan and I also went to our little special spot in the woods to take some more pics by ourselves before I moved to the UK. I'm leaving you some pics here but you know they're uploaded in my galleries as usual.

Yes, I wanted to be Lucrezia Borgia so bad! Notice the drinking cup...maybe poisoned?

This one is by Iris Wenskowski, Roberto's assistant, who is also learning from him.

Here you can see a bit more in detail the sleeves and everything. I'm very happy with this dress, more than I normally am! So yay, learning how to sew better stuff ^^

In other news, I'm great here in northern England. My flatmates are the loveliest and uni is awesome. I'm very busy with the literature subjects but I think I'll manage. Just ordered some fabrics here to take with me to Mallorca during the Spring break so I can sew a bit there. When I'm back, I'm taking the dresses I couldn't bring (because of the weight restrictions) the first time I came. So yay, everything is fine, but I won't be posting about sewing in a while!

Quick update.

Hi there! I'm still on my finals and I have like zero time to post quality stuff. The Victorian tartan blue dress is finished but I haven't had a moment to take some pics though. Some coming soon, and a bit on the problems I had while making it.

New things: I'm working in a very simple Italian Renaissance dress. It will be all in golden fabric except for the  sleeves that will be also in brocade but dark red. Here it is, the thing is only pinned:

Yeah, sorry for the dreadful pic but it's better than the mobile phone. The sleeves will be very puffed at the shoulders and then more tight in the forearm part. They will be laced with ribbon to show a muslin chemise underneath. I started a golden trim with pearls all along the opened part of the sleeves, done by hand so...just started, it still needs finishing. As you can see it has a front opening that will also be laced with red ribbon as the sleeves. But overall, it will be pretty simple as I must finish it before I move to the UK (it will be my last photo shoot here in Mallorca before I return in summer).

I have wonderful jewellery to go with this that my boyfriend got me, and I'm also working in a beaded hair net. Very excited to finish the dress! I got really inspired thanks to the costumes in The Borgias and I'm uncontrollably excited for the next season premièring in two months. I hope I can get some props easily connected to this family :D

I also have the most beautiful picture from our Victorian Fairytale shoot, but I can't post it since it's part of a contest and it cannot be published! I'll tell you more about that in due time. It's my birthday today too :D and I'm very eager to take things easily and positively to start my new 21 year old life in peace and happiness. Yay, regards!