Pleased with pleats.

This is how the skirt from the Lizzie Siddal dress looks so far. I'm very pleased with the result: that's 6,5 metres of pleated fabric . I think I'll wear a petticoat (there's no petticoat in this pic), but obviously no hoops. I'll wear a corset cause I'm not as thin as Lizzie... :P

I'm also making a green one, but I want the black one finished first!

Working and working...

So I've started classes at uni which means I can't work that much as in summer, but well... I do as much as I can!

First of all, I made an extra bodice for the Elizabethan dress, with the upholstery fabric I used for the petticoat and sleeves. Here's an awesome pic Roberto Llull took last weekend when we met for a quick photo shoot:

The bodice is beaded with pearls at the vertexes of each rhombus shape, forming a triangle of pearls; although you can't see it in this pic. I used the same golden trim for the bodice and skirt (on the skirt it's also pearl beaded). I added these shoulder pads so fashionable at the era, which also have pearl beaded golden trim. I like the result in this bodice better than the other one because this fabric is heavier and causes a great effect.

This is just an horrible "in process" pic so you can see the bodice properly.

Now, moving on, I'm working on the Lizzie Siddal dresses, but I don't have any pics yet. Although I can show you the bodice for the 1850s ball gown:

I made this just to have a fitting, actually it's the interlining fabric, but I think it looks fine at the moment. I have to add boning etc. Hope I can work a bit more this weekend! :)

One year old and updates!

Oh my Lord! Time goes by so fast! It's been a year since I wrote my first word here. I've learnt a lot and done a lot and yet there's so much to do. I love making costumes and I wish I'm learning more and more in the next year. I also want to explore more dresses from Pre-Raphaelite paintings than I did last year and what not, I want to do so many things! Also, thanks a lot to the readers and visitors who take the time to come regularly! ;)

In other news, there's a ball in November so I hope everything works for me and my boyfriend to go. Yay, I convinced him! I'm so happy he's coming, maybe I will make him a proper re-enactor with this experience.

I was putting that ruffle in place when he just came with my new corset, that's why it's unfinished. As I don't have the time to make it myself I preferred to buy it so I can dance comfortably :)

And this is some pleated fabric that eventually will be my crinoline skirt. Oops sorry,  forgot to mention it's a 1850-60s ball.

This is the dress that inspired me, but I'm not doing that black parts of the skirt. I will decorate it, but differently.

As for my boyfriend, he will dress up in a military uniform but I prefer to tell you more about that in another post when I have more info. Also, this will be my first man's outfit and also uniform so...*excited dance*!

Perfume dress.

No, the dress smells as my other dresses haha, I'm talking about the Laure Richis outfit. I'm generally very satisfied with it, never done an 18th century jacket before. The stomacher was a bit difficult, wasn't too sure about how tight it had to be so it ended up a bit baggier than it should. But well, everything can be made smaller! Let me share some of the pics we took that day.

As you can see the jacket doesn't fit perfectly but the overall result is good enough (for me at least, I'm still learning!) Aaaand also Pomps!

I love this one! Very "Perfume" reminiscent, as when they're playing hide and seek in the maze. My friend copied her golden dress from a Madame de Pompadour painting, you can see more pics of it in her gallery

 

I tried! :)

This is Lady Diana's amazing robe a la française worn a la polonaise. Hers is an original design I think.

Not as beautiful as Rachel Hurd-Wood but I had lots of fun. You can find some more pics in my DeviantArt and Flickr galleries. I'll be soon sharing some new stuff about my first crinoline project! :D