Don’t get top excited by the title, these photos are crappy in my sewing room shots! I would really like to set up a proper backdrop with drapery and candles and fancy lighting but for now these will have to do. As per usual the costume was made, worn, and photographed by me.
Getting these shots was more difficult then usual since I can’t lift my arms in this dress. The struggle I went through just to focus the camera was pretty intense.
If you haven’t seen them already, I have five blog posts and two videos which go through the process of making this costume, they can all be found here!
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I’m really pleased with how this turned out. I might have to remake the hat at some point since it’s still not holding it’s shape that well, but for now it’s fine.
Thanks for reading…er, in this case, looking! I should have a “The making of” post up soon.
Here is part two of my velvet Isabel de Requesens dress! Today i’ll talk about the skirt and sleeves.
In addition to sharing photos and information I also have a short video about this costume!
I did my best to press “record” whenever I sat down to work on this costume, and though I didn’t manage to capture every step I ended up with a few hours of footage. I edited it down, sped it up, and paired it with music.
The whole thing was easier then I had expected, and it’s something I would like to do again in the future. I’d like to film tutorials and stuff as well, but I think this is a good place to start considering my inexperience with filming and editing. I’m a bit out of my element here, so any comments or feedback would be very much appreciated!
The skirt was pretty easy, as usual with these things it’s just made from rectangles. I used three pieces of 40″ wide fabric cut to be around 58″ inches in length. The length was cut with a four inch hem and one inch seam allowance in mind.
They were sewn together the way you would expect, then hemmed with a cross stitch. I’ve pretty much completely switched over to this stitch when it comes to hemming, it’s a little slower but the end result looks so much nicer then a whip stitch.
Then I went ahead and cartridge pleated the top, cartridge pleating velvet is honestly one of my favorite things. It’s so easy, satisfying, and the end result looks so sharp and pretty, even if you don’t measure beforehand.
Once that was done I did a little dress form test and everything looked pretty even and good!
I pinned the skirt to the bodice, then sewed them together.
After the skirt and bodice were attached I began focusing on the sleeves. These were hard since I didn’t want them to be so ridiculous that they were eating my hands, out of proportion to the skirt, and taking over the whole costume. I ended up making them about forty inches wide, and i’m pretty happy with that decision.
Each sleeve was hemmed. I didn’t mind the raw edge since these were lined later on.
Then It came time for the bias tape, which was, by far, the most annoying part of this dress. I made it from lining material and organza, the same combo used to create piping on the bodice.
Below you see my second attempt at sewing it on. My first attempt was done with 1/4″ stitching and the velvet completely disintegrated during the pinning process. I ended up trimming the edge before trying again with a half inch stitch.
The trim was folded over to create a quarter inch of visible gold.
Then it was all sewn into place with a blanket stitch. After that was done I added the lining, I don’t have any pictures of this process since it was done late in the afternoon and I couldn’t get a decent photo.
I tacked the bias tape together every four and a half inches. This is where the buttons will go.
Then the buttons were sewn on. I opted for regular gold dome buttons since my attempts to paint them with the black design shown in my reference photo didn’t go well at all.
The tops of each sleeve were gathered down with cartridge pleats. In the end the tops of each sleeve were only twelve inches!
They were sewn onto the bodice and it was pretty much done! It still needs a back seem but you can get a good idea of how it looks from the pictures below. Unfortunately due to the nature of this bodice and the off-the-shoulders style it looks really poopy on my dress form.
I took a few mirror and webcam shots of it worn, and that’s as good as it gets for the time being.
As you can see the neckline is kind of, uh, daring. Luckily the finished costume includes a higher neckline, thanks to a fancy collar which will be part of the chemise.
So that’s that! Still lots to do on this costume, but the most major part of it is complete.
Just as a warning, I’m not in a big rush to finish the chemise and make the hat. I have to wait a month for the wig to arrive, so I might switch things up and work on a different project for a bit.
Angela Clayton's Costumery & Creations 