I’m trying to decide what to offer to teach at Costume College this year. Here’s a bunch of ideas — I’d love to hear feedback on what sounds interesting! Some ideas are fleshed out, some are still rudimentary…
Social History of Hair in England, 1770s-1820s
The changes in English hairstyles from the Georgian to the Regency will be traced, focusing on their social, cultural, and political context. From women’s gigantic “poufs” and men’s wigs of the late 18th century, through the “natural” and classical styles of the Regency, hairstyles underwent significant stylistic changes. These represented shifts in politics and society and served as a locus for debate around issues of gender, class, and politics.
18th Century Court Dress
The origins and developments of women’s formal court dress in France and England from the late 17th century through the early 19th century.
18th Century Dress Variations
What’s the differences (and similarities!) between a mantua, robe a la francaise, and a robe a l’anglaise? How did those three main 18th century dress styles change over time? For that matter, what’s a Brunswick, polonaise, sultane, or levite? Come geek out over 18th century dress! We’ll look at their origins in the late 17th century, trace the major styles throughout the century, and discuss as many of the weird variations that we can fit in! This class will make far more sense to you if you have a basic idea of 18th century women’s costume, as we’ll be tracing individual styles over time, rather than going through a chronological rundown.
Hand Sewing Some Basic Garment
I keep thinking of doing some half/all day workshop where we hand sew some small basic garment (a partlet would work really well) and in the process learn the basic handsewing stitches and treatments… but I don’t know if this is too basic!
18th Century Patches (or Cosmetics?)
I want to do more research into 18th c. beauty patches, but I don’t know if there’s enough to make a full class, so maybe as part of a discussion of cosmetics?
This past weekend was 12th Night for the SCA West Kingdom, and my super good friend Sarah received the Laurel award! The Laurel is kind of like a lifetime achievement or master-level award in the SCA for arts & sciences; she received her’s for costuming.
Sarah asked me to be an attendant in her ceremony, so both I and Trystan decided to make outfits to coordinate with Sarah’s. Originally she was planning to do 1560s English, and I was all set to make a dress worn in a portrait by Mary I, but then she changed her mind to Florentine. I went through my image files and Moda a Firenze and found myself most inspired by this portrait, which worked perfectly because Sarah’s colors are black and white:
Trystan and I both wanted to distinguish our costumes from Sarah’s, so since she was doing a black veste (overgown) and white sottana (undergown) with sleeves that would show, we contrasted with black sleeves. Don’t ask, I overthought this!
I was super happy to be able to use fabric from my stash – a black silk duchesse satin that I bought on sale about 5 or more years ago and just hadn’t found the right project for yet. I had promised to sell some of it to Trystan for an 18th c. costume she wants to make, but we did the math and found I had enough fabric for her and me if I made the sleeves out of another fabric.
No, I didn’t blog about the costume, because terminal laziness set in! I am a bad, bad blogger… try to forgive!
Luckily I had two weeks off around Christmas so I set to work. Here’s a writeup and pics of the final costume, which I LOVED — I felt evil and badass, and I’m excited that I can swap out the sleeves and petticoat for a new look:
(C) Wendi Koble
Sarah’s ceremony was really wonderful and we all got verklempt! She had a fun vigil (ie party) on Friday night, and the ceremony itself was really beautiful — the choir sung a gorgeous Italian song, there was a parade of SCAdians in 16th c. costumes, and the various people who spoke were really quite touching in their praise of Sarah and her work in the SCA. Yay!
The rest of the day was spent alternately flopping and socializing. I’ve been to two 12th nights before, and I saw even MORE pretties at this one than I have in the past, so I had a lot of fun costume-watching! The evening ended with Trystan and I at the bar creating our own SCA drinking game (don’t ask) and then a PJ party in our room with some peeps. Good times!
I didn’t take TOO many photos — mostly they are from when we were waiting around for the ceremony to start — but here they are!
Oh, how lagger-y I have become! Oh, how many updates I have in my mind and not on my blog! Maybe it’s time to retire this here thing… or get my butt in gear!
SO! One thing I don’t tend to post a lot about is my 16th c. Venetian courtesan/singing group, Bella Donna. Not because it’s not a hugely fun and time-consuming thing that I do, but because I feel like the report would be, “Rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed. Performed, had fun!” So in an effort to counteract that, I’m going to try to tell you about this season.
Way back in April, we performed at a one-day benefit for a middle school. Small (comparatively) crowds, little shade, and paved in light-colored cement so that our eyes were BURNING from the sun. Oh, the squinty pictures! Nonetheless, we had fun, debuting new music… A while back, the Queen told us that the Earl of Leicester would cover any of our expenses while we’re in London, so we’ve had a long running joke that he’s supposed to buy us all ponies, which of course he always fails to do. So we had fun telling him that we had a song about our ponies for him, and then singing “Gush Forth My Tears.”
Ardenwood Renaissance Faire was fun minus the humidity, which put a damper on things… literally, when poor Linda felt faint and was down for the count, and I got carsick on the drive home on Sat. No fun throwing up on the side of the freeway in a corset, I tell you! Nonetheless, it was good in that we had to cover Linda’s parts in our show and found that we actually COULD!
Ending the dance Spagnoleta in our stage show (C) Francisco Mijango
Much Ado About Sebastopol was in its second year and man, did they knock it out of the park. Those people who long for a more historically accurate Elizabethan faire should seriously check this out. While the location isn’t anything to get excited about (city park – but hey, there are TREES), the faire organizers are going back to the original vision of actual living history. Most of the performers are playing English lower and middling classes, and doing craft demonstrations and other actual bits of living history. Whoa! Sadly, our director/harpist Shawna had to miss that show, and so we weren’t as exciting and sparkly as when we’re with her (no musical accompaniment, no dancing).
We’ve done the San Francisco Italian Heritage Parade for a number of years now, twice winning first prize for “Novelty Act.” Last year, we were smoked by a group of real Italians from Genoa who had (cheesy costumes and) drums and swords and lots of people. So this year, we invited our friends from the SCA and the German Landsknecht Guild of St. Max to join us, and made a HUGE showing. The parade is always a blast — everyone’s in a good mood, random people give you wine and take your picture, and it’s Fleet Week so the Blue Angels are flying overhead. This year, we won honorable mention for “Novelty Act” and had a blast doing it! Here’s a ridiculous video of us all singing along to “Don’t Stop Believin'” while we’re waiting for the parade to start…
Augmented Bella Donna at the SF Italian Heritage Parade
Finally, it was time for our favorite faire: the Folsom Renaissance Faire. It’s the last faire of the season, so everyone’s in a good mood; the site is pretty, with lots of trees; and it’s a fabulous girl weekend. What’s not to love?
I’ve been dying to make a new Venetian dress but had absolutely no time to do so, so contented myself by making a new girdle and parasol. We all use those Chinese paper parasols, given that we need to keep the sun off somehow and Italian women weren’t into hats. I want us to step up the game and go with something more period-accurate, so to that end I recovered a vintage 1950s umbrella (with a tag inside the cover that proudly proclaimed it was “100% acetate”!) with some gold silk taffeta left over from my 18th c. Brunswick. I thought I’d have it ready to go for the parade, but the cover ended up too small — wah! So I had to unpick all the seams and let them out. I’d bought a ton of this bullion fringe, thinking I’d cover the entire edge, but once I let the parasol out I didn’t have enough, so I cut it into pieces and made tassels.
New parasol! (C) Kim Yasuda
The other exciting thing, costume-wise, was Jenn made Shawna a new costume. Shawna is our director and works her butt off for our group, researching music and teaching it to all of us, plus leading the acting brigade… but she doesn’t sew. A bunch of us got together to make her last costume, but because we all took various pieces of it, it didn’t come together as well as it should have (and the fabric she chose was affordable but not fabulous). So Jenn had had enough of it, and took her in hand to make her a GORGEOUS new red silk damask dress plus a new corset that gave her a beautiful shape. Jenn is an amazing costumer who does precision work, and the ensemble turned out stunning. Isn’t Shawna a total goddess?
Shawna's new dress
Folsom was a blast, like always, but perhaps even more fun because this time we continued with the “augmented Bella Donna” theme, having some guest/non-stage show performers — the fabulous Karen, Sarah, Trystan, and Francis. We set up a space for the first time ever, and while it was small, it was perfectly sized for us (you can see a bit in the background of Shawna’s picture). Francis and Sarah have a pavilion and a bunch of gear they use for the SCA, so we got to set up a space that was 1) our’s and 2) appropriately pretty and non-peasant-y. We had tons of fun playing with our larger group; we made the local newspaper (that picture was taken during a tipsy hour where we hooted and hollered at literally everyone who walked past our set-up; we were having so much fun, we couldn’t even stop to pose for the photographer); plus we debuted our newest courtesan, Chlamydia, which was gut-bustingly hilarious.. Trystan took a bunch of pictures, which you can see on Flickr.
Our last event of the year was singing at the PEERS Bal de Vampyre, which is probably the most fun costume ball of the season. It’s about 5 blocks from my house (ok, bonus for me), held in a GORGEOUS masonic hall with 3 floors — a huge ballroom, a social room, and a basement lounge with goth DJs. Oh, and there are 2 bars! Sadly, I had the flu the week before and was still feeling woozy and out of it, so I didn’t have as much fun as I usually did. Still, it was fun to sing and our space was set up well this year so we were able to attract a good audience. The best part was we rewrote some of our English songs to make them vampire-y, and led the audience in a sing-a-long to “Greensleeves” that was about a spurned vampire victim/lover/slave and went, “Red blood was all your joy / Red blood was your delight / Red blood was your heart so cold / And naught but my flowing red blood.”
And yes, I did make my champagne costume, and I felt it turned out totally meh… but I Brownie-promise a full post about that!
Whew! I sewed and sewed those last few weeks, but I got there! There are still somethings I would add/fix if/when I decide to call this Officially Perfect… but aren’t there always?
On the bodice, I:
Decided the back seamline spangle patterns should match the sleeves (ie 2 rows instead of 1), so I ripped out the CB and redid that. Yes, I’m a dork, but I’m really glad I did it, as I think it looks great.
Put the sleeves together and attached them.
Ripped out the spangle trim around the arm when I realized that 1) the angle actually parallels the neckline trim, and 2) I didn’t have enough spangles to do 2 rows on the CB.
Hemmed, hawed, and hemmed again about the armhole trim. You can see that it definitely Vs, and I couldn’t figure out a way to do that that didn’t involve doing the flying geese pleating pattern. It looks very similar to this trim on an extant Spanish man’s jacket, except somewhat looser. I followed that as a model, but spaced things out a bit more. I also added the occasional spangle on top of the trim, which you can see in super high res versions of the painting.
I finished the 10,000 miles of lucet cord. Why did I ever think it would be a good idea to make my own cord? Ok, I’m glad I did b/c it looks really great, but it took FOREVER. And, of course, now that it’s done I think the silk cord I picked is too cream. Bah.
I attached all the pompoms and cords.
On the skirt, I:
Hemmed and hawed about how the skirt trim would be attached. You can see very clear scallops on scallops, and they almost look flat against the skirt. However, you can’t sew the trim on in a wave pattern without some kind of gathering/pleating (unless you cut the skirt trim in waves, which is SO not an 18th c. thing to do — such fabric waste!). I looked at a lot of extant pieces and was hoping I’d be able to slightly gather and then ease the trim… but no such luck, as it pulled when it went over the curves — so I had to officially gather it.
Pleated the skirt and sewed it to 2 strips of linen tape for a waistband.
Hemmed the apron, and pleated and sewed that to a strip of linen for a waistband.
Accessories!
I bought some marcasite earrings that had the same look as those in the painting (altho those are very fuzzy, so there was guesswork involved).
I strung a gazillion pearls into a choker, which ended up sitting a bit too loosely on me, but oh well.
I could never find a silk organza/gauze/chiffon that had the right satin plaid, so I used my on-hand striped silk gauze for the fichu.
I attempted to drape the cap, which took WAY too long and was WAY too annoying. Finally, I drafted up the men’s cap from Costume Close Up and messed with that. I sewed the cap in the car on the way to CoCo, and attached some vintage millinery trims.
I originally wanted to skip the Dorky Pink Snood, but Trystan said I had to have one. Now, she did say I could buy a crappy renfaire snood, but you know I couldn’t do that! I’m guessing the original was knotted, but I didn’t have the time or mental energy to figure out how that would work, so I went with knitting since I already know how to do that. I got some pink lace weight alpaca/silk, looked high & low for a snood pattern that would work, couldn’t find one, used a DOILY pattern instead… so yes, I am wearing a pink doily on my head. And I knitted it in the car/at CoCo! I found some pink satin/shantung at Stone Mountain that I used for the band.
I tracked down makeup (particularly a light peachy lipstick) that echoed the look the Marquesa is wearing in the portrait.
And it all came together in the end! I think those who’ve read my blog obviously knew what I was doing, but I think those that don’t may have been scratching their heads a bit.
I did get some really nice photos taken where I am pretty closely posed the same as the original painting, although those aren’t yet online — I am, however, irritated to realize that the people I had posing me didn’t notice that she’s holding her jacket open with her fist — so the jacket is laying differently. Bah. I will have to dress up in all this and get my hubby to take pics.
So, until the fancy pictures are available, here are some from my camera (and 2 stolen from Jen)!
I’m deep in the Costume College crunch! Been sewing like a madwoman with lots of progress and various bits of rework, plus a recalcitrant hat pattern. I thought I was ahead of schedule and would be mostly done yesterday, but of course things took way longer than I thought, and thus in about 30 min. I’ll be mostly done (minus the hat and snood, which I can easily do in the car/in classes).
SO! No real content here, just some pics of how things were looking earlier this week. After CoCo I’ll post about the specifics.
In other news… tomorrow I need to pack! Trying to decide what to bring for the Fri. night social — either the 1780 polonaise, or the Gwendolen day dress.
