Tuesday 26 February 2013

Oh dear. That is a much longer gap than I like to leave in my updates. So what have I been up to in all that time? Mostly I have been crippled by indecision. I have choices, and I am, as usual, over thinking them. 


Firstly, I finished off my working apron. I trimmed the cloth so it's ended up as just knee length, forgetting that most aprons of the day were almost as long as the full length skirt it went over. But it's gotten Suzie's sit of approval, so I think it'll be fine just the way it is.

My serving apron I have decided to embellish with embroidery as my lace making skills aren't yet up to par (to be honest, I still have to start lesson two). But I can't decide on the embroidery. I know I want to do an assissi embroidered border, but I want that border to have personal meaning, and inspiration is so far lacking.



Next, a marble update! I've been continuing with the layers of shellac, and the picture to the left shows a naked marble at top left and, moving clockwise, each marble has an additional layer of shellac. I had originally planned to do 4-5 layers, but at layer three there's already a nice gloss building up, so I think it's time to start applying pigment. My shellac, due to the dye in the methylated spirits I've used, has a reddish tone, so I'm concerned my white marbles won't come out as clean in colour as I'd like, but there's only one way I'm going to find out that for sure!



In addition to SCA and Victorian tea parties, I have a LARP system that won't take care of itself. Big things are afoot for my character this year, not least of which involves her marriage. And as a larp wedding is really just an excuse for a pretty new dress, I've fallen in love with this beauty from the interwebs and have decided to recreate it. I have a burgundy taffeta already in hand that would be quite nice, though I'm concerned about how well that would work given that the original dress appears to be made with velvet. The only velvet in my stash big enough for this project is black, and yes, it's only a larp wedding, but you know, black just doesn't strike me as appropriate. I still retain the right to eat my words in a couple of months time when the taffeta doesn't work of course.





I'm not entirely in the mood to draft this pattern from scratch though, so I've dug out some old Simplicity and Butterick patterns which I can modify heavily to get my desired shape.

2 comments:

  1. *looks up Assisi embroidery* Oooh! Pretty!

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  2. I have been drooling over that green velvet dress for a very long time now. It's fabulous, and I can't wait to see how a taffeta version turns out!

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