All posts tagged: Elizabethan

Elizabethan Progress

The Elizabethan ensemble is moving ahead nicely, though everything is taking longer than I think it will (ergh. New periods. So much research to do. So many mistakes to make, and then unmake, or decide you just can’t fix) I have made the most important step though. I have an inspiration image! Isn’t it glorious and fabulous? And doesn’t it look very like all the stuff I’ve already made? I love the sleeves. I think they are the best Elizabethan sleeves I’ve ever seen. And the diagonal bodice decoration is just delicious. So, with a real inspiration point, I have decorated the bodice with yet more has-to-be-hand-sewn-on lace: And installed grommets in my lining. I’m rather gutted about the grommets. I’d already sewn eyelets to the lining months ago, and when I pulled it out of the UFO pile I assumed I’d made a stupid non-period mistake, and took them out and did the grommets. Then I went back to Arnold, and realised that all of the 16th century gowns Arnold has patterned fasten with …

Rate the Dress: Anna of Austria by Anthonis Mor

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I showed you a rather plain 1890s dress with enormous puffed sleeves. Thanks to some rather fabulous fabric and some very clever stripe-work, the dress was very popular. Right up until my Mum showed up and pointed out that it looks like an elephant. Thanks Mum! Still, 1890s sexy librarian or elephant, it came in at a VERY impressive 9.2 out of 10. Since I’m on a 1570s kick, this week’s Rate the Dress is on-theme. Rather than staying with English Elizabethan styles, we’re travelling to continental Europe to discuss the fashion choices of the 21 year old Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain: In typical late 16th century Spanish style, Anna’s clothes are quite severe, with large expanses of expensive black fabric. Equally typically, the black is livened with copious amounts of precious metals and stones: her bonnet is circled with gold braid and jewelled ornaments, there are more jewelled pins in her hair, she wears an elaborate gold necklace with an enormous double-headed bird pendant, each head holding a ruby …

Embarking on Elizabethan

Published by The Dreamstress

Remember last year when I made a late Elizabethan pair of bodies? And a farthingale? Now I’m finally tackling a dress to go over them! The dress is more of my ‘dabbling’ in Elizabethan, so it’s testing concepts rather than being 100% period accurate, and it’s also meant to be all from stash. Thanks to the fabulous Lynne, I had two huge curtains in red velvet, so that decided the dress fabric. With red velvet in mind, I went looking for inspiration. The obvious place to start for construction is Janet Arnold, and for inspiration, (since it is Elizabethan), portraits of Queen Elizabeth I. I quite like van der Meulens’ 1560s portrait: I particularly like the more restrained ruff, and the open effect of the neckline. And the fact that it’s in red velvet is an added perk! This portrait by an unknown artist has many of the same general design elements: I like the idea of separate rather than matching sleeves, a look that is also repeated in the Pelican Portrait: I am madly …