A Noble Attempt at a Doublet

So, as we all know, I had a decent list for Faire this year, and I didn't meet all of my deadlines, but I certainly came close and I enjoyed every moment of it!

So, the biggest one that I completed in my last moment frenzy was the Doublet and Slops...Well, sortof completed. I started with the patterns...

In hopes of something that looked like this, but fancier;

Fail, but here is what I got.

First, I realized that the worst part would be cutting picadils, I wanted tabs on the skirting and the sleeve caps, which may have been why it ended up looking so silly. So I cut out roughly 40 picadils (that is 80 little rectangles of fabric people)...

So after that, I put together the main part of the doublet and started constructing sleeve caps...

It was an ordeal, to say the least! The sleeve caps and skirting are lined with the red fabric, and the picadils were sewn onto the tops of those, then the entire piece was sewn to the doublet body.

Ending with...

Excuse the hoop skirt, it may or may not be permanently attached to the dress form at this point. But after some gold trim and the pretty gold frog closures, I realized that I made a christmas elf costume...But there wasn't time to scratch it so I made the pants and viola...

As I said, I'm not very happy with it, so I'll do some tweaking and call it finished for now but it won't live for very long. And the slops need to be redone so...We shall see.

Finally at Faire!

So we finally got off to Faire in Bonner Springs, KS! It was an awesome day, the doublet and pumpkin pants are done and my italian gown has been done for a while, along with the tiny lady's gown, so I just want to throw up a few photos!

So this is the three of us, as you can see the doublet doesn't close right and I'm not happy with it, but it's okay for a first try! 

Here is the tiny lady, in her pretty blue dress! It turned out beautifully and she got a lot of attention. The King even picked her up and carried her around...

So I got my ghirlanda at Faire, I know it looks silly but it's actually a period head piece for italian garb! I was super excited for that one! 

She loved that our dresses matched! 

Me and my noble. :) Aren't we adorable? 

A strange mixture of garb, I know...

I love the way the dress flows as I walk, silly but true :)

Our tiny lady got to talk with the Princess!

A good look at the Doublet, didn't turn out to my liking but hey, I got it done!

The tiny lady got to visit with the King, and it looked like she was just having so much fun!

Anyway, there are many more projects on the list, including the Alfonso projects and a green half length bodiced gown for me. And I'll have to redo the first doublet...And the pumpkin pants. So we shall continue trudging on! 

Close to the Nobles' Skin

So, I've been relatively absent lately, but Faire is fast approaching and it seems like for every big project that pops up, a smaller project seems to appear and take precedence. It seems to be eternally easier to fix garb that is already made rather than replace it from scratch. Accessories seem to be just as important in the eyes of those being dressed for Faire and that tasks me with even more! But, enough of the complaining. Tonight I finished a mens' shirt for one of my noblemen that I am dressing this year, and I think it came out wonderfully!

I used Buttericks Pattern No. 5008;

This shirt was made for view A but we didn't end up putting a ruffle at the collar. Mostly because the neckband was tiny (13 inches for a large neck) and the neck ruffle was far too small to be used as anything but the neckband. We originally bought a sheer type fabric and I realized how much I hated sewing that crap so I ditched it in the fabric bin and replaced it with some cotton linen. Easy shirt, then decorated with burgundy ribbon closures and burgundy blanket stitched embroidery thread. That easy!

The blanket stitching could have been better on the pleated wrists, but hey, it was my first try! So, tomorrow night I get to start on the Doublet and Slops, oh the joy!