My birthday was Thursday.  Yay me.  I have never been one for birthdays.  I have only had a handful of memorable ones in my entire life, and most of those were because of friends and/or events.

( Birthday memories... )We have begun work on the late period gowns for the French court.  ( Garb notes... )

Well, I found another reference for the wide portrait collar that was favoured by French women in the late 16th century.  Interestingly enough, the collar is a completely different style than those worn in England, and seem to almost fit seamlessly into the shape of the upper part of the bodice -
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Lots to ponder.  Lots to work with.  Oy!

So yeah, rennwench sent me her copy of Tudor Tailor on a long-term loan with the proviso that I send her pictures of the finished product.

Guess what?  Just as I told April that I have the borrowed copy now, she went over to the bookshelf and pulled my copy of said book right off the shelf where the costuming books are kept stacked.

I swear to all I hold dear and to the God/dess him/herself that I searched high and low for this book for a freakin' week!!!  Charlie and Greg even helped me.  It just freakin' figures that it would turn up *magically* when I finally get another copy to use.

Frakkin' Faeries... or brownies... or whatever little brat-like beastie that hid it from me!

For those of you who know, I lost my last cellphone at work, and recently got it replaced. 

Guess what?  The new one stopped working entirely last night.

::::grrr:::: I now have to drive all the way out to Rancho Cucamonga to get a new one.

While I am irritated at that fact, I am still in a good mood because I have a copy of Tudor Tailor for help!!!

...just mailed me her copy of Tudor Tailor, [replacing mine] which seems to have gone missing the abyss of my house somewhere.  I was actually going to start working on the gowns today without the book, working from paintings and woodcuts, but I now have a semi-live reference for my work.  

Sarah, you are a gem!!!  Thank you soooooo much!!!!

OH MY GODDESS IS IT GOING TO HURT!!!
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Of course this is just a rendering, but it is close to what I want... ouchy...

...when I have so much to do.  I really have a lot of things I could be doing right now, but I am choosing to sit here on my ass writing in this journal, which even then sounded like too much work.  :::sigh:::

I did get a fabulous new book though.  It's called "Elizabethan Pageantry" and was originally published in 1936.  It's got tons of historical contemporary commentary on the clothing of the time.  It's really a fabulous find - the glossary itself is worth the price of the book.  From it I have documented contemporary evidence that hoops were worn with Tudors (especially after Catherine of Aragon became Queen) and large bumrolls were used with vertugales (an almost horizontal hoop skirt where all of the bones are parallel to one another) to create the French wheel farthingale in France (not necessarily England).

I also discovered that I really do hate Dream of Mirror Online. AKA DOMO.  It's an insepid RPG that everyone in my house plays but me.  I guess I am not wired to allow a video game to liquify my brain.  It's almost as bad as WoW.  What's worse is that people in my house actually pay real money for sh*t in this game!  It's utterly insane to me - I much prefer something tangible for my money thanks!!!

Anyhow, I think I will go back to being bored now.  :::sigh:::

So this is a bit of an update where things stand with my effigy corsets and French farthingales.

Haven't started them.

Why you ask?

The task seems incredibly daunting, and I just have not had the courage to face my fear :::sniffle:::
( Call the wah-bulance... )

Lots of other things have been going on in my life lately, and I am beyond overwhelmed with it all, so I am taking it day-by-day. 

However, the purpose of this post is that I need help with costuming.  I cannot find my copy of Tudor Tailor, and cannot afford right now to purchase another copy :::sigh::: so I am LOST on how to get the measurements correct for the wheel/French farthingale.  I have an idea how to do it, but I want to make sure that it is right.  Through my research I also found that it was period correct for a woman to wear an extra large bumroll in lieu of this... I however much prefer the look of the other.

I also want to know how a person does the bodice while still leaving room for front lacing and reavers without having to install additional panels or show stitch marks. 

Also, here is a portrait of Queen Margot - how in the fark did they do this?!?



Look at that collar!  SCREAMS DRAMA!!! Can't you just imagine the looks of envy from the other ladies if my wife or any of the other girls in my group were to wear this?!?

I do believe however I have cracked the mystery of the pansied slops/hip roll shown in a lot of later Elizabethan and French paintings.  I ran out of pattern paper, and had to use Christmas/Yule wrap... LOL.  I am going to work on a muslin today just to be sure.

I did however manage to get some LOVELY fabrics from Stacey at Corona, aka the Viking Lady Ioreth.  She gave me ten yards of luscious red and gold chenille floral brocade, four yards of black chenille velvet, four yards of a yummy maple leaf tapestry, and 2.5 yards of green leafy chenille brocade for only $40.00!!!!!!!  The red and gold is going for April's late period Margot gown, the tapestry is for Greg, the green for Roe, and the black I am going to use on my Henrician city coat (I think).

Yay me.  Work, work, work... LOL.

For those of you that know me, especially for a number of years, I have never particularly been fond of the canine species.  I grew up around lots of dogs - my grandmother had a collection that wandered in now and then, from cockers to samoyeds.  I loved dogs when I was little, but when I was 10 years old I had an unfortunate interlude with a psychotic sheep dog that caused me to have the entire set of rabies shots and I became afraid of most dogs.  Small dogs were annoying, and large dogs were out of the question.
( A change of heart... )

I have not posted anything in awhile, because I have been beyond busy with life.  Things are a bit hectic around here, and as my teacher used to tell me the only constant is change.  Change is difficult to deal with, especially without a period of mourning the old way of doing things. 

I am feeling overly creative, but my depression is preventing me from completing/starting any new projects.  I have several new projects planned for myself, including loosing at least 15 lbs. so that I can fit into my Henry VIII suits ;-(

I want to paint my house, but I am not sure if I want to paint my house.  It's a question of where I am going to be in a year.  This place feels transitional, and if the offer of my grandmother's house in Van Nuys comes through, I am taking it!  Four hundred dollars a month is too good to pass up!

Work is good.  I have been procrastinating about talking to my boss about the attendance points he was going to take off from last year.  It's part of the general malaise I have been feeling.  

Anyhow, that's life for now.  There is more, but I am having trouble typing again...

Step 1 - Leaving

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Step 2 - Costuming

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Step 3 - The event itself
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Overall, out of 10 I would give the event a 7.5.  It will definitely be better next year, since I will make sure to make time with everyone to rehearse! 

So we have a new car we have dubbed the Rollerskate.  It is a 1996 Suzuki Swift, and it gets 38-42MPG on average!  I love this little POS - it made it up and back to Shaver Lake on $60.00!

Makes making trips to see far away friends so much easier.

Downsides -
No air
No powersteering
It's a stick

Conclusion - Dmetri cannot drive it.  I still don't know a stick, and don't think my wrists can handle armstrong steering right now

So a long story short - we were invited by our friends the House of Tudor to support them at a first year event.  Only problem:

( Let's go through the high points... )
We also trounced their Sunday too - we were everywhere and played with everyone.  It was awesome.

As you all well know, this is the time of year that I go nuts with costuming.  I have already posted about Charlie's, however there are many more. Tasks completed:

( Costuming Notes... )
Still lots to do, but this is what I have done and I am rather pleased.  I should have Carrie's skirt cut out this evening.  We will see.

Back to the machine for another hour, then beddy-bye time.

::::Clearing throat::::

( A Traditional B-Day Song... )
Wow sis.  41 this year.  Don't feel bad, it's my turn next week. :::shudder:::

Happy birthday to my best friend, sister, high priestess, and fellow insane one, Lady Athenis!

Well, Charlie loves the fabric that my original Earl of Oxford suit was made of, as well as my second Henri III suit (in purple). He found it in Downtown, not in the regular solid color and gold, but in red and black. Very distinctive. I have started work on the slop panes -
( minor pics taken with a phone camera... )
More to come soon!

This woman is a religious nut -

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin_iraq_war

Can we say Crusades anyone? What next? Converting the heathen Muslims to her Christianity?

Ay Dios Mio...!