Elizabeth... all done!

Elizabeth has had a final outing, for this year at least, for some photos of her all done and finished.   

I also took the opportunity to photograph the inside of the gown with the finished pleating and lining.  I am still surprised by how easy it is to wear; you don't notice the pleats at all when wearing the gown even though, as the picks show, they are not small!

And one last pic, it all together for Halloween :)

I utterly love this outfit!

Halloween 2012

Despite it being a panic pretty much until right up to the party starting (the exploding pot of glue that covered half the dining room being my personal highlight) Halloween this year was great fun, one of my most favourite parties ever.  We are so lucky with the friends that we have, they all rose the the challenge admirably and we had some great costumes, really funny, inventive and inspired.  To give you a idea: Mr B, killed with a corkscrew came, thanks to Mrs B's talents, as a wine bottle; D, killed with a tyre, braved an all-in-one Crash Test Dummy getup; Mr S, pickled peppers (formerly ogres toes from last Halloween), was a very funny early Beatles hairdo, first case of Foot (i)'n Mouth disease; S & N, poison and a spatula respectively, were blood crazed chefs who had killed each other; and, of special note, the lovely Mrs S (thanks to Mr S's wire bending skills) was the best ball of wool-killed by her knitting needles-Grandma I've ever seen! 

I lost a day of prep as I had to travel on the Friday before the party and wimped out slightly on the decorations, relying on my box of past goodies more than I had planned.  I also found a lovely selection of ornamental gourds at the supermarket which we dotted around the place, along with our pumpkins, which the lovely boyf carved out for us.  We lined two them with tin foil and used them to serve the main dishes (a Chipotle Bean and Vegetable Stew and Sweet Potato, Spinach and Chickpea Coconut Curry) at dinner before lighting them and putting them out in the garden. 

The shrunken heads looked great too.  The 11yr old loved staking them and we are going to let them slowly finish their drying and keep them for next year.  By default, the carved and fruits and veg became a theme of their own; not quite what was planned, but I liked it.  I'm going to have a go at drying out the gourds too (will tell you how that goes in approximately 6 months time!) and see what else we can do with them next year too.

Albert (the reason for the exploding glue...) also made a reappearance, as dessert this time.  Chocolate eyeballs, brains and spiders filled his skull and he kept watch on our Halloween Hands - non-powdered plastic gloves filled with a very addictive mixture of toffee and salted popcorn, Chipotle and salted pretzels, M&Ms, salted cashews and honey salted peanuts.  Yum!

The 11yr old rocked her 80s costume, complete with record through her head!

And, on realising that I was never going to be able to serve drinks and food in full Tudor garb, I kept the makeup and hair (extensions, which I rather love, I wish I could grow hair that lovely and long) and decorated a tshirt in fake blood and suitably ironic commentary; it raised a laugh.

Lorraine, the brain, looked very good too, especially with the nerd specs and the horrible (in a cool, Halloweeny way) white eyeball contact that the boyf put in.  Finn was fascinated by all the pullable, chewable bits of costumes; especially the lovely Mrs B's long gloves (candlestick to the head).

 

And, despite initially refusing to come down stairs, Megs got involved too and was rather fond of A's (the world's hottest chillis, teamed with clown shoes, very cool!) chef''s hat.

The Tudor Gown was on Miss G for most of the evening but got a wearing, once the food was served and in time to go to the pub!

Food un-friendly sleeves

Doing my very best "scary"



Mrs B helped me get Miss G undressed and myself dressed, giggling the entire way through!  Every piece I took off and gave her, took back and put on, was accompanied by the loveliest chuckle; I've threatened to get her kitted up in it at some point!  It was still heavy and cumbersome and breathing took a bit of getting used to, but after a while, and once I'd learnt to sit without impaling myself on that wooden busk ;o), I was properly in love with it all.  It's hard to describe but the weight and the restriction became very comforting and comfortable, and the whole experience is so removed from how we wear clothes today, it is fascinating.  I can see how people get hooked on dressing for Renaisance Faires and events. 

That's the Tudor Gown done now though (apart from possibly taking a few more pictures of it all finished), it was such a rush at the end (entirely my own fault) that it's all ended too quickly really!  It was a project that overall, despite the problems with the pattern, I throughly enjoyed.  I could happily make more of the same (now that I know what to watch out for) but sadly don't have the space in my life for a wardrobe of Tudor gowns!  There's been a bit of discussion about next year's project, I think my two would like it to be one that is a little less time and dining room consuming, but I am going to try not to think about it until I have at least got Christmas out of the way first - though the 1700s has always fascinated me, side panniers at the hips and all that, it's tempting!

As for Halloween next year, yep we were discussing it, I think we're going for "Your Fantasy Fancy Dress Costume"... if you could wear anything, be anyone/anything, what would it be...?  Hmmm, I may have a couple of ideas!

It's Halloween week :o)

halloween

Definition: a period of time, around the 31st October until the annual G&G Halloween party, when holiday is taken to cook, craft and costume

And you know it's Halloween week when you are hammering in eyelets at 8.15am on a Wednesday morning, visiting Ellis and his blood box at the local fancy dress shop mid afternoon and finishing the day staking shrunken heads and making your boyf a brain! Yesterday was not much quieter, with food shopping, haunted hands and a little DIY, I was still hemming the kirtle at 10pm and today I started on the cooking before I'd got out of my dressing gown.

Eyelets for the Tudor Gown:

It couldn't have gone smoother or quicker, 11 perfect eyelets in less than half an hour.  The double eyelets at the top and bottom of the right hand side stagger the lacings to keep the bodice straight. 

The lacings were temporary until I bought some ribbon later in the day.

The Kirtle hem:

The kirtle was hemmed by hand.  Having done so much handsewing of late I am preferring it to the machine, but the kirtle hem was a surprisingly fiddly and uncomfortable to sew; I hope that the gown hem treats me more kindly.

The Plastron:

The plastron was then pinned to the laced up bodice and the piping pinned in place.  It was then sewn to the top fabric, turned in and the lining handsewn.  The plastron top now perfectly lines up in front of the laced bodice and in line with the kirtle bodice.

Finally, I restrung all the beads and sewed them to the plastron before it is attached to the bodice; photos to follow as i'll sew this on after I've finished the hem.

Lorraine the Brain:

Yes, Lorraine, I blame the 11yr old ;o)

Lorraine is based on this great instructable.  She is the third attempt, it's safe to the boyf and I are not natural brain makers!  Essentially, you deconstruct a baseball cap, paint it brain red, use an acrylic caulk to create your brain and then paint that blood red too.  I also bloodied some bandage - that got some looks, drip drying in the kitchen!

As I couldn't get a cap without an adjuster, I used the brim to cover the gap.

The cupboard:

In amongst all the Halloween stuff, I had a couple of jobs that I also needed to get done.  One of which was the shelf on my "everything fits" cupboard.  We originally took it out as it wouldn't fit with the ironing board in there.  Normally I wouldn't agree with cutting up old bits of furniture but I need the extra space in the cupboard and to fit the ironing board in.  I took the jigsaw to the shelf and cut a ironing board shaped rectangle out of it.  I can't tell you how pleased I am to get all the extra stuff in there (Christmas presents at the moment) and not now have to fight the ironing board to get it in their too!  It's the small things :o)

I will finish off the shelf properly, sand it and stain it.

The to do list for tomorrow night.... decorate, hem the gown, finish the plastron and cook.  I think that's it and lets hope it is because that simple "cook" comprises 12 different dishes... I'd better get back to it!  Pics of everything, hands and heads included to follow, probably not until after the party though if I'm being honest.  Happy Halloween!

The Tudor Gown, Friday through to Sunday

huge

Definition: extremely large
Synonyms: behemothic, bulky, colossal, cyclopean, elephantine, enormous, extensive, gargantuan, giant, gigantic, great, gross, humongous, immeasurable, immense, jumbo, leviathan, lusty, magnificent, mammoth, massive, mighty, mondo, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, outsize, oversize, planetary, prodigious, stupendous, titanic, towering, tremendous, vast, walloping, whopping

I spent a good part of Friday night looking at a great deal of fabric and thinking of other words for huge.  I didn't think of cyclopean, will remember it for next time!

The instruction to hand stitch the skirt together, and then to the bodice, was met with a certain amount of belligerence until I started pinning it all together, at which point trying to do it any other way was obviously impossible.  So, I can now tell you all that I can hand sew 11yds in 47 minutes.  It's a detail, I like details.  There's not much more to be said about an evening of stitching, stitching and just a little more stitching ;o)

We did, however, check on the shrunkies and are loving their progress; the 11 yr olds' long nose head is particularly cool with his veiny cheeks.

Saturday morning was when the work started in earnest.  The first job was to attach the front of the gown to the front of the bodice or make 26" of fabric fit onto 8": this was done with two large pleats.  First I attached the pieces at the seams then found the centre of both, marked them with pins, and joined then to create two large loops of fabric.

Once marked, each loop was then pushed flat along the waistline of the bodice until it reached the pin (either the at the centre or the side seam) and then folded back on itself to create a pocket.  They were then pinned in place.

For the tightest/strongest seam I slipstitched and then overstitched the fabrics together every 3-4mm, making sure I went through each layer.  It left a neat seam both inside and out.

The remaining 80" now had to be fit to the 14" wide back!  The instructions described a "hanging pleat" method; which followed along the lines of the front bodice pleats.  Both sections were divided into eight, marked with pins and then pinned together to leave eight loops of fabric along the width of the back.

loving my new slippers ;o)

The loops were then pinched together at the centre and pinned in place either side.  Using the same combination of slip and over stitches, I attached the skirt to the back and closed each of the loops.  These would then hang inside the skirt, invisible from the outside, whilst still creating the right look but with none of the bulk.

Finally, I attached the lining to the bodice.

Sunday was spent in a much more leisurely manner - apart from anything else I had housework to do and food to buy!  I finished the sleeves, attaching their lining at the armholes and then folding them back and stitching them into place.  The bottom of the gowns' bodice is supposed to sit higher than the kirtle, but doesn't... The reasoning behind this is to stagger the bulk of the costume but this isn't an issue in my case, I also think that the position will shift once it is laced in.  I tried it all on and then dressed Miss G in the bumroll, kirtle and gown.  I think it will be fine, but annoyingly I had to remake the plastron as it was more than an inch too short.  As the gown bodice length is dictated by the length of the bones (total length - the seam allowance) I don't see how the corresponding plastron was ever going to be the right size.  As remakes go though, it was quick and simple enough.  I have not inserted the piping yet though, and will not until the gown has eyelets and is laced.  Then I will fit the plastron to the gown and finish it along the final bodice line.  I also need to hem both the kirtle and the gown... by hand... before Saturday... I have not yet dared measured that!

So, definitely getting there.  One last comment, it is heavy.  Without the corset and the petticoat and the bumroll it is heavy.  Hard to breathe heavy.  And this is using lightweight fabrics in comparison to some of the ones suggested; I don't know how you would breathe or move in a velvet, fur trimmed equivalent.  And no, the Tudor's did not need to worry about being cold, not at all... I think I will spend my Halloween party haunting the garden to keep cool!  It is a shame the headdress will not be done in time but, honestly, I'm not that upset, I couldn't be wearing that on top of all this, the coif will do just fine.