German 16th century

American Duchess, who I suspect is my costuming twin, has posted 16th century German gowns. I really, really like those. I want one. I still don’t feel like sewing. So here are a few more scantily clad German ladies.







And a few clad one, for balance.







The ever present Salome. If it isn’t Judith… Well, the plate in this case suggest a Salome.

Picspam of the 16th century

One of these days I’m going to sew something from the 16th century. Any year now… Meanwhile I collect inspirational pictures where I find them and while doing a little clean-up on Photobucket I found a couple of drawings that I think are just lovely. There are some I know are by Holbein, but I don’t know if all are.







I would love to know who this lady was:

Her gown is lovely, but she also has such an interesting face!

I want my sewing mojo back!

I realized that I need to finish my embroidered polonaise before I start on the petticoat, as I need to know how the overdress falls on the petticoat before I decide on how to place the embroideries on the petticoat.

Meh.

I have lots of stuff I can work on and I usually feel enthusiastic about something, but no. Perhaps it is tied to the fact that it's a bit chaotic at home right now, as we are having bookshelves built. Tehre's a lot of stuff in my sewing area that doesn't really live there and clutter up and I can't move them until the living room is finished. I hope I feel better when things are in their proper place.

And what do we do when we feel out of sorts? Picspam, of course!

Painted by Per Krafft in 1782, depicting his daughter Wilhelmina. Sweet.


Talk about fur-lined!

I love how you can see the blue petticoat through the sheer white one!

A miniature painter, 1780's or 90's.

Award time

This summer I was given The Versatile Award Blogger by no less than three charming ladies who has the blogs American Duchess, Hyaline Prosaic and
Staying Alive

Thank you!

And to fulfil my part here are 7 things about me:

1) I work with trains- I have even have two different jobs that concern trains, but I’m not in the least interested in them.
2) I can always find money to buy books, fabric and shoes. Life essentials.
3) People who don’t know me often seem to think I’m conservative and prudish. I admit that I can poke fun out of those people if I notice they do.
4) Bent in childhood by Monty Python, I tend to laugh at British humor. Black Adder, Red Dwarf and Comic Strip presents… are high on my list. And Jeeves and Wooster and The Young Ones.
5) My favorite kind of cat is grey long-haired ones (not with flat noses). That’s totally Mips Moppet’s fault, my grey Norwegian Woodcat/Siamese/Ordinary stable cat breed that I lived with and loved for 14 years.
6) I was very quiet around people until I was 18. I’ve been making up for that for 22 years…
7) I’m a descendant from Charlemagne. That is not very original, as there are several millions out there who can make the same claim.

5 blogs to pass this award on to:

A Festyve Attire
I’m certain most of you know about Jen’s wonderful website with the same name, but she also has this lovely blog, well worth reading. Not to be confused with her Live Journal.

Lithia Black
A blog in Swedish, I’m afraid. Lithia runs a company for alternative clothing, which she blogs about, but she does other crafts like knitting, so I think she earns a blog that is called just versatile.

Idzit
Stunning clothes from various decades. She doesn’t write much in her blog, but I think you will agree with me that she has a talent for a lot of things.

Om stil
Another Swedish blog, but a lot of the content can be found in English in this journal.
Eva blogs about clothes and shoes, with a twist that I don’t think many can achieve.

Casey’s Elegant Musings

Beautiful girl who makes beautiful retro clothes. Even her blog posts are beautifully done.

Guess what!

After five years I have finished the embroidery on the linen polonaise. I can’t say that I have worked on it constantly, which is why I haven’t finished sooner.








In case you have missed previous posts this gown is a not very exact copy of this one:



It’s a gown analyzed in Kvinnligt mode and there wasn’t that many good pictures of the embroidery design, which is why my gown has embroidery which is a close approximation. Other differences are that mine is grey and not white (for practical purposes) and is embroidered with linen thread, while I have used both linen and cotton.

Now I just hope that my pattern pieces aren’t too small. I was thinner five years ago… If worse come to worse I can make a stomacher and lace the front over it, instead of lacing it shut. I’m not done with the embroidery, though. The petticoat isn’t finished. It’s sewn together, so I can wear it, or I can make a blue petticoat to wear until the grey one is done. This feels very much like a gown for summer, so I’m not in a real hurry to sew it together.