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May 9, 2005: I purchased some lovely silverish gray material for James the Younger's doublet.
His garb keeps evolving in my mind and I made the decision to go with gray based on the Dudley portrait and the fact that
I have some black frogs leftover from James the Elder's shirt that I want to use. I purchaised some nice black guimp
braid to trim the doublet with. I don't expect to start on this phase of the project until late August that is unless
I get so fed up with my dress that I need to switch gears and do something easy.
| Jena Models Her Partially Completed Head Piece |
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April 7, 2005: I've hand stitched the vail along with the silver trim from Jena's dress
onto the neadband. It looks really cut. Next I'll sew on some pearls, glue on a feather and call it done.
I'll post photos when it's complete.
April 3, 2005: I've started on
the head piece for Jena's costume. I've wrapped a blue ribbon around a headband. Next I'll hand stitch a blue
vale with pearls onto the headband, trim with the silver looped trim, pearl buttons, and some feathers. It will look
great, but she'll probably keep it on for about 2 seconds.
February 22, 2005: Finally, I got my "little princess" to try on her
dress. The sizing is large but that was by design. She has plenty of growing room for next fall (faire season).
Enjoy the photos of this nearly completed dress.
February 8, 2005: It has been awhile since I've posted. I have
not been terribly productive but I have sewn the pieces of the skirt together and into the waist band. I found the skirt
design of the Sleeping Beauty to be overly complicated for a kids costume...have I said that before? I'll say it again.
The lenghts of the pieces didn't match up to I had to trim the bottom. I still have to sew on the closure for the skirt.
I'm going to do the same lacing technique that I used on the bodice. My biggest problem with this costume is that I
can't get my little girl interested in trying it on! Every time I get close to her with it, she runs away yelling, "no
princess dress!" I sure hope she gets interested by next year when I have to work on doing the final fitting alterations.
January 25, 2005: I finished sewing all of the buttons on the skirt.
Whopee! I spent Sunday evening making a feather fan for Jena's costume. I originally thought I'd make a pomodor,
but I couldn't find the right materials I wanted. Plus I thought a 3 year old would think a feather fan was way cooler
than some smelly ball. I used a turned spindal that I found at the craft store, 2 flat wooden circles, some wire,
a large wooden bead, white chicken feathers, a peacock feather, and some blue gross grain ribbon....oh and lots of hot glue.
I drilled a small hole in the spindal and at the base of the wooden circls. I sandwiched the circles
at the end of the spindal, used some wire to attach them together, then used about a stick of hot glue to secure the sandwiched
circles to the spindal. I drilled a larger hole in the button bead and put it on the end of the spindal for a nice finished
handle. Then I hot glued the white chicken feathers to both sides of the wooden circles. I trimmed the bottom
of the feathers so there would be better contact with the glue and the base. I glued the peacock feather on top of the
white feathers. To cover-up the glue area, I wrapped a piece of gross grain ribbon around the bottom and glued the back
ends together. I tucked the sides of the ribbon and hand sewed them together to make a more rounded effect at the base
of the fan. From start to finish, the whole thing probably only took about 45 minutes to make. I have thin gross
grain ribbon that I'll make a girdle out of to hang the fan from. I won't make this until next fall when I know how
tall my little princess will be at fair time.
On to the final stiching of the skirt and waste band and making the head piece. Enjoy the before and
after photos.
| Fan Materials |
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| Completed Fan |
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Jena's Dress: Well I lost all of the original diary entries with the web hosting
snaffoo, but here is a re-cap and current status of her dress. See the bottom for progress photos
The bodice is from the Snow White Costume however, I cut the front as one piece, not two as instructed.
I layed blue gross grain ribbon with silver loped lace across the top, shoulders, and down the front and machine sewed the
items.
The pattern calls for snaps or hook eyes for closing but I wanted to be more authentic. I had thought
about sewing groments but the fabric was too low quality to make this work. I had already sewed basting strips on the
back edges so I decided to try an idea I found from a link on Jen Thompson's website. I layed thin gross grain ribbon and machine sewed an inch with a half inch unsewn and so on to
the bottom. I spaced the opposing sides to have a spiral lacing effect. I machine sewed the top of the lacing
ribbon to the top and laced it threw. I left a long amount of ribbon at the bottom that can be tied in a bow.
The effect is a GREAT closure and looks good too. I highly recommend it for simple garments.
For the peplum I simple made 3x5 squares that I sewed together, folded over, and attached to the bodice.
It took 14 squares to surround the bodice. I reinforced sewed the peplum squares to the bodice.
I made 3x4 squares that I loped and sewed to the shoulders of the bodice. I then attached the sleeve.
The loops are a modification from the pattern, but the sleever pattern is from the Snow White pattern.
I hand sewed the pearl snowflake buttons to the bodice and peplum. 18 buttons on the bodice.
The skirt is a modified version of the Sleeping Beauty skirt pattern. I found the pattern overly complex
for a simple children's costume. Basically I did not cut the skirt as full as it could be. I made the front grodet
to look like a foreskirt next to the red material. When I machine sewed the gross grain ribbon on the front of the skirt,
I made a little tuck with the red fabric to give it a look like the green fabric is underneath it. I still have about
24 buttons to sew down the front of the skirt.
I still have to cut and sew a waist band for the skirt. I'm going to sew the front of the skirt flat
and gather is in the back. I'm going use the same ribbon lacing technique from the bodice to close the back of the skirt.
I am also going to make some tie on long sleeves our of the green fabric.
I'm please with how well the dress has come together. The patterns have been really easy to work with
and have been very easy to modify to meet my desires. I do recommend them if you want to make a child's Elizabethan
and are willing to be a little more creative that the pattern calls for.
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| Bodice Back Close Up |
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| Partially Sewn |
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| Bodice Back |
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| Dress Pieces |
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| Sleeve Detail - Modified from Pattern |
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| Sewn Bodice and Skirt Front |
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| Sewn Bodice |
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| Cut Pieces for Skirt |
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| Completed Bodice with Pearl Embelishments |
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| Bodice Back - Riddon Laced |
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| Bodice Front In Progress |
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