Remaking my light green italian 15th century gown

I have now re-made the light green damask gown that I made in 2015 after falling in love with Florence, so that it fits my current size.

More photos and information about the gown here, on its page.

Post about the old version of the gown.

Midsummer in folk costume

If you have a folk costume, Midsummer eve in Sweden is the traditional day to wear it. Which meant that I spent last week taking in the bodice sothat I could wear it today ;) This one comes from
Åse and Viste, which is close to where I lived when I was younger, and I've made it myself - for more details and information on this costume, and general information about Swedish folk costumes, look here.

Iwent with my best friend, her family and her sisters and their families to a Midsummer celebration at Gunnebo House, a lovely 18th century house and gardens. There was a group showing folk dancing, which really is the one thing I don't want to miss at midsummer.

Folkdanslaget Näverluren:

I even shot a very short video (despite being a total luddite when it comes to using my cell phone)

And my best friend inger took some photos of me in my costume, before it started to rain...

And after

The last image really show how the headwear should be worn; historically the cap was always covered out of doors, to protect i from both sun and rain.But nobody does that nowadays. And it would be a waste not to show the pretty cap.

Immediate corset crisis solved

Not that I'm going to wear 16th century clothing to an SCA event before I step down as baroness, but I have a plan for a photo session by the fake Tudor castle Tjolöholm, south of Gothenburg some day this summer. Alfhild and I should dress up in green Elizabethan dresses and look pretty together.

So I decided to try my effigy corset, which was rather tight last time I tried (and I haven't worn for years), and now it was comfortable, too comfortable - my boobs slid down :)

Fortunately I have another corset, a hand sewn version of Pfalzgräfin Dorothea von Neuburg's corset. I made it at about the same time as my hand sewn effigy corset, but never wore it, because it turned otu to be a little too tight for comfort.

Not anymore!

Image from 2007.

I may shorten it a little, which easy since the tabs aren't boned, because apparently I wasn't that good at finding my natural waist bacek then.

This goes for the green dress I planned to wear too, which isn't only too long in the waist, but also (of course) too big.

Empire corset revisited

 Yesterday my friend Alfhild came by. She had visited another friend who wants to make both regency and Victorian clothes and was really inspired to  to make some too.
So we dug out my books, and then I got inspired to show my stuff and ended up opening boxes with costumes which hadn't been touched for years.
They are kept under our bed, and unfortunately our cat Mysko had managed to get into one of them and had puked on my 18th century shift, and an antique lace shawl. The shawl was too delicate to wash, so I just gave up and threw it in the trash. The shift will be washed next time we have the laundry room, next week, and hopefully it can be saved. But Mysko was very cheap for anyone wanting to buy him then ;)

Anyway, I dug out clothes and I tried on clothes, and to my great joy my empire corset still works, though it has to be laced wholly shut at the back. The same was the case with the smaller of my 18th century stays, though they should ideally be taken in at the waist - they're too tight at the top if I lace them shut, and too loose in the waist. I'll see if I'll do something about that, I have a partly finished robe à la francaise that I started 14 years ago, which would be fun to finish I guess.

Rickard took a photo of me in the empire corset, but I didn't get any in my 18th century stays.

The petticoat, gown, bonnet adn shawl that go with these underwear can be seen here. Unfortunately I suspect that the gown is too big, I didn't try it on, because I needed to pack away stuff for the night.

Gotvik summer picnic

Despite the weather forecasts today turned out to be a lovely sunny day, and those of us who made ti to the picnic had a really good time.

I was pretty in my green silk bliaut, which fits again.

I brought Icelandic chicken, and a salad with lettuce, spinach, rocket, green peas, broccoli and green grapes to eat.

Photos from the picninc.

Working on my mint green surcoat

I hae now made the sleeves, though one needs a few more beads. The gown and linign are also sewn together, bu tnot joined. They will also need trim and beads of course.

For this Italian outfit ca 1330-1340.

The under tunic is made, though it has turned out a bit looser than I first intended.

That won't be noticed under the over gown though.

A page for my high-waisted late 13th - early 14th century gown from Verona

It took a while, but now you can read all about one of the weirdest gowns I've made here.