hanna ([info]vanityfairy) wrote,
@ 2008-04-09 15:46:00
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Entry tags:16th century, cranach

Cranach do-redo
I've been meaning to do a red Cranach dress for a while but have secretly also liked the green ones very much. Here's one of Judith that you can find all over the web, but here's my favourite, which I've only found as a thumbnail over at Frazzled Frau.

When rummaging my wardrobe I stumbled upon this old dress from the early days of my sewing adventures, in green velvet and a hideous gold brocade.

I started considering the crazy idea of turning that dress into a Cranach. There was enough green fabric left to do puff/slash sleeves. I have this gorgeous Schumacher brocade lampas that has a nice green undertone which would look good with the green velvet (but awful with red).

The problem is that the original dress isn't very period.
The skirt isn't wide enough for a Cranach.
And the cut isn't very period either.
And it would be a shame to use the schumacher fabric on something that I still wouldn't be happy with.

But I figured that I'm never wearing the dress anyways so I might as well have some fun with it.
And I realised that the Schumacher fabric piece runs the wrong way, with the brocade pattern lying down on the side for the length of the fabric, meaning I can't make a corset or something out of it.
And it wouldn't be enough for a real Cranach with that period width in the skirt.


I love the Schumacher but it was very cheap, and I don't have anything else planned for it.
So what the hell!

I started with the puff and slash sleeves (on 2 FEB, see what I mean by slow progress?), they only need the lining now, and I promise (for real) that I'll post piccies and 'the making of' when they're done.
After that (and some procrastination I'm sure) I'll do the guards on the skirt, and then, maybe, I'll attempt to Cranach-ify the bodice with a plastron, brustfleck and guards.



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[info]maidm
2008-04-09 05:41 pm UTC (link)
Go for it! As a frugal student, I am always inspired by people who re-work old stuff into something new. Besides, re-using fabric is period!

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[info]vanityfairy
2008-04-10 09:57 pm UTC (link)
Besides, re-using fabric is period!

Haha, well at least there's something period about this project ;)

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[info]valleyviolet
2008-04-10 04:14 pm UTC (link)
Can I bug you with a question? I was trying to find online instructions for doing puff and slash sleeves last year, but couldn't find anything at all. Do you know of any good ones you could point me towards, pretty please?

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[info]vanityfairy
2008-04-10 09:55 pm UTC (link)
Bug ahead, I love questions!
I found a quite good set of instructions that helped me figure out how to puff and slash. There were some oddities in it though, and I'm sure they got the numbers mixed up at some stage, but it was a good starting point. The pdf seems to be gone now though - it used to be here: http://www.grimmarmoury.com/docs/PS_2003_Entire_Doc.pdf

But I photographed the process and progress of my sleeves at every stage and I'll be sure to post it all here once the lining is done.

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[info]valleyviolet
2008-04-10 10:01 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! :D

Archive.org had a copy squirreled away, but I'll definitely look forward to seeing your pictures too. :D

http://web.archive.org/web/20050430221808/http://www.grimmarmoury.com/docs/PS_2003_Entire_Doc.pdf

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[info]vanityfairy
2008-04-11 11:38 am UTC (link)
Aha, I forgot about web archives! Glad you found it. =)

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