Italian Renaissance Dress

I recently became highly obsessed with the TV show The Borgias, so when it came time for me to make my monthly Thrifty Thursday purchase all I could think about were Italian Renaissance dresses.
Just look at these dresses!  They may not be 100% historically accurate, but it is impossible to deny that they are pieces of art.

 

Can you see why I was inspired?

I got one white sheet, a pillow case that I stole the trim from, an opulent bed skirt, four pieces of light brown fabric, and a pearl necklace from Goodwill.  In total it came to $16.

I started by doing some further research.  I know quite a bit about English Renaissance dresses, but Italian?  Stumped.  The Borgias takes place in 1492, all my costuming books skip this period and move straight from Medieval into the 16th century.  Even Janet Arnold's AMAZING books had nothing on this period.  I wept and turned to the internet, which was absolutely zero help.  Forums and forums of people arguing whether ladies wore corsets or not...where they laced the dresses, what fabric they used.  Almost no one agreed with each other.

So I decided to just make up my own mind based on paintings- and if it wasn't historically accurate...well I would learn for the next time.

I pinned a bunch of paintings to my Pinterest board, but these were a few of my favorites.

 This dress is a dress from a bit later in the Renaissance, but it showed the lacing of the dress up the side which was supremely helpful.

I decided to make a really weird corset that would simply give me the correct shape I needed, rather than being historically accurate.  Why?  Because I could find NO visual examples of an early Renaissance corset.  It didn't make sense to me that the same corset they use for later in the period, when the waist drops, would be used in this period when the waist is so high.  So I made this...thing.  Half Tudor, half Regency...it is 100% inaccurate.  But hey, it gave me the right shape.

 

I made a chemise out of the white sheet and added gold trim on the neckline.  Technically this would have been gold embroidery...but I didn't have time for that.  I figured gold trim was a nice compromise.

You wish your undies were as awesome as mine!

So together-

 

I needed lots of help getting dressed- it was no easy task.  The dress tied up the side rather than lace.  I tried adding hooks for lacing, but couldn't pull the bodice closed enough.  So I tied it instead.

 

The sleeves all tied on as well.   My hair got SUPER messy during this dressing period.  Note- do your hair AFTER you get dressed.  Not before.

 

Then I dragged my mother out into our park to take some pictures in the few spots that actually had green grass still.  

 I made a gold cap for my hair, and added my hair extensions.  While I have quite long, thick hair, I don't have THAT much hair. 

 Oops...my sleeve broke.  Shh.

This project was fun.  So much fun that I want to make several more dresses and just wear these all the time.  Going to the grocery store, the library, to work- Italian Renaissance style.

Thanks for reading!  If you have any comments, suggestions for the next Thrifty Thursday, or information on ways I could be more historically accurate next time I make something from this period- please leave me a comment!

Corsets

Today I want to talk about corsets.  This is a bit weird- because usually my posts are about the things I make.  Not usually about my opinion.

Well today you get opinion!

I adore corsets.  I often get asked if my corsets are uncomfortable.  I honestly can say no.  I love wearing corsets; I find them more comfortable than bras.  Believe me- if you are feeling pain while wearing a corset- something is wrong.  They can be tight or constricting, but not painful.  

I wanted to talk a bit about the different kinds of corsets, historically speaking.  I often will see historically based costumes with the wrong kind of corset, the wearer just assuming all corsets do the same job.  Some costumers don’t wear a corset at all!  GASP!  But that is a separate issue.  

Now I am not a historical costuming expert by any means, but I have studied a bit on my own as well as the costuming class I took in college.   So take what I say with this in mind.  

The purpose of a corset, or stays or bodies as they are more historically referred to, is to tailor the body to the time period’s ideal of beauty.  Wearing a Victorian corset with a Tudor dress- not going to work.  Why?  Because each period valued different parts of a woman’s body.  That statement may not make sense to people who haven’t studied historical costuming, so let me explain with an example!  

This picture illustrates the changing shape of women’s dresses over a 100 year period.  100 years- 16 different, drastic looks.  Where the ‘waist’ is changes, the shape of the arms changes, the emphasis of the hips and behind area changes.  As the aesthetic of what was considered beautiful changed, so did the dresses.  Make more sense now?

I’m not going to cover all the different kinds of corsets because frankly there are too many for one post, but I’ll do 5 big ones. 

16th Century- 

The Tudor and Elizabethan corsets differ, but for the sake of your sanity and the length of this post- I’ll focus on the Tudor.  The Tudor corset pushed up the girls, yes, however the second job of the corset was to squash them against the chest.  Think sports bra- but more compacting.  Although the tendency for Renaissance clothing now-a-days is to have maximum boob-spillage, from historical paintings you clearly can surmise that this was not the case.  Boobs were firmly squashed and tucked away.  

This is sew-er extraordinaire Sidney Eileen’s Tudor corset.  The woman is amazing; I relied on her tutorials heavily while I was learning to make corsets.  Her tutorials on gores and tabs are pure brilliance.  Click here to see the tabs tutorial!  Click here for gores!

Here are two paintings from the period: 

See?  No cleavage!!  Even in these more revealing dresses, there isn’t spillage.  The Tudor is definitely not one of my favorite corsets, but there is something so beautiful about how straight and flat their bodices are.

18^th Century- 

With the drop in the corset more of the bust was exposed, resulting in a slightly pillowy cleavage.  ENTER BOOBS!  This corset’s design was to lift the breasts and bring in the waist.  

The tabs- seen on this preserved underwear set- help make the corset more comfortable.  Because…women have hips.  I loathe adding tabs to corsets- they are a pain to sew- but tabs prevent the boning from digging into the hips. 

This 18^th century painting presents what the people at this time valued as beautiful.  Her skirts are extremely full, her waist is tiny, the breasts are raised but soft.  

Regency- 

There are two kinds of regency corsets, a long and a short.  The Regency Era saw a return to the Greek aesthetic- or at least what they thought was Greek.  Their flowing styles emulated ancient Greek and Roman clothing- it made no sense to wear a heavily boned corset underneath.  The waist of the period also moved, migrating to just under the bust, so corsets that tucked in the natural waist no longer made sense.  Instead they used corsets that lifted the breasts modestly while pulling in the body ever so slightly.  Instead of bones, most corsets were corded.  What does that mean?  They used cord to stiffen the corset instead of bones.  It provides support, but doesn’t overly pull in the body.

In this fashion plate you can see where the waist is on the ladies.  It’s quite high, the natural waist is obscured by all the fabric.  

Here are short and long regency stays.

Victorian- 

At last! The silhouette so many people associate with the word ‘corset’.  This corset worked with the curves of a woman’s body.  It is snug against the hips, lifts the breasts without squashing, and tightens the stomach to accentuate the curves.  

In this fashion plate you can see who ladies with their walking clothes, wearing lovely gloves and bonnets.  Their waists are tiny, but unlike the 18^th century, there is a roundness of breast.  The bust isn’t compacted and raised, but supported and raised ever so slightly.

S Curve- 

The ideal of this period was personified by the ‘S’ shape.  When in school I found this to be the most bizarre of the historical looks.  Why would anyone want to look like an ‘S’?  

 What…what is that in her dress?  A growth?  Fat?  Very saggy boobs?

But then look at this photograph.

Stunning.  Absolutely gorgeous.  I totally get it.

There is much more than the corset at work here to give this lovely lady her fantastic shape, but since we are discussing corsets- I’ll stick with that.  Here is a picture of a woman getting dressed.  Look how far the top of the corset has drifted, it almost is below her bust line!

\

And then there is this awesome ad which is promoting the new S Curve look...it cracks me up-

 

I find corsets fascinating- and I hope you do too!  Thank you for reading, and as always feel free to ask me questions- or even to share your knowledge with me!  

Tauriel: Comic-Con

Admittedly I have already worn this costume and blogged about it, but I had new additions for Comic-Con.

What I already had made:
The green suede, bracers, and corset

What I already had bought:
Black tights, elf ears, and brown boots

Additions:
Wig, bow, and arrow

I made the bow following the Backyard Bower's tutorials for PVC bows on Youtube.  If you have not watched his videos- watch.  The man is brilliant and ever so wonderful for sharing his brilliance with the rest of us.

This was my first time working with a lace front wig.  I added the widow's peak myself.  It was time consuming so I gave up far too early.  I should have made it a bit bigger.  Overall, this was a lovely quality wig, and I am quite pleased with it.

Maleficent!

 Historical Sleeping Beauty- don't they look wonderful!  I freaked out when they came out <3

I found a friend from high school and convinced him to take a silly picture with me.  :D

Overall Comic-Con was a wonderful experience.  I most certainly will be going back again next year!! <3

Coronation Elsa: Comic-Con

Day two of Comic-Con was Elsa from Frozen.  Even though there were at least 8 other Elsas wandering around that day I took picture after picture after picture.  I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to be noticed.  I like to blend in and not stand out.  But there is just something so WONDERFUL about someone knowing who you are cosplaying, and loving it so much that they want to stop to take pictures with you.  With total strangers.

And yet- you aren't total strangers.  You bond over mutual, geeky awesomeness.  And let me tell you, I don't make friends well.  I am shy and awkward until I crawl out of my shell.  But I met some awesome people, and had some fantastic conversations.  Guys.  GEEKS ARE AWESOME.

Anyway- Elsa!

 

What I made:

The corset, skirt, cape, undershirt, gloves

What I bought:

The shoes, clasp, and wig

I painted a design on the shoes, painted the clasp to be blue instead of green, and styled the wig.

What I borrowed:

The crown

What I spent:
Around $210

What I would change-
The black undershirt kept pulling up and out of my corset which was a bit annoying.  It kept puffing up.  If I were to re-make this costume I would connect the undershirt to the skirt so that problem could be avoided.
You can see the puffing quite clearly in this picture :/

 

My cape was also way too long.  While movie accurate, walking around with a 10 foot cape... totally ridiculous.

I entered a costume contest as Elsa.  It was an awesome, and rather irritating experience.  I knew Elsa was popular, but it didn't quite dawn on me HOW popular until we were lined up to go onstage and the girl before me and the girl after me were both Elsa as well.  We were not the only Elsas competing either.   Lesson learned.  Don't do popular characters if you want to stand out.

Here is a picture a friend captured while I was on stage :D

I also met some reallllly awesome people on day two:
This FANTASTIC Jack Frost.  I totally ship the Jack/Elsa...so I flipped a bit.  Plus she pulled of Jack like a BOSS. 

 <3 Dumbledore and McGonagall

 The Witch King of Angmar!  LOVED his (?) costume.

JOHN RHYS-DAVIS!!!!!!

AND NATHAN FILLION!!!!!!

I almost fainted I was fan girling so much inside.  Nathan Fillion sang a snippet of "Let It Go."  And he side hugged me.  And I have picture proof.  

The entire time I was in line I was thinking of brilliant, funny, dorky things to say when I met him.  The hour and 45 minutes of waiting boiled down to a single thought that kept running through my head like a broken record:

"Holy shit he is so tall."

"Holy shit he is so tall."

"Holy shit he is so tall."

Intelligence went out the window.  Thank goodness I had a pound of makeup on because I was blushing too profusely.  Because Captain Mal and I took a picture together <3

Selene: Comic-Con

This past weekend was my first ever con.  Words cannot express what a wonderful experience it was.  Simply walking into the exhibit/vendors room was heaven.  Dork heaven.  And then there were the panels, and the people.  And it was AWESOME.

For day one I was Selene from Underworld.  I have wanted to be Selene for yearrrrrssss.  When deciding which costumes to make I knew instantly this would be one of the costumes I made.

Overall I am happy with my cosplay, though I can see all the places I would like to make better.

What did I make?
The corset, bracers, and holsters

What did I buy?
The boots, guns, wig, fangs, and cat suit

What I spent?
I spent about $150 for this costume

Changes I made-

The boots: The boots were WAY too small.  Anyone buying Demonia boots- buy up a size.  I am usually a 7-7.5, usually a 7.5, but I couldn't even stand these shoes were so tight.  I read online that taking a hair dryer to man-made boots will help stretch them, so I tried it out.  What a difference.  Not only did I walk a whole bunch on con day, for 90% of the day the shoes were relatively comfortable.  I did, however, still have two bloody heels when I took my boots off that night.

The guns: The guns were this weird army camo pattern when I bought them, so I spray painted the bottom black and the top silver.

The wig:  I just took a straightener to the wig because the ends were curled in rather than straight.  Easy peasy.

The cat suit: The suit was a tad too loose on my thighs, and since Selene's is like a second skin, I took in the seam of the thighs.

Parts I am not happy with- 

The corset :/ Apparently when I draped the pattern I messed it up.  The bust area was WAY too big and it closed in the back.  This made cinching my waist impossible.  I love the hourglass shape, so I was highly irritated that I didn't have that :(  By far not the best corset I have made.

There were some AWESOME costumes, but these were some of my favorites:


Dwalin from the Hobbit:

 Gandalf from Lord of the Rings: (can you tell I'm a HUGE LOTR dork??)

 Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones: