I finally got the Florentine gown up on the webpage.

I sent it in to Bella from Realm of Venus. She did a great job putting together the content featurning it in her Italian gown showcase – If you haven’t checked out her site it has some very drool worthy Italian outfits. A must view site in my opinion.

By the way, I sent her higher resolution images to use on her site so you can see a little more detail. I will try to eventually do a more thorough dress diary on this blog as well. But it is on the back burner as I get more involved in my fall commissions.

In the end, the gown really isn’t done either. I still need to make the sleeves based on the Pisa gown. I do have enough fabric but used the smocked stuff to quickly have ornate decoration and get it done in time for the event. Eventually I’ll complete the sleeves I intended to make for the gown.

Piecing the skirt:

The lining was pieced together from portions of linen left over from other projects. To get the length for the train I had to piece together 4 sections to make up the one section of fashion fabric at the center back.
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In an interesting turn of events, my roommate was in search of a fabric for a Venetian gown and she now has the other 8 yards of this fabric from my stash. I’m looking foward to showing off both my Florentine inspired gown and her Venetian gown when they are completed. She is close to done with her bodice and has started her skirt. The interesting thing to note is that I am using the damask inside out and upside down from how it will be used in her gown! We will be the upside-down-inside-out twins.

I’ve always been tempted to have a long train on one of my Renaissance gowns. Whether it will be practical is questionable at best but I just had to do one! After seeing the “Pisa gown” in Florence last year I knew I’d want to base a dress on this patterning:

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*Nov. 9 2008 visit

I promised photos of our audience with an enactment actor playing the Duchess Elenora di Toledo back in December so here are a few from that event:

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Nov. 9-

After wandering around and snapping tons of photos of the map room we were escorted into territory not open to the other visitors into a hallway of costume reproductions laid our for our viewing. We ended up in the Monumental quarters and apartment of Elenora di Toldeo. I’ll post photos of our audience with an enactment actor playing the Duchess Elenora di Toledo.

Photos of the costume reproductions:

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Nov. 8

One more batch of “social” pictures. I promise I’ll come back to all the days and events in due time. In the Pitti palace camera’s were not allowed so I got to practice my sketching skills and purchased a small booklet with some of the costuming. I’m still not sure if I’m brave enough to share any of the crude sketches.

The auto copyright kept going over the bag so here it is without. Much of the time walking around Firenze you’d notice the black bags, a gift from the Colloquium, wandering around. At first I used them to identify other participants. Eventually I started recognizing faces I loved this shot because her shawl demonstrates a technique discussed in one of the classes.

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A few more photos of the museum to give a feeling for walking around along with some people shots. Laying on the floor to get the right shot was not an infrequent event.

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I photographed not only the costumes displayed at this museum but some of the armoury, portraits, etc… The Stibbert museum “is especially note-worthy because of its famous armoury, which includes European, Middle Eastert and Japanese pieces dating from the 15th-19th centuries. Stibbert set up in his unusual house-cum-museum, in accordance with 19th century taste, shich required the reconstruction of highly evocative settings” reads the brochure.

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I’m skipping back to upload some of the vendor information I’ve compiled from the flyers and photographs I picked up at the opening reception. The “coffee room” remained full of textiles, books, and costumes through the event.

Sartoria Teatrale: “All clothes of Sartoria Antonietta reproduce fashion sketches of hte period; they are exclusively hand-sewn and made of the best materials” says the pamphlet.

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After each visit there was a lovely reception. I spend much of those times photographing. It was amazing to watch and enjoy others enjoying themselves:

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