Thank you so much Beth and Julie!! You made my day too!! Here is the picture of the underside, much closer. Sorry for the crappy photography, the cell phone will only do so much and husband has the camera cord (grumble grumble grumble)


But you can kinda see what I was talking about with the weaving back through and where the ends started poking out after washing. I now have a theory about washing these items and won't throw it in the machine with everything else anymore. Yep delicate cycle with Woolite for me, dang it. I think one of the reasons it started raveling is that I washed all of the wax out of the silk. Oh well, live and learn.
And I am still working on the red and gold dress, couching miles of gold braid on for the third (and final) time. That's my "can't think right now" or "riding long distances in the car" project because the pattern is drawn on with black ink, so it's just follow the line with the braid. And yes, I have couched the bodice 3 times with different stuff until I got the right look, but I'm only doing the sleeves and hem once:>) I am working on more complicated projects if I have the brainpower, so progress on the red is sporadic. But no hurry on that one, I want it to be as perfect as I can get it at my current skill level.
I am also very much a novice blogger, so bear with me while I learn all the ins and outs.

The Green Dress Calls from the sewing room........
Later,
Alliessa

Oh, and this is me. OK it's early period, but I spend an awful lot of time in the kitchen, so all other pictures look like I've been dipped in something. At least in this one I'm smiling and in daylight. I'll try to find better clothing pictures from other people. I know my Mom took some at one time....

Well, I actually finished the camicia sometime in November. Every. Last. Handsewn. Stitch. I have been debating about doing another line of embroidery to match the Eleanora portraits, but I think it can wait until I am sure this is what I want in the end. I did not enter this into competition. (I didn't get the documentation finished) but I am entering it in a couple of weeks. I am not totally thrilled with the whole thing, but was it a learning experience and I am something of a perfectionist. I have also discovered that my cellphone has a camera. Amazing that I never noticed that considering that I work for the cellphone company, SO NO MORE WAITING ON THE HUSBAND (who is traveling so much right now that the dog doesn't recognize him at times) OK, it's not the best film picture quality, but HEY I can do this myself without wanting to hit anyone over missing cords, dead batteries, or incompatible software. So without further ado.

Total Camicia on a hanger

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Closeup of interior and exterior of the embroidered sleeve. I think it turned out OK as reversible. And hey! I figured out the picture thing!! Yay me. So in celebration, I will post the pictures of the inspiration!!!


This is the camicia that I want, and that I made with the big floppy cuffs and the poofs through the slits in the sleeves. Even the embroidery is similar, but not exactly the same. I modified a pattern out of Il Burato by Paginino from the early 16th century. My Italian is not good enough yet to translate. But I can do numbers. (sort of)


This is the dress that I want. I have begun the embroidery process for couching miles of gold Russian braid on red cotton velvet. The portrait dress is probably silk, but I got to see this dress in person.

And I decided that I wanted velvet. A red velvet peticotte with gold embroidery. I've decided on black linen and silk pair of bodies for umm wrangling (although the peticotte itself is stiffened too) And I may make a Turkish gown after it's all over, I don't know.

But in the mean time, I'm working on the green overdress for the Pumpkin and I'll post more pics later. Right now is nasty canvas underlining to get the bodice to fit correctly but now that I have picture thing figured out, I'll do MORE!!!