......and still couching

The couching is progressing, there are only 28 gold motifs left to do on the skirt, and then its on to the gold couching. Incredibly time consuming but slowly progressing towards finishing the skirt.

Lots of projects running along side this one, (photos to come soon) including an elegant evening gown for an awards dinner, a goth Lolita costume ( with aspects of roccoco  and bustle dress in there too) an elizabethan outfit for a friend, teaching basic tunic dress construction to a few people...and the list goes on.

Hopefully my next post will be a celebration of completing the black on gold couching, but till then, enjoy a pic of my elizabethan hat worn with the superbly divine caul made by the supremely talented Laura at http://rockingthefrock.com/ 

and still couching....

So I have been diligently working on the skirt almost every day in the last couple of weeks...except for one Sunday due to a migraine :(.  I did learn to take breaks every half hour and the headaches and eye strain seem to have eased. People are getting quite used to me sewing in the lunch room.

I have been concentrating on couching the black threads onto the gold fabric and have finished the motifs on the top of the skirt and around 1/4 of the side/back. So not much to update really, lots of work done, lots more to go.

On a side note, I made a late 15c German Kampfrau dress to wear to our annual Christmas fundraiser and also so I could show some lovely ladies how to make one (i thought I should make one before teaching it lol). I wore it again to our Midsummer feast a couple of weeks ago and managed to make sure I got a reasonable picture. Having worn it a couple of times, I plan on making some adjustments and adding a black trim to the neckline. But that will have to wait until after Eleanora is finished.

Couching....and more couching

Couching the details onto the skirt and the moment...and will be for a while :). Progress is slow, but every little bit is a little closer to completion.

Trim and random other projects

Lots of waiting for things at the moment. Laura, the other Eleanora dressmaker tracked down some gold and silver trim for the panned sleeves, and it has finally arrived from Morocco. After all that, I am not sure it is a close enough match to use on the dress. So it is in my 'thinking pile' for a while.

I have also finally managed to visit a Moulding/Casting supplies shop in the City to get mould making and casting equipment for the buttons. Hopefully this  means I will be making some real progress on these soon.

Apart from that, not too much progress to speak off on this project, but a number of other things on the go which I will post to the gallery page.

Buttons

After a few conversations with people much more knowledgeable than I am when it comes to casting, it would appear that one of the best options for the button moulds is a two part, room temperature vulcanising rubber and pewter. That doesn't sound too difficult to organise, as there is a shop in Perth that sells all sorts of moulding equipment and materials. Shame its only open weekdays and difficult for me to get to in business hours. Might need to wait for a day off.

Buttons & Skirt Applique

This morning I received my prototype resin buttons from the 3D printer, and am quite happy with the result. The company I used was really easy to deal with, took a lot of care with the product (they cam packed in foam) and were very helpful in making sure they understood what I needed so it didnt cost me lots of money with design edits.

I started by collecting all of the button images from the portrait and working out the main design features. These were translated into a line drawing and series of cross sections and notes for the CAD designers. They took my drawings and truned it into a CAD design file which were printed using a 3D printer into the buttons.

The button shank doesn't look like it will be strong enough or thick enough to cast, so I will probably mould them flat on the back and attach button shanks later. I am looking at different mould making methods and casting materials at the moment. I will need to cast a few :) After they have been cast I will undercoat them in black then paint them in two shades of gold.

But generally, as my first foray into designing and commissioning a piece of work, I have achieved something quite close to what I had in mind. What do you think? Do they represent the portrait reasonably well?

Another major milestone reached as well - All of the applique on the skirt has now been completed. Clocked up 585 hours so far. Moving onto the couching now.

 

Buttons

I have had a look at the CAD drawings for the buttons and apart from making them a little thicker, I am quite happy with how the drawings are turning into buttons. As soon as I have the prototypes I will post pictures.