More Dresses For Candlemas: Blue and Black "Kampfrau"

This one's for my friend L. Ysabeau (for whom I made the russet silk bliaut back in October):

(modeled for us today by Violet, who still needs a stand, but it turns out
she works just fine for photo purposes perched on the corner of my cutting table)

Tada! 

• Black and turquoise linen
• Bodice lined in the same black linen
• Cuffs and neckline trim interlined in a white pique cotton (shows behind  the slashing on the neckline)
• Skirt cartridge-pleated to the bodice edge, and sewn on by hand. 
• Neckline slashes tacked and stitched open by hand: 

Yesterday I finished this gown (I'd been in the middle of putting lacing hooks behind the front opening for like two weeks, for some reason. It took like maybe thirty minutes to finish), cleaned up my sewing room a bit, and started working on the waistband for the red Hapsburg gown.  More on that tomorrow! 

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A Bliaut In Three Parts

1. Russet-red silk twill from the fabric district in Dallas, TX
2. Black linen
3. Calontir trim

Technically, I guess the fourth part would be drafting the pattern. The fifth might be that this lovely lady is lending me her serger machine for my work, and it is EPIC.  

The dress is side-laced, with the lacing going up into the underside of the upper arm for ease of getting on/off, and for movement.  The idea came from the lacing I saw on this Flickr page, via Pinterest. 

The black guarding along the bottom of the dress, below the trim, is...seriously...because I f'd up cutting out one of the panels and it was WAY shorter than the others. I had to cut them all off to match, and then used the black linen to lengthen the dress again, LOL.  :)

You saw the preview yesterday, which is a better shot of the trim, which can be found online here at Calontir Trim. 

An aside: 

The first pic is from the Village of Castleton, Bryn Gwlad, Ansteorra, for our annual baronial event (last weekend).  Castleton is AMAZING.  It's a medieval village built by several of our members many years ago, whose buildings include a number of small dwellings, a castle, a wooden ship, and a smaller replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, called The Curtain Theatre.  I've attended many a court in that theatre, and performed there, and it's heavenly.  I adore this site. 

The Curtain Theatre

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