Liberal Interpretations

Since I was trying to pull and all-nighter last night, I thought I'd keep myself awake by sewing. I decided to tackle the aforementioned fiddly bits and also start on the bag/purse for me to carry my goodies around the fest like a lady.

Now, I don't really know, well, anything, about venetian purses. I vaguely remember the topic coming up at some odd time or another, and there is evidence of purses, but I have no idea regarding styles thereof. This is where I get to be liberal and artistic. In period, seamstresses would no doubt have tiny little remnants of the lush venetian fabrics, yes? Well, I had some scraps and large swatches of various fabrics I am fond of, and rather than just keeping them to look at, I decided to incorporate them into a sort of strip-quilted bag. The bag is simple: strips sewn together to make a big rectangle, circle with interface stiffening for the bottom of the bag, light pink tafetta lining (light so i can see whats in there when i take a peek). So basically a glorified pouch with drawstring action. The bonus is that I can use it with both dresses.

bag
The only fiddly bit I've got left on the green dress is to add some utility loops in the folds of the skirt around the waist so I can carry goodies (like bag, cup, fan) sans hands. Oh, and I might add pearls to the sleeves, but that is most definitely NOT a requirement.

I decided to just do one 2 inch strip of red guard a bit up from the bottom hem of the dress instead of my previously planned wide bottom guard.. Why? Becuase when I hemmed it I was too lazy to cut out excess fabric (and also afraid of cutting in case i screwed up the hem. I ended up with a wide pillowcase hem, which i conveniently covered with the guard. Brilliant. It also adds a nice weight to the skirt bottom.


pillowhem incognito