I really need a coat!

Yesterday I got a call that the date of the Anton Pieck parade has changed from Saturday the sixth of December to Sunday the Seventh of December and that there is, alas, no place for Remko and me inside. Which means that we will be out and on our feet from eleven in the morning till six in the evening.
It's really a pity because we can't show off all those nice victorian accessoiries we collected through out the year (Remko is getting some really nice authentic and period looking things for Sinterklaas) and that my coat covers most of my costume. On the other side we both like the contact we have with the public when we are outside and I'll try to make the coat really nice.

But I am really happy that I had the foresight to start working on a coat. A lot still has to be done, but at least a start has been made.



I have been working two whole days on my coat, today it was time to clean my house, it looked like it had snowed black snow. That's what you get when you work with velvet :-( And time to start preparing and packing for this weekends medieval event.

I need a coat

I need a coat said the idiot... it's not like there is nothing I have to do. With an late medieval event Middeleeuwse Toestanden coming up this weekend and only little more than one month to go to the Anton Pieck Parade in Haarlem. Add to that my sons birthday on the 30th of November and Sinterklaas. But after looking at my almost finished wonderful and quite expensive costume, and the weather the last couple of years in december, I decided that I need a long coat to protect me from the rain and cold but more importantly my precious velvet costume from the rain.

To stay in style I want to make a long victorian coat, redingote style. Alas I couldn't find a pattern for one. So I have alter the cuirass bodice pattern and merge it together with a 1860's paletot style coat pattern I own. The ultimate goal is to make a coat that I can wear with my 1865's costume and with my 1885's costume.

I purchased black velvet for the outside and black cotton fabric for the inside.
To give it an extra "period" feel, it will have a black braid frog closure. I might add dark brown fur to the collar and cuffs, to give it an extra luxourius look and feel.

Here is my non authentic inspiration for my coat.



It is the redingote Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) wears in the movie the League of Extra Ordinary Gentlemen.


Here are two victorian inspirations for my coat:



1. is from La Mode Illustrée, winter 1882, description: Redingote with braid frogs.
2. is from Harper's Bazaar, winter 1885, description: fur trimmes winter costume

Just back...

Just back from an medieval event, we had a wonderful time !

Here a small impression.



Nalebinding and dyeing with natural dyes as usual. The lovely scarf I am wearing was a gift from a friend, who has woven it herself. It kept me nice and warm on sunday morning when it was really cold and it goes really well with my costume.



The socks for my son are finally finished! But as always a next pair is waiting to be made.



Fooling around with my friend Audrey :-)

About blood, sweat, tears and frustration....

Finally I got the boning in, sewing it on to the demin interlining literally took blood, sweat and tears. The lining is in as well(not in yet when I took this picture) and I even sewn on some braiding, only to find out that the back of my bodice doesn't look right. Some alterations have to be made and a part of the jacket has to be taken apart again.
There is a big difference how the skirt part of the jacket hangs on the mock-up model of the jacket and the way it looks now in the velvet stiffened with demin and boning. Very frustrating, even more so because I can't work on my jacket this week. I have to prepare for the medieval event "Kermis tussen kerk en kroeg" in Hooge Mierde (NB) this weekend.
On the upside, my sleeves are finally in and they look good and they can stay in. Also it probably means that I will have a fresh look on the construction problems when I have time to work on it again.

Also my pocketwatch came in and it looks gorgeous !

After seeing a picture of myself in costume with my top hat I am wondering if it's good idea to wear my top hat. I love the look, but I do think that public at the event will think that my costume is Gothic. That is not the impression that I want to give. So I ordered the late victorian small bonnet pattern for Lynn McMasters, I am not sure that I will have time and energy to make the hat or even will want to wear it when I do make it, but I would like to be able to chose.