Kirtle in brown linen. Dress in blue and gray linen. Smock and partlet in white cotton. 8/30/10 Well, it's coming up on that time of year again: Faire time! Normally, my interest doesn't really go much further back than the 18th century, but at this time of year, I begin yearning for a new "something" to wear to faire, since presently, the only thing I have is horribly farby! Generally, I decide I clearly need to go in something fancy - fit for a queen - and so take on plans that are too big and too expensive for the short amount of time that I have to accomplish them. I think it finally got through my head that I would be more successful if I chose a less ambitious adventure, because this year, what my whim settled on is absolutely working class, and involves not one scrap of silk taffeta! That said, it does still involve pink, so rest assured that all is still well with the world! ;) At right is a sketch of what I have in mind. The fabrics will all be linen, and I want to go with two shades of a lovely peachy pink - a medium depth shade with a paler shade on the reverse of the skirt - so I can do that neat effect where you turn up the skirt edge and tie it around the waist, creating a sort of apron. It seems to be the thing to do if you are working class in this era, based on the paintings I was looking at! 9/20/10 one of my two shades of linen in the mail, and now fear they are too close to being the same depth of color to give the dark and light effect I was going for. I need a back-up plan, and fast, since I am about to go on vacation, and need to have the fabric sitting here when I get back, ready to be sewn up into the dress! I came up with the two ideas below. The first uses one of my peachy pinks (whichever one I like best of the two I ordered) but now I'm looking at a much deeper shade for the dress - really more of a red than a pink. The second completely ditches the pink idea entirely, and instead uses two complimentary shades of blue linen - and from the same source, so one can be reasonably sure that even if the pictures on the web site don't represent the fabrics exactly as they are in real life, hopefully they will at least look as well together as they do online!     10/8/10 I've decided to go with the blue. I got home from vacation and found my second peachy pink awaiting me, and it is indeed too close to the same depth of color as my other peachy one, but on top of that, it's also more of a coral while the first linen is more of a salmon - and they look awful together. I like the red-over-peach idea better than the blues, but I started getting worried that the red would turn up and not work well with either peach/coral/salmon. So, I decided to play it safe and go with the blues. But, there's nothing that says I can't eventually make the peachy version of the dress in the future! For next year, maybe? Meanwhile, I'm making great progress on the smock and kirtle, and hope to have pictures very soon! 10/13/10 I had to try the smock on to mark the sleeve length, and the kirtle to make sure it fits (and it does - perfectly!!!) so I snapped a couple of quick pictures. . . I should be able to finish both of these items tonight, no problem! Now, let's just cross our fingers that the dress fabric really does arrive tomorrow so it's ready to go tomorrow night after work!     10/28/10 As usual, I got the dress about 93% done, but just couldn't get it the rest of the way. That said, I think it's turning out great, and I can't wait to finish it for Faire next year - or perhaps even for Costume Con in the spring! What I wore to the Faire was just the smock and kirtle. Plain, but well made and a good fit, if I do say so myself! ;)     9/19/11 This year, I was able to get the dress ready in time to be worn to our annual visit to King Richard's Faire! Huzzah!     I am really happy with it for the most part, but I do wish the skirts had a little more oomph, as the kirtle in particular kind of clings to the legs. So, at some point I might revisit this project and see how I could accomplish that. . . And someday I might upgrade my cotton smock for a more period-correct linen one. . . But for now, I'm calling this project done! :) This page © 2010 by Jennifer E. Lithgow