Gothic Fitted Gowns - Progress for a client

I'm making two gothic fitted gowns (aka cotehardies) for a client. They're basically a lower budget version of two of my personal dresses - same colors and everything. It's weird to make *my* dresses for someone else lol, but they are a bit different. Since my client is not as concerned with historical accuracy as I have personally become, I was able to manipulate some design elements to fit her budget. They're actually almost done now, so I'll post finished photos soon!

Striped Venetian Gown: The Beginning

I wanted to make some more late period garb to wear around casually (Okay, HA!HA! it's totally formal, but I still intend to wear it "casually"). I had this awesome fabric I inherited in remnant pieces. Because I am both small and short, there was enough to piece together a gown for me! And...well, it looks remarkably like this late period Venetian gown, so I'm sort of cosplaying these portraits, combining elements of both.

Here are the bodice and sleeve pieces for this striped Venetian closed front gown. The bodice pieces have an outer layer sewn to a linen lining and canvas interlining. The two linings were first sewn together and stitched with boning channels, and the boning is inserted: 1 in center front, 2 diagonal from bottom front to armpits, 2 at sides of front, 2 at sides of back.

Gold Faerie

This was originally a corset dress that was designed to match a pair of awesome gold glittery star shoes. It also made it into the fantasy world recently as a faerie costume. The model here is Jocelyne Watts. We named her faerie character Aurelia. I have found that many people do associate the aura- prefix with gold, but being a chemisty nerd, I definitely came up with that based on the fact that the latin name for gold is Aurelium, and hence its symbol is Au. Yay!

I made her accessories too - the circlet and the necklace.

You can see more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/aurelia-the-gold-faerie/

Woodland Elf

I am a fancy elf princess, after all! (haha, couture aranel...)

This was really fun! The top and skirt were created as part of my fashion line a few months ago, and I quickly turned them into an elf costume as well. I've always associated with the elves.

The bow is my combat bow, which I use in the SCA, on those rare occasions when I actually have spare time away from Arts&Sciences and teaching and I can play combat archer for the day instead. The arrow in the photos is a target arrow - the combat ones are super bulky so they don't penetrate armour!

You can see more photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/woodland-elf/

Halloween Faerie

For Halloween this year, I was almost at a loss for a costume! Aghhh, I know, I wear costumes all the time! Anyway, I found some inspiration from one of my all-time favorite faerie artists, Amy Brown. I put this fun Halloween-themed faerie costume together using elements that go with my fashion line - corset and dress, combined with Hallween faerie accessory items. I also made the hat, bat necklace, and wings.

More photos are here on my website: http://www.faerie-queen.com/halloween-faerie/

Steampunk Faerie

My friend and model/muse Jocelyne got to be my steampunk faerie! I am into the fantasy side of steampunk, and though I'm normally into bright jewel tone colors, I wanted to try something more muted this time.
I made the wings out of copper wire, organza, and resin coating.
The model is Jocelyne Watts. The costume, photos, and makeup were all done by me.

You can see more photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/steampunk-faerie/

Purple Velvet Cotehardie

This is a dress I made last year. I realized it was before I started this blog, and I wanted to share anyway. Plus, I only recently took fancy photos for my website. I wear it occasionally to court-like events, but I am choosing to share the fancy photos rather than the plain old event photos.
This is a cotehardie, late 14th century French style. It is made of velvet and fully lined in silk with matching silk sleeves, belt, and tressour crispinette (the hat). The buttons and button holes were all done by hand, and all the beading and trim was also applied by hand. I made the necklace too. Lots of work, totally worth it!

More images are here on my site: http://www.faerie-queen.com/purple-velvet-cotehardie/

Al-Savalley Anniversary

Two of the Shires near my area had a joint anniversary celebration. My boyfriend and I wore our new blue cotehardies, as you can see below. I went for a very whimsical feeling on these. While staying within the realm of historical accuracy, I sort of Pre-Raphaelite-d it up, as I so enjoy doing. Yay, fun! At the event, we did thrown weapons during most of the day, and I ran a competition.

Pink Faerie

In the spirit of the lovely blossoming sakura trees, I decided to do a pink sakura faerie photoshoot. The dress was pulled from my 2012 collection for Daisy Viktoria Fashion, and I made the wings too. The wings are organza attached to a wire frame and coated in resin, which makes them strong and durable. I plan to use these wings in fashion shows in the future, so I wanted them to be able to take a light beating.

I have some more photos on my website too: http://www.faerie-queen.com/pink-sakura-faerie/