German Dress Project

[helwen]

Well, probably German... I need to do some poking around at Burgundian clothing and see if my memory of it being similar is correct or not. I definitely want to do the slashing, so that's more the deciding factor for this dress.

Pattern is RH504 - Kampfrau or Common Woman's Dress

The dress will be mostly black with yellow or gold guards. Black is easy to get, so I'm looking at the yellows and golds. Sadly, one recommended site did not have any suitable yellows or golds, so I'm at my usual site for wool, Denver Fabrics -- which has some good fabric, just a sometimes annoying way of arranging things. Also, who thought it was a brilliant idea to add 2% lycra to wool? *sigh*

Anyway, here are some fabrics I'm looking at:

1) yellow Vendome wool/silk -- pretty, but will the silk be a problem when I slash it? I don't want to look all shreddy :P

2) yellow wool gab -- looks kind of light on my monitor, but I do look good in ice pastels, so this has possibilities. Hm.... loose weave... that's probably a no.

3) light maize wool gauze -- color's nice but gauze? See-through wool?

4) yellow tropical wool -- another light yellow. Definite possibility.

So, probably 1 or 4.

Time to find some pictures!

Comments

[hugh-mannity.livejournal.com]

The "gauze" says its suitable for slacks or suiting. So it might not be see-through. Can you get swatches from them?

[freya46.livejournal.com]

C'mon, helwen. you've seen some of my wools. Of course it won't be see through. But very very light weight. :-) And the prices are awesome.

but they all say 100% wool, except for the silk blend. Where's the lycra?

[helwen.livejournal.com]

I didn't know some of your wools were called 'gauze'; I'm working with a lack of information on some terms. The prices are great though :)

I didn't post any of the ones with lycra, just ones I'm considering getting. Using stretch wool when I have to make sure the guards lay nice and flat against the ground fabric just seems like a bad idea... but if you go to Denver Fabrics and do a search for 'yellow wool', you'll see some there.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

I might do swatches. I probably should... although I do have some serious time constraints as this is a project for Coronation. I'll probably make a decision by tonight and place my order because of that. I'm more concerned about it holding up after having been slashed than about being see-through, which I expect it really isn't since it's supposed to be for slacks and suits. I want to be able to wash the darn thing after I've made it, even if it's handwash vs. machine washing. I avoid dry-cleaning whenever possible.

[freya46.livejournal.com]

They aren't so much gauze as really really thin. I don't have anymore of that, sadly. It's been a number of years. Got too expensive. grab it if you can. :-)

Good that they put the right info on the merchandise. I was fooled a couple of times in the beginning. They wrap the wool thread around the thin strand of lycra and unless you actually peel away the fabric, you don't notice.. though the stretch is kinda obvious. *grin*

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks for the descriptions. Hm, I know one of the wools I got from you (plaid) has a tiny bit of something else in it, but it has a nice hand and looks beautiful, so I guess I might allow for some things. Just not the guards on this dress.

Thanks :)

[freya46.livejournal.com]

It's the brown plaid, right? Or the light one I had in blue, green or red.? they both have about 5% nylon in them. I believe the reasoning is that it makes the clothing more washable... or some such stupid reason.

I always tried not to have anything unnatural in the wool. But I had a hard time keeping the Northern Boys out of it. *grin*

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Yup, the brown one :) If I get my act together on that one, it'll be another Viking apron dress... I think that's what I planned to do with it...

I always tried not to have anything unnatural in the wool. But I had a hard time keeping the Northern Boys out of it. *grin*

LOL