Okay, the cotehardie won. (Andreva was jumping up and down at this news at RUM.) I decided that since the brown is so dark, it needed to be a winter dress. And that if it was a cote, then Lavena said it needed handcast buttons, like the one of her daughter’s that I wear sometimes. Well, that created an aesthetic disconnect for me – because metal buttons are Fancy, and this linen really isn’t. Lord Eoin helped me with the justification for the buttons – they’re a payment for Something Wonderful that I did for a metalworker – but my own aesthetic senses were offended by the big step between linen aptly christened ‘Potting Soil’ by its manufacturer and fantastic handcast pewter buttons.
Then I remembered the blockprinted cote that Wuennemon die Naehrin wore at Kingdom ArtSci – it’s yellow, with brown designs. Putting a wonderful image all over the fabric would make an intermediate step between the basicness of the linen and the flashy buttons. It would also create variety in scale between the basic dark shape of my silhouette and the small, finely detailed buttons. Solution!
But how? I’d like to know more about how blockprinting was done in period…but my dark brown linen doesn’t offer much opportunity for color contrast, so I think blockprinting is out. Eoin remembered a patterned dress in ‘Allegory of Good Government’…
(Click to make larger.)
Check out Dragonfly Dress. Light on dark, lines showing up separately. How was this done?
The bunch of us gathered for the silk embroidery class at RUM discussed this image and decided it was either woven into the fabric or embroidered. Someone made a comment about how weaving would have been the more expensive option, so that means I’m embroidering this linen dress.
With bees. Green ones, I think, in wool, for colorfastness and workingclassness. This is practical, for me too – there’s a nice embroidery shop round the corner that will have crewel wool that I can try out.
As far as the cut of the cote – as much as I do like Meggie’s cote – it’s really too big for me. I should fit one properly, and I’d like to use the neck from this stained glass window design.
(Faith Vanquishing Disbelief, Niederhaslach Church, France, 1360-1370)
See how wide that neckline is? So I can’t use a pattern from the black cote, because it doesn’t fit well enough in the bosom to forgo a bra. Which I’d prefer, as these efforts aren’t just costuming for me – it’s an experimentation in How To Life Life Differently. Sigh. I’ll have to make some calls and figure out who can help me with the fittings. I’d love to have this dress done for Gulf Wars 2008.
Theadora has substantial experience in making wide-necked cotehardie-esque dresses which are largely self-supporting, and wearing them without a bra.
Who says you HAVE to have cast buttons? You could maybe use bag buttons or woven buttons (don’t know, you’d have to ask Lorenzo). Made out of the brown for the dress or green to match the embroidery, I bet they would be just as nice as metal (and not as heavy).