Costume Plans 2020 || February Revisions

What is there to revise when I haven't posted any costume resolutions on here? Well, I had made a 2020 costume resolutions post on instagram in January but now, as creativity greases the rusty gears of my mind, I want to kick some projects I'm less passionate about out to replace them for projects I know I'll definitely ATTEMPT this year!

Now, for the new list:

1. Jacqueline de Ghent! She's still here and now I have some fabric for her! If you want to see my plans, go here.

2. Striped Hosen - Wearing Assassin. This has been on my mind since 2010... since I was thirteen! Planning this has proved a bit difficult but it WILL get done. To help me with construction, I'm basing my stuff on late 15th century Italian men's garments: connected hosen, fitted doublet, loose gown. I'm really excited!

3. Wine Gamurra and Champagne Giornea/Tabard (design like the image above, not the colors)

4. Christine's Yellow Gown: here are the plans.

5. 18th Century Jumps! A softer alternative to stays and preferred by a lady in the early-mid 18th century for day to day activities.

6. Isobel Dunsany Gown for my mom. Still having a hard time with finding fabrics. But the plans are here!

7. Late 1840's undergarments and gown (based on the dress to the right). Working on the petticoat and corset already. I'll make a post on them soon!

8. Blue day dress c. 1940s. Something more modern!

Here are some fantasy/scifi projects I have in the back of my mind:

1. Noblewoman of the Vale - Game of Thrones Season 2
2. Nightingale Armor - TES V: Skyrim
3. The Armorer - The Mandalorian 
4. Blue Meereen Daenerys Outfit - Game of Thrones Season 4

Ideas for a Mid-late 1940's Project

It's been a few years since my great granny passed away. Everytime I find myself at her house, I often look through photographs of her and a family I didn't have a chance to meet.  My papa (her son) loves showing me pictures of where he grew up and of the grandparents who adored him. Having a piece of ourselves to share has been an important value to him and I. Inspiration for my projects have come from various sources, and this time, I thought I should pay homage to one of the most mysterious people I have had the opportunity to be with.

A TRUE FASHION ICON

(from left to right: my great-grandmother on the roof of her red brick apartment in the Bronx, at her in-laws' home in Pennsylvania in a wool coat,  again at her in-laws' home wearing my great-grandfather's bomber jacket and his hat. bottom image: my great-grandmother and her father)

The images above, I would date at around the mid-1940's. I believe my great-grandfather was stationed in the Philippines at the time and would have come back a few months later.

Here is a closer look of the coat from the middle image in the first collage. I'm thinking of combining the cherry sweater look with the winter coat look in my 1940's recreation.

Of course, the years have not been kind to the color of this wool coat so I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help with the discoloration. I'm so terribly afraid of washing this coat, afraid of shrinking the wool or ruining the coat altogether.

I plan on knitting a black and white scarf, similar to the one worn by my great-granny. I believe it is a pretty long scarf but I may supplement that style by making a fringed infinity scarf instead.

As for underneath, if the cherry blouse does not work, I've decided that I would make a blouse similar to the Simplicity 8462 Pattern which they had remade from the vintage pattern from the 40's.

(all rights go to simplicity)

For the accessories, I think some nice shoes from Royal Vintage (my love for Miss Abby and Miss Lauren's designs are endless) would work. The Marilyn Pumps in Black would be absolutely perfect!


(all rights to Royal Vintage)

The longer I look at the collage with the coat, I can say with some certainty that the hat she's wearing is either a halo hat or tam hat. It may be the earlier because she was notorious for having thick, curly hair so the volume from her hair may be making the hat look a bit smaller.

This is all I have so far. I'll do a great bit more research before I start acquiring the fabric needed for this project.

Thank you!!

Medieval Supportive Kirtle || A Pretty Disaster?

I have passionately been working on this project since mid-October (in false hopes that I would finish it before October 31st). For the past few years, I have been very self-conscious? about my appearance when it comes to costumes. I always have ideas to create a historical piece or costume and end up buying the supplies for it yet I can never manage to transfer the pattern to the fabric and cut it. It snowballed from a number of reason but let's not get into that now! I finally created something after a long hiatus.

My inspiration came from the lovely Morgan Donner on instagram after coming across her in the #FallForCostume challenge by RedThreaded. My curiosity led me to her absolutely wonderful Youtube channel and her gorgeous heraldic gown. Browsing her videos, I found her draping and pattern making videos quite helpful. It really was inspiring seeing how seemingly carefree she was when her first mock-ups didn't end up perfectly. She really taught me to not be so hard on myself in my sewing.

Here are some reference images I used:

(left: Detail of the Shepard's Dance, MS LAT.873.412 French, 15th Century, France. Right: Stark Triptych, 1480)

(That kirtle under that surcoat though! From the third panel of Alte Pinakothek's St. Columba's altarpiece (triptych))

So here it is! My supportive kirtle (which still needs to be hemmed and the sleeves finished) in the comfort of my room (and risque-ly without a chemise/shirt which was lost to the left of me in a pile of clothes).

 My mistake with the sleeves was that I didn't add any seam allowance, thus my reliance on the frayed edges of the fabric to finish the sleeve. It ended up a bit tight on my forearm which has me considering making it a short-sleeved kirtle. Otherwise I adore it!

 (The longer I wore it, the more comfortable the fit of the sleeves were. Now I just need to see how it feels with my chemise/shirt on.)

The more I look at that overdress/surcoat, the more I want to make a matching one. I'm considering it as I finish up the sleeves now. I also need to make a modest head covering. I have a little less than a yard of cotton voile, a fabric that I adore, so I'm going to make a simple veil out of that. Hopefully better quality photos to come soon with the completed look!

Hello All! A short introduction

Hello all! My name is Kayla and I'm the founder for La Bottega della Contessa. I never thought I would make it this far (creating a shop with a special name and a blog to go with it). I'm glad you all could be here to experience my nonsense with me.

So... here I am! I've finally done it. I have created a blog for all of my sewing and crafting adventures! It honestly was the hardest thing for me to do. I'm quite a private person when it comes to my creativity and all (fear of being judged and my own perfectionism really get in the way of fun times, huh?). One of many goals with this blog is to feel more open with sharing things about myself and my work to better get acquainted with the historical costuming community. This is a tremendous step for me so I hope you all understand. Please feel free to introduce yourselves on any of my posts! I love meeting new people and I'd surely love to meet you!