Miss Philomena

Anyway, the first and most important thing: Poe pictures! Anyone who wants to is welcome to snag stuff. I can also supply high-res full size (3008x2000 pixels) for anyone that wants them.

I was also very productive yesterday and basically finished my capote. I sewed the straw brim over a month ago, and I finally dug out the silk for the crown. The lace is only pinned on, but I'm still deciding if that's how I want to do it. The first two are obviously pre-assembly, and the second two are how it currently looks.

The green is a bit brighter than the striped silk I'm using for the polonaise, but I'm choosing to ignore that fact. I also had originally planned to use silver trim for the outfit, but I pulled out a burnished gold and green trim that looks amazing with the stripe, so it's not quite a Slytherin polonaise now. Strange as it sounds, the gold is a little more subtle than the silver, and I like the little bit of warmth it pulls in.

I tore the panels for the skirt and overskirt the other day, and as soon as I unearth my pinking shears I'll start cutting the ruffles and working on them as well. With the stripe on the cross-grain planning it out takes a bit more fabric, so I ended up picking up the rest of the what the store had, bringing me up to 14.5 yards total, half of which is going to the ruffles. Because the ruffle on the skirt is so deep, I can only cut three out of the width, so the underskirt will need 3 yards just for the ruffles. I can cut five ruffles for the overskirt out of the width, so that'll take less fabric, luckily. And the neckline only needs a 1" ruffle, so that will just get pieced out of what's left over after I cut the bodice. I'll probably start the actual sewing next week.

(Please excuse the messy sewing room)

And here it is with a couple of petticoats on the left, and with the dress fabric draped over it on the left. The bonnet frame is for my mom. I've wired and put the flannel on it, but I still need to bind the edges and cover it, obviously.

And on a different note, I've decided to jump in on the polonaise bandwagon. I fell in love with this polonaise in the Kyoto Costume Institute the very first time I saw it. To keep up with the theme I'm doing with my green 1869 villainess gown, I'm going to use a green and black stiped dupioni I have, and trim it with silver. Along with self trim I want to use some silver, so it'll be my Slytherin polonaise.

I think I'm going to take a break from the Poe dress tonight and start working on the black straw capote to go with my polonaise. I won't start working on the polonaise itself until I finish everything for the Poe event.