In vain have I struggled...

... it will not do. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I hate and despise making stays.

I finished a pair of 18th century stays yesterday. Big woop. I don't know what it is but I feel kind of 'meh' about them.

They're white, linen and cotton, bound with bias tape, boned with plastic bone and zip ties. The pattern is the same as with the Chinoiserie stays, though I arranged the boning a bit differently.

A couple of photos here:

The angle of the straps is a bit off. Might fix that later.

La Merveilleuse Orientale

First of all a disclaimer: I'm not saying that any of what follows is an accurate historical or cultural representation of any particular cultural tradition. Everything is my 'artistic' interpretation of different elements and something I did for fun.

The wonderful L'Amusette arranged their annual 18th century spring ball last Saturday and this year's theme was the "Wonders of the Orient". For once, I had no last minute sewing to do, all my clothes were ready months before and I even managed to apply the theme to what I chose to wear. Win!

I knew of the theme long beforehand so I had ample time to think and plan. As a sort of tradition since the very first spring ball, I've always worn Regency, so I knew that I would wear my newest Regency ball gown, the Fée Verte dress. However, I wanted to do something else for my headwear than the turban, the most obvious nod towards the orientalist theme.

Enter the most amazing and über-oriental tiara ever.

I looked at a ton of pictures of different Asian styles and tried to combine some elements in my headdress. I even put together a pinboard for them. The starting point of my tiara was this little crown tutorial which I tweaked a little. I took the basic lotus flower piece and made five of them, all separate. I then attached them to a tiara base I had twined out of thick beadwork wire. I added a bit of this and that and I must say that I'm happy with the result. The tiara got a lot of compliments at the ball, so I think I succeeded :)

Here are some photos from the ball by Sanna of Rococo Atelier and Markku Arvonen.

Dress made of an Indian saree, lotus flowers, pearls, curlicue pokey-out-ear-thingies with hanging fringe, sort of byzantine inspired pendilia (the longer hanging down bits), kanzashi ornament, Indian style beaded fringe on the forehead, Chinese (and a little bit Japanese inspired) makeup. Oriental enough, what do you think?

I made that hanging kanzashi style ornament too that is just inside the left side frame of the photo.

Here you can sort of see what I did with my hair. I made two buns with bun rats, no frills or curls or anything. I also wanted something wider because a single bun just looked so small and lonely with the tiara.

I added some fabric flowers in the front and poked a kanzashi style ornament through one bun.

A Regency wedgie, or keeping my dress from trailing on the boggy grass.

I'm wearing a lot of non-historical makeup, trying to evoke an orientalist look. Yes, the blusher is where it is on purpose.

See my bracelets? They are genuinely oriental; enameled metal pieces that my uncle brought from China.

The organisers had outdone themselves and had even done up one room of the venue as an oriental boudoir/tent.

Very scandalous, I know.