Sat Mar 16, 2024 01:28 PM

I saw Grace Gamble’s lovely in process applique for the dress from Bacchiacca’s Portrait of a Woman With a Book of Music and was reminded that I never posted my version of the dress here. Here’s a look at the portrait and patterns I posted back in 2019. It’s wonderful how many different patterns are in that one portrait. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/tEczzWTMGzrHtjZS/?mibextid=Nif5oz

I made the dress back in 2021. It was done for the 10th anniversary Italian Renaissance Costuming Challenge on the Realm of Venus website. (The website is now gone.) I ended up wearing it for my elevation to Laurel in the SCA (it’s an award for arts.) I’ve since dropped a great deal of weight and am trying to decide if I should remake the dress. I really adore it due to the combination of color and pattern.

My version of the applique is done in black wool felt on a pink silk twill fabric. The fulled wool allowed the detail to cut nicely (it was done on a digital cutter by a friend as I was running low on time.) It is then just stitched in place. While that isn’t really my preference, it might be a great opportunity if I refit the dress since removing the trim will be a bit easier.

Bacchiacca portrait at the Getty https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RE1 The photo attached is via Wikipedia.