Our Dragon Banner

I realized looking at the pictures from my previous post that I'd never talked about this year's big embroidery project here.  We ended up not camping out for faire this year, as it was right after we got back from New Orleans and we'd had our fill of being overly warm for the summer, so we day-tripped it instead, and so I didn't get to use the banner I'd made for our campsite.  Next year.  But here it is - I based it on a drawing my daughter did in art class, a serpentine dragon.  Oops!  Just realized I need a picture of the drawing!  But anyways, I traced it onto some cloth and then spent somewhere between 20-30 hours filling it in.

In progress shots:







I then finished the edges with some ribbon:



And then backed it on blue satin:



Husband has promised me a fancy painted stick on which it will hang, which will hopefully happen before next year's faire, because we will camp out next year so I can show this off, dagnammit!


...

Starting sewing for faire

Came to the realization last weekend that the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire is only 3 months away. Oh, *bleep*! Gotta start sewing. I am completely in arrears for my 12 costumes in 12 months challenge. I am a bad, bad costumer. So this week I put together a gypsy type outfit. I cheated and re-used the tea-dyed chemise that is the basis for one of my elf outfits from years ago instead of making a new blouse. I also managed to make this outfit entirely from the stash, which makes me happy.

The outfit consists of pantaloons, a full-circle skirt, cincher, and a vest. Here's the fabrics I used:



There is a burgundy taffeta, embroidered with dragonflies in antiqued gold thread, a celadon shantung satin, a nubbly olive green fabric of uncertain composition (a thrift store drapery find) and the leftover corduroy fabric from when I made the holsters for my Lara Croft: Tombstone Raider outfit for last year's Steamcon.

Here's the outfit in its various itinerations:



And here's a bunch of close-ups of the vest, because I love how it turned out. First, the corduroy side:



I hand-sewed the trim on either side. This side has an olive green and ivory braid.





And here's the flip side, the same taffeta I used for the skirt, with some vintage gold trim:





Close-up of one of the dragonflies, just because!



So, one more down. Will have to do the count to see how much make-up I have to do if I'm going to finish this challenge by the end of August. I may fail, but I can always extend a few months and include the outfits for Steamcon III!




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