The Burninator

I let Adam design his own blackwork. He loves Strongbad from the Homestarrunner comics, and was inspired to make his blackwork in the image of Trogdor the Burninator.

Here is what I was handed:



Adam has already transferred the pattern to linen strips, and it has become my subway-ride-to-work-entertainment. It makes me smile. My hubby is such a delicious goof. No, its not period, but he likes it, I think its adorable, and that's all that counts. ;-)

Modified Sketch

Adam's been tinkering with how he'd like his costume to look. This is the newest version.



This project is kinda halted until i find the right fabric. I can do the shirt and mockup, but no further. I really wanna do the doublet in a nice silk satin, heavyweight so I can pink it without too much fraying (this is what they used in period, so I figured it works, right?)
I got some silk samples from Dharma Trading figuring I could find a nice fabric and dye it myself. But I don't think any of them were as heavyweight as I was hoping. I'm looking to a few other places (denver fabrics and silk connection). And if anyone has other suggestions, it'd be much appreciated.

A Compromise. And a Design Concept.

Hehe, after much insistence from Adam that lace and ruffles are horribly hideous, he looked at this picture and said "His ruffle's not so bad. You know, IF you were gonna make me wear a ruffle...". Im taking this to mean that if i edge his ruffle in black so its not as prominent, he won't mind. Mwahahahahaha! You know, just in case I NEED to make a ruffle. Honestly, I'm happy without the ruff. We will see how inspired I get on this sewing adventure.


ruffle

Adam is a MUCH better sketch artist than I am. Thus I had him sketch out his ideal look. Here is what he gave me. I"m impressed and VERY excited to start! The design is the same in both of these, but he photoshopped with 2 different color schemes he likes. He's still deciding, so I shan't buy fabric quite yet. ;-) Mostly it boils down to a non-peascod doublet with buttons down the front (i will try to make my own thread covered buttons), vertical pinking on the lower torso, Horizontal couching on the upper torso (with either more couching or pinking in between these). The slops are pretty self explanatory. Adam is a fan of pretty plain sleeves, so that shouldn't be too difficult (or interesting), but he may allow some couching on them like in the sketch.
Oh, and he won't have ninja footie socks or ninja knee ties like in his sketch. But it is an awfully cute detail. I wish I could sketch like this:

sketch1

sketch 2

Design Survey

I spent a decent amount of time looking through portraits and PoF with Adam, and I think we're evolving a good sense of what he likes. Here are some key portraits that we hope to emulate and meld.

First, his favorite look (as in decoration) for a doublet was this one:

This painting is listed as "Portrait of a Man 1571." It doesn't indicate where its from, but at least its the right time period. We dislike the peascod belly, but like the combination of vertical pinking on the lower torso and horizontal details on the upper chest. Our design will feature this in some combination of pinking/couching.

For pants, I kindly offered venetians, as they seem to be the least "frufru" of the pant choices. His comment was something along the lines of, "I might as well have fancy pants." Fancy pants meaning trunkhosen or slops. Mwahahahaha, I really am slowly twisting him to my ways. Last year he would have vehemently refused such a caper....Anyway, he liked these ones:

This is Emporer Maximilion II (of the holy roman empire) from 1550. These slops are admittedly tame compared to a lot of the ones out there. Very narrow. He was vehemently against the balloon butt look. I'm actually quite pleased with the slimmer slops look.

This picture best shows the type of collar I'm allowed to give him:

Adam was adamant on the no lace rule. No lace whatsoever. A short straight up collar on the doublet with a little tiny bit of ruffle peeking through. I'm apparently allowed to blackwork to my heart's content, though. Fine by me, he will be a "manly man in tights".


from Janet Arnolds Patterns of Fashion --these are the style of waist and shoulder tabs that he likes--large seperatted waist tabs and single fused decorated shoulder tabs. Incidentally, the second white doublet is also a good inspiration for designs/decoration on his doublet--he was fond of that.

Yet Another Project

Hehe, I've been scheming with Beth yet again. We've decided that our hubbies need new duds. I personally think mine is in a bit more need of them if he wishes to consort with the likes of a well dressed courtesan like myself....his current attyre is an oh-so-nonauthentic kilt made from a simplicity pattern. Don't get me wrong, I actually quite like his outfit, and particularly him in it, but it doesn't match so well with my new, wealthier look.

So, new manly duds. I confess--period menswear intimidates me more than a bit. Mostly cuz I've no experience with it. Thanks to Janet Arnold's PoF, and some extensive online gallery searches I'm getting a better idea of the styles, and I guess a handle on the patterns and sewing techniques will just have to come with experience.

Perhaps it is my inexperienced eye, but I really don't see a huge difference between Italian and English (and even some spanish) styles of the late 1500s. This is good for me, as I would love to have hubby's clothes match mine whether I'm wearing my courtesan or my yet-non-existent spanish-influenced-elizabethan. I figure if I make a suitable doublet and slops/trunkhosen set for him, and perhaps a foppish hat for italian and a tall hat for elizabethan, he'll really be able to match me well enough either way.

To this end, I've been talking to hubby more than a little bit about his preferences. Yes, I'm a nice wife--I'm giving him a say. And honestly, I didn't expect him to be quite so picky, so I'm glad I asked. He and I apparently have different tastes in menswear, which is fun. And challenging--I'm used to getting my way. He seems to be taking the design plans rather seriously. Its adorable.