French Gown Inspired by Elisabeth of Austria Portrait

This gown was finished a few months ago, and when I say finished, I mean completely wearable and nice as it is now, but will get a bit more applied decoration in future. It's made of 100% silk damask in a rust color, lined in gold silk.


I love the portrait of Elisabeth of Austria by Clouet, and this gown is obviously not a copy of that, but draws ideas from it (especially once I sew on the neckline jewels/ouches). I skipped the crazy partlet as I don't have ruff-making skills yet, but I do have some other silk organza partlets with lace that will do for now. Notice my shoulder rolls aren't really rolls... tried it, didn't work out well, so did poufs instead. I did manage to put together some little jewels and sew them on! They are a cute touch. I have components ready to be assembled and then sewn onto the gown to go around the neckline, just haven't had time to do it. Also I purchased some gold metallic lace that will get put onto the sleeve cuffs.







Here's a photo of me in the dress on it's debut/test trial run. It was a hospital benefit dinner with a "medieval" theme, and I figured I'd test out the fit and comfort level. It's smashing! Fits perfect without being uncomfortably tight, and is delightfully full and swishy in the skirt. Shown here with my simple organza partlet, as I didn't want my large ruffled one that night (see pics of that with my Elizabethan Jacket posts a bit back). I also am wearing my old smock with black edging- I have since made an epic new smock with ruffled lace-edged cuffs, which is extra fancy! More to come on that. That's my mom in her Italian Renaissance dress she had made a few years ago for a costume event.

 Dress without flash and with flash. Shiny fabric! Notice that the neckline has an arched shape- I made sure to do this to make it more obviously French. It ended up a little higher than I normally my necklines, but I think I was worried that it wouldn't be arched enough if I dropped it. Next time I will do a more pronounced arch and lower where it meets the shoulder straps. Also a detail shot of the little sleeve jewels.

Here's my new girdle belt, necklace, and earrings I made for this outfit. They are gold tone components with Swarovski crystals in their "Siam" color. I got the portrait miniature pendant from Raymond's Quiet Press, just haven't found/made a portrait to put in it.