2000 – 2001?
Sabrina decided that she needed to learn some needlework in order to embellish her costumes. She signed out several instruction books from the library (step one for her with any new project), and set to work. This is her first attempt at this sort of handwork: this bodice is the result of “teaching” herself to embroider. She carried it all over the place that winter, working on it here and there, and on long car rides. She probably sketched the design straight onto the bodice as she went. It’s worked in DMC cotton floss with a little bit of metallic thread thrown in for highlights. The entire front is finished, and she had intended to embroider the back as well some day.
The bodice fabric was recycled from an earlier project and dyed this lovely gold. The costume is Fantasy Fashions, “Renaissance Maiden,” presumably with her own waist tabs added, and made up in silk dupioni. Unfortunately, there are no photos of Sabrina wearing it. I assume she made another garment that went underneath, but that might have gotten lost along the way. It took me a while to figure out how to photograph this one, as I didn’t want a naked dress form under such a beautiful costume. But I finally realized that a couple of my own pieces, a chemise and green stomacher, would do the trick.
