Sewing Fantasy Threads: Patterns and Progress on Medieval/Renaissance Fantasy Designs

Oh look at those little clasps, they're fantastic and the various little ribbon accents. I love the almost metallic shirt fabric.

 

Lovely wine colored shirt, is the white ruff sewn in or snapped in?

 

@Crissaegrim - Thanks. It's a silky wine brocade. How knight outfit is black with wine accents, which is why I went with wine.
@jhiggi - Thanks. I made a totally separate white collar with the little ruffle across the top, and then sewed it inside the main collar. Snaps would be too bulky on this small scale. I did the same thing with his cuffs.

 

Ooooh nice! Looking like a doublet with a white shirt underneath.

The sight of the white ruffley collar makes me very happy for some reason.

Teddy

 

It's your love for the restrained version of Tudor.

 

You're not wrong.

Teddy

 

Finally got this outfit done - velvet is such a nightmare to sew!!! Belladonna, my FID with a Raccoondoll head, in her new outfit, fit for a vampire queen! The pattern is the amazing Mirror Queen one from @MB Lilac - altered a bit though to fit the curvy body, and without the undershirt/chemise as I guess vampires are far less modest?

 

But it looks so good.

Teddy

 

She looks beautiful in it. Yes, velour is a pain to sew, but it drapes so beautifully. It's nice to see someone's excellent results using the pattern.

 

@morganatron it's the lining stitched to the velvet that must have been the extreme patience test. Nicely done!!!
Especially in FID size. Yikes!

 

I decided that my knights needed something a little warmer to go out on winter patrol, so made 'fur' collars out of some rugged yarn, let them borrow some scarves and hand warmers I'd knit for my Outlander costumes, and painted a griffin on a banner I'd made years ago. Of course afterwards, I realized I have to paint the griffin on BOTH sides....

 

Thank you!!! Worth the effort in the end!

It does, doesn't it! And I'm still so grateful for this pattern, it's just so beautiful!!!! I might have to make another for a different doll, once I can find some nice fabric!

Ha, yes, and the way the fabric frayed alarmingly as I tried to sew it - definitely a learning curve there!

 

WOW! Just lovely, lovely work everyone! Always drooling over this thread.

 

This is mind blowingly fantastic!

 

This is next level incredible. The amount of detail you put into your costumes never ceases to astound me.

 

Thank you @Nefla & @chizzie_shark I love doing all the details. and am currently working on a wedding gown for one of the knight's ladies. It's inspired by something Italian Renaissance, and uses a pale yellow sari I had, and is still a long way from done....
More here - Wedding Gown Progress

 

It's looking gorgeouos already.

Teddy

 

@Teddy - Thank you. I finished it the other day....

 

@MBLilac
THat is stunning! I can tell the time you put into this!

 

As ever, I am in awe of your work. This is stunning.

Teddy

 

@Rosslyn - Thank you. Yes, it took me all of February, but then I made two at the same time (one for my Naomi, and one for a friend's Bianca). Even though saris look very beautiful, they are usually a huge mess of long threads on the wrong side, so the skirts had to be lined, and the fabric basted in place along several places - the bottom hemline, and on both sides of the rows of sequins. That alone took a week. Then embroidering the two sets of sleeve puff panels took another two weeks. I did everything in tandem, as there was no way I'd want to start all over from scratch when the first one was done.
@Teddy - Thank you so much.

 

@MB Lilac FABULOUS work! Wonderfully staged photo, too!

 

Wow!!! This is is beautiful!!

 

@Answer42 - Thank you.
@Mo2ianc - Thank you.

I've been having fun taking photos of my two knights out on a Winter Patrol of the kingdom, and have them running into various fantasy characters, like these ones I made many years ago.

I borrowed some scarves, made some 'rugged fur collars', and knit some extra hand warmers to go with their regular costumes, so the knights would be warmer in the endless winter...

 

What a wonderful scene

Teddy

 

@MB Lilac OH MY GOD THE GRYPHON!

 

{laugh!} I reacted similarly the first time I saw it. Gorgeous, isn't it.

Teddy

 

Thank you @Teddy & @Victoria Victrix . That gryphon was inspired by the gryphon in the opening credits of The Jim Henson Hour, and was one of the characters in his Storyteller episode 'the Luck Child'. I sculpted his face, hands and feet out of Super Sculptey, on a wire body. His main body is stuffed, painted fake fur, and his neck area is covered with feathers. His wings are made from goose feathers. The gryphon and the little warrior seated beside him are usually roasting marshmallows on the little guy's spears in my display case, but for this set of photos I switched them out for turkey drumsticks. Since they are off topic, here's the links to my Blog posts that they appear in; A Griffin and Friends. and Fireside Dinner

 

MB Lilac: so beautiful. It just seems so unfair that some of us are not as talented. At least we get to admire your creations and those other talented peoples too.

 

Thank you. But you know, I didn't start out making costumes, or taking photos, like this. It took years of practice. Sixty years of sewing, and a dozen years of photography.

 

I know that commenting something from 1 page of 47 isn't a good idea, but I was so deeply amazed by your works that I couldn't resist.

 

I find your work so beautiful and inspiring, and your website with patterns incredibly helpful. Thank you for posting and sharing! I also have old silk sari fabric and this looks like a phenomenal way to use it.

 

I hope you had some scarves, gloves, and a warm coat, to go out in the snow for this amazing scene.
Like everyone else, I’m overwhelmed by your griffin.
Is there anything you can’t do?

I borrowed some scarves, made some 'rugged fur collars', and knit some extra hand warmers to go with their regular costumes, so the knights would be warmer in the endless winter...

 

That, and they can’t feel the cold.

 

There's going to be a wedding soon, so I made some dresses for the flower girls. I didn't want them all to be identical, just all in blue...

 

@MB Lilac I am amazed by the detail in the lovely dresses of your varied flower girls in blue.

Not up the level of some other talented people on this thread, but I made this dress for my forest spirit about 6 months ago-

 

@MB Lilac
Ok, because I'm a brat and because I LOVE your tutorials... Is there a tutorial for the Griffin?
PS: The Man and I once again thoroughly enjoyed catching up on and discussing your beautiful works! Thank-you!

 

They are lovely - what little girl woudn't be delifhted by such a pretty gown to wear.

Aww.. I like the leaf apron. It's a nice touch.

Teddy

 

The King and Queen in a fairytale back story I'm working on....

 

Lovely - His robes are very appealing.

Teddy

 

Thanks. I stole them off an old OOAK Wizard doll I made some thirty years ago. They look really good over Baron's formal wine red shirt. I think I may just put that old Wizard doll away in a box somewhere and keep his robes for my BJDs instead. It wouldn't be the first time I've repurposed old art doll clothes for my BJDs. Thankfully I never used glue in my costumes, so they are never stuck on.

 

Wow the outfits in this thread are so gorgeous!! I prefer more fantasy/medieval outfits too so such inspiration found here!

 

My longtime friend has been sewing a beautiful medieval wardrobe for Skelfthyrnir, and the most recent piece I've received is a tunic worthy of a forest lord.

tealdeeredited by Cryptic Cryptid, on Flickr

It's completely reversible, going from teal to a gold-black, and hand-sewn.

roses by Cryptic Cryptid, on Flickr

She did an entire writeup of the process here. Meanwhile, I plan to go much simpler with my medieval fantasy sewing, and try my hand at some basic shifts with the pattern she sent, once I get appropriate fabric.

 

Oh I love it!

Teddy

 

@Cryptid wow it's amazing!

 

The final shot from my recent Medieval Fantasy wedding...

 

So beautiful and so realistic. As always best skills in sewing costumes and making wonderful pictures :-)

 

I swear you ought to do a graphic novel with your pictures.

 

@MB Lilac WOW! Jaw-droppingly BEAUTIFUL!! CONGRATS!

 

Epic! Cinematic! You're not just the director, you do the costumes, props, lighting, and photography. And you create an entire world.

 

Thank you all! "cinematic" is right. The wedding ceremony was photographed in our son's movie studio. He had purchased that 3-D Gothic Cathedral background specially for it.

I have a thread with more photos, although some seem to be missing - /threads/baron-naomis-wedding.866599/

Or the entire wedding story starts here on my website - Procession - Fav Photos 2023

 

@Cryptid , I saw these pictures on DW and am super happy to see them here.

@MB Lilac , That set is amazing. Your costumes are gorgeous.

 

Another one from me - MSD S. Jenice from SartoriaJ with the corset bust. I mainly used the amazing pattern from @MB Lilac although I altered the bodice pattern fairly substantially to work with the corset bust. Oh, and used the sleeve instructions from the SD rather than FID sized pattern as I liked those elbow puffs!


At some point I'll make her a matching cape, but hurrah, at least she has clothes now!

 

Lovely!

Teddy

 

OMG, it’s SO pretty, it looks SO real! I can’t believe all the work that must have been in this only picture! Congratulation

 

Thank you! It was a lot of work. I started on the bride & groom's outfits, and the flower girl dresses in January last year, but didn't start taking photos for the story at home until September. The actual wedding ceremony took a lot of prep work and gathering of props, and was shot in mid September. We delivered a truckload of furniture and set props to the movie studio, and set up the scene on raised risers. The actual photo shoot took over six hours, and I was exhausted by the end.

 

@MB Lilac What INCREDIBLE TALENT you have! WOW doesn't even cover it! FANTASTIC work!

 

I can’t believe you put so much work in one photoshoot!
To be honest I’m really impressed, even if you spend let’s say 9 months on the clothes, it isn’t much at all! You did a wonderful job in a very short time, I wouldn’t be able to do this in less than a few years
Woooow, that is so so much work! Congratulation!
I truly admire the work you put into this photoshoot, this picture seems SO real! I’m from France and I would 100% believe that this was a true scenery if it was a painting! It looks like the history books, congratulation!

 

Finally finished the dress I got stuck on a couple years ago (because I didn't know what to do about the midsection)...

Isabel (Iplehouse FID)'s Turquoise Gown by Silver Yarn, on Flickr

The shape of the dress is mainly inspired by the Victorian idea of what bliauts looked like. The fabric is some kind of very drapey thin polyester and the sleeves and picot beading are straight from @MB Lilac's tutorials.

 

@silveryarn HOLY CATS! That's GORGEOUS!
LOVE the drape and the beadwork! Worth waiting for and GLAD you finished this dress!