Teslacon wardrobe project 2, Striped underskirt love!

When I first started looking at the late bustle period for ideas for outfits for Teslacon 3 I fell in love with this outfit from the Brooklyn Museum collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Or at least that wonderful draped overskirt and the overall effect of the striped underskirt with matching striped accents in the balance of the dress.

I recently found the most wonderful striped fabric (on e-bay, of course. I think that's that place to shop when you live in the fabric-less wilds of middle America) and am now embarking on my own outfit with a striped underskirt, asymmetrically draped over-skirt, and bodice with matching accents. I've collected several related outfits from the mid 1880's on a Pinterest board and after consideration I have decided to go with seperates--partly to make a more flexible wardrobe, and partly because I have yet to purchase a coordinating solid fabric--so I'll be making a skirt and waistcoat from the stripe, for starters. I'm basting hems into the yardage tonight and prewashing. such a good girl I am!

We Were There: Stripes!

Do you ever wonder what is going on with all the outfits in solid colored fabrics at events? I do!

I understand that an opulent damask or brocaded velvet in 100% silk or linen may be out of the reach of the average renactor's pocketbook, but what could possibly explain the absense of of that most basic of woven patterns-stripes?

Hmmm....?

I've heard some people claim that 'they didn't wear stripes in europe in period' but the pictoral record would seem to disagree.

So I decided to start a page on which I can post some of the lovely evidence I find for stripes!

Startng with this lovely at the Brookly Museum;

Portrait of a Lady as Mary Magdalen, Barolomeo Veneto, 1520's