The Trouble With Brocade

I have asked my extremely talented, lovely, brilliant sister to make a Renaissance Faire dress for me for this year. This might be too tall of an order, though she has not yet admitted so.

Our first encounter with the dress was, of course, the purchasing of the fabrics to construct the dress. This takes place in the Fabric district. I had three choices for "period" fabrics for this dress. Velvet, silk, or, my choice, brocade.

The color was up to me, Burgundy.

The "pattern" was then left to the mercy of brocade manufacturers who don't seem to understand that "period" garments must be made with a geometric design and not with swirls or scrolls, flowers, abstract designs, or roosters.

Yes. Roosters. The perfect brocade, heavy and stiff enough to hold the dress silhouette, embroidered in the same colored thread as the material itself (another must have) and even with the ever impossible geometric design was besmirched with six inch tall roosters every foot and a half in any direction. Roosters. Burgundy brocade with roosters. Seriously? Was this a joke? Who came up with this? And who is buying it to upholster their furniture? What sick joke is this? My sister assured me that we could not "work around the roosters" and so the material was out of the running.

After three and a half hours of searching every fabric store, every sidewalk, every skein, every roll, every brocade my spirits began to falter. Even my tireless sister began to wane. There was a lovely Burgundy brocade with a dark gray crest-of-arms looking design on it that caught her attention, though it was thoroughly "non-period." I was drawn to a beautiful, geometrical, monotone brocade that happened to be the color of sand. We were straying from our mission.

What about silk? Velvet? Something, anything else.

JQ - "No! We are so close, so close!"
AQF - "You've been saying that for an hour!!"
"JQ - "Which means that we are that much closer!! We are going to find the perfect brocade!"

This was not up for discussion, so we continued to search. We ended up buying the first brocade that we saw. It is Burgundy, it is embroidered with Burgundy thread in a geometric pattern. We got it for $7.00/yard after some bargaining. We went home without trim, accent material, the guard velvet, or even thread. We did find a steal of a deal on good quality white cotton, though, and the pillbox hat form and grommets.

I suppose that we will get the other stuff done on my next visit. I just don't know when that will be. Problem is, the fair is in April or May or June which doesn't give us a lot of time to prepare. Or rather, doesn't give her a lot of time to prepare, considering that she doesn't have enough materials to start work, will need me to purchase the remainder of the materials, me to decorate the bodice and sew on the trim, and me to stand by and be pinned while she assembles the various components of the garment on my form.

It is going to have Queen sleeves, though. Wicked!