This next drawing was a quick and dirty one.  It is described as a cloak of fine-combed, dark blue wool bordered with a white pattern.  Not overly complicated.  I didn’t feel the need to design a dress for under it (Phedre would probably still be wearing the rose-coloured one, and it wouldn’t match very well).  I also got a little lazy while drawing the trim pattern.  So, pretend it goes throughout the white strip.

The fabrics are simple.  I didn’t find the kind of embroidery that I wanted in white, so I included a suitable one that I found in gold.

Back from a while.  My Christmas party was a success!  It was fun, it went well, an I’m glad it’s over.

This next dress is described in Kushiel’s Justice as made out of a silk damask of deepest rose woven with a trefoil pattern.  It is necessarily simple as it is made out of stolen fabric by women in a small village.  It’s gathered below the breasts and hanging straight to the floor.  Phedre wears a long shell necklace given to her by a young pirate enamoure with her.

While I was designing this dress, I happened to be reading Pride and Predjudice for the 10ish time.  The gathering on the dress reminded me of a regency dress from Austen’s time, so the dress has a regency kind of feel.

I searched for fabrics for this dress forever.  The ones I found aren’t perfect, so you will have to use your imaginations a bit. I like the tone of the darker silk, but the lighter one has a fleur-de-lis motif that is somewhat like a trefoil.  The lace serves as an inset.  I have also included a pretty blue flower that Phedre might have picked to adorn her hair.

I have not abondoned you all!  I am having a Christmas party this weekend and my spare time has been eaten away by that lately.  I will try to get a new post up as soon as I can (I’m hoping for tomorrow!)

When I drew this dress, I also quite liked it.  It lost a little for me when I did the detailed drawing of it, but I still like the concept behind it.  It is what Phedre wears for her second audience with the Doge of la Serenissima.  It is described as a rich blue satin gown inset with velvet. Accessories include a fretted silver girdle with jet beads and caul to match.

The darker fabric is the velvet for the insets and the lighter one is the satin fabric.  I found the perfect belt.

This dress, I must confess, is my very favourite one.  I always figured that if I ever designed my own wedding dress, this would be it (it wouldn’t be the same colour though).  This is also the very first fabric that I found and may actually be responsible for every dress I’ve designed since.  I found the main fabric by chance one day while I was doing something else and thought, “that is how I pictured the fabric from that one dress”.

The dress is described in Kushiel’s Chosen as a gown of apricot silk with gold brocade woven with seed pearls.  Simple, elegant.  Gold mesh caul, dangling pearl earrings.  It is a dress that Phedre wears to see the Doge (Duke) of Serenissima (Venice).

Here are the fabrics and accessories.  The brocade is obviously for the overdress, it would be embroidered with the seed-pearls as well.  The linen is fine and for the underdress.  The gold fabric is the trim as well as the lining for the overdress. The mesh is for Phedre’s hair.  The jewellery is some that I found and really liked.

The first post that I did was what Phedre wore to Alcuin’s presentation.  Here is what Delaunay wears.  It is also understated so as to keep the focus on Alcuin.  It is described in Kushiel’s Dart as a doublet and hosen of sober black velvet.  Hair braded.  A pomander hanging from his belt.  I incorporated some leather details for interest.

And the fabrics:

Here is Delaunay as Faunus, a greek forest God (Pan).  While I was drawing it, I forgot to add the Mask.  So you will have to use your imagination.  It is described in the book as being made of black velvet and glimmer of bronze.  Waistcoat with bronze brocade and buttons shaped like silver acorns.  He wears a rustic mask (check the materials for an example mask).

I really like the fabrics for this one.  The pants are the black velvet, the shirt the black silk.

I’ve been a little slower posting these next few posts.  Part of this is because it has been a departure for me and I wasn’t quite sure how to proceed.  I have had a couple of people ask me if I was planning on doing any of the male costumes from the series.  So, I experimented a bit and did the 3 outfits described for Anafiel Delaunay.  This is my first foray into men’s designs so I would love to get feedback.  After these three, I will be back to Phedre for a while, so if that’s more your thing, no worries!

Below is what Anafiel Delaunay wears when Phedre first meets him.  It is described as a doublet and bottoms of deep brown.  A fine chain of chased gold-work.  Russet sleeves with a hint of topaz silk gleaming in the slashes.  Highly polished boots. You may be able to see from the drawing why Phedre is always wearing long skirts in my designs.  I am completely unable to draw feet/shoes/boots.  So, here’s my best effort.

Here are the fabrics

This dress is what Phedre wears to attract clients.  She goes to a social function that is attended by a prince from La Serenissima (Venice).  I designed this dress thinking of it as the beginning of a seduction and that Phedre should look sort of vampy.  It’s described as a deep blue velvet gown.

Here are the fabrics and accessories for the gown:

This is the dress that Phedre wears for her second visit to consult with the Rebbe.  It is still conservative, but is more detailed and in keeping with her regular wardrobe.  It is described as a finespun blue wool dress.  Designing this dress was an interesting process, because it had about 5 incarnations.  I drew some seriously ugly dresses before I got to this one.  The last one, posted here, is actually the very first one I drew with a couple small changes that completely transformed the dress.

Because there wasn’t a whole lot to go on as far as description goes, I got to be pretty creative with the materials. One thing that I do want to mention, is the website that I got the comb from.  Whenever I need to look for accessories, this is the website I go to the Tadema Gallery first. It has beautiful art nouveau jewelery and accessories.