Res gestae (translation: things accomplished)

I put the skirt on the dressform so I can mark the hem and took pictures. And now I'm posting instead of marking the hem. :p This is my improved dress improver/ruffled bustle, the ruffled panel that gave me fits buttoned to my narrow 1910 petticoat, and the scaly Gala skirt.

For the painted scales, I used a scalloped stencil on the bottom edge of each scale row and used Lumiere paint (a mix of metallic silver and bright gold) well diluted with water and painted with a sponge in upward sweeping strokes. I'm not totally sold on them. I think they look cool when light is shining on them and you can see that they're all shiny, but they don't look so hot in low light. I guess it's fine for the Gala. I'll change the skirt to something less mermaid-y one day, if I can find a nice brocade.

For your viewing pleasure

I uploaded my pictures of the Costume Museum of Canada's exhibit of 1880s dresses onto Flickr. The album is here.

(I have serious doubts that this skirt and bodice went together in the 1880s... ;p)