July 2025: Back On My Bullsh*t
July Goals
There were a couple trailing projects left over from my Elevation Outfit that I wanted to finish before moving on back to the Juana in White project. Those are:
Actually finish the camisa
Adjust the button holes on the saya
Make the tranzado that I did not get to
Add extra embroidered stars to the sayuelo
This post is a little different, because it covers the last week of June through the end of July but here we are. Once the Elevation Outfit wrapped up pre-elevation, I still had a couple things on it that I knew I wanted to address in its process. Overall, I want to get back into the Juana in White project, and at least one of these pieces supports that goal, so that’s good.
The Elevation Outfit taught me a lot of things that I think are going to be helpful for the Juana in White project. I addressed this a little bit in the Elevation Outfit post, but one of the learnings was on how different layers interact with each other and the order of operation on layer construction to ensure necklines fit together precisely. I decided to finish the camisa, as all that had left was fixing some damage, finishing the seams, and doing the decorative blanket stitching on the facing as my first order of business. I love how cute the blanket stitching turned out. It’s a impactful but simple touch that somehow makes the whole thing look more complete. I’m looking forward to keeping that decorative element in my repertoire!
The rest of the Juana in White outfit is also not entirely stalled, because Renaissance Fabrics had their annual summer sale, and I used it to finally grab some fabric and notions for the saya and attachments! The big issue with this outfit has been what fabric will coordinate with the glorious silk I bought for the verdugos on the saya verdugado, without a) breaking the bank and b) being too ostentatious or uncomfortable to wear. I have made previous iterations of a gonete with a pretty cornflower blue cotton sateen from Renaissance Fabrics, and ultimately landed on the black cotton sateen being a great choice for this piece. I was able to snag 5 yards, along with some trim and cording that I plan to use for the lacing and for the sleeve attachments. The fabric is luxurious, light weight, natural fiber, and not astronomically expensive. I think it will do great with the fancy silk for the verdugos.
I was also able to do some thinking about lacing rings, since I plan to start on the sobresaya in August. Billy and Charlie has some lacing rings that I think are reasonable choices given the shape of the decorative rings in Juana’s portrait, but they are pewter and not gold-toned. I reached out to ask about if they have an idea of how I could address it without having to figure out how to gild things myself, and they came back with the recommendation of some bakeable paints that I could use at home. I picked up the gold tone, and a couple other colors to test out as decoration on some new feast glassware I got.
Finishing the fixes and final pieces on the Elevation Outfit was important, not because I plan to wear it around somewhere soon, but because I felt that if I didn’t address them now, I would end up putting them down and not picking them up. The buttonholes went first because they are a structural priority, then the stars, and then the tranzado came last. The buttonholes were quick, the work of maybe half an hour, to turn the existing fabric tape into button loops. I’m not fully settled on this being the answer yet- I think they’ll need testing in wearing. But for now, they’ll do.
New back on the Elevation Outfit sayuelo. The two top most stars near the shoulders are the additions and I think they really round the piece out.
For the stars, I had a few pieces of scrap from cutting the outfits left that had some stars on them, and a couple spots on the back of the sayuelo that I thought could use some more visual interest. I ended up adding two stars to both the back and to the front. They’re a subtle addition, but I think bring some balance to the garment as a while.
Doing the tranzado after my elevation actually ended up being a boon. I was able to incorporate some laurel wreath charms on there now that I am entitled to wearing that piece of regalia, so that’s exciting. It took me a little while to actually get around to it, but thankfully, I had a late month sewing day to help motivate me and it only ended up taking a couple hours total to knock that out. The Elevation Outfit is officially complete! And now we wait for a 12th Night or other fancy dress occasion to roll around so I can actually wear the whole outfit together.
Cannot wait to show off this presentation in September!
Of course, as soon as I sat down to do these pieces of work, inspiration struck and I now have a new class prepped. I have hopes or an idea of bringing this outfit and maybe the Woman In the Yellow Dress project to a University to do a class on interpreting full outfits from sources. The Elevation Outfit marks my third completed outfit from a single source figure and Juana in White will be the fourth. I think it will be a really cool way of looking at garb and paintings and learning to interpret and express what’s actually visible in them and applying that to project planning and creation. I started drawing that up and it basically wrote itself. I think it would be a great in person class to do a show and tell with with all the outfits that still exist from these projects, but for a first run, I’ll be offering it virtually at Fall University, though I do still hope to go in person that weekend as well.
At Novice, Bea got her writ to join the Order of the Pelican, which we (the Seedlings) have been plotting for a little while now. My part involves making her Pelican hood, so August will be devoted to making that happen properly for her. I’ll save all the updates/planning on that for my September post, once it’s been given at Battle on the Bay.
August Goals
Garb:
Bea’s Pelican Hood
