Progress on my Venetian Ensemble!

Failing a bit at "serious Renaissance portrait face," but you can
see the new accessories pretty well in this shot.  Don't mind the
modern second ear piercings I forgot to take out for pictures!

My local Renaissance Festival may have announced the cancellation of their 2020 season last week, but that doesn't mean I'm not still working on garb!  In between medieval pieces for a friend, I've done some work on my Venetian ensemble as well.  I made some coral earrings to go with my coral necklace last month, and hemmed some silk organza to make a veil.  I also bought some veil pins and another ring that works for the 16th century online.  It's not much, but I think it really helps pull my outfit together!

All the new things, plus the 2 rings I already had that can
pass for Italian Renaissance.  I'm really pleased with my
new earrings!

There's still some work to be done on this outfit.  I still think the skirt could use a little more volume to look like what you see in 1550's and 60's art, and I'm currently working on a corded petticoat that will (hopefully!) help with that.  I also plan to make a fancy underskirt, though I haven't even found fabric for that yet.  

Better serious Renaissance face here!
Unfortunately, Colorado looks
nothing like Venice.

I also need to add hooks and eyes to the slit in the skirt to hold it closed.  I thought it looked fine before, but I've been looking at more portraits, and the skirt is almost always closed just under the edge of the bodice.  I safety pinned it for these pictures, which makes it hang a little strangely.

I really need to fix my sleeves, too.  They're a little too tight at the top edge, which makes getting dressed difficult and also causes my sleeves to work their way down my arms, pulling the straps of the bodice with them.  Venetians were fond of the edge-of-the-shoulder look, but these are pulling too far and making it a little difficult to use my arms.  Plus it's creating a weird situation with my camica and partlet that needs constant adjusting.

The weird sleeve-strap-partlet-camica situation
is easier to see here.  I think I didn't leave enough
ease when making the sleeves, and then went back
to work after the quarantine and my arms got a little
more muscular, so the problem with fit became
much more obvious.

I plan to fix this by removing the stitches holding the panes together and adding a slightly bigger strip of fabric around the top edge of the sleeve in their place, adding maybe an inch to the sleeve circumference.  Will update with results.  I also plan to make a second pair of sleeves out of a remnant of silk brocade, which I'll do in the new way if that works better.  I also think that part of the problem is with my camica being a little too wide in the neck, though I haven't decided yet if I'm going to re-work it or just make a second one.  That depends on the results with the sleeves.  All in all, though, things are coming together nicely.  Now I just need somewhere to wear this...  Perhaps the grocery store?  Or my day job?

Another veil pic.  Because I think my veil is awesome.
So flowy and cute!  I need to get better at pinning it,
though.