But it’s also a fantastic IG prompt month so I’ve been back in my files of progress of my costumes as well as essentially pressing, pressing pressing my fabric for my 1530s Spanish/Portugese court dress. The weight of the fabric is at the point I need to hang the skirt panels.

The good news is my fabric is cut as a section of a circle and all the work to line up the wefts has stabilised enough to be able to keep it folded up along the radial lines.

The hem is now even and the entire piece is now stretched so I have heaps of wiggle room to carefully restitch seams cut through and to baste through the joins.

I’m also working on my “bentgin” which is a wide very decorated necklace. Some match other jewelled pieces worn, some are statement pieces alone.

The thistle is a common motif in embroidery at the time so I found it interesting to find it in smithed work as well. The little ring of pearls are because the original used a very dense ring of fine wire with little bobbles on the end. You can see the alternating flowers by looking close to her shoulders- pinks just like Anne of Cleves had.

I’ve already made a set of jewels for my version of her striped gown, so I need to put them together on my new “shiltgin.” The neckline is so rigid that it pulls the softer part of the fabric out from under the gown and my new piece should do that easily.