I’ve long wanted o make an early Italian Renaissance dress inspired by the series “The Borgias”
Main inspiration
But it wasn’t until I remembered these two fabrics in my stash the design really took shape.
A beautiful striped brocade I bought a whole bolt of for a steal about a year ago, and a dove grey/blue satin acquired on a fabric sale for about 5 Sek/m (it’, only 1,20 wide but for that price I could live whit that)
Isn’t it gorgeous!
Playing around with the design I decided to use the design on the brocade for stripes and trim..
Three different sizes of “trim”
once all the pieces was cut I started working on the skirt. I stitched the panels together, leaving the center back open. Then I pinned and basted two different kinds of brocade trim to the front and along the lower edge. 
I also added some blue furniture band along the center front decoration.
Then I stitched the back shut and pleated the waist to the right measurement.
The wide stripe looked a bit strange at the top, so I folded some of it under to create an adjustable pleat.
Then it was time for the sleeves.
Cutting the sleeves on the bias.
After some hesitation I decided to cut the sleeves into two pieces each and to make them tied on, like the ones in my inspiration. 
experimenting with trim
All the pieces of the sleeves ready for decoration.
Then it was time for the bodice.
Drafting the pattern
I cut the pieces in blue satin with un-bleached cotton for lining and interlining which I basted to the satin after drawing on the boning channels. 
I used plastic zip-ties for boning 
in and outside of the bodice
Before stitching it together I needed to figure out and ad the decoration.
One line of brocade pinned on.
different ways of trimming the bodice
It was around this point I put it on the dressform to get a grip on the over all look.
And unfortunately I hated it 😦
Fashion Through Herstory 
Hated? It’s gorgeous!!!!
Thank, but my vision was much prettier (and har les problem with the proportion😉)
Ugh, I hate it when that happens. You’ve got it all planned out and then suddenly, BOOM! Instant dislike. And usually you’ve cut everything out already so you have to do some serious tweaking to fix anything…
Yeah, you got this picture in your head, and then you get so disapointed when your creation don’t match up.
Oh no! But each of the pieces look so stunning separatly. I especially love how you cut the brocade into strips. Would it pehaps help if you made teh decoation on the bodice less angular?
I think my main concern was with the proportions of the wide front decoration and the sleeves. And after some adjustments I like it much bettet.
I have a project I’m working on with a similar problem. Unfortunately I can’t pinpoint yet what I don’t like. It just seems… off. I am putting it back in the closet of a million things for a while and will work on something else. If time isn’t a factor it really helps me to put it away and then come back to it with a fresh eye.