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| L to R: burgundy satin (lining and trims); cherry red grosgrain (jacket, hat and shoes); big size hooks & eyes (jacket); white taffeta (shirt, skirt & bloomers) and shoes and puncher |
I chose for the main jacket, hat and shoes fabric, a low cost grosgrain (this specific fabric is called loneta in Portuguese), which is normally used for home decor, like pillows, curtains or upholstery. Why did I choose it? Because this costume has a clear 18th century inspiration, and I took some inspiration in faille, an historical fabric, often used in men's jackets, in the 17th and 18th centuries, to which this type os grosgrain looks quite similar.
Back in Lisbon, I went to Feira dos Tecidos to buy the final fabric, the jacket's grosgrain. To my demise, they still carry that fabric (it's kind of a staple), but MY colour, of which I had a picture with it's reference number on my phone, was apparently discontinued. They didn't have it on the supplier's sample catalogue either. I was bummed! It took me so long to get the taffeta, and now, that fabric that was always there, wasn't any more.
On a different day, I was at the flea market in search for something unrelated to cosplay, and that's where a now very touristy tram passes by. I had time, so I thought it would be a good idea, and a nice ride I hadn't taken for a while, to go to Campo de Ourique, at the end of the tram line, going through a lot of Lisbon's historical neighbourhoods (that's why it has become touristy), where there's a cluster of high end fabric stores. There are only two that focus on apparel fabrics, and the rest are solely for home decor fabrics. I entered the first one, another Feira dos Tecidos store, with very low hopes on finding that fabric. No luck. Then I went to the other, with a mix of apparel and home decor fabrics, Santo Condestável, and I was completely shocked! Everything was overpriced, the voile was double the price from the last time I was there (around €10 - which is a LOT!), there were 100% polyester fabrics reaching the 3 digits, previously an exclusive for high end silks and laces, and they had two rolls of that cheaper grosgrain, but one was bright red, and the other was black. Both were very shiny too. So, as long as I was there, I decided to go in the other two stores, with very little hope of finding anything, as they usually are unaffordable to me. To my huge surprise, on the posh and more expensive store of both, Nomalism, there was ONE roll of that grosgrain, excatly MY colour (I couldn't believe it), and about one Euro cheaper than the one I had seen before. When I was asking the lady to cut it (5 meters), I realised it wasn't 150 cm wide, but 250 cm wide! I hesitaded, do I need 5 meters? But because it was cheaper, it was very much in my budget, so I left the store with a heavy bag of fabric and a big smile on my face. COST €32,25
Lastly, I got the three big size hook & eye sets, for the jacket's closure at one of those shopping mall haberdashery stores, Retrosaria Zora. I have leftover plastic boning from a previous costume, my mom will give me some nice buttons, from my granddad's small town general store, for the shirt, and the only thing left to buy is tulle for the petticoat.
+ the fabric is exactly what I was looking for, it has the right sheen, and I have plenty to work with.
- it was a lot of last minute trouble I wasn't expecting, finding this fabric, but bad luck turned into good luck.
THE CUNNING PLAN
Start making the patterns and mockups of the jacket.
[written in 27.11.2020]
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