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Red and Green Medieval Gown with Oak, Rose and Violet Embroidery and Fur Trim

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A gown with a red overdress and green underskirts. The overdress has a scoop neck trimmed with brown fur, and it has sleeves that are fitted to the elbow, trimmed at the elbow with brown fur, then fan out in a wide bell shape, with the edge of the sleeve very long at the wrist. At the edge of the sleeve is a stripe of golden ribbon patterned with scrolls. The red fabric is a shiny brocade with a pattern of oak leaves, scrolls and roses. Down the front of the dress is a stripe of embroidery over an ivory base. The embroidery shows red roses, purple violets, green oak leaves and scrolls, and the flowers are trimmed with small pearls. The embroidery is bordered with stripes of golden ribbon patterned with scrolls. The front of the overdress is split and open at the waist, curving down and ending at the knees with the front of the underskirts entirely visible. The hem of the overdress is trimmed with brown fur. There is a wide golden belt in a pattern of large, overlapping loops that falls at the hips. Set in the front of the belt is a large, smooth purple gemstone. The underskirts, which fall to the floor, are in two layers. One layer is a bright grass green in a shiny brocade patterned with oak leaves, scrolls and roses. It is open at the front and split, showing the second underskirt underneath. It is bordered with stripes of gold ribbon patterned with scrolls. The underskirt is sea green and patterned with golden curling vines.One quick thing before I get into talking about the new dress: I’ve signed up with Patreon, a service that helps people become patrons of the art and media they like. If you would like to support me and my work, please take a look at it!

This gown is the result of my most recent contest, which consisted of two parts. I held it on Facebook, and in part 1, I asked my followers to choose between three categories: evening gowns, medieval dresses and mermaid tails. Medieval dresses won, so I spent some time collecting images of medieval dresses I liked on Pinterest and making some sketches, leading to this black and white sketch and contest part #2. (You’ll note there’s no necklace on the finished dress — I made one, then decided it was just gilding the lily.) In this stage of the contest, people just had to like the post to enter. Eleven people did, and the first winner, chosen by a random number generator, was Nikki Paulsen, but she never got back to me by the following Sunday, and so unfortunately I needed to pick someone else, too. (Nikki, if you read this, I’ll still recolor it for you any time! Just e-mail me or leave a comment here or on Facebook.) The second winner was Hannah Bristol, and here was her request:

The style of the dress makes it seem like a very foresty, homey type of gown. I think I’d like to see the overcoat in earthy tones of red with gold accents, maybe with a brownish-gray fur trim, and the underskirts in shades of green.

I’m not sure if I exactly hit “homey” and “foresty” notes with all of the embroidery, satin and gold trim, but the results are lovely, so maybe it’s something Maid Marian could wear when she needs to get dressed up. Hannah, I hope you like how it turned out! I really enjoy trying to fulfill someone else’s color scheme, because I feel like I always learn something I wouldn’t have when I color it by myself. I posted a series of pictures showing the steps in making this dress on my Tumblr, if anyone is interested in that.

My intention is to hold these contests once a month and spread them among my various social media venues, the blog and the mailing list. I haven’t decided where the next one will show up, but it will start on the 13th.

Next time there will be a special Valentine’s Day present for all of my beloved readers, so come back next Friday! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook for updates and fun things, Twitter for my thoughts and sneak previews, or Pinterest for lovely dresses and jewelry. You can also sign up for my mailing list at the top of this page!

1930s Evening Gown in Light Blue

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A 1930's style evening gown. It is sleeveless, and has a deep V neck with ruching at the shoulders and chest. It has a peplum around the hips and a long, fitted skirt that flares out slightly at the ankles. It is a light bluish-green and has a small floral pattern all over.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.
I’m back! I never can stop paperdolling for too long, even with a baby. As you can see, there’s something different about this dress. It’s one of my black and white dresses, and I’ve colored it in Photoshop. Please don’t worry that I’ve abandoned my colored pencils! I’ve decided to learn to use Photoshop to color for a project my husband Brian and I are working on. I’ve always used it for various things, but there are so many things I still have to learn about it. Melissa Evans’ Coloring Line Art tutorial has been the most useful tutorial I’ve found, although I’ve poked at other ones as well. I’ve got some quibbles about how this one turned out, but it is a first attempt. It is much easier than I thought it would be, once you learn how to break it down. (For example, clipping masks changed my entire outlook on coloring with Photoshop. It makes so much sense! I just never knew.) For this dress, I used a pattern made by Jen of Pixels & Ice Cream, Feliz Navidad Damask. I’m on the lookout now for good patterns and brushes, so if you know of any, please let me know!

You may have noticed an e-mail sign up form to the right. If you sign up, I’ll e-mail you whenever I have a new update. Of course, I won’t sell your address or spam you or anything like that. I hope it’s a good solution to my habit of erratic posting.

Milo smiling and walking around in the rose garden. How is Milo doing, you might ask? He’s doing beautifully! Just look at him. That’s where all my free time goes. It’s also why my desk is piled three feet high with books. (He likes to take them off the shelves, so I have to rescue them.) Another reason why, for the time being, digital coloring wins over ten plastic bags of colored pencils…

I have a long ways to go to get good at digital coloring, so I’m going to try to do a lot of it in the next few months. So let’s have a contest!
What is Milo’s favorite food?
The first person to answer correctly gets to tell me how I should color this 1930s black and white gown. (I’m going to color other ones eventually, but for now I want to practice on this one.)

For this contest, even if you’ve won one of my previous contests you can enter. Let’s call it the great contest reset button. One entry only, please, and my mom and husband are excluded. (You guys get a free suggestion without having to enter, how’s that?) Get your entries in now, while everyone else has forgotten this blog exists!