Faire Damsel from Main Street Exchange, Saranac Lake NY

Sarah is the faire damsel at Main Street Exchange. She is filling up her shop with a Medieval collection that is looking pretty good. I am excited to see how the designs are taking shape and Saranac Lake's Winter Carnival begins next week!

Here Sarah is wearing my black cotehardie with shimmering tippets and an extravagant hennin of purple and black!

Link to Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

Building an Ice Castle

The excitement is mounting in Saranac Lake as the Winter Carnival approaches. In fact, this week they began building the ice castle, the symbol of the longest running celebration of winter in the Eastern USA. I am really delighted to be here this time of year. This is my first winter in the Adirondack Mountains and I have found that inspiration flows freely here.

Howie and I stopped by the construction site and snapped some pictures, like the one of the raw materials are cut from the lake.

A crane is used to carefully placed each block on top of the other, guided by a man perched on the top of the wall.

Chilling, half frozen, slush are brought in buckets and hand rubbed into the cracks. I imagine that when if drops into the sub zero temperatures, this works as good as any mortar can! A job I would not like.

Impressive walls of ice rising up off the lake to form the massive castle.

There was an article in the newspaper that talked about the construction of the castle beginning. It said that it will have some "suprises" inside...tunnels, dungeons? Read about it here:Ice Palace Construction Begins

Medieval Tunics for sub zero

With the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival 2011 fast approaching, I am working to make clothing to fit the theme of "Medieval Times". Today I am creating tunics of a warm polar fleece to help out those who will be knights. I will post more details later, but for now I will say "good day" and must put aside the sewing to shovel some snow.

Maiden.s Dress in Blue

The exciting part of designing a dress is seeing what it becomes at the end. The stage when I sew the panels together, along with the loops for the ties, is usually disappointing. Sometimes we anticipate results before adding the embellishments.

At this stage a dress is not something that will catch my eye or looked attractive.

I cut 21 feet of one inch strips and began folding and folding again to make the ribbon ties. I was happily rewarded for all my tedious work when I placed them on the gown. The transformation was impressive. I fashioned the finishing touches of metal and fabric and the look is complete!

Yes, I can see this worn by a fair maiden.

The warmth of the color blue implies a pure heart and a gentle soul found among the stone walls of an ancient castle.

A Gown is Born

I have been working on a blue taffeta gown and am heading toward completion. This is an exciting place to be when creating a garment. I have the basic dress assembled and now the embellishments are coming forth.

Here is a sneak peek. As you can tell, I love the look of lacing!

First Medieval Gown Complete

Yesterday I was looking at my pile of fabric and dreaming of what I could create. One fabric in particular caught my eye, a golden brown panne, so I thought I would give it a whirl.

The fabric draped so beautifully that it had to be a long tunic that has a small train.

Because I have the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival in mind for these gowns, my goal was to make a dress that was versatile in size. I have heard that some where where the costumes during the parade while the temp may be at -30 degrees. A dress that could be worn over some insulated undergarments that would also fit without the undergarments is ideal I accomplished this by putting lacing over the shoulder so that it can be drawn up. I also added full lacing down the side from the bust to drop over the hips.

I was really pleased when I took it to the Main Street Exchange in Saranac Lake. Sarah, who works there, tried it on. The dress form is a size 12 with room to spare. But look how well the adjusters worked on Sarah, Her Majesty, a size 6.

Find it here in my Etsy

Dreaming

Today I am looking at my stacks of fabric and dreaming what to make. Since the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival is only 5 weeks away, I must get busy cutting, sewing and trimming to make these costumes available for the festivities.

This is only a portion of the many wonderful textures I have to create with. Today's project will be with a golden brown velveteen. I will post pictures later!

Debbie

Saranac Lake Winter Carnival 2011

This winter I find myself residing in Saranac Lake, NY. I am very excited about the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival 2011 that will be in February because I am told that there will be people in costume for the Medieval theme. With that in mind, I am dreaming up new designs just for the carnival. Keep watching because I will be posting my progress on these creations.