I’ve been feeling badly that I haven’t posted a finished picture of the Entari gown and the kaftan roba.

The reason is, I’m not done yet. Why, you ask, reasonably, has it taken me six months or more to make a simple square-construction outfit? Well, in fact the outfit was made right away, took only a few days – heck, only a few hours to construct. Even with all the buttons on the gown, it was pretty quick. But then I needed to make the roba pretty. I started couching gold thread, but it was just too delicate on the big brocade, and I decided I needed something with more body. A nice wide bobbin lace would be just the thing, I thought.

Except my skill with bobbin lace was adequate, at best. I’ve done a few narrow tapes for edging shirts, but nothing very complicated, and my few attempts to try more complex laces – did not go well. So first I had to practice (hell, learn) working with many bobbins. I started with a simple insert lace for a chemise, then a slightly wider lace for the neckline. That went not too badly. I did an edging for a partlet that went really well, looked just like the picture. Emboldened, I went on to make a crazy amount of tape for a cloak for my husband, which turned out very well indeed, I am proud to say:

So finally I felt confident enough to tackle the pattern I wanted. And I worked on it. And worked on it. And I’m still working on it. It is coming out pretty well, and more importantly at this point it is almost finished. I have almost ten feet as of this morning; I need ten and a half. Maybe just a titch more, so I can centre it properly. The end is nigh!

The patterns I’ve been using are from Le Pompe II, published in 1562(?) and generously available online here.

Here is my lace so far:

Soon, my pretties! Soon!