Kathy Castrovinci

Kathy made this gorgeous Elizabethan noble outfit for her 7 1/2 year old granddaughter Kasey to wear to this year's Minnesota Renaissance Festival. As you can imagine, she was quite a hit with the royal court. The Queen not only knighted Princess Kasey, but also requested a private audience with her and her family. If you take a look at Kathy's webshots albums, you can see more pictures of the construction of the outfit and photos from their trip to the festival. Below the picture is also a description of the gown, and you can contact Kathy (who was also featured in 2002) at klc1952 (at) yahoo (dot) com. What a lucky young lady to have a grandmother who dresses her this well!

Princess Kasey Castrovinci's ensemble is made of forest green cotton velveteen. The contrast fabric is a cotton brocade with a diamond design with a flower-like center. I took gold embroidery floss and chain stitched by hand in the middle of the channels of the diamonds. For the corners, I sewed red glass beads. In the center of the design, I sewed glass pearl beads and alternated each row with a metal button back ordered from Pillaged Village with a pearl center. In the sunlight, the button backs and embroidery floss glimmers. The wide trim, called Elizabeth, was picked out by my granddaughter from Pillaged Village. The narrower maroon/gold trim is from Europa Imports. Expensive, but the best brand of trim to accent any Elizabethan ensemble.

For the bodice, I drafted the pattern from a previous Simplicity pattern, adjusting it to her measurements. I made sure I had extra length at the shoulders and side seams to accommodate growth. Kasey is a petite girl who will probably not get taller than 5'3". The bumroll, underskirt, and overskirt were al hand done without a set pattern. The sleeves and chemise were from a nightgown pattern I had for Kasey that I lengthened at the shoulders and sides to accommodate growth. The Italian Bonnet and caul were free hand drafted, no pattern used. I did knife pleats for the bonnet rather than cartridge pleated to get the same effect. The bodice is underlined with two layers of cotton canvas with channels for 6" and 8" metal busks. She's far too little for a corset as of yet.