This is sort of a new kind of video for my channel. It you watched my Patreon launch
video a couple months ago, I mentioned that one of the things I wanted to offer the top-tier Patrons
was to help them design a capsule wardrobe that they could use to plan out their sewing projects.
I asked them to send in pictures and ideas and sketches and a template of how they wanted their
mannequin to look. And we started from there. I think this will be a fun new branch of videos.
I sort of quit doing capsule wardrobes for a while, really for two reasons. I had too
large a build-up of projects I’d designed that I want to actually make, and also, I kind of got
bored with designing the capsules. And I think the reason for that is because they were all designed
to my taste, which resulted in similar color palettes and really similar silhouettes, with
tea-length skirts, pants only as an afterthought, universally fitted bodices, and overall the
capsules just got too samey and a bit boring to draw. That’s why I find this idea so interesting.
From a creative standpoint, it’s a lot more of a challenge to design clothes that I find pretty,
but also to fit another person’s vision and requirements and taste. So, let’s get into it.
This capsule has sort of an interesting dual-purpose. It was designed for Shaanan,
who is also a writer and a worldbuilder. She does want to make these items in real life, but she
wanted to design a capsule that could function as the wardrobe of the main character in her story,
a medieval fantasy princess named Zamora who goes on an adventure. So that will require both more
formal, regal attire, and also more comfortable, practical travel clothing. With this in mind,
I leaned a bit heavier into the costume elements. Shaanan wants to make and wear these items
herself, but I got the impression it’s more for fun, not as something she wants to convert
her wardrobe into wearing full-time. And that’s cool, because it gives us a lot more flexibility
to be only moderately practical. The other thing to note, is that Shaanan is a beginning sewer,
so I wanted the clothing to be on the simpler side to make, something you could easily adapt
big-box patterns for, instead of having to come up with your own patterns from scratch.
Here are the inspiration photos Shaanan sent me. A strong medieval fantasy vibe,
with a bit of 18th century inspiration, as fantasy medieval often has. I have discovered
that medieval and 18th century design elements CAN be successfully mixed, but only really if
you loose the 18th century silhouette. Tabs on stays do not mix well with slim, fitted medieval
skirts. And the only reason you would NEED the conical 18th century silhouette is if you want
to wear bodices with a stomacher. If you want a flat, rigid stomacher, then you need stays.
For anything else, princess seams do just fine, and they are much easier to find patterns for.
The capsule will comprise of twelve pieces, not including underclothing and shoes.
For the general type of pieces she wanted, Shaanan listed full-length dresses and skirts,
one dress with long sleeves, a shirt, a coat, a cloak, and pants for work and travel.
For colors and patterns, she sent me swatches to customize my chintz vine design to a deep magenta.
She wanted most of the palette to be pulled from these swatches. And she wanted something in plaid,
and sent me this plaid for reference. So, working all of that in together,
I suggested a more modern silhouette. Shaanan was tempted to use the tabless stays, and while that
would have worked underneath the silhouette, it’s a bit unnecessary, and once you pattern a bodice
as a conical silhouette, you’re really committing to the stays. With a more modern silhouette,
you leave yourself the option of wearing just a regular bra beneath them if you want.
hey get off the fence i'm sorry there's a chicken on my fence i'll be right back
well this wasn't going to be a chicken video but yep yep you see your friends outside they
were good chickens they stayed off the fence you jumped the fence yesterday too
yeah you gotta learn to stay inside the fence otherwise nobody's gonna get to free range
So Shaanan instead asked for the cupped bodice I made more recently,
and I agree it is a better option. I was inspired a bit by the Lengberg bra when designing it,
so that works quite well for medieval. The only addition Shaanan wanted were a few channels of
boning in the bodice, for a bit more structure. I asked Shaanan if she wanted to add a petticoat
to the cupped bodice, like the original Lengberg bras had. However, the problem
with that was an attached petticoat could interfere with wearing pants.
Shaanan said that when wearing skirts in real life, she always wears some
kind of shorts beneath them, so instead I drew a detached pair of pantalettes.
One more note on the underclothing, Shaanan said that the magenta color and the floral
print are meant to represent the royal pattern and royal family.
She asked if the under-clothing could be magenta too. Here’s why I love that.
are you mad are you mad well good you are a very distracting bird
If you dress low-key and incognito to go on an adventure, you aren’t necessarily going to
think to change your underwear. Which means that even if she dresses common, there’s a
point of vulnerability that if anyone saw a bit of her underwear through a gap in her clothes,
they might recognize that those are NICE underclothes, hence, you do come from money.
It’s a bit symbolic, dressing for a part on the surface, but your real self lies just beneath.
okay okay you've been punished enough i'll take you back out
okay okay we can go outside now you can go outside just stay off the fence
Alright, with the underwear and silhouette set, it’s time to get designing the main wardrobe.
Looking again at our inspiration pics, here is what I came up with.
I used this dress as inspiration for the court-attire. However,
I broke it into three pieces. A skirt, a bodice with puffed sleeves and the V-neckline,
and another bodice with a squared neckline and long, fitted sleeves.
Then, from this dress, I like the idea of a very simple yellow bodice and skirt set,
mostly for layering with other pieces. Then another bodice and skirt set, loosely
based off this dress, but a bit simplified. I can see this one being still nice castle-attire,
but more casual. Then there will be a fairly standard adventure cloak, and for the shirt,
I asked Shaanan if she meant more of a blousy chemise-type shirt, or something more like a
men’s shirt. The answer was exactly what I predicted: Bernadette’s puffy pirate shirt.
There will be the three skirts mentioned above, and they will all be ankle-length and
flared A-line patterns. For the travel pants, I suggested long, wide-leg trousers. Those could be
cool because they would still look very similar to the wide skirts, but they’d give the wearer
just a little more freedom. And then one piece will be a plaid dress based off this reference,
which could be worn with the shirt beneath, and overtop the skirts or the trousers. And the final
piece will be a fancy, fitted coat based off of this reference, but open in the front, so whatever
is being worn beneath could be seen. The only qualm I had about this idea, is that it would be
open at the chest and very breezy, so I suggested some kind of false-front that came up higher.
That might mean loosing the cool lace-up look, but I think in real life it would be simple enough to
make the false front removable, perhaps using hooks and eyes, and then you could do either.
So, Shaanan liked the designs I came up with, and I set to digitizing them.
So here is the initial design sheet I sent Shaanan. The colors are basically placeholders,
while I made sure the actual designs were right. I did almost immediately realize a change I wanted
to make with the magentas. The lighter shade was harder to match with other pieces, so I made the
long sleeve bodice a deeper shade instead. And I changed the coat to match, giving it gold
trim and using the floral print as a contrast lining. This makes both pieces work quite well
as court-attire, in a variety of combinations. For the other pieces, Shaanan asked if we could
try the plaid in green instead of gray, and she asked if we could change the grays and blacks
to shades of brown instead. We also played around with the green bodice and skirt set,
going back and forth between lighter and darker greens. I made two pairs of shoes, one decorated
and one plain. On a final pass, we made the magentas even lighter, and we were done :D
For the fabric choices, I’m going to recommend what I would describe the pieces as made from in
the story. When making them in real life, Shaanan is a beginner sewer. Beginners make mistakes,
and there’s nothing that will freeze you faster than being too intimidated to cut into
your expensive fabric, and there’s nothing more demoralizing than feeling like you’ve wasted your
fabric when the piece doesn’t turn out how you pictured. However, since this capsule repeats a
lot of the same shapes and base patterns, Shaanan could easily start out with the travel pieces,
using lower quality fabrics, then progress upwards as she goes. She could use natural fibers,
synthetics, blends, whatever she can find locally or repurpose, anything she wants.
But keep in mind that this capsule is also filling the purpose of a roadmap for Shaanan
to visualize and describe her character, so I want to recommend what fabrics these pieces
could be made from within the fantasy setting In fantasy settings, linen and wool are the
mainstay. Linen can be extremely fine and crisp and lightweight, or it can be woven dense and
sturdy. Wool is incredibly varied. It depends on the type of sheep it comes from, the level of
quality in processing the wool, and the manner in which it was woven. You can have luxurious,
fine, soft wools, or you can have thick, coarse felted wools, and all manner of wool in between.
Cotton is another matter. Historically it could only be grown in certain climates, and in Europe
it usually needed to be imported. This gave it a historical allure that doesn’t necessarily
translate to a modern audience, because cotton is so common nowadays. And most people are aware,
to some extent, of the historical lust for silk, which originally only came from the Far
East, and was a royal secret for centuries until some silk worms were smuggled out.
So for the princess’s underclothing, I would recommend a lightweight linen.
For her pants, if they were meant to be more multi-purpose, I’d recommend a medium or
heavy-weight linen. If they were meant for maximum warmth, I’d recommend wool lined with linen.
For her shirt, it would also be a linen. It could start out pure white, and the white might
fade and discolor throughout the adventure. For her yellow set, since this is the most
versatile set, fine enough to wear formally, but durable enough to take traveling,
I would recommend a high-quality, ultra-soft wool. For the green set, I definitely see a heavier
cotton, like a cotton sateen. Something practical, but nice enough to wear around the
castle. Maybe the bodice is a cotton velveteen. The plaid dress would definitely be a wool
tartan or tweed. The skirt would probably be unlined, but you would want to line the bodice
with something soft, if you had any intention of wearing it without the shirt underneath.
The cloak would also be wool. The historical term for thick, felted wool is broadcloth,
but broadcloth nowadays refers to thin, cheap, cotton-poly blends. So maybe it would read better
if you just called it felted wool. It would probably be unlined, and very simply made.
Then for the floral print, in the story I think it would definitely be silk.
Probably painted or embroidered with the floral design, as such fabrics were made historically.
In real life, Shaanan is planing on printing the design to Spoonflower fabric.
For the long-sleeve bodice, I think it could be a lovely, shimmering silk velvet.
That would add to the warmth, and give it a wonderful texture with the silks. But in real
life I don’t recommend a beginner touch velvet. In fact, I don’t recommend anyone touch velvet.
And finally, for the coat, I could describe it as using the same velvet as the previous bodice,
and lined with a matching silk floral. This is definitely an element of fantasy. We love subtle
hints of prints, but historically, if someone was going to bother to paint or embroider fabric,
it wasn’t going to be used as a lining. But this is fantasy, so you can get away with more.
Maybe it’s a sign of extreme wealth to imagine someone using painted fabric as a lining.
So, presenting the final capsule wardrobe. For court, the princess can wear her fancy shoes.
She could choose to wear either her floral skirt, or her yellow skirt.
She can pair with them her magenta and yellow bodices, combined in a variety of ways.
I feel like the floral bodice would be used on the most formal occasions. The yellow bodice would be
worn for the least formal occasions. The yellow could be worn beneath the floral to fill in the
neckline. The long sleeve bodice would be nice for winter, and could be worn underneath the
floral or the yellow for extra warmth. If it is particularly cold or she needs to be
seen outdoors, while still presenting herself formally, she can wear her long coat overtop.
The hood can be worn up or down, and the front can either be laced up to display her
dress beneath, or it can be filled with a button-up front for maximum warmth.
In the castle while not at court, the princess will probably swap out her shoes for a plainer,
more worn-in pair. She can wear her yellow skirt or her green one. These can be paired
with her green bodice, her yellow bodice, or her plaid dress. Her shirt could be used beneath
the yellow bodice or the plaid dress for an extra layer of coverage, or it could be worn by itself,
particularly if doing work in the sun. I think it would be interesting if the court attire focuses
on magenta, but her personal clothing leaned into greens. This might indicate that green is the
princess’s favorite color, despite magenta being the family color or the color symbolizing royalty.
Then for her adventure, she would definitely choose to take her trousers and maybe also her
yellow skirt, since as a princess she knows the value of looking high-class when the situation
calls for it, like when trying to talk your way into somewhere. She would also take her shirt,
and her travel cloak, which was made simply with discretion in mind. She might have also packed
her yellow bodice, for an extra layer of warmth and a layer of finery if she wants
to appear higher-class. She might take her plaid dress. Being a heavy wool, it would be a nice,
warm layer to add, and having a split skirt, she could wear her trousers beneath for an
interesting look that would blend classic dresses with a ready-for-anything vibe.
I do think the yellow set is very interesting. It is the one set that matches, color-wise,
all of her other clothing. It transcends the different color groups, and is universally useful.
If green versus magenta represent a bit of a split in the princess’s desires, magenta representing
family duty, and green representing personal duty, yellow seems to represent the bridge
between both spheres. Not my story, I’m just spitballing, because… costuming and symbolism.
But it’s interesting. Especially if she hangs onto the yellow set throughout the course of the story,
as if hanging onto everything she’s left behind, or walked away from,
or given up to pursue her adventure. Maybe in conclusion, the princess will find a
way to incorporate green into her court attire, finding that balance between responsibilities,
incorporating her true self into the image she’s supposed to represent.
Again: not my story. Sorry, I’m currently at that point where I
will happily overthink anybody else’s story but mine. I need to get back on my stuff.
So, thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope Shaanan got a wealth of ideas and inspiration
and motivation from all of this. She doesn’t have to use all of my ideas, but I hope they have given
her a starting place, at the very least. If you are on my Patreon at the middle or upper tier,
this capsule wardrobe has been posted in the original .ai format, which you can use if you
have Adobe Illustrator to adapt it into your own capsule planning. If you’re interested in seeing
more of my work, you can subscribe to me here on Youtube and follow my instagram. I also have
another YouTube channel just for worldbuilding, and another instagram for that. see ya
and a special thanks to De Meester Mayta, Erin Wishart, Charlotte R, Shea Thompson, Haley Martin,
Jessie Bryant, Shaanan, Leisha Slaughter, Mackenzie Ann Duarte,
Molly S, and Stella Sapiente. Thank you so much for your support of this channel.