Based off of Bianca in The Vampire Armand. I always imagined Bianca as wearing red velvet, so I originally made a 1540s style Italian gown. I wore it for a Halloween party some years ago, but quickly discovered that it wasn't all that I'd hoped it would be. So, after the party, it got tossed into a pile and forgotten.
I went back recently and decided to try and fix the gown. First, I took off the skirt. You can't really tell from the pictures, but it's about 4" too long, which now works out perfectly, actually.
Secondly, I redid the bodice so that it's empire waist instead of natural waist.
Next, I removed all the pearls at the neckline, and started putting on metallic gold blackstitch. That's almost finished now.
The sleeves were completely discarded. There were a last minute addition before the Halloween Party, and were, therefore, made of thin lining fabric and just whip stitched into the armhole. Eventually, I want to have lace-on gauntlets with gold blackstitch on them.

Edit (5/27/09)

So, I recently dragged this costume out of exile and wore it to the local Renaissance festival. It made me want to finally complete it, but unfortunately I can't find any velvet remnants for it. I'll be trying to finish this thing up soon, and hopefully then I'll be able to take some new pictures. ^^