SCA: War of the Rams

 I’ve been away from the blog for a little while, sorry about that. My brother died, and then after Kingdom A&S I just didn’t have anything going on and I fell into kind of a funk there for a while. I’ve been to a couple of events in the past month, and had a decent enough time, but my heart hasn’t really been in it. 

At the moment I’m preparing for War of the Rams (formerly known as BAM), and I've been trying to keep busy to distract myself from life and keep my sights on good things in the future. 

I made over an old plain loose dress this week - dyed it and changed the edge binding, so that I’d have something casual to wear around camp at BAM: 

My male tunic blew a seam in the wash, which I discovered while I was affixing some new tablet woven trim to the neckline - it’s irreparable, unfortunately (or fortunately maybe, as I’d been planning to replace that tunic for months now anyway), so this wine-colored dress is what I’ll wear instead. 

I’ve also spent the last few weeks working up a bit of a joke  to bring out at the event which I’m hoping will get some laughs. More on that after I get back. 

For the time being I’m done with SCA stuff and BAM prep; the event is in a week and a half, and I’m working on redecorating my bedroom at the moment (sewing pillows and crocheting a throw blanket).  

More when I get back from the event - see you soon. 

SCA: Men's Viking Outfit: Dyeing All the Things

The other day I posted a couple of pictures of me in a couple of my Viking outfits.   When I first saw the picture of me in my men's Viking outfit, I realized two things:  (a) that was the first time I'd ever actually SEEN my men's Viking outfit on me from an outside perspective, and (b) I didn't like it at all.  

Most of my (women's) Viking outfits are in varying shades of blue and green, and I like them all.  But each women's outfit is primarily one color:  the color of the apron dress, backed by a white or pale gray under dress, with coordinating accessories (hats, bags, etc) in complementary shades of blues and/or greens. Very simple.  

The man's outfit, however, was made up of several pieces in varying light blues and light greens that were worn all together,  and the different colors were NOT working well with each other.  Overall the whole outfit looked...kind of Smurfy.  And that's not good. 

 

before

The Problems

1.  Multiple shades of blue and green that don't all go together very well

2.  Main body of tunic is a really weird green that is probably not a "period color"  which was bothering me

3.  I never really cared for the big trapezoidal neck yoke and the sleeve cuff pieces.  I don't like the shape of the yoke at all.  

(Please ignore the violently turquoise socks - those are being replaced by new socks in natural colors).  

The Solutions

THE TUNIC 

I removed all the trim, visible top-stitching, and the blue yoke and cuff pieces. Then, I re-hemmed all the edges by hand, and dyed the whole thing.  After that, I applied some new trim pieces to the neckline, sleeve cuffs, and the lower hem of the tunic.  

The new color of the tunic (right)  is much better.  I used a royal blue and teal to achieve this shade of blue, which is one that would be achievable with natural dyes like woad, and therefore makes the tunic a bit more period-looking than it had been before.  

 The trim fabric is made from an old linen apron dress that didn't fit me anymore; I also couched a twisted cord in coordinating colors to the edge of the trim fabric.  I don't wear this rust/orange color as a primary color, because it looks awful on me in large amounts; but I really love the way the rust/blue set each other off.

PANTS, SOCKS, AND WININGAS

The linen pants, which started out a sort of "light navy" color (sort of darkish grayish blue, shown on the left of this picture), were dyed with a deep brown, which rendered them a sort of charcoal gray, which grounds the more intensely colored tunic nicely.  

I dyed the winingas with a bit of the same brown and some charcoal gray.  They started out a sort of baby-blue, and the warp threads in the wool remained blue, while the weft threads dyed a deep charcoal-brown, and I REALLY like the effect.  

The End Result

after

Here's what the finished outfit looks like: 

This is a much more balanced color scheme, with a single intensely-colored piece grounded by dark neutral tones. I feel like the colors here are much more natural and realistic-looking - these browns and grays and blue are colors which are achievable with natural dyes, and might have been worn in period.   I'm immensely happy with the way the dyeing turned out. (The tunic actually looks more blue than this in person, I could NOT get it to come out right on my camera).  

I'm also pretty stoked that I managed to do this entire project for only about $20 for just the fabric dye.  That's far less than half of what I would have spent on just the linen for a new tunic!  

    

     

Just for fun, here's a pic of with my blue wool cloak. 

Bonus: new hat! 

Whew, done!  For now. 

SCA: Some Pictures of Me and Some Random Bits and Pieces

 So, I realized recently that I've never really posted pics of me in any of my Viking outfits - I hate the way I look in photos most of the time, and so I almost always just post stuff on my dress dummy in the craft room.  Of course, the dummy pictures don't really show you what an entire outfit looks like put together, so I thought I'd get dressed up and share pics of ME in my actual Viking clothing. 

Hrefna Hrokrsdottir

Here's me in my favorite (female) Viking outfit.

That's a white linen serk and blue herringbone linen smokkr; with brass brooches from Raymond's, beads and beaded jewelry, leather turnshoes from Bohemond, inkle-woven belt, and Hedeby bag.  Everything except the brooches and shoes was made by me (including the woven shoelaces). 

(The white serk is all caught up underneath my smokkr in this picture, so it looks like the hem is wonky, but it's not.  I just wasn't paying attention when I was getting dressed. Oops!)

(I really need new socks, these turquoise ones are just too loud). 

Hrefn (?)

And here's me as a dude.  I originally developed this outfit because I wanted pants to set up/break down camp in, because skirts get in the way too much; but the more I wear this kit the more I just love dressing as a guy.  It's comfy and workable, and I love the way it looks on me: 

This is my blue linen pants, green-and-blue tunic with inkle woven trim and black top-stitching, blue winingas, the same leather turnshoes, hammered brass arm rings, beaded necklace, Jorvik hood, inkle woven belt, wool cloak, brass cloak brooch, and Hedeby bag.  The winingas, shoes, tablet-woven trim, and brooch were purchased; all the rest was made by me.  

I did just alter these pants, also.  The waistband was sitting too low on me and my pants were falling down, so I added a panel at the top to make the waistband taller - I didn't have any more of the blue linen so I used another color, which thankfully doesn't show under my tunic. 

(I should also note that this whole outfit is about to get a major overhaul, stay tuned). 

Card Weaving!! 

A dear friend of mine recently taught me how to do card/tablet weaving!  I am SO STOKED!  Here's my very first project, done in #3 cotton crochet thread. 

This is so much fun!  Of course, I screwed everything up on my first warp and had to take the whole thing apart and re-do it, but not only did Kate teach me to weave, she taught me how to deal with my mistakes, too, so I was able to get it all sorted out and then create this gorgeous trim.  It's about 3 yards long, which is about as much as my loom can do (either inkle or card).

I can't wait to try new colors and patterns! 

Other Stuff

In addition to the pants alteration and the card weaving, I've been making some minor repairs and alterations to my Viking kit(s) the past few weeks, including: 

•  cut a slit in the neckline of my white serk (above) so that it's a keyhole neckline instead of a round one, because I like the ease and look of a keyhole neckline better, and I love wearing my little silver brooch to close the neckline
• wove (inkle) a striped trim to put onto the male Viking tunic (above) to replace the ratty trim that was on it before, which was falling apart and was too big for the tunic anyway
• I covered my cooler in wood grain duct tape to make it look like a little wooden chest!  Except I'm about to take it all off, because it looks like country-fried ass, LOL
• I made a new necklace to wear with my male Viking kit (above), which is just 9 glass beads (made by me) on a length of blue string - nothing major, I just wanted some bling 

New plans, which I'm hoping to get done by October: 

1. I'm working on refinishing a table I found on the curb into a nice table we can all gather around at Sprezzatra camp - I'm about 85% done with sanding it and am about to start staining it
2. I'll also be making a heraldic table runner to go on the table, with Sprezzatura's device on it
3. I have a blue linen Skjoldehamn hood which needs a lining - I have the fabric, I just haven't made the lining yet
4. I'm hoping to replace the queen-sized air mattress that I use in my tent with a smaller one, so that I can have more walking space in my tent for getting dressed and stuff

Whew!  Lots going on to get ready for the fall event season. Let's go! 

Regency: Lavender Striped Drop-Front Dress

I LOVE striped Regency dresses. I keep thinking about making one, but I had no fabric to use …but wait, I thought - don’t I have a lavender striped cotton duvet cover in storage not being used for anything? 

I’d seen people use duvet covers and sheets for regency dresses before (I've even made a dress out of a pair of curtains myself); but I was worried it wouldn’t be enough fabric, but it turned out, the duvet cover was exactly enough for what I needed. (And to tell you how old this thing is, I got it at Linens N Things - remember them? It’s old but it’s in great shape).  

I used my Reconstructing History pattern for this dress, because I wanted the flat front and bib to show off the stripes. I was leery about using the pattern again, as the first time through was a nightmare - but when I made it before, I knew exactly squat about the construction and fitting of Regency dresses, and now I have more experience and a much better idea of what I'm doing now, and this went together really easily. 

 

I drafted new sleeves for the dress, since I wanted a straight long sleeve, and the pattern only had a short sleeve or a double sleeve option. (The double sleeves are neat, but I have broad, square shoulders, and puffy shoulders make me look like a linebacker, so I wanted a more streamlined silhouette there). I measured all the sleeve pieces from the pattern and then drew out my own sleeves based on that, adjusting the fit a bit for slightly-larger-than-usual upper arms. I also added a thin wrist band with a hook on it to close the sleeve around the wrist: 

I started this project and got about halfway through it when I realized I was going to have to make a new corset to go with it.  You can read about that in my previous post here.  

*

But wait, you say, isn't lavender/purple a mourning color?  Yes and no. From what I've read, in full mourning (the period right after a person's death) one would wear black or as near to it as was feasible (gray, dark gray, black accessories if you didn't have/couldn't afford a new black dress, etc.).  In half-mourning (the later half of the mourning period, designed to transition you away from all-black and back into more cheerful colors), softer, muted colors like gray and lavender and purple became acceptable.  You could always wear purple any time you wanted, of course - it wasn't strictly reserved for half-mourning.  The folks in the Regency weren't nearly as strict about these things as the Victorians were.  

That said, if I wanted this dress to be a half-mourning outfit, I could always accessorize it with my black crocheted mitts and a sheer black shawl: 

I love my new dress, and I plan to wear it this weekend: the local JASNA is having their annual Box Hill Picnic near Austin, and so I’m grabbing a couple of Regency-friendly friends and we’re headed down!  I’ve never been to a JASNA or Regency-themed event before - I did check to make sure costumes are allowed, and was told that yes, some people wear Regency attire to the picnic. Now I just have to figure out what to bring to eat for lunch. And what to do with my hair! And - where the heck are my white gloves?? 

SCA: Return of the Cotehardie : A Dress Makeover

 I’m in love with my new 14thC bycocket, but I had nothing to wear with it to the next event. It’s been years since I busted out ye olde cotehardie - and while I am no longer young and thin, I’ve seen plenty of larger women rock a cote and look fabulous doing it, and so I shall be among them. 

So. 

I took a ride through all of my old costumes, and I found one that actually *almost* fit. Luckily, it had HUGE like 2” seam allowances from old alterations taken to make it smaller in previous years, and I was able to take almost all of it out and re-shape the dress so that it fit me again. Success!! 

The next problem was that it was pea green. It was a neat color, but totally the wrong tone for my skin - it makes me look really pink, and not in a good way. More like in a carbon monoxide poisoning way. So I overdyed it with Rit’s dark green, and voila - it came out a dark, warm, sort of hunter green: 

I order to spiff this dress up, and because the old polyester thread didn’t take the dye, I: 

• removed all the visible hand and machine stitching and replaced it with hand stitching in the correct color 
• removed the machined buttonholes and replaced them with hand stitched buttonholes 
• removed the buttons and re-sewed them with dark green thread, since for some strange reason I had  originally attached them with orange jeans thread (see pic above)
• removed the neckline binding and re-stitched it by hand, repairing a rip in the binding in the process

With the stitching and dyeing out of the way, it was time to make some new sleeves for this dress - it has half sleeves on it with long pendants, but I had no dress to wear underneath it. So I made a pair of half sleeves out of a blue cotton drapery fabric I had on hand, which I basted into the insides of the green short sleeves: 

 I also made a “medieval sports bra” sort of under-bodice thing out of the same fabric to wear underneath.  I had no modern or period contraption to make my bust look the appropriate shape and placement for this dress, and the dress itself, being unlined linen, would stretch out of shape as soon as it warmed up and not hold me correctly without supporting undergarments. So I made basically the sleeveless top half of a cotehardie out of the same fabric as the sleeves, which will support me, bring my waist in a little,  smooth out my back, and - along with the half sleeves - make it look like I’m wearing two layered dresses: 

All put together, it goes a little something like this: 

Bonus:  along with this dress and the blue bycocket I trimmed up last week, I made some new jewelry to go with it.  I had a purple and silver costume piece (plastic and pewter) which was badly tarnished and the plastic setting was chipped in a couple of places, so I took the whole thing apart and put the beads on new gold metal, and painted the plastic centerpiece setting with gold leafing paint to make it gold:  

Tada!  Now I just need somewhere to wear this.  I'm posting this in the hopes that nobody I know is reading it, because I want this to be kind of a surprise - I've been a Viking ever since I came back to the SCA in 2018, and whenever I wear this ensemble will be the first time I've worn anything but Viking since then.  I can't wait to wear my new hat and dress!  :) 

SCA: Prepping for BAM

 The third week of November is "BAM" - Bordermarch Autumn Melees, now called War of the Rams.  It's a five-day event in the middle of east Texas, and it's usually wet and cold...and a TON of fun.  

In 2020 and 2021, my Pandemic Project was an all-new Viking wardrobe - two new serks and three new apron dresses.  By the time the Pandemic blew (mostly) over and we were free to hold SCA events again, however, I'd gained enough weight that exactly NONE of my new dresses fit, so earlier this year I rushed to make two new serks and two new apron dresses that would work for me (the teal one that I've never blogged about (oops), and the blue herringbone).  

However, in August I started hitting the calorie-reduction and daily-walking bits as hard as I could, and I'm pleased to say that I've lost about 25lb since then - enough that I can fit into all of my Viking clothes, both the pandemic projects and the new pieces, as well as some older apron dresses that I spiffed up in 2020 and have never worn since.  

So, I've been spending my spare time in fixing up these older new dresses. All of my newer Viking clothing is seamed on the sewing machine and then finished by hand, and constructed in as period-correct a way as I can make them.  Except the older new dresses weren't - some of them were hemmed on the machine, so I'm picking the hems out and re-doing them by hand to make them look a bit better.  I did the same with my serks, which were all made entirely by machine - I picked out all the necklines, hemlines, and cuffs, and re-did them by hand in either a herringbone stitch (on the inside, which looks like a running stitch from the outside), or a running stitch. 

linen serk with new neckline stitching

All of my clothing is ready for BAM, and all of my packing is as pre-packed as I can make it, and I still have a week and a half to go.  So I'll be re-hemming dresses, ironing things, and working on various crochet projects until then.  I can't wait! 

Dyeing Stuff: A Pink Cotehardie

I made this pinkhardie in 2016, and I loved it - except that it was pink.  It was a lovely pink, but I'm just not a pale-colors-person.  I usually keep my SCA wardrobe to blues and greens and earth tones;  in Mundania I wear black almost exclusively, except for a few very dark colors.  I needed this cotehardie to be something I was more comfortable in.

RIT dye to the rescue!  I hemmed and hawed forever over the color - red or purple? - when what I really wanted was a deep mulberry tone.  Why not mix them, I thought?  I do it with house paint, art paints, and nail polish - why not dye?  Turns out, RIT has a handy color mixing chart on their website - and the answer was red AND purple.  And brown.

1 = Wine only; 2-4 = varying degrees of Cocoa Brown;
5-7 = varying degrees of Eggplant;  8 = final mixture

I used a bottle of Wine, a bottle of Cocoa Brown, and then added 3/4 cup of Eggplant to cool off the maroon color and give it a hint of purple.  I tested the color on strips of paper towel just to be sure I had the color right before dropping the dress in.

This was all done in my stainless steel kitchen sink, by the way.  I keep meaning to try out my washing machine, but it's new and I'm not sure how well it'll work yet, so I keep opting for the safer, known route. The water in the sink gets hot enough to steam and burn people, so I assume it's hot enough for dyes, and I have yet to have a problem with colors coming out right.

I LOVE the finished color! (It's a good thing I love it, too, because my thumbs and a couple of bath towels are now also this color.  Oops).  The linen took the dye really well, without any splotches or voids or other weirdness.  The color is a little bit lighter than my test piece after going through the wash to remove the excess dye.  Still, it's rich, deep, and kind of delicious.  Now I have the dark mulberry cotehardie I've been wanting, and the whole process only took about 45 minutes.  I've got two other dresses that need to be re-dyed, and now I can't wait to get started on them.

A note: the buttonholes were done in polyester thread, so they didn't take the dye at all.  Yup, I have pink buttonholes.  At some later point, I can either pick them out and replace them with new thread, or try to stain them with ink, which I've done successfully before with black ink.  We'll see. 

What's Next?  

I'll be making new handles for my Hedeby bag soon, and at the moment I'm painting a wooden chest.  Updates soon! 

Blue Velvet Redux

new dress, for Candlemas 2016

In 2012, for my second Candlemas, I made a midnight blue velveteen gown that was more or less cotehardie-ish, with a shimmery leaf-green lining in the sleeves, embroidered with gold thread and tiny faux pearls. It had seen some wear, and was far too small for me, the last time I tried it on (six months ago), so I decided to adjust the sizing a bit, and to change the look of the whole dress.

In an awesome turn of events, when I tried the dress on a couple of weeks ago, before starting this project, it fit me perfectly!  Yay!  No re-sizing necessary!

Here's What Changed: 

1.      I removed all of the gold metallic embroidery and beading, steamed out the impressions left by the decoration and brushed up the fabric's nap with a soft brush to smooth it back out. 

2.      The original front lacing placket was removed and replaced with buttons. 

3.      I unstitched the neckline edges and flattened them out, then re-shaped the neckline at the bust. 

4.     The neckline was a wee bit deeper in the front than I wanted before, so I added a 1/2" edge binding in a linen the same color as the velveteen. 

5.      A twisted, blue, cotton, embroidery floss was couched in along the join between he body fabric and the edge binding. 

6.      I removed the green sleeve linings were removed and replaced with a blue washed-silk fabric from stash.

7.    Finally, I put smaller buttons onto the sleeves.  The size and design don't match the front buttons, but the metallic tones of both styles look great together, and I like having smaller buttons on the sleeves, anyway - less banging my arms on feast tables. 

The dress in 2012, made from a pair of
cotton velveteen curtains purchased at Ikea

Buttons and edge binding on new dress

One Last Thing

I tried out an embossing technique that I'd seen online - there are many tutorials on YouTube and on various blogs out there, this is one.  Basically, you wet the fabric with a spray bottle, place a rubber or foam stamp underneath it, and use a hot iron (without steam) to dry the fabric against the pattern of the stamp.  I thought it would be nifty to have a band across the lower hem, and one at the hips -  similar to the decorative bands in this image from Les Belle Heures du Duc du Berry.  At first, it looked fantastic: 

yay?

After a day or two, though, the embossed design simply disappeared from the fabric.  I tried it a few different ways (wetting the fabric on the inside, the outside, different iron settings, using starch, not using starch), but no matter what I did, the pressed pattern simply would not stay where i put it - after hanging for a couple of days, it just vanished. Oh, well.  It was a neat idea.  

Okay, Two Last Things

I thought I might "reupholster" my old red ear cauls for this outfit, as well, before I remembered that one had gotten badly crushed at war last year, and I'd thrown the pair out and resolved to make a new set when I needed one.  

Instead, since I felt like trying out something new, and didn't want to spend the time on making a new set of cauls, I decided to try my hand at making a bourrelet, or padded roll headpiece, instead - which, of course, ended up taking more time than a new set of cauls would have.  Whatever. :) 

Cotton/poly damask scraps from stash, over-embroidered along the fabric's design, with (plastic?) silver trim, plastic pearl beads, and a glass "ruby" and plastic pearl drop in the front.  There's a wire inside from an old Halloween witch's hat, and it's stuffed with the contents of an old bed pillow that had gone flat.  I love recycling old stuff!   

I may or may not end up doing some more embroidery on it.  The more I look at it, the less finished it actually looks.  Then again, 90% of it will be under a veil.  I'm not sure yet. 

I'll have pics of the finished outfit, with jewelry, veils, and other accessories, after Candlemas. 

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Can't Stay Away For Too Long

In the past month-or-so since war, I've taken some time off.  I've sewn mundane garments.  I've cleaned up the house.  I've been spray painting shelves, moving furniture around the house, helping to plan surprise birthday parties, learning to cook new things, and spending a LOT of time in the garden.

And yes, I've been gearing up to hit the SCA sewing.  The longer I put it off, the more excited I am about it!  And it's about time to get down to business.  I have a mountain of alterations and new projects for clients - some regular and some new.  There'll be a lot to show you in the next few months.

The first thing on my schedule was to refit a few things from my Italian wardrobe.

To Wit: 

I started by replacing the neckline on my old, white, cotton camicia with a drawstring neckline instead of the flat one it had (because it was ripped on one side, and stained, I think with coffee).

Next, I dug out my old, brown, linen gamurra for some repairs and alterations:

• re-attached one of the ribbons at the shoulders that tie the sleeves onto the dress
• re-attached a couple of button loops on the sleeves that had torn loose; and reinforced the rest of them to prevent that happening in the future
• changed the sleeve buttons
• replaced the hand-stitched lacing rings on the front of the gamurra with a strip of eye tape (the eye side of hook-and-eye tape by the yard) for a more even and professional-looking front closure on the dress
• Removed the skirt, which had always been a couple of inches too long, and rather than shortening it, shortened the bodice on the dress to move the look from a more mid-1400s natural waistline to a midriff-length high waistline seen in paintings of the 1480s-90s, which is the look I prefer (I intended this dress to have a higher waistline to begin with - which was why the skirt was too long - but I'm very long-waisted, and in the habit of adding length to the waistline of anything I sew, sometimes without thinking about it.  I realized recently that this was actually why that dress never fit me correctly in the bust!)  

Finished, front and back with sleeves

l

Before - April 2013. The front was sloppy, the bodice
lumpy because it was too long, and the sleeves were
too loose (I fixed that last fall but forgot to mention it). 

L-R:   opening up the brown linen shell,  opening up the lining and interlining and sizing the piece I removed from the lower
edge of the bodice, finished insert - and noticing that I twisted the front when I put it back together, resulting in a twisted
strap - I had to take the strap apart and flip it and sew it back together, LOL.  Oops.  

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Not my favorite part of making a gamurra.  However, since it was essentially
pre-pleated from just having been removed from the dress, it was far
easier than pleating "from scratch."  

Eye tape inside the front opening of the dress, and 1/8"
cotton twill tape lacing.  Also the new drawstring casing
on the camicia.

A Wild Unemployment Appears! It Is Very Effective!*

Mmmmyeah, remember the hiatus?  Not so much!  It would seem that I have won the "free time" lottery - and boy am I already rocking out the backed up projects! (I still have a lot of house stuff to do, but now I don't have to prioritize so severely, and I'm working on the run-up to Bordermarch Autumn Melees/War of the Rams, which is in four days!)

Friday afternoon I went straight from the [ex]-office to my friend Star's house to work on stuff and help her do the same.  I spent the entire weekend just steamrolling through the pile, and, well, I haven't stopped since.  (And yeah, since I was halfway into moving my craft room, it's been a huge pain in the butt working across three rooms!)

While thinking about the weather this coming weekend for the event, and what clothing I already had that would keep me warm and reasonably dry, I decided to go full Italian for the entire event.  You never go full Italian!  Yes.  Yes, you do.  I find it exciting - this is the first time I've ever stayed in one "mode" for an entire event. Usually I'm all over the place (last event I had a Viking day, a 14th century day, a bliaut day, and then pretty much just wore all my clothes at once for an unexpected cold snap, lol).

And so, although I won't have many pics for you until after the event itself, here's a list of what I've gotten done since Friday so far: 

• Removed the silver ribbon trim from my black gamurra and replaced it with couched gold satin ribbon, and 
• Created a pair of simple early 1500s-era bag sleeves in gold linen with black ribbon ties, and a machine-embroidered motto along the edges (these two things because (a) I didn't have an Italian Caerleon livery, and because my 14th century CL livery is all too small for me!  D:  ) 
• created another pair of bag sleeves in a lovely deep blue swirly damask, to be worn with my brown gamurra
• finished one and created a second long, fabric sash to be worn over my belt
• cut and finished two new, very simple pouches to carry my things in, one of a lovely embroidered silk that I can't wait to show you
• made an exrta-long flannel chemise with extra-long sleeves, to be worn as a nightgown n the frigid eastern Ansteorra winter nights...which was a godawful beige color, so I also bleached it...and instead of simply whitening, it turned bright bubble-gum pink!!!  Dafuq??  Whatever . It's warm, that's all I care about. It's not like anyone is going to see it. 
• Assembled eight simple, canvas "pilgrim bags"/flat satchels, and that'll get its own blog entry next week after I've given them to their intended recipients 
• Figured out how to achieve a hair covering like this one out of veils and ribbons that I already possess

And finally, because I just cannot wait to show these off: 

!!!

Inspired by this photo, I drafted my own version, did a loooot of cutting out pieces ( I got to use a friend's rotary cutter, and I'd never used one before, and that is DEFINITELY going on my christmas list!), a loooot of edge-serging, and at one point in the assembly process made a really pretty squid.  And I finally got to use my gold (plastic) knot buttons that I bought at Gulf Wars three years ago!

I really wanted to get a photo of these over my silk chemise sleeves...but I can't find my silk chemise!  NOOOOOO!   I must locate it before the weekend. While this picture is just over a t-shirt, I did try it on over a cotton chemise, and the sleeve boofs (technical term??) blouse up nicely like they're supposed to over the proper undergarments.












So what's next this week?  A great-coat-thing like this one, of heavy embroidered cotton and fuzzy blanket lining, for warmth.  A whole bunch of small flags, already cut out, that need to be painted and them assembled.  A woodworking project (a simple and quick one, thankfully), for the event.

Once I'm finished there'll be a LOT of sorting and packing and loading of SUVs.

And in between is my BFF's birthday, and a celebratory movie and dinner.  Yay! :D







* For the record, I was laid off from my job, which is not doing so well in the present economy.  This is a GREAT thing for me, though - I've been stagnating there and have often thought of moving on.  Now I get to!


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