The Pinkhardie

I'm starting a new wardrobe re-fit project, like the one I did with my Viking clothing last year, and my Florentine outfits the year before.  The first two were about making both sets of clothing more period-appropriate and replacing worn-out pieces.  This time around, I'm pretty much replacing my entire Gothic wardrobe.  Most of it is 4-6 years old, faded, worn out, and none of it fits me correctly anymore. 

I started with making over the blue velveteen cotehardie, which you can read about here. After having tried a few different versions of my cotehardie pattern in the past couple of years, I decided that I really loved the way the blue velveteen fits better than anything else I've tried, so I've gone back to that one. I drafted a new pattern from the blue velveteen and ran a couple of mock-ups to make sure it would work.

The next step was making two new cotehardies with that new-old pattern, both from stash fabric.  This pink one is plain linen, with bodice and sleeves lined in white linen, and buttoned in front and on the sleeves.

You can see where the bodice lining stops in this picture, because the fabric is so light!  I have a white underdress that I plan to wear with it, though, which cleans that up when it's actually on me, thank goodness.  That'll become an issue when it gets hot later this year, though, especially with the lining already in the top half of the dress.  I may go back and line the skirt; or I may just make a plain, white, linen underskirt that I can wear with more things than just this.






 

"original"

Finishing this dress involved some color changes. First, I tweaked the color of a dress a little bit by dyeing it in a bath of plain, black tea. The pink was a little bit too bright and Easter-egg-y for me; I really prefer a more ballet-slipper pink color like you'd get from a natural dye.  The tea toned down the pink to something more like you'd get with madder and less like Paas.

Photographing pink is hard.  The picture at left is NOT a good representation of the actual color of the fabric; but it does a pretty good job of illustrating the difference the tea staining made in the fabric. This fabric came from Fabric-Store.com; their photo of the fabric (here) is pretty close to its actual color. The real finished color is kind of on the line between pink and pale peach.

This is actually pretty close.
Stupid pink. Stupid camera.




It's weird for me, wearing pink. I think in my life I've only ever owned like three pieces of pink clothing. I really love this dress, though.

Top: single coat of polish (left); two coats (right)
Bottom: unpolished buttons (left) and after two coats (right)

 
The second adjustment was in the buttons.   I had some 5/8" silver buttons with a pretty compass rose design on them that were almost perfect with this dress, except that they were a really dark, cool, silver tone.  A couple of coats of gold nail polish ("I Married A Gold Digger", by Orchid Nail Laquer) took care of that: 



(This is the dress, by the way, on which I used the Washi tape to help me with the buttonholes, which I talked about briefly last week). 











 

What's Next?

Candlemas is tomorrow.  After that it's all Gulf Wars all the time until March 11th.  I'll be finishing a second new cotehardie, altering and updating a couple of older ones, sprucing up some accessories and making some new ones, and talking about a whole bunch of changes going on with my campsite arrangements for both myself and for Caerleon.  

.

Event: Quest For Valhalla

The event in Bjornsborg this past weekend was *FANTASTIC*, as Bborg events usually are.  Really great (and sometimes hilarious) fighting scenarios, nifty arts & crafts activities, spectacular persona play within the theme of the event - and as always, good friends, great food, and wall-to-wall fun. Actually, make that AMAZING food.  That was seriously one of the best feasts I've ever had.

Even though we were supposed to get a good drop in temperature, it was still too warm to wear half the Viking stuff I've been making all year.  But I did manage to get a couple of pics of me in some of it:

Simona & me

I also finally managed to get a pic of Donnchad in the yellow Viking tunic I made for him last Fall, with the red embroidery on the front placket:

Tom Hiddleston made an appearance...well, sort of:

Since this is the near-Halloween event in Bjornsborg, they held another skull-bedazzling.  I won one of the judges' favorites spots again this year, with my Frida Khalo calavera:

For a little while, I was Odin:

Odin has a migraine. Leave Odin alone.

And finally, my A&S entry, a Hedeby-style bag, about which I'll say more later this week.  Suffice to say, for now, that I love it, everyone else loved it, I broke it Friday night before I had even entered it, but now it has a story and begins to take on a life of its own, so I'm cool with it.  For now, here's a shot of it on the A&S table:

(the pretty blue beads I'm wearing in the preceding
picture were given to me by the baroness as
largesse on my A&S entry )

S'mo Viking

I've finally finished ALL of the items in the Great Big Viking Project! 

These are the things I've finished since LPT last month:

Here's the coat I've been working in fits and snorts for several months.  I made the gray shell in 2012 for the Battle of Ethandune event; I've just recently added the blue trim, and the burnt-orange lining. 

It's reversible!

Another Skjoldehamn-style hood, this one in Caerleon company colors. The lion appliqué down the center front was embroidered by Simona, on her fancy-schmancy embroidery machine.

A red dress that started out as another plain under dress like my black one, but which scope-crept itself into a lace-fronted loose gown, with seam and edge embroidery and hand-stitched eyelets.

My original apron dress (also from 2012), which was dyed to refresh the faded color, and then embroidered along the seams and straps.

Next on the blog: last-minute event stress (aka Wednesday). 

.

The Great Big Viking Project

The new Viking wardrobe project is nearly complete.  I've hinted at it a bit over the past couple of months (click the "Viking" tag at the bottom of this post to see), but I'm finally ready to show you [most of] my new stuff.

The full story is this: in 2012 I made a single Viking outfit to wear to the Battle of Ethandune Viking-themed event in the barony of Bjornsborg.  The event itself was EPIC.  The outfit was...pretty half-assed.  I didn't do any research on it, and I barely put any effort into the outfit itself - I didn't care for Viking at the time, and I hadn't planned to wear it more than the once.  Oh, how wrong I was about all of that.  Over the last few years I've done a ton of Viking clothing for other people, and along the way I've had to stop and do a bit of research for each project, and the more I learned, the more I became fascinated by the culture and dress of the Vikings of the 10th-11th centuries.

So this year I set about immersing myself in all things Viking.  I've been doing a TON of reading and web-surfing, I've made progress re-fashioning the original set of clothes for myself, and also am creating an entirely new Viking wardrobe so that this October, when Bjornsborg is holding another Viking-themed event, I'll not only be able to keep in-theme the entire event, but I'll also look fully and correctly dressed.

The first half of the project was to make-over the original outfit (here's a pic of it on me, and the full outfit on a table).  I showed you what I did to the under dress in this post in July.  The blue apron dress that went with it has been altered to fit me better, and re-dyed to refresh the color, but I haven't done anything else to it as yet.  I also took the coat completely apart and am currently in the process of creating a new lining and some trim pieces for it.  I'll show you pics of that apron dress and the coat when they're both finished.

The second part of the project was to create a few new complete outfits for myself.  I decided to use the project to hone my meager embroidery skills. I'm no expert, but I've learned a lot, gotten a lot of practice, and I'm really happy with my results on the following pieces:  

Seam and edge embroidery on the linen Skjoldehamn hood (August 5th)

Blue linen under dress (after the dress found at Eura, Finland), with seam embroidery.

A plain, black, linen under dress with
layered chain stitching along the cuffs
and neckline (May 2015)

Linen apron dress with hand-sewn loops and loop straps, and embroidery on
the seams and top/bottom edges.

Black linen apron dress with seam embroidery, top/bottom edge embroidered
botanical design with rayon ribbon appliqué'd across the top and bottom edges
(the embroidery on the straps is as yet unfinished)

Blue, open-front apron dress with seam, edge, and strap
embroidery, with contrast fabric at front opening
and lower hem

Whew! This has all taken me months to get done in my spare time, and the Great Big Viking Project isn't nearly complete.  Right now I'm gearing up for LPT (and trying to ignore the nightmares about it I keep having where I suck so badly at what I do that I get fired from the SCA!), but as soon as I get home I'll have more pics of more new Viking stuff for you - a couple of things I'm showing at LPT and don't want to post here yet, and some things that are in-progress but on hold until after I get back from the event (like that original coat, some jewelry, and a few small accessory items).

Meanwhile, some random thoughts about this project:

• I. Love. That. Eura dress!   While I'm comfy in my plain black under dress and my blue-and-green tunic, the Eura dress is SO COMFY, and VERY flattering on me, even with nothing worn on top.  I really want to make some more in that style. 
• I think I've finally reached the point where I actually enjoy embroidering! I had a lot of fun working on these pieces, and I have some decorative coming up that I can't wait to get into!  Because, as my roommate keeps reminding me, I am a Crazy Person. 
• 
  

See you soon!

Laurel's Prize Tourney

....is over. Thank god.  Actually, I had a freaking BLAST, I'm just glad the stress is over.  I was so nervous about this event that I stressed myself into puking my guts out for three days before the event.  Fail.

But LPT was completely awesome.  I had so much fun I had a hugely busy day.  I met so many amazing artisans, and basically got to sit around and talk shop for eight hours straight.  It was mentally exhausting, but it was SO much fun!  I got really good feedback on my recent projects and my work in general, and I have some really nifty new ideas and lots of notes scribbled hastily on a sheet of paper that I still need to try to transcribe into something I can use (seriously, have you seen my handwriting? This is no small feat.  Even *I* can't read it half the time).

So.  Pics from the event, and I'll talk about stuff a bit more in depth in the next post (which I thought I posted already, actually, whoops):

First iteration of my table display, with jewelry...

...about which no one gave a shit, but EVERYONE wanted
to see my painted boxes, so I ended up changing things around

You know that thing where you go to pack a suitcase
before a trip and a cat appears in it? Rory apparently wanted
to go to LPT with me the day I was working out the display
on my cutting table at home last week.

A closer look at some of my embroidery, photo by a friend

ditto

Me in one of my new Viking outfits

 (Aside:  Idk wtf this pose was, someone snapped this as I was on my way to the food because OMG FOOD NOW and I almost just ate her, I was so hungry.  The other thing I'm doing in this photo:  wearing the outfit that was supposed to be on my mannequin.  I had several people remark on the fact that my display had little to no height element, and see how your neighbor has all these stands and height variation?  *facepalm*  I had an unanticipated wardrobe malfunction while I was setting everything up, and ended up not being able to wear the dress I showed up to the event wearing, and instead put on the outfit that I had been about to dress Violet in.  Violet herself spent the day on the floor behind me, stark naked, hehe.  Oh, well.  Things happen). 

Simona della Luna and I, giddy and nervous after set-up in the am

I really can't express enough how much fun I had at the event, what a positive experience the whole thing was, and how grateful I am for the friends I took with me and the new friends I made while I was there.  I had been so terrified of this new thing that I stressed myself into throwing up for three days before we left.  I'm so immensely relieved that everything not only turned out okay, but pretty much turned out to be one of my favorite events, ever.

Next up:  Bjornsborg's Quest For Valhalla, in October - and the post I thought I posted already, and the reason for all this Viking craziness.

Meanwhile, I give you:

...some more of this cat.

.

Linen Skjoldehamn-Style Hood (Unfinished)

Not much to see here, just a hood, unlined.  The color is "Bayou" from www.fabric-store.com - I luuuurrrve this color; I have more on the way soon for a new Viking dress (Eura, Findland, 10thC).

Still trying to decide how to decorate it.  I've been on an embroidering binge lately; but I also borrowed an inkle loom from a friend and have yet to sit down with it and try my hand. (I've woven on an inkle loom once before, and it was really fun.  I borrowed the loom intending to learn new things, maybe make myself some belts and some dress trim).

More soon.

Refashioning An Old Viking Tunic

Back in 2012 I made a [half-assed] Viking outfit for the Battle of Ethandune event in the barony of Bjornsborg.  I haven't worn it much since then - maybe twice in the past three years.  I wore the white tunic with everything, though; at some point I dyed it green for some reason (I really don't remember, and I never liked the way it came out).  It was getting pretty worn around the edges, the color was weird, and the neckline never sat correctly on me.

So, this month I began taking it apart.  I removed the damaged lower sleeves and replaced them with a darker green linen fabric from a remnant.  I created a neckline overlay for it out of the same fabric, to bring the neckline up farther on my neck, and also to change the look of the tunic:

Over the weekend, I dug out the last of my fabric dye stash - which just happened to be a dark blue-green, and threw this thing into the sink.

It's definitely not the dark, forest green I was hoping for; but I LOVE the way the color came out.  After washing the dye out of the dress, I ran it through the washer with a bit of hair conditioner to soften up the fabric - I do that about every fourth time I wash my garb, and it keeps the linen from getting scratchy. (My skin reacts to 99% of commercial fabric softeners, but hair conditioner works great!)

Once it was dry, I ran a simple chain stitch around the trim pieces in a leaf-green embroidery floss, just so the dress wouldn't be completely plain.

This'll be a great knocking-around-camp casual dress; it's loose enough that I can wear it as a second layer in cool weather; and it can be dressed up into just about anything with the right accessories and headgear.  Success!

Meanwhile...

I'm finishing up the last two summer commissions this week, which I'll show you as soon as they're done and delivered.  I'm still in the process of refashioning my other old Viking stuff, and I have some new pieces I'll be talking about soon, too.  Stay tuned! ☺



.

S'Mo Viking Stuff

More hand stitching on my old Viking clothing, at which I'm still plodding away in my spare time.  I've been using this stuff as a brain-break between commission projects, so it's going very slowly, but it'll all be ready to wear this fall.

new blue stitching in my coat

it replaced this stuff - which is mostly picked out in this pic,
but MAN what an awful color.  Idk what I was thinking. 

I also (back in May, actually, and I'm just getting around to putting up a photo) took apart a LOT of my old jewelry and used some of the bits to make some new bling for my Viking stuff.  I had two sets of Viking-y jewelry before - one in red glass and fake bone, and one that was mostly metal.  I was feeling more colorful:

.

Embroidery Experiments

Cranking out the commission work, pics of all soon.  Meanwhile, in between projects, I've been experimenting with some hand-embroidered accents on some of the new Viking pieces I've been making for myself...

A plain, black underdress, now with blue and green layers of chain stitching and a thread-covered wooden bead button.
This is my very first thread-covered button! :D 

Hand-stitched accents on a blue "apron dress" to go over the black (and yes, this is all the same dress. The camera really
dislikes this color. The bottom left is fairly close to the real color of the fabric).

...and on one of my commission pieces:

An applique' cut from a piece of patterened fabric, painted and then applied to a neckline outer facing, and then
edge-stitched with a plain chain stitch to accent the facing a bit.

I've been trying to remember to clock various elements of my projects - sewing seams, setting sleeves and gores, finishing hems, all sorts of things, just for my own records.  The embroidery on the black dress, while I didn't remember to set my phone's stopwatch, took me all of Guardians of the Galaxy and  The Incredible Hulk to make, LOL.  The blue apron dress took about six hours, start to finish, or approximately both Thors and half of Captain America (I did actually time that one, and it worked out to nearly exactly six hours).  The applique' on the green dress took about half an hour to paint, not including drying time; about half an hour to machine-sew to the dress, and then all the embroidery took about three hours.  I think I binge-watched old episodes of Forensic Files for that one.  I may not be making very good headway with the actual stopwatch, but at least now I know if I'm going to embroider clothing I'd better have a stack of stuff on the DVR lined up, LOL.  ;) 

*



  

S'mo Italian Stuff

Just in time for the 14-15thC Italian-themed Queen's Champion event this weekend:

1.  Green damask giornea top layer for the brown linen gamurra I fixed up last month:

$7 thrift store holiday tablecloth FTW

2.  Blue silk cioppa (over-layer dress, sometimes worn over a gamurra, which is closed in the front, sometimes worn alone) with pieced sleeves:

Event pics, with sleeves, next week!

4.  A new necklace for no reason at all, with graduated, faceted carnelian beads given to me by a client, alternated with 4mm amber-colored glass seed beads:

5.  A blue linen sleeveless underdress, made for a friend to wear while working in the event kitchen and/or bumming around camp:

This was based (loosely) on the following excerpt.  I lowered the top yoke considerably, and left off the trim and shoulder ties.  This is meant to be sort of a sundress that she can wear for SCA work days - casual, plain, and cool in the Ansteorra heat.

from Triumph of Death, Lorenzo Costa
 (right panel)

Also finished since  my last post:  two Roman dresses, and two Viking apron dresses, for another client, as well as two pairs of Phrygian caps for two other people, all to be delivered this weekend at Queen's Champion.  Hopefully I'll have pics of everything for you next week!

.

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.  

.

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.