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. |
