Belated Event Follow-Up

The good news is that I DID find my box of 14th-century stuff, so I did not go to Lions naked. The event was fabulously fun, exciting, and beautiful, though a bit on the chilly side at night.  My poor tent, which was brand new in January, caught in a tornado in March, and has been breaking down bit by bit ever since that event, finally gave up the ghost when I tried to set it up at the event, so I slept in my friend's car the first night we were there.  As much as we wanted to stick around for the post-court party the next night, we opted to drive the hour-and-a-half home and luxuriate in hot showers and warm beds instead of weathering another frigid night outdoors.

me and my shabby parasol

Since then, I've been hard at work whipping my new fixer-upper house into shape.  I'm pleased to report that I have - mostly - got the sewing room together, although it's not remotely decorated or even within earshot of "done".  But I can work in it, which is fortunate, because I have a commission coming up in the next week or so (more Caerleon company livery, nothing terribly out of the ordinary - which is good. I don't think I could handle anything majorly complicated right now, with all the other work I still have to do). Updates on both the room and the commission coming soon.

What's Purple and Pink and Yellow All Over?

A friend asked me if I'd make her a Landsknecht dress.  She sent me pictures she'd seen online, and, because I'm a crazy person, I thought it looked like SO MUCH FUN.

This was hard. And I'm never doing it again - but it WAS SO MUCH FUN.  And my friend loved it, so, yay!  :)


It's all linen (from fabric-store.com), and all machine-sewn, except for the stripes on the bodice, which were appliqué'd onto the bodice by hand.  The bodice and sleeves* are fully lined; the skirt is not. 

* I forgot to get a pic of the sleeves before I delivered the dress.  They're made to be detachable, and lace on at the shoulders of the dress.  They're also made in two parts, an upper and lower sleeve that lace together, so that the dress may be worn sleeveless, or with long or short sleeves. They're purple, with pink and yellow bands; no checks. 








My original thought process was this:
1. Man, this looks like quilting. I hate quilting!
2. Oh, but wait! Somebody once told me a trick for doing checks the easy way! This'll be great!

And then I realized that "the easy way" involved only two colors, and that my first-ever checkered panel did, in fact, have to be done The Hard Way:

Yikes. 

It was, in fact, far easier than I'd thought it would be, and I'm really happy with the way it came out.  I made the skirt in four sections: the checkered panel, the striped panel above it, the striped panel below it, and the top panel which is solid purple.  Once the checkered panel and both striped panels were made and combined, the bottom half of the skirt looked like this:

Altogether, this is about eleven hours' work.

STRIPES
All the purple strips in this section are 2" wide, as finished (all pieces were cut with a 1/2" seam allowance - I wanted a lot of woodge room, just in case), except for the very bottom, which is 3" with a folded 2" blind hem. Both yellow stripes, and the two pink stripes that border the checkered panel, are 1" wide as finished. The top pink stripe is 3" finished.

CHECKS
All of the checks are 2" as finished, and also cut with a 1/2" seam allowance (cut as 3" squares).  I could not have done this dress at all without my trust cutting mat and rotary cutters, or I would have gone completely banana-balls and rampaged naked through the town.

I very nearly went banana-balls and rampaged naked through
the town just sewing them together, fyi. 

The construction on this was painstaking, tedious, eye-numbing, repetitive, time consuming, and exhausting; but at every step of the way I kept stopping to look at it and going, "Wow. I did that! I can't believe I did that [and didn't screw it up!] I've never done this before, this is great!"  and that is my very favorite thing about sewing.  I LOVE learning to do new things. I love doing things I've never done.

As always, Rory helped.

P.S. - this was my very last commission.  I know I've said that before, but this really is the last one.  I'm freeeeeee...or I was, for a minute.  Until I found out a dear friend will be elevated soon!!!  SQUEEE!!! 

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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 )

A Very Wrinkly Bliaut

Another commission finished, yay! 

Another bliaut, for the same client as the blue and magenta one, and the viking coat.

click to embiggen

• Gold linen with black linen trim, lining, and applied neckline and upper sleeve contrast bands.  
• Same pattern as the blue and magenta one, with a different neckline. 
• Caerleon livery, yay! 
• Side-laced, with hand-sewn eyelets.
• Lions (7) hand-embroidered (*fingers fall off*) 

Yes, I could have ironed this before I photographed it.  But...I didn't.  :P 

Closeup of the embroidered lions.  I'd originally planned to appliqué these,  but they're only about an inch and a half high - way too small to appliqué on the machine without it becoming a huge mess.  I decided to stitch them down by hand instead; but seeing that the white embroidery thread I was using to edge them was a completely different white than the linen I cut the lions out of, I decided to just embroider the entire thing(s) instead.

I finished the lions on the neckline facing before attaching it to the body of the dress, then ran the lining in last, so that all of the seams were enclosed within the lining and the back of the embroidery would be fully hidden/protected. 

I'm rather pleased with the way these little guys came out. 










The gold stripe along the edges of all the black pieces is a couched cord of embroidery floss.









Whew!

I have one commission piece to do in September, but first I have to make it to/through LPT without spontaneously combusting from stress.  :D

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Another One Bites the Dustbunnies

Today's finished project:

A white viking coat, trimmed in blue linen and a gold-and-blue metallic woven trim.

This fabric is really cool.  I can't for the life of me remember what it's called - it's heavy, woven, wool/poly fabric made for blankets and linings.  It's lightly felted on the inside, and is REALLY warm and soft.

Fun fact:  I'm allergic as crap to wool.  After working on this all day (I went into it thinking this was cotton, and wasn't wearing gloves, sleeves, or long pants!), I feel like I've been dusted all over with fiberglass.  $%&1&@#*!!!   But it's really neat stuff. :)


The fleur-de-lis pin is the client's. Totally not viking, but it was in the bag, so I slapped it on there to take the picture for her, hehe.  :)












Whew!  That's four pieces completed this week.  All I have left this month is two complete pieces and then a HUGE stack of alterations and repairs.   More sewing! All the sewing!

Back soon.



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Finished!

One lightweight rayon chemise and pair of post-period bloomers with ruffled hems, in the same fabric.  (No pics, sorry.  I was in a hurry to get them out the door - and you guys know what a chemise looks like).

It's not much, but I'm cranking out those projects! 

More soon.

A Finished Commission!

I'm back at it, and slowly but steadily cranking out the last two sets of commission pieces before I get on with work for this fall's event season.  Here's the first one, a linen bliaut:

"Olympian Blue" 100% linen, with magenta linen sleeve linings, skirt guarding, and appliqé neckline, with...

A thin, white, cotton cord couched along all the edges of the magenta trim pieces, and the sleeve edges, with a little silver-and-pearl button closure. 

The recipient was very pleased! Yay!

Next Up: 

• a pair of chemises in white rayon challis (already cut out)
• another "casual" bliaut like this one (simple) (already cut out)
• a rather fancy bliaut (court wear, multi-colored, heraldic, appliqué'd and embroidered)
• a white linen Viking dress
• a Viking overcoat
• a short stack of minor alterations to some fighting clothes, and
•  another six painted flags for the Caerleon campsite fence (designs already sketched, plotted, ready to transfer to the fabric)

WHOO!  That's a ton of work - I got REALLY backed up in June.  I love my new day job, but after not working for seven months, suddenly jumping back into the 9-5 with both feet, and into an intense and complicated work stream to boot, really sapped my energy as I was getting used to it.  I'm so glad to be sewing again, though. 

It sound crazy even to me, but I'm hoping to get ALL of that list finished by the end of July.  In August I have a Landsknecht and a couple of intricate Viking pieces to get done, as well as a project for Laurel's Prize Tourney in September.  And somewhere in amongst all of this, I STILL have to complete all of my own new Viking stuff, AND do alterations on the rest of my wardrobe: my new job takes a lot of walking, and I'm going to the gym nearly every day after work - I've lost nearly fifteen pounds already, and I'm hoping that trend will continue, alterations be damned.  :)

Nose the grindstone sewing machine.  Here goes nothing.

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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.  ;) 

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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!

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The Final War Commission

It started with a pile of black linen embroidered in white cotton, and a pile of red linen.  I over-dyed the black to make the embroidery red:

Which then got turned into a third bliaut for Lady Ysabeau:

Red keyhole neckline and hem facing.

Shown with one of my long sash belts.

Fully lined!

Side laced in red linen facings with machine-stitched buttonholes.

My commissions for Gulf Wars XXIV are finished!

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A Quick Pre-War Update

HOO BOY have I been nose-to-the-grindstone-sewing-machine lately.  Today I pulled ten hours straight!  I'm happy to say that I'm on schedule and moving right along.  I'm a bit apprehensive of this weekend; I'm taking the weekend off to attend a local event (after having spent last Saturday at regional war practice, and most of Sunday at a workshop day at a friend's house (at which I got many things done, actually)  - so I'll lose a day and a half of work time, but I definitely need the mental break!

So I have looooots of things to show you, mostly having to do with client sewing - but I forgot to take pictures of the two gowns I finished for said client last week before I delivered them, so I'll be getting with her soon to take some pics.

Some of the things going on lately: 

1.  A new LBGFD for me (Little Black [Gothic Fitted] Dress).  I'm happy to say that after upsizing and re-drafting the whole thing last year, last week I had to start sizing it down again, and adjusting some of the curves.  I made a second one from the new pattern today, and I'll have pics for you next week after the event coming up.

at war practice last weekend

2.  I finally got around to stripping down Violet and re-fitting her to look exactly like me.  At first I thought, "Wow, do I really look like a Russian Nesting Doll??"  but I'm actually pretty happy with my fitness progress of late. :) 

bewbs

3.  I've been dyeing a whole bunch of fabric: 

Forgot the gloves again. Typing this post with murder hands. 

4.  Painting lots of fabric, too: 

Rory likes to help. 

more heraldic flags for the campsite ropeline! 

Next Up

Tomorrow I'll be cleaning out the garage (because I can't even GET to my camping stuff as of right now, and I'll need it this weekend as well as for war, obviously). 

After that, I have some woodworking projects, which I'll show you; as well as a stack of client projects, and a couple of last things for me.  ONLY TWO WEEKS TO GO UNTIL WAR!  *breathes into a paper bag*  @_@

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Make All the Things!!! (v. billionty-one)

Pics from the weekend's event are forthcoming; for now I have just a couple of recent things to share, and in no particular order:

First, a serious one.  This is a bliaut that I made for a friend, of russet-red silk with black linen lining, and trim by Calontir Trim.

I'll have pics of her in it soon, as well as some other things I've made for her.

I've finally started the process of creating some false hairpieces for the SCA out of my own hair that was removed in March of this year.  Braided tightly and unevently, they don't look like much here, but the total hair is nearly two feet long!

I've combined this pair of braids into a single hank of hair, and washed and conditioned it.  Next I'll be separating it back into a pair of even braids, and working them into a shape that I can use with my cauls, or as templar braids to be worn with my circlet.  Soon. I hope.

At the Bjornsborg Tournament of the Smitten Heart three weeks ago, I made this little guy. Since it was a pre-Halloween event, they held a "skull bedazzling contest." - and I have to say, I wasn't going to join in, but when I saw the plain plastic skulls on the table, I HAD to grab one and make a little calavera.

Lo and behold, it was one of two "judges' favorites" winners!  Squee!  My prize was a lovely stoneware goblet and a string of emerald chips...and a trip up in front of court to be recognized, so, you know: fear.  Hee.

Firstly, I love funny, mistranslated labels like this. "Preventing finger"??  LOL.

FYI, my new cot, which I purchased because I was sick to death of waking up on a flat air mattress,  also prevents the following:

• sleep
• comfort
• blankets staying on the bed
• unbruised ankles

AND this past weekend at the baronial event, I'm fairly certain that this bastard was at least half responsible for the TWO partially dislocated shoulders that I am now rocking.  OWWW.  

So yeah: fuck cots. 

More soon! 

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