tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54806582580340734012024-02-19T01:49:41.418-05:00Vika's Vexatious VestmentsA fractal journey through the textile artsVictoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-55119117733719336622020-11-10T20:13:00.006-05:002020-11-10T20:13:48.080-05:00And Now For Something Completely Different<p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuINnNyPS3NmNuavllp-DyPd0LBZhh2-m178bBKVgxaz-Y8HK2T-8CLzVXKzrw1VXrEWKVhhaLvwXbWo-MxlbJmoN1oNhHw8LkukXS0XxcZI2qFnkdDqF1iMUJr-qqFRJ26-KT0CRLnRTo/"><img data-original-height="270" data-original-width="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuINnNyPS3NmNuavllp-DyPd0LBZhh2-m178bBKVgxaz-Y8HK2T-8CLzVXKzrw1VXrEWKVhhaLvwXbWo-MxlbJmoN1oNhHw8LkukXS0XxcZI2qFnkdDqF1iMUJr-qqFRJ26-KT0CRLnRTo/s16000/image.png" title="oh hey and they changed the Blogger interface by, like, a lot" /></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yes, here I am again; and I </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">have</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> done a bit of sewing; but mostly just been trying to survive the 2020 garbage fire which has not been easy on me. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I did a new thing! to wit, coming up with the words for <a href="https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/index.php?title=Elizabet_Marshall" target="_blank">Elizabet Marshall</a>'s Laurel scroll. <br /><br />The elements that need to be in an SCA scroll are as formalized, in their way, as the elements in a medieval letter:</span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">The award being given</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">The names of the monarchs giving it</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">The name of the recipient</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">The reason for the award</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">The date & location the award is being bestowed</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">How you phrase and arrange these elements, however, are entirely open, and they can be frotzed however you like. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">So, what's appropriate for a lady of 12th century England being made a Peer? She's not a Norman, at least, so one does not have to fret about French (early </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">or</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> modern), thank goodness. I started by trolling through every online source I could find of Angevin documents: letters, decrees, charters, anything that was out there. (Someone is actually working on </span><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-letters-and-charters-of-henry-ii-king-of-england-1154-1189-the-letters-and-charters-of-henry-ii-king-of-england-1154-1189-9780198208396?cc=us&lang=en&" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">a definitive collection <i>and translation</i> of all the papers of Henry II</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">! Hooray! Publication date? January, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">2021</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">. -_-)</span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Eventually I found a site that had transcribed the last big effort, from the early 1900s, of as much STUF as they could find from Stephen, Matilda, Henry II, Richard, and John. It's all in Latin, and they didn't translate it, but did have summaries, so at least I had somewhere to start. Some facts became immediately clear:</span></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Charters of the time were repetitive. Do not use a single noun or adjective where you can use three.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Charters of the time were extremely businesslike. They're concerned with the "what" and not the "why".</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana;">(and this is obvious) There's nothing directly translatable to the normal elements of SCA peerage - you don't give someone a charter to declare them a knight, and the king is 100% not involved in artisan stuff. </span></li></ol><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">#3 was my first problem. In later period, you can find extant examples where a royal is ennobling or in some wise giving an attaboy to their tailor or whatever; but earlier on, absolutely nope. But what I <i>did</i> find was the first charter creating a peer of England: issued by King Stephen in 1139, wherein he created Geoffrey de Mandeville Earl of Essex.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Stephanis rex Anglorum archiepiscopis episcopis abbatibus comitibus baronibus justiciis vicecomitibus et omnibus fidelibus suis totius Anglie salutem.</i><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]<i> </i></span> </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Sciatis me fecisse comitem de Gaufrido de Magnavilla de comitatu Essexie hereditarie. </i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Quare volo et concedo et firmiter precipio quod ipse et heredes sui post eum hereditario jure teneant de me et de heredibus meis bene et in pace et libere et quiete et honorifice sicut alii comites mei de terra mea melius vel liberius vel honorificentius tenent comitatus suos unde comites sunt cum omnibus dignitatibus et libertatibus et consuetudinibus cum quibus alii comites me prefati dignius vel liberius tenent.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">And, my janky-ass translation:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><br /></div><div><i>Stephen, king of the English, to archbishiops, bishops, abbots, counts, barons, justicars, sheriffs, and all the faithful in the whole of England, greetings. </i><i>Know that I have created Geoffrey de Mandeville earl of the hereditary county of Essex. Wherefore I will and grant and firmly command that he and his heirs after him will hold jurisdiction from me and my heirs well and in peace and freely and quietly and honorably, just as my other earls in my lands better or more freely or more honorably hold their counties where earls are [???] with all dignity and freedom and customs with which other earls I have aforementioned hold dignity or freedom.[??????]</i></div><div><br /></div><div>(See what I mean about the repetition?)</div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, this takes care of the giver, the recipient, and what's being given; but there's nothing to explain <i>why</i> Geoff is getting an earldom<span style="font-size: x-small;">[2]</span>. The existing Angevin charters seem to be completely concerned with effect, not cause. They do not waste time or ink on why a person or organization is getting something (or having something taken away), they just record that they’re <i>doing</i> it. The closest one gets is either a note about restoring to how things were under a previous ruler, or a gift to a religious foundation which may allude briefly to doing something in the name of a saint. So the usual “why we’re doing this” in an SCA scroll is purely ahistorical for this period, and you just have to make your peace with that.</div><div><br /></div><div>One cool thing I <i>did</i> find, though, was in one of Matilda's<span style="font-size: x-small;">[3]</span> charters:</div><div><div><i>Precipio tibi quod seisias Willelmum filium Otonis de terra sua de Benflet ita bene et plene sicut inde seisitus fuit die qua rex Henricus pater meus fuit vivus et mortuus. Et bene et in pace, libere et honorifice teneat sicut liberius tenuit tempore Henrici patris mei.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>My slightly less-janky translation:</div><div><i>I command to you the seisin of William fitz Otho of his land in Benfleet well and fully as it was in the day when the king Henry my father was alive and dead</i><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4].</span><i> And he is to hold it well and in peace and freely and honorably as freely as he held it in the time of my father Henry.</i></div><div><br /></div></div><div>This is relevant because Elizabet was given her Writ by Margarita, but because of pandemic her actual peerage was going to be bestowed by Tindal & Alberic; so it was a nice element to knit in. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, our final construction:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>Magnus Tindal and Alberich von Rostock, Consules of the East, to all dukes, counts, viscounts, barons, nobles, ministers, and all faithful people of the East, greetings.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Know that we appoint Elizabet Marshall a Mistress of the Order of the Laurel, even as decreed in the day of the queen Margarita our forebear, for her excellence and skill at embroidery and her service to the ancient and honorable guild and craft thereof. Wherefore we will and grant and firmly command that she will hold this honor from us and our heirs, performing its duties well and freely and honorably, even as our other peers in our lands hold this honor, and with the dignities and freedoms and customs that these aforementioned peers hold. And we grant and reaffirm unto her these arms by letters patent: Azure, three squirrels maintaining a threaded needle Or. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Done in this year of the Great Plague at Chateau des Coccinelles.</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgioMVIKKQcYjzSWoNUc15HDwfdZW2tVn0wtTQKXmQeVQNOaWfvkGSsy8M5EYpJDIZ4YnjcXxbL9H1L4oFHh6WrsIHLGnLIAHIoLmoJ8CgvRQk9VEdZLhOSRBQ3RsO0QGyRRMdrV2Uqd0qM/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgioMVIKKQcYjzSWoNUc15HDwfdZW2tVn0wtTQKXmQeVQNOaWfvkGSsy8M5EYpJDIZ4YnjcXxbL9H1L4oFHh6WrsIHLGnLIAHIoLmoJ8CgvRQk9VEdZLhOSRBQ3RsO0QGyRRMdrV2Uqd0qM/w400-h266/image.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scroll in progress</td></tr></tbody></table></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">[1] This formula, with minor adjustments, is in all of Stephen's charters, as well as Matilda's and Henry's.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">[2] spoilers: he was an opportunistic asshole and Stephen was trying to get him to be inside the tent pissing out for a change</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">[3] if you're not up on your English history: she was the daughter of Henry I and a rival claimant to Stephen (who was only a cousin) for the throne, which led to a nice little civil war for quite some years.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">[4] Yeah, I don't get it either.</span></div><p></p>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-2956819113540249162019-09-21T20:04:00.000-04:002019-09-21T20:04:04.804-04:00It Has Been Eight Months Since My Last Confession<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was talking to one of my five regular readers, who pointed out I hadn't posted since January. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">"Nonsense," I said. "I must have </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">at least</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> posted in the run-up to </span><a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2018/08/not-much-with-my-war-ho-ho-ho-how-about.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">My Grand Day Out</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Quotha:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">okay that's awkward</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, yeah, I </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">have</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> been doing stuff, though since March nothing super-epic. It's boiled down about like this:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jan-March: completely focused on getting everything ready for Mudthaw, which is when I became a Made Man™</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">April: finishing the bits of the outfits for Mudthaw that didn't quiiiiiite get done on time, because there was a 14th-century immersion event at the end of April, and we had all these just-made fancy high-Gothic duds, and well <i>yes</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">May-July: Some small amount of Pennsic sewing, but mostly working on the planned gifts for the House Runnymede dinner that would be held <i>at</i> Pennsic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Aug-now: mostly absolutely nothing, because not only is it start-of-semester at work, but my Service Desk manager left and I have been doing two jobs</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, the list of things what have been achieved:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My silk under & over-dresses</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">my burgundy wool hose[1]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">my dashing consort's silk cote</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">my dashing consort's brick-red gabardine hose</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a new chemise with a better-shaped neckline</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 pair plain white linen hose (mine)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Contrasting strip on the bottom of my lavender kirtle[2]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">new purse (mine)[3]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 new lacing cords of various sizes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://edythmiller.blogspot.com/2011/06/finishing-fingerloop-braid-laces-with.html" target="_blank">Beeswax "aglets"</a> for all current lacing cords[4]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">10 painted cushion covers with Eastern baronial arms (that's the Runnymede gifts aforementioned)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 sets of fake-hair braids. (And I've actually <i>practiced putting them on</i>, TYVM.)</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I mean, that's not <i>awesome</i> for 2/3 of a year; but I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty burned out for awhile; and could only manage things which absolutely <i>had</i> to get done. It's only in the last week or so I've started to feel like getting back into it - and the most I've achieved is "sewing on some buttons that somebody else made".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That said, what is there I have to say to you, my readers, about advancing the cause of Science? I feel like there's a lot I could or should post about my gown(s) and his cote, though I don't know how much of it I can pull back out of the sludge at this point. (Other than that the difference between real and faux-silk brocade is epic. EPIC.) I also should have a round-up of all the work that other people did for My Big Day, much of which has its own blog posts, for your amazement and possible envy. The rest of the stuff seems kind of business-as-usual? I think? Not super-useful to add to the corpus of group knowledge? But I'll try and commit to back-filling, at least until I have something new and exciting to share.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] Which were too small along my cyclist calves, and I burst the back seams during my peerage ceremony, FML. But they have been regifted to someone with thinner legs and they all lived happily ever after.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] so the dress is now a) hemmed and b) no longer too short.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[3] Mostly done. I still have to make the hanging strings for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[4] they worked SUPER WELL. do this forever</span></div>
Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-66350920294692740112019-01-20T14:56:00.002-05:002019-01-20T14:56:59.016-05:00Here We Are Again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7eHT8xPt6dQpgSW6TYEBfpLDE8mElj7U2GXcgfSV2RLEYMeuk7gFZhgwfVXeD2S0XvG6OZM7LoPKswsWDHG_mrslk2NTl90c2WLFCIYRgg5o0qFShc6C7c7tXTgPutT3OqFd7FdGmJz8/s1600/questions.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="360" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7eHT8xPt6dQpgSW6TYEBfpLDE8mElj7U2GXcgfSV2RLEYMeuk7gFZhgwfVXeD2S0XvG6OZM7LoPKswsWDHG_mrslk2NTl90c2WLFCIYRgg5o0qFShc6C7c7tXTgPutT3OqFd7FdGmJz8/s320/questions.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">'m really crap at updating over the holidays, aren't I? --Well, let's be honest; I don't tend to get a lot </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">done</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> over the holidays. There's all the chaos and wharrgarbl of holiday prep and possibly travel, and usually I have managed to get sick at least once each season; and the truth is, as has been pointed out to me this year, in December my creative efforts seem to focus themselves entirely around the kitchen. Which is fine! But I should factor that into my expectations going forward.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All of the above things were true this holiday season as well, especially the getting-sick, but I did at least manage to do some work on my dashing consort's cote (doublet, thing). I started with the pourpoint pattern, draped it on him, made adjustments, created an edited pattern from <i>that</i>, and then cut out & made up a linen version. It's actually pretty good, I'm happy to say, but there were some weirdnesses going on in the back of the grande assiettes so I had to put it on hold until yesterday, when I could get some expert consultation. This having been obtained (in the teeth of a threatened snow/ice/something-storm that did not in fact materialize), I am now at a decision point: do I cut the actual fabric on the fly, using the existing pattern and just changing some things here & there where it seems right, or do I make a follow-up pattern, baste it & fit it, to be sure? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*points at above image*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know the right thing to do, I'm just...I want to move <i>forward</i> already, argh. But I'll hate myself forever if I cut the silk and screw it up, so I guess it's time for Second Pattern. Grumble.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As regards the other tasks on the docket, I've procured his hose fabric[1] and silk to line my overgown, and made some pending executive decisions, and helped fit and/or counsel a few other people, and researched bycocket production so that if there's spare time (HAW HAW) we can do a workshop day for that[2]. So, things are still in pretty good shape here, in spite of the various setbacks and lost[3] time. I have to continue flogging myself along the path, though; I keep slipping into avoidance behavior. This morning, I opened like seven genealogy research tabs before I slapped myself upside the head and was all NO THIS IS NOT OUR CURRENT JOB. Stupid brain.</span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">[1] An exquisite dull-dark red wool gaberdine. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">[2] Hum, if I </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">don't</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> have time for a bycocket, should I make a hood for my dashing consort instead? I have the pattern, I'd just need the fabric. Hmm, hmm, hmm.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">[3] == "wasted being sick on the couch and playing the new Assassin's Creed"</span></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-56004400623407003482018-11-18T10:51:00.000-05:002018-11-18T10:51:06.056-05:00And Suddenly It Was Mid-November<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0htgE6Njz57B0J2h7E649Lp-VoiE2URjv2S8MzMswc6dbdPV6pqZ_BD2HiCXrvmofd3YEt5WyiPA2rUaZ-V0Vw4ypRM43uUr4msyQVFkRhiY2x59g8m2XI3EZRoHEOW83VBS19oJ0cw1T/s1600/IMG_20181117_144908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0htgE6Njz57B0J2h7E649Lp-VoiE2URjv2S8MzMswc6dbdPV6pqZ_BD2HiCXrvmofd3YEt5WyiPA2rUaZ-V0Vw4ypRM43uUr4msyQVFkRhiY2x59g8m2XI3EZRoHEOW83VBS19oJ0cw1T/s320/IMG_20181117_144908.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">here we go again</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why do I care that it's mid-November? Because my generalized project plan had November charted out to finalize the pattern for my dashing consort's cote-hardie, and I have done sweet F-A on that task to date. <i>waugh</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflzisfFx7V4dodyZ275n5QhV6muMo7TrLxWYfR8qA75DiguG0XSwUNngmP7cvJ-vzoyMvN-EnZk2tKGfGv7B3W2HsfCJS6RPY8C9Li17aDKBT8dhmuHASf-31RKeCkb0kxtSuZInVngQe/s1600/IMG_20181024_213801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflzisfFx7V4dodyZ275n5QhV6muMo7TrLxWYfR8qA75DiguG0XSwUNngmP7cvJ-vzoyMvN-EnZk2tKGfGv7B3W2HsfCJS6RPY8C9Li17aDKBT8dhmuHASf-31RKeCkb0kxtSuZInVngQe/s200/IMG_20181024_213801.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Did I get pictures of us at<br />the event? Of course not. But<br />here's how I jazzed up his<br />over-tunic. I am pleased.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, I did start as well as finish[1] the 13th-century tunics + the embellishment of my Norman gown that I mentioned <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2018/10/catch-up-and-moving-forward.html" target="_blank">last post</a>, and I did them in time for the event, <i>and</i> they came out nearly exactly as I had in mind; so hooray for that. And I have not been wholly idle in the interim; I've mostly finished the embellishment of the sleeve for her Majesty - just one more pearl decision to make - and I finished both my consort's madder wool hose and my own white linen hose. However there has been rather more Skyrim[2] and rather less sewing than otherwise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since it'd been some time since I first burbled out all my thoughts regarding prep for <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2018/08/not-much-with-my-war-ho-ho-ho-how-about.html" target="_blank">My Grand Day Out</a>, I figured I should go through it all again and turn it into a proper organized sequence of tasks: not just his cote, but everything involved. I created headings for each garment of interest (with a separate catch-all for small bits) and then wrote a separate post-it for each task I perceived underneath. Now, at this stage, most of the tasks are high-level; I do not have separate ones for "cut out fabric", "sew back seam", "hem neckline", etc. at this juncture, because I don't need to yet. As each garment comes up on deck, <i>then</i> I will break them down to that level. For <i>my</i> dresses, which I'm not going to start to attack until mid-January[3], the only specific tasks are thinky-planny ones like "am I going to line the overdress, and if so, with what" and "fabric or metal buttons?". Similarly, for his cote, there's just a high-level task for "make the silk cote", but there is a ream of very specific tasks re: getting the pattern together. (My current working plan is to use the pattern pieces from the pourpoint as a starting place - his chest size is not dissimilar to my patron's - and adjust from there both for differing dimensions and for what I've learned about where the assiettes really want to be.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Having littered a coffee table with many bits of paper, and ordered & categorized them, I then created a new <a href="https://trello.com/" target="_blank">Trello</a> board and transferred each item to a "card". (Is this a waste of paper? Yeah, slightly; but I find it much more effective for me to start the process with physical entities; YMMV.) I also created labels for each garment and tagged each card appropriately, and added comments as needed so if I pick one up in two or five or ten weeks, I have some idea of what the heck was in my mind at the time.<br /><br />My roadmap looks something like this:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">November: </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">complete a first-draft pattern for his cote</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">December: </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">make up (enough of) a linen cote[4] to confirm the pattern</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">adjust cote pattern</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">make silk cote</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">decide on <i>his</i> hose fabric</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">read up on bycocket production; decide whether I have the spoons to do it</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">January:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">buttons & buttonholes on silk cote [cursing intensifies]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bycocket production, maybe</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">make final decisions on my overdress: lining, tippets, buttons, (extra) ornamentation, etc.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Acquire fabrics for hose, bycocket, linings, etc. as needed</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cut out hose for both of us[5]</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">February</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Check fit on my underdress vs. current body shape</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Based on that, decide on pattern adjustments for overdress</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cut out & make up overdress [more damn buttons]</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">March</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finish overdress</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finalize adjustments to underdress</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finish underdress</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Complete all non-essential items as time permits</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I mean, yes, also there are holidays and birthdays and work going *foom* in there, but we'll take it as it comes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] "Finish enough to wear", anyways. All the seams are still raw on the inside. BUT THEY ARE HEMMED SO SHUT UP.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] I always have the urge to play Skyrim this time of year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[3] Der Tag is March 30; and my shape has been changing sufficiently that if I start them now, they won't fucking <i>fit right</i> by the end of March.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[4] which will then eventually be finished for him as a summer garment. WASTE NOTHING.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[5] the nice thing about the hose is, I can <i>in extremis</i> farm them out to helpful friends. Or in absolute emergency, I at least can wear my trusty old yellow wool hose.[6]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[6] something old, something new, etc etc</span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-10324877536397465312018-10-20T14:42:00.001-04:002018-10-20T14:42:11.107-04:00Catch-Up and Moving Forward<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRG9DwLtlIhNZHY43GjGgawVXkvqosIZFlsXnzILN-mIJx_68UdvfyElpQjlOXQB6qM3KVog7KPjG_Yb4Y54h5l-g-Rvv6A99RnhXmOWtsq-9RIIaPnapsFGRlcAXnhRPnQsA3pLqnxM7/s1600/IMG_20180930_135143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRG9DwLtlIhNZHY43GjGgawVXkvqosIZFlsXnzILN-mIJx_68UdvfyElpQjlOXQB6qM3KVog7KPjG_Yb4Y54h5l-g-Rvv6A99RnhXmOWtsq-9RIIaPnapsFGRlcAXnhRPnQsA3pLqnxM7/s320/IMG_20180930_135143.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">painted salon at Guédelon</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Goodness, it's been awhile, hasn't it? Yikes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p5sS_xlX-knlobCanIXwKMYVAq8yXRu9DBd7nwKXYAmp9YWDXuPUVu7bmbzQ_ExdqFWUnlLzmgdJx7_P_N25pCJxNm_PmlEpbwyNGfw4vQLTF_G99wRce_rYE_H3MPKqljJ4k87E_kMo/s1600/IMG_20180930_143758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p5sS_xlX-knlobCanIXwKMYVAq8yXRu9DBd7nwKXYAmp9YWDXuPUVu7bmbzQ_ExdqFWUnlLzmgdJx7_P_N25pCJxNm_PmlEpbwyNGfw4vQLTF_G99wRce_rYE_H3MPKqljJ4k87E_kMo/s200/IMG_20180930_143758.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From the dyers' workshop:<br />dyes from dye-specific plants<br />(there's another bank with<br />dyes from wild plants)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2018/08/not-much-with-my-war-ho-ho-ho-how-about.html" target="_blank">my last confession</a>, I have done some sporadic bursts of effort with a bunch of nothing in between; work was fairly crushing due to start of semester + opening a new building that my people and I had a huge amount of work to do with, so I was very lacking in spoons by the time I got home. Oh yes and ALSO I WENT TO BURGUNDY ahem. Very little to report there on the textile front, alas, but I have a lot of photos on Gallo-Roman stuffs and the various phat loot belonging to the Dukes of Burgundy. Also! More exciting! We went to <a href="https://www.guedelon.fr/en/" target="_blank">Guédelon Castle</a>--you know, the one they've been building for over a decade using 13th century construction techniques? It was amazing. And it's not just the castle; they have a whole working village with all the crafters (woodworkers, tile makers, dyers, paint-makers, basket-weavers, and so on). Everyone should go[1] and I would like to go back every couple of years to see how it's all changing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GjpAZH8zpxzbhc-MdnAdTnA8cT7DdrmdKB3mlmp2tu9fTiMaX8HAPf-WyL0Muy8b-I4KCvu9C93W8MQxY-O4XaDgVws_2CH_kj2X_qDTBgnMGHRDPjzoIxa9Lawud4LAwCt0uVBqAfN9/s1600/IMG_20180922_153740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GjpAZH8zpxzbhc-MdnAdTnA8cT7DdrmdKB3mlmp2tu9fTiMaX8HAPf-WyL0Muy8b-I4KCvu9C93W8MQxY-O4XaDgVws_2CH_kj2X_qDTBgnMGHRDPjzoIxa9Lawud4LAwCt0uVBqAfN9/s200/IMG_20180922_153740.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a few Landsknecht layers </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That said, we were still on the hook for His current Majesty's outfit for Coronation; and I did not get to help with that as much as I would've liked to, as the construction timing peaked as we were leaving on holiday, but I did a deal of pad-stitching and layer-attaching. It was fun and educational. I also started pearling a set of sleeves for Her current Majesty, but I'm not really clear on the due date for those--originally they were for Coronation too, but the fabric didn't really go with their color scheme, so it's been de-prioritized. I found I was really enjoying the work--a little fussy, but intensely satisfying; much like putting <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-slight-detour-into-bridal-industry.html" target="_blank">decorations on a wedding dress</a>. I should get it finished & out the door, though. Stop starting, start finishing!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Therefore, of course, I have some new clothes to make on a deadline.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggUNDJT-r3WAdhXV-bWAkV-Y4ue17lm0IlGBUt7SJC50ikYt3Pq3eJjMl57qOmJWjA_BOUfzk6av1XqRfWuDLudnbI-zzW5tBhHdtIbyjFlXUaBbVN00ZuUc2j0ChnalccExXhpde4w2Ok/s1600/IMG_20181019_193541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggUNDJT-r3WAdhXV-bWAkV-Y4ue17lm0IlGBUt7SJC50ikYt3Pq3eJjMl57qOmJWjA_BOUfzk6av1XqRfWuDLudnbI-zzW5tBhHdtIbyjFlXUaBbVN00ZuUc2j0ChnalccExXhpde4w2Ok/s200/IMG_20181019_193541.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">proof-of-concept</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, the good folk of Settmour Swamp are holding </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=3354" target="_blank">a 13th-century Welsh immersion event</a> in</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> a couple weeks. It's not like the typical SCA event where you've got an all-day thing with a mix of fighting outside, a mix of A&S inside, feast in the evening, maybe dancing after; the whole day is constructed around a theme, and they're doing their best to limit modernisms, right down to the hall being entirely candle-lit. I am entirely in favor of this sort of thing, and we </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">can</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> go to it, so we </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">are</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> going; but of course I want us to be dressed appropriately. Now it so happens I have a Norman-ish gown that </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">will pass muster, which I thought I'd have to take in but apparently I already did that--way to go, Past Me!--so I'm just going to take a few minutes to sew some nice enameled plaques on the neck facing[2]. I have a snood that can pass as an early crespine in candlelight and some linen that can work as a barbette so I should be good to go. However! My dashing consort only has summer-weight, somewhat-later-feeling tunics (that is, they're tighter and shorter). This fussed me and I intended to do something about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICF1DvZMGg1JSxxPGDzd-0GvgB9-lqi88Erp41nhJYP0JnFeuv35byUj2PDu_MDCnoyNbeMzjLl13IKUeR0f9ieNdB5qeBclsrQz963nJ8gdEvaVRzPV_o2nj3G8j4DrIta0QL3WKKfvp/s1600/IMG_20181020_110127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICF1DvZMGg1JSxxPGDzd-0GvgB9-lqi88Erp41nhJYP0JnFeuv35byUj2PDu_MDCnoyNbeMzjLl13IKUeR0f9ieNdB5qeBclsrQz963nJ8gdEvaVRzPV_o2nj3G8j4DrIta0QL3WKKfvp/s200/IMG_20181020_110127.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gerald helping with fabric<br />selection, as usual</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Work was immediately set back by me coming down with the office plague...which I am <i>still</i> suffering from, thanks so much...but I had energy ynogh this morning to start rooting through fabrics. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My ideal would be to make him a plain light wool under-gown (which he'd wear under any of his existing linen shirts) and then a heavier, more decorative (or decorated) wool over-gown, but the patron expressed a preference for a non-wool, launderable under-layer so he didn't have to wear a shirt as well. He chose a black (brown) (brownish black)[3] linen for the undergown, and a very nice if dark olive-ish green stippled wool for the overgown[4]. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, the cut of an earlier-period tunic-gown-thing is rather different from the bourgie 14th-century feel (rather shorter, and rather more loose in the torso) I have been going for with his current stuff, so I spent a lot of time today making him take things on and off (fnarr) and scribbling in my notebook and mumbling under my breath like a crazy person. I'm still in that transitional place in my understanding of fit where I don't have the intuitive grasp of how changing the location of <i>this</i> seam has <i>those</i> repercussions, beyond the obvious, so it is a slow and painful process for everyone concerned. I think I have zeroed in on the right starting math, though (these are all without seam allowance):</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAl6GPKtIi2lDNBTuEDX6nKymoVjNtwXijO-ZqvF_YlSVAEIsd-j7wJgnbOMztykjL5sOITHd-UFtiQDREtcEzthAecfdcNRftyYK0qUoXjJwTbkBs9JCpHUoomvgMnXnaxiJBfKqA-H7/s1600/IMG_20181020_133253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAl6GPKtIi2lDNBTuEDX6nKymoVjNtwXijO-ZqvF_YlSVAEIsd-j7wJgnbOMztykjL5sOITHd-UFtiQDREtcEzthAecfdcNRftyYK0qUoXjJwTbkBs9JCpHUoomvgMnXnaxiJBfKqA-H7/s200/IMG_20181020_133253.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">maaaaaath</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">body pieces 23" wide and 56" long (or one piece folded in half if I can swing it; not sure I can)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">neckline I hope to make 6" wide with a slit; have to play with this</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">sleeves 19" long, 26" wide at the body tapering to 10" wide at the cuff (yeah, it ought to be gusseted, but I'm in a hurry and we're doing trapezoids today)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">gores with whatever fits in leftovers, but they'll want to be about 36" long I figure; so probably about 15" wide at the bottom is fine? This doesn't need to be super-swirly.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And then, when it's time to make the over-gown, much the same but a little wider in the body and sleeves, much wider in the gores, and a keyhole neckline. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] except for the well-actually people. they can stay the hell home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] I just wish I had time to ring them all with pearls. *sob*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[3] this is the same linen I made <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2016/04/in-which-there-is-inner-turmoil.html" target="_blank">his first Elizabethan suit</a> out of and we continually argue over whether it is brown or black</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[4] To be honest, together it all looks drab AF to me, but I'll see if I have any interesting silk I can quickly tart up the overgown with.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-59384422106160586762018-08-19T10:59:00.000-04:002018-08-19T10:59:02.991-04:00Not Much With My War, Ho Ho Ho, How About You?<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My après-Pennsic post was going to be about all the stuff I threw together at the last minute & how it all worked. And you will still get that; but first:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAH-oLJDiUIiDeYrweG8cAfiC7qHkS0ow1TtNuQCWtQvReAaCx1NxV0byRedqOzk1kpGsKplRQrnopFz0NfU8kSXRNRZplaLpocF7TRKFzgrRwImamCahj5aiBy5caJHEC7BSL1hrAu-nq/s1600/IMG_20180813_181650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAH-oLJDiUIiDeYrweG8cAfiC7qHkS0ow1TtNuQCWtQvReAaCx1NxV0byRedqOzk1kpGsKplRQrnopFz0NfU8kSXRNRZplaLpocF7TRKFzgrRwImamCahj5aiBy5caJHEC7BSL1hrAu-nq/s320/IMG_20180813_181650.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">...this was a thing that happened. At the end of the A&S War Point (which I was an alternate combatant for[1]), their Majesties rolled up to hear the results and congratulate their champions; and then I got called up to be told to go pick a date[2] to sit vigil and consider the question of being made a Companion of the Laurel. I comported myself with all dignity and rectitude throughout, I will have you know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then we went back to camp and had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion_bowl" target="_blank">scorpion bowls</a>. And cake. They got me a cake!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, well, good thing I had already started in on my fancy outfit. What terrifies me now is whether my shape/size is going to <i>keep</i> changing betwixt now and then; which is why it's even more important to get the date sorted out. It has to be after Coronation (because Beth and I are on the hook for the Prince's clothes, as mentioned, and that's a big job); and then immediately I'll be away; so basically sometime between late October and...as long as I can stand the suspense. (Obviously a huge number of our peeps come to Mudthaw, but I think if I have to wait for eight months, I might die.) And the later the date, the more likely my shape is going to change, so AAAAAAA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I also have to take thought to my dashing consort's outfit. I have offers of help with actually <i>making</i> it; but I need to plan out pieces, fabrics, und so weiter. I did actually succeed in making two pairs of braies for him before Pennsic, and of course that nice new shirt, so the underwear layer is taken care of; but the rest bears thinking about. At least, since it's 14th century, there's <i>no goddam pants involved</i>. (I would sort of like to make him a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bycocket" target="_blank">bycocket</a>, but this may not be the absolute best moment to try and learn a new skill.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?" Well, it was a bit of a tough war; I'm happy to make this my last year of running camp, because I'm just <i>exhausted</i>. Both weeks were wretchedly humid, which really takes it out of me, though at least it was reasonably cool the first week. I did actually make it to two classes I wasn't teaching! And I made a paternoster in one of them, which is an accessory I'd been conspicuously lacking, so that was nice. Also, our excellent Baron was getting knighted, so we had the fun of planning a vigil in our camp behind his back. (Of course that was one of the 90+-degree days, poor guy, but at least we set up his vigil spot next to the tree line.) </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Oh, and I learned how to do </span><a href="http://arts.piglet.org/index.php/2017/11/19/medallion-whipcording/#more-100" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">the whipcord braiding thing</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">. Yay, more narrow-wares!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I completed one iteration my dashing consort's full Bocksten outfit: braies (2 pr, one of which he says is too scratchy), shirt as mentioned, coif as mentioned, white linen hose, white linen hood, sand-colored extremely-light wool tunic. And he wore it for both opening ceremonies and for the War Point (i.e., me getting called into court), and I presented the ensemble at the A&S display as "Bocksten Man in a Time of Climate Change". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, on the topic - we had the felicity of post-Pennsic dinner with Master José, who was rocking his full early-17thc. glory in the hot weather; and his experience was that having a wool garment over his linen underthings was the absolute most comfortable. And importantly, not a very light wool (like what I made the aforementioned tunic out of), but one with some, in his word, sponginess; that it made a big difference in the wicking action. So that's an interesting angle and I want to explore it next year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For my own clothes: both the gowns (the pink GFD and the lavender kirtle) that I took in still feel too big, but everyone said they looked fine. I could take the pink one in again, but it was a right fucking PITA to do that for the kirtle and I don't know if I could face doing so. We'll see. I <i>do</i> want to smock the green apron I made to wear with the kirtle, though; I don't like the look of the giant rectangle of green across my front. We can be a bit more elegant, I think. (I also need help on How To Arrange Your Own Partlet.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For works in progress; during various lazy time, I also finished one half of my consort's madder-wool hose. I have the lining for his light woolen hood cut out, too, but not made up; and I'm nearly done with one leg of <i>my</i> white linen hose. And, I have his ochre linen hose and my burgundy wool hose cut out as well. So that will be some nice small pieces to work on in upcoming spare time HAW HAW HAW HAW. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today I'm hoping to re-center and triage all the upcoming work (not just sewing specifically, but brain and planning, of which there is a lot). I lost most of this past week to work wharrgarbl[3] and a nice case of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroenteritis" target="_blank">John of Gaunt's Revenge</a> that I came back from war with; living on beige food does not leave a lot of energy or drive, I can tell you, and what little I had was entirely consumed by le job. Feeling mostly myself today, though, so here we go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] all the attention and none of the pressure!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2] Usually, Writs are for people who hate surprises and want time to absorb the info/get a new outfit together/etc. In this case it was because my friends figured, not wrongly, that there were too many conflicting priorities and it would be better if I was involved in choosing the date. They promise there will be other surprises on Der Tag.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3] Lots of things went along quite well while I was gone. Some...did not. And some UXBs were clearly timed to go off when I returned.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-14425178047867397512018-07-22T08:35:00.005-04:002018-07-22T08:35:49.632-04:00Overdue Book Report: "Clothing the Past"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSblTyHXj1V5kScDftYVJuUB85Ow1mtLFAjlC85732-C-uyemZxG7ZyPcaJ_bS4SEoH6XWicwT9YQqN8yMp5GwpXaFpuADnWE21uom0Nfzom-epXnZAe1_Jm-4NTTKtHs-M076gn2b3Pc/s1600/IMG_20180510_131019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvSblTyHXj1V5kScDftYVJuUB85Ow1mtLFAjlC85732-C-uyemZxG7ZyPcaJ_bS4SEoH6XWicwT9YQqN8yMp5GwpXaFpuADnWE21uom0Nfzom-epXnZAe1_Jm-4NTTKtHs-M076gn2b3Pc/s320/IMG_20180510_131019.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know I promised this like two months ago; I'm sorry. And honestly I have a lot more sewing I ought to be doing right this moment, but now the <i>book</i> is about to be overdue as well, so let's do this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Title:</b> <i>Clothing the Past: Surviving Garments from Early Medieval to Early Modern Western Europe</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Authors:</b> <i>Elizabeth Coatsworth & Gale R. Owen-Crocker</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Information: </b><i>Leiden: Boston: Brill, 2018</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN: </b><i>978-90-04-28870-6</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(There is also an ebook version, ISBN 978-90-04-35216-2)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This 450-page tome contains full descriptions (ranging from 1-3 pages) of ~100 medieval garments. Each item begins with a full-page color photo, and finishes with a description of Materials, Dimensions, and Further Reading [about that item specifically]. The remainder of the text gives context for each piece--e.g., the entry for the Museum of London wool garter starts by talking about garters in general, when you start seeing them, what variations of material they were made of; and the entry for the Golden Gown of Margrete goes into detail about who she was and why she mattered...and then into why it may well not be hers after all, <i>ahem</i>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJucNO2AH-gjbO-EUYZovL-oxtnX8OsRQb-nVolA178xUx6_eaaGzgQ_PjoevroLIjt6HuzEPCACsdsJ7Wze8o4fNfNHf9FHAWfHxQpyMEhQE8wa3QqRCuZOLkc79w9jJn3-KFCWO9XE8c/s1600/IMG_20180722_080751.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJucNO2AH-gjbO-EUYZovL-oxtnX8OsRQb-nVolA178xUx6_eaaGzgQ_PjoevroLIjt6HuzEPCACsdsJ7Wze8o4fNfNHf9FHAWfHxQpyMEhQE8wa3QqRCuZOLkc79w9jJn3-KFCWO9XE8c/s200/IMG_20180722_080751.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the "Little Sampford" hat,<br />mid-14th century. Wool<br />felt originally covered w/<br />silk. I HAD NO IDEA</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some of the items in here are old friends that many of us have a lot of bookage about already (e.g., three Greenland gowns); some are ones we know but may not have had access to much detail about them; and some are completely new, at least to me. That in itself is exciting--I thought I knew the whole canon. NOPE! They've also chased down as much data as possible about the newer finds, like the Lengberg lingerie...and some old finds, too, for that matter. For instance! They got access to an article I couldn't, so now I know that Gold Charlie's flat buttons have a <i>wooden</i> core, not metal and not felt. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfLGk1ZnwEBCZ7pJ20arI0glbgdXciozv-4Kcmck9H7vlOlXdgJB3BGE5RLrgVSJ_xIuku4Rb08dvN8N9PxzRnqZFMltQ2tlq_5pT9iwEHzQ2TCMGLiSlPY_TZzWy4lSIdKWe09y7Mcph/s1600/IMG_20180722_082202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfLGk1ZnwEBCZ7pJ20arI0glbgdXciozv-4Kcmck9H7vlOlXdgJB3BGE5RLrgVSJ_xIuku4Rb08dvN8N9PxzRnqZFMltQ2tlq_5pT9iwEHzQ2TCMGLiSlPY_TZzWy4lSIdKWe09y7Mcph/s200/IMG_20180722_082202.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">many diagrams!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An excellent feature of this book is that all textile terms more recondite than, like, "cloth" or "thread" are marked with asterisks to show that they're covered in the extensive glossary in the back. Said glossary defines fabric types (e.g. felt, lampas, damask), sewing terms (e.g. gore, selvedge), specific period terms (e.g. chaperon, guibbone), and stitch & weave types (e.g. stem stitch, twill weave)....<i>and</i> they include small diagrams of the latter. So, it's an accessible resource for even a comparative newbie to the textile world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The items are organized in chapters by broad category of type: footwear, headgear, outer garments, vestments, etc. (Not all of the categories are immediately obvious to me--hose and socks are separate from footwear--but the table of contents is clear and detailed.) There are also a number of handy tables and diagrams at the front so that if you're interested in, say, Stuff From Germany or Stuff From The 12th Century instead of Stuff That Are Socklike, you can cherry-pick the entries of immediate interest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Does it include every single item known to science? No. But most of the choices they made make a lot of sense. You don't need the whole canon of Greenland gown remnants in here, nor do you need every single ecclesiastical cope; they chose a representative few. And I'm not sure, but it might be otherwise complete for ordinary citizen garments between 700 and 1500. (They don't include the Thorsberg trousers, for instance; sorry.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The kicker here, of course, is that the book retails for $225.00 of your Earth dollars. Even by scholarly-tome standards, that is a hell of a whack. But if you can at all budget for it, it is worth every penny. (And if you can't, grease someone who works in higher ed. who can ILL it, like I did.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-85890827872031741202018-07-02T21:01:00.000-04:002018-07-02T21:02:17.167-04:00Conquering the Shirt of Lamentation; or, a Superior Method of French-Seamed Underwear Reveal'd<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMlc4aNhLMBjNzCHcRgDNGt_amu-5zyBermpeER-BF6kowUbTMTuc6wfchUTZ5PqkpTjpPmlOdD1jDhQOSVMwYLajUQgsOwcjr1LG_yXiBDLyhtJqDWGuEj2bacmUma7VG24ZhsCz80V0/s1600/galaxy+brain.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMlc4aNhLMBjNzCHcRgDNGt_amu-5zyBermpeER-BF6kowUbTMTuc6wfchUTZ5PqkpTjpPmlOdD1jDhQOSVMwYLajUQgsOwcjr1LG_yXiBDLyhtJqDWGuEj2bacmUma7VG24ZhsCz80V0/s1600/galaxy+brain.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">behold!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />I finally got over my avoidance and attacked the problem of <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2018/06/theres-planning-and-then-theres.html" target="_blank">the very wrong shirt</a> this weekend. Spoilers, yes, making larger gussets and everything else smaller and adding some narrow side gores was the correct answer; also I did some interesting non-pointy things at the top of those gores; but that's not what I'm here to tell you about, neighbors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">OK, so, yes, in an ideal world we'd do all our clothes by hand and that would be lovely and great and experiential. But too often, we are faced with a situation of "I'm about to go to Pennsic and I have no underwear / I need to outfit my newbie/partner/offspring" (or any one of a thousand variations on that theme), and there's nothing for it but to whip out the ol' Singer and turn your domicile into the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory[1]. Frequently in these cases, too, we have a particular need for sturdiness in the garment(s), because they will be worn in the field and will see heavy use. What this means is "seam finishes"; and although there are lots of perfectly period methods of hand-finishing seams, if you're under the gun, this is not going to help you; you need an industrial solution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(There are people who <i>are</i> that fast with hand-sewing. They are not the people who need this blog post. Drive on.)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/threadsmagazine.s3.tauntoncloud.com/app/uploads/2017/10/11053049/T160_FN_17_webnew_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="430" height="133" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/threadsmagazine.s3.tauntoncloud.com/app/uploads/2017/10/11053049/T160_FN_17_webnew_lg.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A serged fabric edge</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Most folk will do one of two machine seam finishes: serging, or French seams. Serging (or overlocking) is thorough, but requires a special type of (not super cheap) machine, so it's not an option for many amateur sempsters. (You can also kind of fake it by running a zig-zag stitch on your normal machine along the seam allowances, but it's a definite kludge, and not the simplest thing to manage particularly on some fabrics. Still, it can be a useful option.) The other downside is that it's a little untidy if someone looks at the inside of the garment--and indeed that also means that if the threads get caught on anything, they'll unravel like whoa.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">French seams are more painstaking (particularly when you are first getting to know them), but because the original seam is encased entirely inside <i>another</i> seam, it's very sturdy and protected. It's a particularly good choice for your linen underwear of all kinds, since linen loooves to fray all over the place. (I'm going to plow ahead assuming you know from French seams, but if you don't, <a href="https://www.craftsy.com/sewing/article/seam-series-how-to-sew-a-french-seam/" target="_blank">here's a decent tutorial</a>.) Now, there are usually three challenges to French seams:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1) they're still a bit slower, since you have to sew everything twice <i>and</i> keep pressing things vigorously with your iron; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2) it's easy to lose track of what you're doing and end up with one or more seams on the incorrect side of the garment;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3) getting the fiddly bits at gores and gussets is a right PITA and often results in unsightly bunching or messes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now, some several years ago, Beth and I spent a weekend cranking out chemises for War, since neither of us had nearly enough underclothes; and we came up with a general and efficient process for the order of construction of this sort of garment. I have, this weekend, improved (dare I say, perfected?) our previous work, which also encompasses some mitigations for the three challenges mentioned above.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is intended for shifts / shirts / etc. of the main medieval period; the usual composed-of-rectangles-and-triangles style you see for centuries with minimal variation. You can use it for a Bocksten tunic, though, too. And, I apologize for not taking photos <i>in media res; </i>I was on a manic roll and it did not occur to me. Have some ASCII art instead!</span><br />
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Cut out your fabric pieces and have them all ready.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If the body of the garment is two pieces instead of one long piece, sew the shoulder seams together & French them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Cut the neckhole. (You can hem it now if you want, but I always leave that to the end, just in case I need to make any edits.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Pin each gusset to its sleeve along one side.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">----------------<br /> | |<br /> | |<br /> | |<br /> -----------------<br /> | |<br /> | |<br /> ------</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Pin the rest of the sleeve closed (remember the gusset wants to form a triangle with the hypoteneuse towards the cuff end). You now have a tube with a triangle on it:</span><br /><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> fold line -----> ----------------<br /> | |<br /> cuff ---> | | <--- arm opening<br /> ----------------<br /> \ |<br /> gusset fold ---> \ | <--- also open<br /> \|</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sew the 1st gusset edge.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Start at the wrist and sew the sleeve closed, continuing along the 2nd edge of the gusset.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Repeat the previous two steps for the other sleeve.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Go to ironing board, press out the gusset and sleeve seams, prep them for Frenching.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">French them in the same order you sewed them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you are doing front and back gores, well, I haven't perfected these because I don't put 'em in my underwear (St. Louis notwithstanding); I suggest following the <a href="http://cottesimple.com/tutorials/godet-in-slit-fabric/" target="_blank">La Cotte Simple tutorial</a> - it is written for <i>grande assiette</i> sleeve funkiness but the principle will work here.</span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Insert the back gore to remind yourself how to manipulate them again[3]</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Insert the front gore </span><span id="docs-internal-guid-32c7e3f3-5d75-bdfb-9840-84c606b24191"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">now that you remember how to do it</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Press them out in preparation for Frenching</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">French 'em most of the way up and just fahddle the top by hand. </span></span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sew up the center seam of the gore that's currently two halves of a gore; press it, and French it.</span></span></li>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you were dealing with taller people who have some side seam in between the bottom of the gusset and the top of the side gore, you would do something different than what I'm about to do, probably. That's not what I've got, though, so put a pin in that thought and come back to it.</span></li>
</ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Pin the sleeves to each side of the garment.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sew from the point of the gusset on one side, all the way up around the top of the sleeve and back down to the point of the gusset on the other side.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Repeat for Sleeve #2.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Pin the side gore in, and sew it - again you're following the Cotte Simple method, because you've effectively created a slit to set the gore into. You can kind of hand-flatten the existing seam and get your "top point" into that.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Repeat for Side Gore #2.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Press the bejesus out of all of that and prepare them for Frenching.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">OKAY HERE'S THE SEXY PART. Start at the hem level on one side of the gore, French your way up, and then <i>cross over diagonally</i> onto the gusset/sleeve seam opposite--so if you started with the side of the gore that's at the rear of the garment, you'll move to the gusset/sleeve part on the front of the garment. Go all the way over the top, and back down, and cross back over onto the other side of the gore.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Do the same thing on the other side.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Profit! (or hemming and cuffing and other fiddly bits, anyways)</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That step 19 there, it makes that really irritating portion where the gusset & gore meet actually <i>behave</i>. It was a complete miracle. But even without that, the ordering of events here means you are stacking as much work together at the ironing board/work surface as you can, and stacking as much at the sewing machine as you can. Moreover, it should reduce--<i>reduce</i>, I say, nothing can eliminate--the risk of getting a seam on the wrong side of the garment, because you are batching the 1st-seam work and it should be more obvious when you're going awry.</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, that pin there in Step 12: The received wisdom is to use the gores without a center seam on front & back, and the other pieces that you </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">do</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have to sew together to make the full triangle on the sides; and if you're doing that, it's easier to sew the halves separately to the front & back of the main garment, and then just run up the center. There is a lot of sense to this, particularly if you have some distance between gore & gusset. And if you are making a thing for a tall person, it may work better. On the other hand, sometimes you end up with gore halves at slightly different heights. :-/</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Anyways, I hope that people will find this valuable. If there's one thing more true than another, it's that we always need more underwear, and it's a tiresome slog to produce it; I hope this will help expedite a necessary but disagreeable task.</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] hopefully with fire exits[2]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] but lemme tell you about my pre-tenement-law first apartment</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[3] ™ Beth</span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-30905769239884850682018-06-24T09:25:00.006-04:002018-06-24T09:25:48.844-04:00Bursts Of Productivity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFwszl0DBMBEHZm89IBskupjVHzQUqDDbsk5-EckXUAA-5lprqXBqjX0kvjbzHWHdNO7X8l94jCaZxB36yk7RkUTPmTVQzLhNfzBpuFVNJo6D_bEJl6ZFneiqGxHUA7KallIMtKFPNhEBo/s1600/richter-scale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1200" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFwszl0DBMBEHZm89IBskupjVHzQUqDDbsk5-EckXUAA-5lprqXBqjX0kvjbzHWHdNO7X8l94jCaZxB36yk7RkUTPmTVQzLhNfzBpuFVNJo6D_bEJl6ZFneiqGxHUA7KallIMtKFPNhEBo/s320/richter-scale.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My productivity over the last two weeks, if graphed, would look not unlike the seismograph in </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremors_(film)" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Tremors</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">[1]: nothing nothing LOTS nothing nothing LOTS nothing, und so weiter. I needed some time to process the Shirt Failure; and between that + assimilating a bunch of stuff that <i>had</i> been in the basement storage room + several social obligations, I had a week of small work--mending my wool hose, fixing the bodice length on last year's kirtle[2], etc. We were also away for the weekend again, which cuts into the work time (though I whiled away some Royal Court time by sewing various site tokens & badges onto my dashing consort's canvas satchel).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last week I got some mojo back. I've done some preliminary sketching and mumbling about the shirt proportions; my current theory, after putting Himself into various other shirts, tunics, and even one of my shifts, I have a new theory:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Shorter and narrower sleeves, yes; but <i>much</i> narrower, with</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- <i>larger</i> gussets</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- yes to gores (ugh) but starting higher up, and rather sharper angles than we do for tunics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- and therefore the body pieces can be somewhat narrower too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsoMEqMmoh1qNpiDJ1pARFd9JmMU2HiQVleQoRP2tz3Ccvtkq2ylUizNtTfiLtWVVGG7HB8iojZzHMEhX2NoWEA58hFl5swyxneLlsv-N3IPuaPLIwFTFn4er3NN_2PF-wL1lpS1OZoVVS/s1600/IMG_20180624_080926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsoMEqMmoh1qNpiDJ1pARFd9JmMU2HiQVleQoRP2tz3Ccvtkq2ylUizNtTfiLtWVVGG7HB8iojZzHMEhX2NoWEA58hFl5swyxneLlsv-N3IPuaPLIwFTFn4er3NN_2PF-wL1lpS1OZoVVS/s200/IMG_20180624_080926.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">when you were<br />right the first time</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I also found that I <i>had</i> hung onto the pattern from last year's <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2017/07/secret-project-revealed-laurels-hood.html" target="_blank">Laurel hood</a>; and since I was using him as the reference body for fiddling it, I knew it was in shouting distance of fitting him; so I cut out one of those in a lovely light wool twill and fit it more properly to him; it's pinned and ready to sew today. AND I marked the pattern clearly, so I can bang more out in short order at any point--I'm figuring to make him one out of handkerchief[3] linen as well, for sun protection rather than weather protection. I'm not sure that this was an actual variation in the 14th c.; broad-brimmed straw hat over your coif seems to be more the thing; but here again, they did not live in Pennsylvania in August.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am still in major avoidance on the braies question, though. :-/</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yesterday, we diverted course to fulfill our obligation of knocking together a few Bocksten tunics for <a href="https://wv.eastkingdom.org/" target="_blank">His Highness</a> to run around in at Pennsic. Of the three we set out to make, I'd say that one's at 90% completion, one's at 80%, and one's at ~55-60%. I've taken the first two home to finish up, and Beth has the third. It's not clear whether any decoration or ornamentation is desired by the patron, so we're leaving them plain fabric for the moment, and will extend an offer to add trim real quick if wanted. (On the one hand, I am strongly of the opinion that the Prince ought to have some richesse on his clothes. On the other, I can 100% understand preferring to just toss a Pennsic garment in the washing machine; and in most cases, adding trim takes that option off the table.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Also, setting a gore with a French seam sucks donkey balls. (We are machine-sewing & French-seaming these for reasons of speed and durability; don't @-me.) The workaround is to not do French seams on those, but to just serge (if you have a serger) or zig-zag oversew (if you don't) the seam allowances instead. Once again, we observe that many of the sewing techniques you see in our era make lots of sense if you hand-sew, and become a giant bucket of poo when you add industrialization. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So we did a lot of good work, none of which would have been possible without the support team: the beloved redhead, who opened his house and especially his large dining room table for us to make a complete bear-garden of, and my dashing consort, who grilled lunch and picked up dinner &c. And both of whom put up with our racket <i>and</i> our rackety music over the course of a very long day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I did not, alas, manage to slip-stream a tunic or two into the production line for my consort, as I haven't mathed out what the proportions ought to be yet (do the shirt first!); and as can be seen, we didn't really have the time anyways. But, having a day's boot-camp practice on this garment should make me move faster with it when I <i>do</i> get to it...as long as it's fairly soon. I'm not switching gears to move that up the queue, though; I need to stop starting and start finishing. Therefore, today's orders of priority are:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finish the princely tunic that's at 90%</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finish the princely tunic that's at 80%</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sew together the wool hood</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Simultaneously cut out a linen lining for the wool hood, and a plain white linen hood of the same cut. Probably out of the same fabric.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sew those up as well</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If time, attach the lining to the wool hood</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On-deck circle: the $*@& shirt; taking apart & redoing the neckline of my kirtle, which Beth kindly marked for me last night[4]; drape a hose pattern on him; try and take a pattern off my wool hose for me (I found the foot portion of my pattern, but the leg portion is clearly gone, never to be found again. -_-)<br /></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] Also now I know that they made <i>five</i> straight-to-video sequels, including one last month. Really?!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2] though that was more of an embuggerance than I anticipated. Still, <i>fiddly</i> rather than <i>difficult</i>, if you see what I mean.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3] or as I call it, "underwear linen"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[4] this will also be an embuggerance. So much easier to get help <i>before</i> you do the eyelets... </span></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-61421581422282926922018-06-10T08:07:00.001-04:002018-06-10T08:07:23.237-04:00There's Planning, And Then There's Planning Ganging Aft Agley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85-Fnnql9OMYfgERYQ-uikz6hVg6P1GPyuAX8f0ZZ-dg_Rtn6GYVGPGw9yBHgrTvvGZj4MD0fhekgPO7l7CApg4ITQ6TwBb9JrIizekB8xsKIKLdfGw5BGCVYqZgAY1Em40uwJdBzf795/s1600/IMG_20180609_145225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85-Fnnql9OMYfgERYQ-uikz6hVg6P1GPyuAX8f0ZZ-dg_Rtn6GYVGPGw9yBHgrTvvGZj4MD0fhekgPO7l7CApg4ITQ6TwBb9JrIizekB8xsKIKLdfGw5BGCVYqZgAY1Em40uwJdBzf795/s320/IMG_20180609_145225.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The vaguely-nauseous and anxious feeling I got when looking at my kanban board the last two weeks made it clear that I had to do some clearing of the mental decks before putting serious needle to cloth. (And also some <i>physical</i> clearing, as I hadn't absorbed the, cough, 25 yards of fabric I brought home last weekend.) So I spent some time on that yesterday. The first step was to make a card (i.e., Post-It) for every item that a) I might want for Pennsic or b) wanted to make out of the new fabric--these are overlapping but by no means congruent sets. The purpose of this step was twofold: to get all the ideas out of my head and on record, so they would stop floating around taking up skull space[1]; and also, to know what fabric to keep out and which to stash. I also flagged some blockers and linked them where appropriate (those are the smaller ones in the center, and the colored tags on some items). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why did I do it physically instead of in my Trello board, you may well ask? First, because it's easier when you're going back and forth between fabric piles to just scribble on a scrap of paper than it is to go through the steps of making an electronic asset--particularly since some get crumpled up & thrown away; and second, because my board is presently full of stuff that's not immediate as well, and I'd need a much bigger monitor to see it all, and this made for more & better instant visualization. All of these Post-Its will now get turned <i>into</i> items on the Trello board, certainly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As you see, this resulted in a pile of projects that will keep me going into the next decade; but I resolutely refused to sweat about it, and after consultation with my dashing consort[2], selected/prioritized the items that are Minimum Viable Product for his 14th century Pennsic, to wit:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. Linen shirt (white) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. Linen braies (white)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. Linen hose (heavy ochre)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. Wool Bocksten tunic (tropical-weight; I have several fabrics for him to choose from)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5. Linen Bocksten tunic (blue)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(The bonus rounds are, in order, a light wool hood; a fitted cote--pourpoint pattern <i>sans</i> padding--; and wool hose.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, my BFF and I have a play-date in two weeks for a Bocksten production line, since we volunteered to make some Pennsic tunics for <a href="https://wv.eastkingdom.org/" target="_blank">His new Highness</a>; so my intent is to slip #4 and #5 into that process. Therefore the immediate priorities, other than washing the linen that hasn't been washed yet, is to get cracking on the undies. And lo! I had cut out a shirt two weeks ago! so let's just assemble it! HAW HAW HAW</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First, my sewing machine started playing silly buggers. I am not going to weary you with a detailed account of my two hours of shrieking frustration; suffice it to say now I know a lot more about timing, timing errors, and troubleshooting, and also I had done something stupid that should have been obvious if I'd approached the problem with logic instead of rage. But! Finally I was ready to roll.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I spent the next couple hours assembling the shirt with French seams (dont @-me; I know perfectly well they aren't period; but they are a good way to keep underwear linen together under heavy use) and, <i>mirabile scriptu</i>, I did not do a single one of them backwards or any other fashion of fuckup. That may in fact be a new record. I was feeling pretty damn smug about myself, as it was wholly assembled other than finalizing the neckline and doing the side seams from the gusset down, and it was only about 9pm; and I put it on Himself to decide for sure whether I wanted to just make the sides straight or add gores[4]. And then the screaming started.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The sleeves are too long.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The sleeves are too <i>wide</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- I thiiiiiink the underarm gussets are too big too?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The body is correctly wide around his midsection but bunches up like whoa under the arms (though that might resolve itself if the first three points are addressed).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The neckhole is wider than I meant it to be, in spite of stringent and intentional efforts to Not Do That.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What makes this doubleplus frustrating is, I spent <i>hours</i> mumbling over a notebook and taking measurements of other garments he wears to get to the dimensions I used; and I basted various parts together and tested them on him before sewing; so to be this wildly wrong after all that work makes me feel like a complete loser. It also is rubbing my nose in the fact that, yes, I am pretty darn OK at draping and fitting at this point; but the true skill of the master, to look at a person <i>or even just their measurements</i> and intuitively turn that into a list of garment piece proportions, is still way beyond me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I can fix this, yes. I can cut down the sleeves and possibly the gussets and see where that gets us, and then it'll be another quick job to reassemble; and the neckline is within acceptable tolerances (just not what I had in mind). Possibly I can even do it today, depending on how long it takes us to deal with clearing our stuff out of the communal storage room (thanks, landlord). But this has wasted time, fabric, and spoons, and I hate that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am also not looking forward to braies. At all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] I cannot overstate the importance of this step. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] I'm not getting a new dress this year; my own goals are just to fix <i>last</i> year's new dresses so they fit. The only thing I'm hoping for myself is a snuggly tunic for colder mornings, and <i>maybe</i> a shift with a more U-shaped neckline--most of mine are more boat-necked-ish and it just ain't right[3].</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[3] I can get away with them under my GFDs but it starts being more obviously fail with the new kirtle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[4] Yes, I know the St Louis shirt has gores. But it's a century earlier and I'm not convinced something worn under a tight-fitting men's cote <i>would</i>, because you don't want a ton of undies fabric mushed under your body-con upper garment.</span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-68727926434952090112018-06-03T08:08:00.003-04:002018-06-03T08:08:40.957-04:00Gearing Up For Summer Sewing; or, Better Late than Never<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">[You do not get any cutesy photos on this post because my very old laptop has just crashed twice just trying to do image manipulation. Deal with it.]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">May has not been a productive month for me; at least, not in the sense that this blog discusses. My Project From Hell went live...not without a good deal of hair-pulling and shrieking at the back-end developers, and a subsequent fortnight of having to nurse it along like a 20-year-old car leaking fluids that you're trying to drive back from Pennsic in...and that plus some other work pile-on plus experiencing severe seasonal allergies for the first time in my life has made my evenings mostly be a bunch of flopping on the couch and watching silly TV.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We <i>did</i> go to <a href="http://eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=3348" target="_blank">a camping event </a>last weekend, which was fun in spite of the weather (88 and humid Saturday; 62 and rainy on Sunday), and also I discovered a new sewing failure mode! To wit: that there pink linen dress I have mentioned before? So I machine-sewed all the seams, fine; but the thread I used on the bobbin was one of the many "cleaned out grandma's attic" spools I have been regifted unto. And, that thread started failing in a number of spots (even ones not under pressure, interestingly). Thus, I started popping seam leaks all over myself. The takeaway is, if you have thread older than you are, only use it for basting purposes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Well, I was going to redo a bunch of the seams anyways.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This weekend I am working in concert with some friends, and although I have not achieved a number of the tasks I hoped to[1], I've fixed the front waistline of the lavender kirtle I cut out last year, and I've <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2018/04/so-called-good-problems-are-still.html" target="_blank">cut out the panel to add to my blue silk dress </a>& opened the center back seam to receive it. (I cannot tell you how painful it was to cut open that seam.) I also re-gifted a dress I made for myself years ago that I am too much of an absolute unit for, and the pieces of a dress cut out to the exact same measure, which happen to fit one of the crew nearly as if it were made for her. Boo for the fact that I loved both of those fabrics and wanted them for me, but very much yay that it's not going to waste. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I may also have bought 25 yards of wool off a friend who's clearing out stock. YES I KNOW BUT I HAVE PURPOSES FOR ALL OF IT. There's some madder-red-orange twill that will be hose for both of us; a hard-wearing dark green that will be hoods for both of us (and his will be trimmed with a strip of that madder stuff); a brighter kelly-green that will make a tunic (or maybe a cote) for him and a dress for me; some exquisite drapey white herringbone to make an under-dress for me; and a very light, creamy tabby-woven that I've got too many visions to decide on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Also it is possible that we volunteered to make the new Prince some tunics for Pennsic. But we have a cunning plan for mass-production; and if I stir my stumps, I can slide in a few for my dashing consort into the production line. EFFICIENCY!~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Things <i>not</i> accomplished: getting hose fitted for him and for me; working on the shirt I cut out for him; figuring out what exactly I did wrong on the linen trousers I made for him last year to make them split up the rear exit. (Because I don't want to cut out braies for him, either, until I understand how butts work.)</span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] and don't tell me about how much of today there is, because I have to leave to drive to a wedding in three hours</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-30871930452791717862018-05-06T10:43:00.001-04:002018-05-06T10:43:14.986-04:00A Little Vindication Goes A Long Way<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxjqsXjA5p42_r2rSNpr7BIdykwpwSkMzDU2-vuTXTGhvBrTpbsLLaP1ZCFU9T5xnUMoWdwnI7cRukvhGH1g_AZkTE9eSbi0QqCAQ6fjrNh6TE6N3pzZn-H73rKFTkJt-wfl0lZylJBnn/s1600/i_told_you_so_dance.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxjqsXjA5p42_r2rSNpr7BIdykwpwSkMzDU2-vuTXTGhvBrTpbsLLaP1ZCFU9T5xnUMoWdwnI7cRukvhGH1g_AZkTE9eSbi0QqCAQ6fjrNh6TE6N3pzZn-H73rKFTkJt-wfl0lZylJBnn/s1600/i_told_you_so_dance.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">me, Thursday night</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It has not been an agreeable week; and as predicted in last week's update, the most I have been able to handle was making up the cloth buttons for a late period jerkin my ronin-sister made for my dashing consort the other year (which, mind you, is a perfectly useful task I wanted to clear off the plate; it's just maybe not in the top ten of priorities right now[1]). </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.frockflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A_Stitch_in_Time-Ninya-Amber1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.frockflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A_Stitch_in_Time-Ninya-Amber1.png" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="800" height="110" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ninya and her repro BPJ[3]</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It can be comforting and/or therapeutic to watch other people struggling as well; so it was nice to learn this week that a) there's this new BBC mini-series, "<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09l2qzs" target="_blank">A Stitch in Time</a>", in which the presenter (a fashion historian) works with Ninya Mikhaila (<a href="http://www.tudortailor.com/" target="_blank">yes, <i>that</i> Ninya</a>) to re-create historical clothing; and b) they did the Black Prince's jupon in one of the episodes. So I threw that up on the YouTubes while doing buttons; and my expectation of either interesting education <i>or</i> cathartic shrieking angrily at the teevee was vastly exceeded by learning that their process for figuring out the quilting, and then <i>doing</i> the quilting, was pretty much EXACTLY WHAT I DID FOR THE POURPOINT. I mean, even the swatches are the same[2]. Now, let it be said, our panel of local experts are challenging some of their conclusions; and the objections seem cogent, and entirely worth the debate; but whatever the ultimate truth is for <i>this</i> garment, I cannot properly express how much of a boost it is for my mental state to find that the Actual Academic Professionals started & ended from the same place that I did. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Though it would've saved me a lot of drama and trauma if they'd done it a couple years earlier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am sufficiently re-energized that I'm going to knuckle down and cut out my consort's 14th c. shirt today. It isn't quite the most urgent priority either (I have to get my project management class together, and do some Pennsic camp admin crap), but it shouldn't take me long, and then I have something I can just pick up and mindlessly seam for the next several evenings.</span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] particularly when we realized last night that he has grown a bit too prosperous for the garment at present</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] well, they didn't have to go through the cotton batting stage, but.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[3] Another blogger went to an exhibition of the Stitch in Time clothes;<a href="http://vintage-frills.com/2018/03/15/stitch-time-ham-house/" target="_blank"> better photos here</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-4937623960714866292018-04-30T20:02:00.001-04:002018-04-30T20:02:28.772-04:00The Comfortable Sweats of the Soul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7aTDMj1zvUElI4TK/giphy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="480" height="180" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7aTDMj1zvUElI4TK/giphy.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hey, we <a href="http://eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=3332" target="_blank">had a picnic</a> yesterday! It was chillier than expected--thank you, 15-mile-an-hour wind--but it was dry and mostly sunny; we had a solid turn-out, and a lot of random interested foot traffic, and some fighting, and some musicking, and some dancing. (Also, it is warmer when you are dancing.) I am pleased to say that I can reliably stumble through the alto recorder part of "Sumer Is Icumen In" now. Even though sumer had not, in fact, cumen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">More immediately relevant: I wore the pink linen dress I cut out for last Pennsic, which I have not yet altered. Now, I noted <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2017/08/post-pennsic-catch-up.html" target="_blank">at the time</a> that I thought it might need a little bit of taking in; and probably it <i>could</i> be, but a) I didn't want to rush into that since it seems that my body is merrily shifting flesh around and why waste all the effort to redo it all in another two months and b) I wondered if possibly this was more correct for a working dress of the era.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I wore it as-was, had an active day of moving tables and bransle-ing and whatnot, made no cosmetic boob adjustments or anything else during the day, and then took a look in the mirror when I got home. It was by no means the Hello I See You Have Already Met My Breasts look of the high-fashion 14th century; but it was perfectly controlled and adequate. And it was <i>comfortable</i> all day--I mean, I felt a little insecure without the feeling of tightness, as my large-breasted readers will understand, but I ran (well, the shambling lope that passes for a run with me) several times during the day and felt none of the usual discomfort that goes with unsupported sprinting. All in all, I think my theory is correct, and this is the right fit to aim for if you're a working girl (ahem).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have so much accumulating on my plate, but work is ratcheting up to a fever pitch; I do have a go-live date for the Project From Hell[1], at least, so I know when <i>that</i> stress should end[2], but I've just won three more high-profile and short-time-scale projects in the bonus round, and this is sucking all the oxygen out of my brain. I'm having to triage pretty ruthlessly at the moment; the immediate priorities are--</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the Project Management Techniques for A&S Projects class, which I find I have agreed to teach at our local A&S night next week</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">creating the walkthrough video on Measuring Your Tent For Pennsic (a thing that has been historically challenging for our camp members, so I want to see if an alternate way of presenting the information works better)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">create this year's form for collecting camp members' data</span></li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvBt9_LpFxO1rowwMkNAxiYHNVDOn4J0pmSlGSdfFtWqn768oPqShD1Z4307j1c5YkFsd5KxJUjAUigaEZAZzbfAKUZfMGx3Fr28eajn3UP1ke7wYYe0r0rB7s26urMvo_-_kfaQ1WQJQ/s1600/IMG_20180425_195827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvBt9_LpFxO1rowwMkNAxiYHNVDOn4J0pmSlGSdfFtWqn768oPqShD1Z4307j1c5YkFsd5KxJUjAUigaEZAZzbfAKUZfMGx3Fr28eajn3UP1ke7wYYe0r0rB7s26urMvo_-_kfaQ1WQJQ/s200/IMG_20180425_195827.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I did finish a small knitting project</span></td></tr>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm a little depressed at the thought of all the sewing I <i>want</i> to do vs. what I <i>can</i> do. I'm trying to break everything down into the smallest possible tasks, so even when I have almost no energy, I can still find <i>something</i> productive to do that gives me a feeling of accomplishment. There's some buttons about to happen, for instance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] a fortnight from now.[3]</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] unless it goes pear-shaped[3] and I have to apologize in the full Yakuza sense of the word</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[3] AAAAAAAAAAAA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-39548108734567821132018-04-22T13:40:00.003-04:002018-04-22T13:40:17.245-04:00So-Called "Good Problems" Are Still Problems<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/prowrestling/images/5/5d/Lita_WWF_Womens.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090930192940" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="275" height="200" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/prowrestling/images/5/5d/Lita_WWF_Womens.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090930192940" width="137" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it me, apparently</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />I had <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2018/03/rolling-with-punches.html" target="_blank">previously mentioned</a> my sad situation, wherein the silk dress I had been laboring at for a couple of months turned out to be excessively too small; and although I did not mention it at the time, you can bet I was not just going to leave it at that. Because that pattern had <i>just</i> been fit in October; according to my monthly measurements check, my numbers have not changed appreciably between then and now; and although I am as much at home to the Fuckup Fairy as the next person, I really don't think I'm so bad at my craft as to have screwed up <i>this</i> badly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Therefore yesterday I packed stuff up (dress, shift, pattern and all) and laid my problem before my Local Expert. We managed to get it laced up all the way with much labor and grunting; and after poking and hmm'ing and yanking and squishing, some facts emerged:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1) I need a finer-weight shift to wear with this dress,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2) I had in fact made the dress precisely to the pattern (go me!),</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3) the pattern no longer fits me, as my back is now over an inch broader than it had been in October.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WTAF, you may ask? Well, I have been diligently working out three days per week since early February, incorporating a good deal of bodyweight and upper body workouts. And my monthly measurements, being for health rather than sewing reasons, have only been measuring the <i>circumference</i> of, e.g., my chest...not the front half + the back half, which is a significant matter in the clothing world. Which, I mean, yes, I knew that difference is important if you're measuring someone for a fitting; but it didn't occur to me that my exercise program would change either a) so soon or b) in this way. Again, my under-bust and over-bust total distances are still the same; but a portion has migrated from the front to the back. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHFQhhAJvzSTn9zdxR37t2lpd7jvYArCtfiwIPw3YCzPg-fo0kEgmDA58c_pahTJni3kiDg9W430sbNyYJ1rebFYIxQIDc0z1iNREae1Nn2vjZxlt7HoKDc7RKW_XSHVjeqDRstQsIMiq/s1600/IMG_20180422_123646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1096" data-original-width="1600" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHFQhhAJvzSTn9zdxR37t2lpd7jvYArCtfiwIPw3YCzPg-fo0kEgmDA58c_pahTJni3kiDg9W430sbNyYJ1rebFYIxQIDc0z1iNREae1Nn2vjZxlt7HoKDc7RKW_XSHVjeqDRstQsIMiq/s200/IMG_20180422_123646.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">this is what mitigation looks like<br />or maybe it's a Georgia O'Keeffe sketch</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So it was comforting to know that I had not made any errors of execution; but this did not get me any closer to a wearable garment. We knew that we had to add more fabric at the back, but it was important to get it right on the next edit; this silk is exceedingly unforgiving, and any pin or needle holes you make are there for all time. To get in the right ballpark, Beth traced the shape of the gap that resulted in the front when it was as laced up as much as it could be; </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and I will use that to cut out a strip to add in the center back seam. I'll baste it in and we'll see if that fixes things enough to get on with.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />I will also need to add a strip at the center front hem, because I tried to be clever with the CF gore and I fell onto the wrong side of the line between "clever" and "stupid". That's a whole separate post, though. It is also not today's problem; I need to change tracks and take a look at the dress I intend to wear for <a href="http://eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=3332" target="_blank">our event next Sunday</a>, and see what edits <i>it</i> might need as a result of these recent findings.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0L6gFj4XYEOQ5ZDt1TKe6o82sfar8DKlWg8nFWmeE1hhS63pRvlQ0VKCFSiN-z1V3u5LmWFoV5sc9guzK861gTIQtPhxSxjlALdVq6zf7pyr-HhtxxpQB4nOe23MxNMLz7QVTgItSj6k0/s1600/IMG_20180415_221802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0L6gFj4XYEOQ5ZDt1TKe6o82sfar8DKlWg8nFWmeE1hhS63pRvlQ0VKCFSiN-z1V3u5LmWFoV5sc9guzK861gTIQtPhxSxjlALdVq6zf7pyr-HhtxxpQB4nOe23MxNMLz7QVTgItSj6k0/s200/IMG_20180415_221802.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Done, other than second tie</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />In between all this drama, I managed to bang out a coif for my dashing consort. I am sure that I waaaaay over-thought it, but eh, I did it in one afternoon, and the next one will be even easier. The center front looks a little bit too pointed maybe, too. But it's not a big deal. It covers his head and it does the job. </span><br />
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<br /></div>
</div>
Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-72157215184006014602018-04-07T12:27:00.001-04:002018-04-07T12:27:33.604-04:00Restarting The Engines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.cartoq.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/cold-engine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="740" height="216" src="https://www.cartoq.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/cold-engine.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've not done a thing in the sewing realm since my last confession. Partially this has been due to a whirlwind of social activity; and partially because the stress is ramping up pretty seriously at work and on the nights I <i>am</i> home, all I have been up for is flopping and staring at the One-Eyed LCD God[1]. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And I'm about to leave for a work conference, so the ball is not going to get moved any closer to the line for another week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the bright side, I got to see <i>Hamilton</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And also, inspired by one of those social outings (a trip to the Knit Night at <a href="http://cummingnyc.com/" target="_blank">Club Cumming</a>), I have at least managed to start a knitting project that had been stalled for [redacted out of embarrassment] because I had broken the needle I required for it. Serendipitously, there is a <a href="http://www.downtownyarns.com/store.htm" target="_blank">friendly neighborhood knitting store</a> right around the corner from the club, and they hooked me up...a two-minute job I could have done at any time in the past [redacted]...but <i>anyways</i>, a nice small comfortable project is off and running, which is a thing I find can sometimes help me limber up my sewing mojo. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To be fair, I <i>have</i> started some back-brain processing about my dashing consort's 14th-century kit. I daresay I can knock out the shirt and cap with minimal drama, and that should give me a leg up to start worrying about the hard bits. I would have said that about the braies, too, but a bit of desultory looking-around suggests that there are more options and directions than I quite realized. There's what most people do, which is in essence loose linen boxers with a drawstring waist. But that's not as who should say <i>accurate</i>. Plus, accuracy is a moving target, depending on when you are in the 14th century, and whether you're doing the new-fangled tight-fitted fashions, and so on. (<a href="https://bokeofthewardrobe.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/a-brief-history-changing-shape/" target="_blank">Here's a nice survey article</a> of the situation.) Since this is supposed to be field wear, I guess we should err on the side of working-man styles--? but the sort of faffing involved is something that many modern people find vexing (ask anyone who's worn a great kilt to Pennsic). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was inspired in my morning blog-reading[2] by <a href="http://edythmiller.blogspot.com/2018/03/post-gulf-wars-project-list.html" target="_blank">a post</a> where the author makes watercolor sketches of her planned outfits--not fashion-sketch style, but each piece individually next to each other. To me, this is a brilliant way to think through an outfit as a whole, and how it will work together, and I'd like to try it. Watercolors <i>per se</i> are probably a terrible idea for me, but I have a lot of colored pencils. I am not sure my sketching ability is up to snuff, but let us find out. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] I also had a bad dream where I was running around an event or fighter practice or something with a pourpoint in my hands that I was frantically trying to fit to someone, or <i>anyone</i>, and it kept getting more ragged and more flat and less-padded and embarrassing to acknowledge as my work, and and and. Fuck you very much, brain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] this is what my generation does instead of reading the paper in bed, y'all</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-76717629581219813032018-03-21T11:22:00.002-04:002018-03-21T11:22:43.646-04:00Rolling With The Punches<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.petcarerx.com/LPPE/images/articlethumbs/4-Common-Causes-Of-Cat-Skin-Allergies-Large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="580" height="179" src="https://cdn.petcarerx.com/LPPE/images/articlethumbs/4-Common-Causes-Of-Cat-Skin-Allergies-Large.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it me</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am feeling a little hard-done-by presently. The blue silk dress is mostly finished--just need to fell the armhole seams, do the skirt center front seam[1], and hem it; but when I tried it on with the sleeves attached, I realized that it really is too tight to wear (by about 5lbs worth, if you see what I mean) and I would feel both physically and psycho-emotionally uncomfortable wearing it at present. So, that's irritating. On the bright side, it means I am not going to make myself crazy trying to finish it <i>and</i> redo the surcoat for Saturday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Which is probably for the best; because although the antibiotics finally knocked out my sinus infection, I have had an adverse reaction to them which made me break out in giant itchy hives all over my body for the last several days[2]. I'm kept functional by Hulk-appropriate doses of antihistamine, but it's not conducive to sewing, far less being creative.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuR34IopYouUaFv6NB3yiHxUdI-lRtbU2Q0aM6TXhEBSBCAepT1e0TlDb6KM_Edy9EWJdTD-IC2bP1THYiVKH6vgMefrwiG2iVWsNRkMqq2X1oh94mVtOPfYxc1a8ycxwE97SALtRs88Vf/s1600/IMG_20180314_204647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuR34IopYouUaFv6NB3yiHxUdI-lRtbU2Q0aM6TXhEBSBCAepT1e0TlDb6KM_Edy9EWJdTD-IC2bP1THYiVKH6vgMefrwiG2iVWsNRkMqq2X1oh94mVtOPfYxc1a8ycxwE97SALtRs88Vf/s200/IMG_20180314_204647.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">pricked und pounced</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I <i>did</i> manage to fulfill my commitment to make a favor for the youth fighting on Saturday. I have a personal dislike of the giant rectangle belt favors much...favored...by tradition, so I figured to do the narrow kind you can tie around the warrior's arm. Since my colors are blue-and-gold, and I have all these handy blue silk scraps from the dress, I cut a strip from the waste to embroider my badge on. I transferred the design with the prick-and-pounce technique I learned at last year's <a href="http://aethelmearc.org/event/academy-of-st-clare-of-assisi-even-more-stitches-in-time/" target="_blank">embroidery academy</a> (using baby powder instead of lampblack, and an estoile from the <a href="https://scaheraldry.wikispaces.com/Pennsic+Traceable+Art+Project" target="_blank">Traceable Art Project</a>). This worked pretty well, except the silk was so thin I couldn't put it in a hoop, and my thumb kept smudging the lines. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSY6txOJJtAzDoqsF0rCAYdOyTMaoA_pRXFLSMQk7CXYPqY-UVuJcKfpoxtSiUhHjrIB8I_D4AqTei78UcEYHvkz_rDG4P2anS9JWxIfcHL23h7ZM9YMts9NodFpqgF7tyeyluPHsvCkpp/s1600/IMG_20180318_214118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSY6txOJJtAzDoqsF0rCAYdOyTMaoA_pRXFLSMQk7CXYPqY-UVuJcKfpoxtSiUhHjrIB8I_D4AqTei78UcEYHvkz_rDG4P2anS9JWxIfcHL23h7ZM9YMts9NodFpqgF7tyeyluPHsvCkpp/s200/IMG_20180318_214118.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">finished object</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I outlined the whole estoile in stem stitch with golden silk floss. Since my badge is blue-and-gold, and I had this lovely blue ground already, there was no point in embroidering that half; I just filled the gold half of the estoile with the same silk floss. In stem stitch as well--which is not a filling stitch, I know, but I thought it would work well enough for something this small. [Narrator's voice: It didn't.] (Well, it <i>did</i>, but it was a pain in the butt and not as nice as it could be.) In general, I do need more practice with stem stitch--I couldn't get the outline, even, as crisp and exact as I wanted. Add it to the list of things to work on. -_- I also made a fundamental error in spec'ing out the project; I cut the silk strip with the thought of just hemming the edges, but of <i>course</i> it actually needed to be folded over so as to protect (and make invisible) the wrong side of the embroidery. So I had to tinker with it a good deal to make it work and get it hemmed, which also means that the estoile goes a leeeetle too far to the edge, but whatcha gonna do?. The next one will be better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's coming to the time where I have to plan and, more to the point, prioritize the summer sewing (in conjunction with my other obligations). There's going to be more learning experiences, sigh, since I am intending to make my dashing consort a proper 14th-century kit: braies, shirt, hose, tunic, cap (and hood if I have time), none of which I've done before--well, the shirt is easy, and I've made hose for myself but that was years ago--. Plus, I need to take in the two dresses I finished for last year, because I do not enjoy my boobs wandering down somewhere around my navel. And, of course, the mending. Ugh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] I think I need to start the eyelets further down, too. Trying to decide if that means I have to cobble together additional facing. I don't think so, since it's not load-bearing? Because it would be a fucking <i>nightmare</i> to do at this point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] and they started a day after I <i>finished</i> the antibiotics. Is that fair? I ask you.</span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-58820878682738711472018-03-11T20:37:00.002-04:002018-03-11T20:37:28.048-04:00Upcycling Your Closet: Proof of Concept<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHsCTmfvLuo_sGcqGlLySlnC_Px4nFsgKkeXz6cwQ3LiweQDbCJLQxKmpbq_hiwSZ4OrNNDMVrK0DJ2ixtk47GPt2j0dovCoQN0oCO6tyoKXNtMDKMQ18INaUJPz2Mgb8kEt5nMIVRFgq/s320/IMG_20180311_192044.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that sleeve is not actually attached. shhh</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've been minimally functional the last several days of lurgy, at least enough to do eyelets; and by diligent application (and pseudoephedrine, and bingeing on <i>The Crown</i>) I got them done this evening with enough time to lace up the gown and throw on Ye Fifteen-Yeare-Olde Surcoat on top and see how we're doing. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A few observations:</span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Although I cut out the silk to the pattern fit to me last summer, and although according to my monthly body measurements I'm the same dimensions now as I was then, this is <i>really tight koff koff. </i>I am guessing this is the unforgivability of silk. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Somehow the two front panels <i>and their gore</i> ended up a good 2" shorter than the rest of the hem, which is otherwise pretty consistent. How the hell <i>that</i> happened I do not know.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">God, I need some decent aglets on my lacing cords.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The standy-out-ness of the fake fur is all wrong; it needs to be moved in. Possibly the side gates need to be cut in a little further entirely, at that. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I also don't like the cheapie fake fur I used, period; but I don't know if I can easily/quickly get my hands on anything better.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My intent was to pull the cheapie buttons off the front, and just wear the very lovely (and large) <i>èmail en ronde bosse </i>brooch my dashing consort got me at the top center; but I don't know if there will be obvious marks left behind, because stupid cotton velvet. </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The ideal (and period) solution would be an ermine placket. Anyone selling ermine? *hollow laughter*</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not sure if I should cut the neckline a little lower, to be closer to the line of the under-dress.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All in all I'm increasingly unsure I'll be able to get everything done in time for Mudthaw, which is two weeks from yesterday--I lose most of next weekend to family affairs, and I promised to make stuff for the bake sale, and make a favor for the youth fighting, and and and. It may end up another bourgeois outing, after all.</span></div>
</div>
Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-785655946537896472018-03-03T13:35:00.001-05:002018-03-03T13:37:04.205-05:00They Are Called "Long" Seams For A Reason<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOEX8NA9GqPW9EWPatiF8b2ciyvqucWSXpmBE-D1r9_mgjmNyr4y5blUBLLP160ynjO9Jyo2FlNSUtpISeuN4cCb7373IeaunabuiWn1BTBBwjQtoFVxpD621Fy52qxLJ-rdTVzjBvWWW/s1600/IMG_20180218_121222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOEX8NA9GqPW9EWPatiF8b2ciyvqucWSXpmBE-D1r9_mgjmNyr4y5blUBLLP160ynjO9Jyo2FlNSUtpISeuN4cCb7373IeaunabuiWn1BTBBwjQtoFVxpD621Fy52qxLJ-rdTVzjBvWWW/s320/IMG_20180218_121222.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Current status</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />Been quiet here because I haven't done anything except a) hand-sew long seams on the new silk dress and b) fight off successive rounds of sinus weasels that lay me flat for days at a stretch. I am very, very bored with seams--because the silk is so prone to marking, I have to be <i>super</i> careful with my needle placement when stitching down the seam allowance, and that means I have to concentrate mostly on <i>that</i> instead of being distracted by stupid teevee while I work--but it must be admitted that this laborious grind is improving my skill and control. (My gore action is also improving, though not yet to where I want it to be.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The good news is, I'm mostly done with them; all the gores are in and the sleeves are assembled. The remaining work, probably in this order, is:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">face the center front with silk strips (this is going to be harder than usual, as it is a more curved front than usual, at least for me)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">close up the center front long seam, up to the bottom of the lacing point (I haven't done that yet 'cos I figure the facing will be easier to do while the garment is still two-dimensional)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">attach the sleeves to the body</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eyelets bloody eyelets</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">face and hem the neckline</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hem the skirt (maybe a reinforcing strip there too? Not sure.)</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The bad news is, I'm sick and flat again. I do not think I have the spoons to futz with the facing today; and I shouldn't disassemble the rust surcoat yet, because I need to check its shape on My Body With Dress On so I can decide if edits are necessary. hrmgrmbl.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Oh yes, I did finish the socks I was working on; so I can pull another knitting project from the backlog (to be completed in another 18 months, no doubt). I'm not feeling inspired presently, though.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
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Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-79168371872965505682018-02-11T20:39:00.001-05:002018-02-11T20:41:04.373-05:00In Which There Is Competition<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBR5VnyBN3MsaSelMpSIRoj7dCgKQ9ASaqTH1d1fuI7sI2UMZAUpSenxIi0vqMgK4DRBBlC5xQQl4Y69OCLspqnquf8_fs2jg5gppBHq9xVJvDiDepcEx1CP8X-IXVo7oLisIoThfZu8l/s1600/20180210-untitled+shoot-20180210_171731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBR5VnyBN3MsaSelMpSIRoj7dCgKQ9ASaqTH1d1fuI7sI2UMZAUpSenxIi0vqMgK4DRBBlC5xQQl4Y69OCLspqnquf8_fs2jg5gppBHq9xVJvDiDepcEx1CP8X-IXVo7oLisIoThfZu8l/s320/20180210-untitled+shoot-20180210_171731.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">it <i>is</i> following you home and you <i>can</i> keep it</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As threatened, yesterday I entered the pourpoint into the <a href="https://moas.eastkingdom.org/cms/?page_id=304" target="_blank">East Kingdom's competition to choose their Majesties' champions of arts & sciences</a>. Strange as it may seem, I think this is only the fourth <i>competition</i> (as opposed to a display, where you aren't judged) I've entered in all my time--one at Mudthaw like ten or twelve years ago when I didn't know which end was up, and twice at St. Eligius, which is rather a different kettle of fish, much more recently. Of course I have talked to people who've competed at this level before; and the competition maestros were very communicative about what to expect and how the day would go; but it's never the same as actually participating. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My display was mostly straightforward--I had the swatches with the different types of padding material, and bowls of samples of those materials, and a Binder Full of Documentation (and Photos). I didn't want to just throw the pourpoint on a hanger, as that really gives no idea of the garment. So, after frantic gibbering on the facebooks & receiving advice from more professional heads, I lugged along my (size 6 female) dressmaker's dummy, a tight t-shirt, and the rest of the bowed cotton, and stuffed it out to more or less pad a size 40 male torso. Learning experience! It worked tolerably well, at that--clothing looks 100% better if it's actually on a shape; but lord, I don't want to have to do that every time I display a garment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Most of the day passed in rather a haze. I wasn't completely over the lurgy that flattened me this week (I'm still not, really), and the hall was unfortunately loud and crowded, which is not an environment I thrive well in, to say the least. The event staff did a phenomenal job trying to keep all the artisans fed, watered, and as comfortable as possible (propping exterior doors open, etc.), and I was sharing a table with two members of the co-prosperity sphere so we could all panic together, and mah peeps checked in frequently to monitor my physical and mental status bars and boost them however they could; all of which helped immensely. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A thing that was terrific, and different from the average A&S display (especially the one at Pennsic), was that the larger part of the people coming through are artisans themselves and have a deeper engagement in what they see, even if it's not in their own field of study. When you're a clothier, you get resigned[1] to spectators' eyes glazing over past your work unless it's covered in gold thread or spangles; but here, I had many more interested people asking interesting questions, and that felt great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On the down side of that, because I felt I ought to stay at my display and be available to talk to people about it, I didn't get a chance to go around and look at <i>other</i> peoples' stuff and have interesting conversations with them. I'm bummed about that, and on future go-rounds I would like to find the right balance between being available to seekers and yet reserve me-time to feed my head. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It would be idle to deny I'm disappointed that I wasn't a finalist. I thought I was going in with a damn good shot, and it was something of a blow to learn that I wasn't in the top 20% of the field[2]. But, at least for those whose craft I'm familiar with, the artisans who <i>did </i>make the cut do really fine work and excellent research; and it's absolutely no shame to come in trailing them. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0E_LS-BLqOQoqJPYcukiYlAUyFElk6ag3DT3dimGRjBgYPE84I4EFaXmEpSqm-9bH-OE6ysn5e3l08gLoh2pUYK1JSDbMF-uOLfKuAEtShYFsqdG1HShF9XFHOpnxpQ0hvAGUdkDZZ4GJ/s1600/Simon+AOA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="452" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0E_LS-BLqOQoqJPYcukiYlAUyFElk6ag3DT3dimGRjBgYPE84I4EFaXmEpSqm-9bH-OE6ysn5e3l08gLoh2pUYK1JSDbMF-uOLfKuAEtShYFsqdG1HShF9XFHOpnxpQ0hvAGUdkDZZ4GJ/s200/Simon+AOA.jpg" width="112" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">quoth a friend,<br />"ooooh, you're <br />banging a lord <br />tonight!"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, the pourpoint went to its forever home at the end of the night...and I think my patron is having second thoughts about a garment with over 80 buttons on it, but I assured him it gets easier...and I can start taking thought to everything that's been on hold in the interim. (The veil-and-wimple getup worked pretty well; my favorite compliment of the day, possibly the whole year, was being told I looked just like a tomb weeper; but the construction starts drifting down the back of your head as the day goes on.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Other happy things of the day: my dashing consort got his Award of Arms; and one of our co-prosperity sphere was made a Companion of the Maunche--which I was honored and overjoyed to <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TsOGn8w40uS66p9IcstuA_Uz-5Qel4hDKl40jftFpYY/edit" target="_blank">write the words for his scroll</a>. Where by "scroll", I mean "runestone". And by "words", I mean "a poem in a Nordic style that is <i>really fucking hard</i> in English because three- and four-syllable lines whyyyyyy". (The English version was then translated into Old Norse and then into runes for inscribing. Not by me, needless to say.) It was a fascinating exercise, though, and I enjoyed it[3].</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] or you don't, in which case you spend a lot of time unhappily shaking your fist at the sky, and who wants that?</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2] 7 out of 37 contestants moved to the final round.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3] 100% true story: in high school, I was voted Most Likely To Write An Anglo-Saxon Epic.</span></span><br />
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Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-69954004890142015612018-01-28T11:18:00.000-05:002018-01-28T11:18:12.591-05:00The Pourpoint Commission: And On The Seventh Day, She Wrote Documentation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEyE08VdJjS-gzxPGmeI1Lj_nAvAidai8uEFONP8MjcZHUkZg8lGf1olGksl03NFAh3MMloY_msOgFz-j0xRiCiCcBQ3xrmLU7pQBY4Bx1E_Y1OYJGX_f9ryjbwnsMSPkJP05rKMxHGHSY/s1600/IMG_20180127_212617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEyE08VdJjS-gzxPGmeI1Lj_nAvAidai8uEFONP8MjcZHUkZg8lGf1olGksl03NFAh3MMloY_msOgFz-j0xRiCiCcBQ3xrmLU7pQBY4Bx1E_Y1OYJGX_f9ryjbwnsMSPkJP05rKMxHGHSY/s320/IMG_20180127_212617.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The pourpoint is DONE. I moved the final card from "In Progress" to "Completed" on the ole kanban board last night; the subsequent celebration of which I am still feeling a tad this morning, ahem. Also I am having a giant smug that I did not <i>quite</i> run out of the quilting thread--there's about a yard and a half remaining.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Naturally, that is not the end of the matter. The <i>garment</i> is finished, but the <i>project</i> is not; I'll need to finish the linen test version at some point (oh god more quilting) (at least it'll be laced, not buttoned). More immediately, however, I need to get my documentation ready for the competition. I have the basic skeleton already--I wrote my usual couple of pages[1] for when I showed it at Pennsic--so I can expand from there, including all of the neckbeardy detail that one is usually wiser to excise in documentation meant for the general public. I am reasonably sure I can knock that out today and still have leisure to make <i>Rôti de Porc Poêlé aux Choux</i> for dinner. No, I'm more concerned about the rest of the display and how to arrange it. Obviously I'll have my test swatches and samples of the different padding materials; maybe a couple of spare buttons, too; but I am chewing on what else to include--there's a fine line between "interesting additional detail" and "a giant cluttered mess". And I <i>really</i> don't want to faff around with a science-fair style tri-fold standup. Dear past me: maybe I shoulda gone to one of these before entering, just to see how other people roll. <br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlNEYrMuKSKbKkFMBOFVxiSg3tTn8msP0WAci4OG13UWnpMyWluo35HCz0j-e6G42hbjWFVEtLyWqV_a6RI5b56jJZsEuF-fvGE64uv0gT4MaxvXVwREbsxP7llzy3lbMAftzpkWpPymo/s1600/BNF_Nouvelle_acquis_lat_1673_f95r.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="464" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlNEYrMuKSKbKkFMBOFVxiSg3tTn8msP0WAci4OG13UWnpMyWluo35HCz0j-e6G42hbjWFVEtLyWqV_a6RI5b56jJZsEuF-fvGE64uv0gT4MaxvXVwREbsxP7llzy3lbMAftzpkWpPymo/s200/BNF_Nouvelle_acquis_lat_1673_f95r.png" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Silk Clothing,<br />BNF Nouvelle acquis. <br />lat. 1673</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh hey typing this all out is giving me stomach butterflies. Or maybe I've had too much coffee. Or both.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyways: staying focused: today I write the actual paper, and also dig out linen to use for veils (or learn that I don't have anything suitable). I have two weeks to freak out about my presentation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">--LATE BREAKING SUDDEN INSPIRATION: look at the various Tacuinum images of tailor shops and make it look like one of those? hmm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] which, as usual, almost no one <i>read</i>, hey ho</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-37106239206110321312018-01-21T09:23:00.000-05:002018-01-21T09:23:31.216-05:00The Pourpoint Commission: Buttoning Down<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQ0LOGylCdjISBdFwNkr9UfzZNZDex-BoOT6d6e3jEP3QhvBKiTPCK_MgdGJPJNdpqq97HMu79I0tw_AvAYaK1hasGJXIWZnAAHqiKM4GWgMB8gQhaL4NCwWW4fHG0JbStJctciFKlFcQ/s1600/IMG_20171228_141928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQ0LOGylCdjISBdFwNkr9UfzZNZDex-BoOT6d6e3jEP3QhvBKiTPCK_MgdGJPJNdpqq97HMu79I0tw_AvAYaK1hasGJXIWZnAAHqiKM4GWgMB8gQhaL4NCwWW4fHG0JbStJctciFKlFcQ/s320/IMG_20171228_141928.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ONE! ONE BUTTONED SLEEVE! HA, HA, HA!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's been a long holiday season, with the concomitant distractions, coming-down-sick, family visits, suddenly holding three offices[1] and so on; but I kept plugging away at the work, and although I'm not as far along as I hoped to be, I'm within the baseline schedule.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">First off, it developed that the local post office just lost my quilting thread entirely, so I had to reorder them completely (snarl). This arrived quickly and safely, at least, so I got back to work on the sleeves right after Christmas Day and finished them up...while coming to the slow realization that I was going to be woefully short of buttons. Not just the cloth ones, either; I extrapolated the measurements and calculated I was going to need about another half-dozen metal-core ones as well. Which meant I <i>also</i> needed to order another packet of metal blanks from the <i>other</i> vendor. kiiiiilll meeeeee</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">However I had plenty to do while waiting for that shipment, so I placed the order and got cracking on another ~30 cloth buttons....where by "got cracking" I realized I had not recorded what dimensions I used for the fabric pieces that make up the buttons, so I had to cut a finished button of each kind open and measure it. For the record, the metal-core flat buttons are 1-1/4" rounds of fabric with a gather stitch in a 1" diameter circle; and the cloth ones are 2" squares with a gather stitch in a 1-1/4" diameter circle. This results in as close to a 5/8" button as you can get under these fabric conditions, which <i>do not</i> lead to anything remotely resembling consistency. (When I do finally get to making my fancy overdress, I'm curious to see if that brocade behaves as chaotically as this one does.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">When I got all the existing buttons sewn on, I realized I didn't actually need any additional metal button blanks at all; I had <i>just</i> enough (at least, once I re-made the one I had to cut apart for analysis). *facepalm* Still, I figure I can make a couple extra and give them to my patron in case he loses any.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Current state of play on all fronts--</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Pourpoint itself:</b> all that needs doing is about 25 more buttonholes, and undoing & fixing two spots at the top of the shoulder where the fashion fabric has pulled out of the seam. B</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">uuuut I also have to write my paper and figure out how to arrange my display... Likelihood of on-time completion: 100%</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Silk dress:</b> The body seams are done & gores in; the sleeves are constructed (one more long seam remaining); but I have to sew in the sleeves and then do all the fiddly bits--center front facing, neck facing, and all the G-D eyelets, which usually takes me just as long as the actual construction. Likelihood of on-time completion: 80%. Likelihood I'll be able to <i>wear</i> it: 45%, because...</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Sideless surcoat remake:</b> haven't even looked at that shit. In theory, as noted before, it wouldn't be more than a day's work, but that assumes I have everything I need. So, likelihood of on-time completion: 45%.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>New veils:</b> whaaaat, you say? Where'd that come from? Well, I've been displeased with my head styling for some time, and this displeasure has steadily raised to the point where I can no longer abide. So I spent some time when I couldn't sew thinking this question through, and I have a long-term complicated plan involving fake braids and one of them fancy frounced veils; but as a Phase One implementation I was going to follow the excellent Katafalk blog's <a href="https://katafalk.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/wearing-my-veil/" target="_blank">how-to for getting The Look when you have short hair</a>. To do this, I need two pieces of nice linen hemmed up: one for the wimple, and one for the veil. And I am thinking maybe I ought to prioritize this work over the new dress, because my wool dresses <i>are</i> good quality and all, and I would rather look complete to a shade (if bourgeois) than dressed in silk & velvet with hair like a haystack or wearing nothing but a cotton (!!) headrail. But I am very slow with rolled hems and I haven't even looked at my linen stash to see if I have anything fine enough in stock. Likelihood of on-time completion: 70%, <i>if</i> I prioritize it over the dressmaking.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] yeah so I'm now Webminister for the Kingdom Ministry of Arts & Sciences, <i>and</i> Seneschal of our local canton, <i>and</i> deputy Webminister for same. I'm not sure how that all happened at once. Or why "all at once" happened to be "right now". Frickin' comedy writers.</span><br />
<br />Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-33454480489870938302017-12-17T09:27:00.001-05:002017-12-17T09:27:14.607-05:00Foreign Working, No Visa Required<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsCTqHIr3sbf4wc2CbAkPvpEK8gFRyHPr7W9048rS28qW6EmdwsdaJvimYyN3dcApnBp0jrlKANBPadD37QsiMzD7QZazpIt11vtK-mNZfJaFKZX5wwP6q50b7IjZtBU4Oqz3imFKepmZ/s1600/IMG_20171212_130745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsCTqHIr3sbf4wc2CbAkPvpEK8gFRyHPr7W9048rS28qW6EmdwsdaJvimYyN3dcApnBp0jrlKANBPadD37QsiMzD7QZazpIt11vtK-mNZfJaFKZX5wwP6q50b7IjZtBU4Oqz3imFKepmZ/s320/IMG_20171212_130745.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is before steaming, don't @-me</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2017/12/respawning-after-some-life-disruptions.html" target="_blank">As previously noted</a>, I was in a wait state on the pourpoint due to lack of thread[1] and so switched gears to start on my silk dress. I'd assembled the body pieces from the waist up before I left for England; and it occurred to me that this silk packs down so small and light, I could easily take it along to work on--it's not like I was going over to tourist or party, and I knew there would be a lot of quiet visiting time where hand-work would be acceptable. I prepped by cutting a whole bunch of appropriate sewing lengths of the linen thread I am using (60/2, if you care) and waxed & ironed them thoroughly, then wound them 'round a card to bring. That, my usual sewing kit, and the gridded ruler & chalk was enough, and took up no more space than, e.g., my pajamas. I'm happy to report that I return with the back and side gores fully assembled & attached. I still hate gores, but I seem to be getting better at them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I did also baste instead of pinning the pieces together for sewing. It feels weird in my head place--a little less so the more I went on, but it is not entirely resolved--and I haven't yet noticed any benefits in speed or accuracy for what I'm doing at present, but I'm going to keep on and see how things change (or don't). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I had also meant to bring stuff for seam finishing, only then realizing I didn't actually <i>have</i> anything appropriate. That is, I have silk threads of all kinds; but they are various types of embroidery rather than sewing thread, and although I've used some of them for seam finishes before, those were either for decorative purposes <i>or</i> on thick enough wool or linen that they could pass unnoticed. I can't fudge it on this fabric, nope. So I sent a Hail Mary order to <a href="https://www.superiorthreads.com/thread/" target="_blank">Superior Threads</a> for a couple of colorways and weights that I thought might do; and <i>that</i> at least I have found here waiting for me, yay. C'mon, let's open the box together!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, I got two spools of their Kimono Silk (100/2) and two of Tire Silk (50/2). Now I've got them out of the packet, I think either would do, but the 100/2 looks like a better bet (and is a closer color match as well). My fabric is still so very crisp and sheen-ish that I'm going to have to be exceedingly skilful to not make the thread super-obvious, if that's even possible, which I'm not convinced of. All I can say is, thank goodness I don't intend to wear this dress without an over-layer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Apropos of which, I think I don't have a whelk's chance in a supernova in getting the brocade over-gown ready for February[2], so I'm letting my back-brain chew on how I can easily & quickly remake my very very old rust-red velvet sideless surcoat as an alternative. The color story would be good; I'd just need, I think, to bung in a lining[3]--scrap silk would do--and do something to ornament the neckline. Obviously what it <i>should</i> have is a strip of narrow gold-work embroidery trim, but possibly a good-looking storebought trim could pass. But it'd be no more than an afternoon's work, anyways, I should think.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPHwPsTV77OEOPKVSbMjhrn5876Odx6yV-2Lv_mmeZ5ou-iPh0nx3dSWNDI31JByJx5idhHYWXcpf_w0b2aUpHu6IKFtxEp_sXLhdpQ9JA29emRtVqRMr4oBw0TaMTftzerNTdZN__Dic/s1600/IMG_20171028_103727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhPHwPsTV77OEOPKVSbMjhrn5876Odx6yV-2Lv_mmeZ5ou-iPh0nx3dSWNDI31JByJx5idhHYWXcpf_w0b2aUpHu6IKFtxEp_sXLhdpQ9JA29emRtVqRMr4oBw0TaMTftzerNTdZN__Dic/s200/IMG_20171028_103727.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sock #1 Action Shot</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the knitting front, I have gotten past the heel of Sock #2, hooray for long flights. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] (...which still hasn't arrived, I find? WTF?) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2] more fucking buttonholes</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3] this would also contain those stupid little cotton pills that get everywhere when you're working with cotton velvet</span></span><br />
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Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-78128777293896015872017-12-03T13:28:00.002-05:002017-12-03T13:28:31.483-05:00Respawning After Some Life Disruptions<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIMlZQoK_-GSCKLZP69dhgc-H2Kl6XMdM9C8El6_5ktTP1GyGgNxm0Hrk_ert4FmX2O60ZmlNTGUqXUlQqdYnVGHIjj4Lp_ezCBbglcO_Y5-J6BEmOnmVR73YyLErqLVukUDpB_jor8PSX/s320/IMG_20171106_171823.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it was a very <i>good</i> vacation</span></td></tr>
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<br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have been off the grid for a bit here on account of rather a lot of travel; we were on vacation (in California, which is beautiful and has much going for it, but <i>not</i> a lot of medieval interest), but then there was a sudden trip to the UK for unhappy reasons[1], and between those things and emotional drain and trying to catch up at work and the beginning of holiday wharrgarbl, my art has had to take rather a back-seat for a time[2].</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I pulled myself back in harness last week and got cracking on the pourpoint's buttonholes again, only to run out of thread all of a sudden. -_- I've ordered more, and it should be here in another few days, but in the interim I thought it might be good to get moving on the silk under-dress I cut out two months ago. I have already <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2017/09/get-your-glad-rags-on.html" target="_blank">burbled some thoughts</a> regarding this undertaking; and my resultant decision points are:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">no lining,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hand-sew (and finish) the seams,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">sewn, not buttoned, lower sleeves,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">laced front closure.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The current internal conflict is whether to baste the pieces together first, rather than just pinning & sewing the seams directly. I understand that's best medieval practice, and since I'm not <i>actually</i> up against the wall, I should maybe try doing things right for a change instead of listening to Whiny Impatient Me and just plunging in. I am also going to wax the thread properly with the iron an' all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think I have plenty decent linen thread to use for internal construction; will have to dig around to see if I've got an appropriate silk for eyelets, seam finishing, and the $&@! tablet-woven edge for the center front, but that's less urgent. Oh yes, and silk scraps for facings, since I'm not lining it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ugh it's 1:30pm already</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] and shortly I shall be going again for similar reasons</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] I did do some knitting on the plane(s). And figured out how to do kitchener stitch without a tapestry needle.</span></div>
Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-72544980075484460612017-10-15T12:51:00.000-04:002017-10-15T12:51:00.678-04:00Largely About Largesse<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.southernpass.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dscn5036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.southernpass.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dscn5036.jpg" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="800" height="160" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Largesse examples from the <a href="http://www.southernpass.org/what-is-largesse/" target="_blank">Citadel of the Southern Pass</a>, <br />in Ansteorra. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The original meaning of largesse is, coins thrown to the populace on some great occasion, such as a wedding or a coronation. E.g., during the wedding of Mary Stuart to the future François II (1558):</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://ejsbookshelf.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/sns791.jpg?w=620&h=348" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="620" height="112" src="https://ejsbookshelf.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/sns791.jpg?w=620&h=348" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is the best screencap I could find, <br />and it ain't great, but it's Col. Brandon <br />with a fistful of coins he's about to <br />throw to the crowd after his wedding.<br />(<i>Sense and Sensibility</i>, 1995)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i>"Then the heralds cried for a third time "Largesse!" and threw among the people a great number of gold and silver coins of all descriptions, as Henrys, ducats, crowns of the sun, pistolets, half-crowns, testons, and douzains. Such a rush and outcry among the people followed, that nothing was ever heard like it, as they precipitated themselves one upon the other...During the offertory, pieces of gold and silver were again thrown among the people, in token of liberality and largesse."</i> <i> (Lives of the Queens of Scotland, </i>Agnes Strickland)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In the SCA context, though, it's taken on a meaning closer to the idea of tokens or gifts of favor (not <i>favors, </i>per se; I have a different rant about <i>those</i>)--a way for the Crown (or local barons, for that matter) to give an attaboy-in-passing, so to speak, outside of the formal awards & orders context, for any reason that moves them: you did them a service, you did something cool, they like your display or your performance or how you comport yourself on the field--any ol' thing. This is a Great Idea and very medieval and I love it and I want to contribute to it. But I have been perennially stuck on "how".<br /><br /><b>Disclaimer</b>: I have some personal madness here; particularly I want to note that this madness is <i>entirely</i> personally-applied, and I do not have any mental wharrgarbl about anyone else's work or contributions but my own.<br /><br />Very broadly speaking, it seems to me that there are two kinds of largesse; "high-end" (bigger or more expensive or more painstakingly crafted) one-off creations that might be given, for example, as gifts to other royalty; and the more, and understand that this is <i>not</i> said with <i>any</i> degree of denigration, "mass gift" items which are smaller and less expensive of money and effort to produce. I haven't really been thinking about the high-end largesse, since I can barely keep up with my own big projects, but I should like to contribute to the other kind, the more so since there's more of a need for those. But where I get stuck on is, what's <i>appropriate</i> for me to do? For my craft, nearly everything I do is a hefty time investment, and I can't produce items quick enough to be useful in this context.<br /><br />Well, let's cut to the nubbin of it: of course I <i>could</i>...if I wanted to machine sew / use non-period techniques / make other compromises. For instance, one of the obvious items I thought of is to make small "relic"-size pouches. None more medieval! So appropriate, </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYc4VypZ1VUuZ1tBRCrkydX_pnKS8nZV0iMuzahhJ3wOJZ6gp06aNgaVNv4606WxRkCGF5fP90k8OjBK5cJhZafqAoRMZ4GXZmLU6cfQ0kSSzmNrjW-a9zReZzy7MoBFTdAqFlooU-BQIA/s1600/Agaune+Selvedge+Purse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYc4VypZ1VUuZ1tBRCrkydX_pnKS8nZV0iMuzahhJ3wOJZ6gp06aNgaVNv4606WxRkCGF5fP90k8OjBK5cJhZafqAoRMZ4GXZmLU6cfQ0kSSzmNrjW-a9zReZzy7MoBFTdAqFlooU-BQIA/s200/Agaune+Selvedge+Purse.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Relic purse from the Abbaye<br />de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and even <i>useful</i>! Right the hell in my wheelhouse! And you'd think, pretty quick to make...and you'd be right, generally speaking...but I have a bug up my butt about tablet-woven edges, and I'm still slow AF on that, so it'd take me an inefficient amount of time to finish even one, let alone several. Is this stupid? Will the recipient notice, or know, or care? If my king gave me a nice little pouch to say "attagirl", would it bug me if the sides were sewn instead of having a tablet-woven edge? I'm pretty darn sure it wouldn't.[1]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I guess the core question is, what's the right balance between purity of work vs. actually producing things? I am comfortable with that line for the various things I'm making for <i>me</i>, because I'm the only person it affects; but for largesse, it affects the honor of the Crown and the happiness of the recipient, neither of which I want to trifle with. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Possibly--yes, probably--I am overthinking the living shit out of this. But I really don't want to create things that the Crown winces to give, or that the recipient winces to receive; and I don't where the generally accepted wince line is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] Though if it was of neon green polyester with pink bunnies and a plastic draw cord, my eyebrow might rise more than somewhat.</span></div>
Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5480658258034073401.post-46203650047418984742017-10-08T12:37:00.001-04:002017-10-08T12:37:15.595-04:00There I Fixed It: Advancing Sleeves by 100 Years<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3e/ce/a7/3ecea783de7470446f0c9d4c1909ac03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="800" height="137" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3e/ce/a7/3ecea783de7470446f0c9d4c1909ac03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">but in a good way, not like this</span></td></tr>
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<br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At the (comparatively) last minute, by which I mean "about a fortnight ago", I decided to go to <a href="http://eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=3241" target="_blank">Coronation</a> yesterday; and it being a genteel and courtly event, I wanted to be dressed all fancy-like...which of course, as I have <a href="https://vikas-vestments.blogspot.com/2017/09/get-your-glad-rags-on.html" target="_blank">just shared with you</a>, is something of an issue for me[1]. The best option was to wear my 1540s Florentine silk gown, but I was feeling unusually Fussy™ about the sleeves; they had been wrong from the start, which I realized the first day I wore the dress, and my unhappiness had finally got to the point where I could not even with them any more.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What about them? Well, let me illustrate, and then I'll explain how we got there.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYUA9wYBND53NCAo4Rg1ab-GZchx2ZfdDGSRQLDejdJL-W56Gizp8Rb94zz0hhxQQEH9HfNBUxhzVaUs-V8RHZXJr2Qs4kbHSU34iqIqObx_a3ADBL071rEXW2HlSdigbwTQF-vnSRsLK/s1600/sari-dress-sleeves-ok.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="960" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYUA9wYBND53NCAo4Rg1ab-GZchx2ZfdDGSRQLDejdJL-W56Gizp8Rb94zz0hhxQQEH9HfNBUxhzVaUs-V8RHZXJr2Qs4kbHSU34iqIqObx_a3ADBL071rEXW2HlSdigbwTQF-vnSRsLK/s320/sari-dress-sleeves-ok.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's me (and my lovely & talented ronin-sister) <br />from the front. Looks pretty OK, right?</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5csNXg8F1uGi6KWchGi97-F_BhCvzcvQkuuL_FX9QbedkpQ0EAPVf5JlUJOdEq0Dpi2Rox3zQyYvAqpFuJUsOdZnZTEyx7P7Z4CAIiXKlIlU8mcbWMU5GNtUiOkwu_bGrFuf3iFjwLHtf/s1600/sari-dress-sleeves-nope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="960" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5csNXg8F1uGi6KWchGi97-F_BhCvzcvQkuuL_FX9QbedkpQ0EAPVf5JlUJOdEq0Dpi2Rox3zQyYvAqpFuJUsOdZnZTEyx7P7Z4CAIiXKlIlU8mcbWMU5GNtUiOkwu_bGrFuf3iFjwLHtf/s320/sari-dress-sleeves-nope.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's me, same day, from the side. WTAF NOPE NOPE</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So what happened? As per usual, it was me plunging into a new technology without fully grokking the fundamentals thereof--partially due to time pressure, and partially due to not understanding the questions before they needed answers. More specifically, I hadn't taken in how sleeve tech evolved between the 15th and 16th centuries; my chain of thought ran something like "the bodice of this dress is really quite like a gamurra in final shape, it's just that the seams are different; so I can use the same sleeve design I used for my gamurre." Well, in fact, nope. The gamurra has an inset armscye, which means you have a pretty dramatic shape change on your sleeve to get the thing to fit and still give you decent movement; it is rather like a sine wave, with the peak being at the top of your shoulder. However, the 16th century dress, in a lot of cases, the sleeve isn't really <i>part of</i> the dress; it's a separate instance that you tie or pin or sometimes tack on, so if you have a massive amount of fabric up top, stupid things happen (as you see above)[2].</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wikigallery.org/paintings/222001-222500/222276/painting1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.wikigallery.org/paintings/222001-222500/222276/painting1.jpg" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="488" height="200" width="147" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eleanora di Toledo,<br />by Bronzino</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The obvious answer is "make some new sleeves", but I don't have any of that silk left, so I took thought to how I could best frob them to better effect. Step 1: look at some actual portraits, idiot (which I share a few of here for your delectation).</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/65/f4/2d/65f42d9d94608899851ad7047f5899be--italian-fashion-female-portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="587" height="200" src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/65/f4/2d/65f42d9d94608899851ad7047f5899be--italian-fashion-female-portrait.jpg" width="146" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anonymous lady,<br />by Pier Francesco Foschi</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://uploads7.wikiart.org/images/agnolo-bronzino/portrait-of-bia-de-medici-1542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="594" height="200" src="https://uploads7.wikiart.org/images/agnolo-bronzino/portrait-of-bia-de-medici-1542.jpg" width="148" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bia de'Medici,<br />by Bronzino</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The commonality I noticed is these ruffly bits at the top of the sleeve, which from that point are then attached to the shoulder of the dress in some wise. Since much of my problem was "an excess of fabric at the top of the sleeve", I felt I could make something of this. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Of course, by the time I'd internalized all this information, it was the night before the event...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I started by running a gathering stitch along the point of the sleeve where the shape started getting all dramatic, and drew it in to make the sleeve's circumference about correct for my arm width, and pinned that solid. I still had a goodly amount of fabric upstream, so I finger-pressed that to make a second ridge, and played around with that on my arm to see how it looked. It was the right size, came up to an acceptable place on my arm, and gave about the right effect, so I sewed it all down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lacking ribbon in any workable color, I took some acid-green silk dupioni and cut strips of it to serve as the sleeve ties. It's fraying like whoa, which is annoying, but I expected it; and once it finally gets fringed enough to stop dropping threads everywhere it will have a nice effect, I think. And I finished it in just enough time to get properly dressed for the event. YAY TIMING</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We utterly failed to get any action shots of it on me, but here's it off of me:</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdW5K9gEEnISix70gsF9EeSHMFe2UN1qnr9NuTmAqQo-LuEVFJRWfqn_NM0NHEpzbBGsCMVd4VDDYvXn00_azVRNQWDnBvxQfUwphEUoaHMx6fHe9GVIev8trsucD8VyjvX2bzL_Jedqhq/s1600/IMG_20171008_112726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdW5K9gEEnISix70gsF9EeSHMFe2UN1qnr9NuTmAqQo-LuEVFJRWfqn_NM0NHEpzbBGsCMVd4VDDYvXn00_azVRNQWDnBvxQfUwphEUoaHMx6fHe9GVIev8trsucD8VyjvX2bzL_Jedqhq/s320/IMG_20171008_112726.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a slightly different bow style is probably in order too</span></td></tr>
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<br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In retrospect, I might have done better to combine that extra fabric into a single pouf or valance </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">instead of the two ridges</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">; that's probably closer to most of what we see; but the silk, although stiff, may not have had enough weight to maintain that on its own. In any case, it looks 100% better when I'm wearing it, and I'm pleased with the result considering the strictures I was operating under.</span><br /><div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[1] I did cut out the blue silk under-dress last week! It is, as they say, a start.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[2] On some other occasions we've tacked the sleeve to the back as well, which makes it </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;">somewhat</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> less awful, but it still isn't </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;">great</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">--the silk sticks out in all kinds of ungraceful ways.</span></div>
Victoria Swannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17597383637212754695noreply@blogger.com4