Odds and Ends

Just some odds and ends today...

A summary of lining fabrics in some 16th and 17th century extant garments.

Experiments in dagging (cutting decorative designs into the ends of garments).

Bal Report

I never thought I'd complain about being cold in garb. Saturday night was down to 3 degrees, and I'd swear Claremont Town Hall was colder than that. So I can now say that three layers of fabric, one being wool, is not overdressed for the Perth climate.
I was pretty happy with the way the dress worked out. It draped nicely, no problems with buckling when it was laced up, and the sleeves contrasted nicelywith the last 5cm or so tuned back. The hem was about 3cm longer than floor length (just enough to be a tripping hazard) but by the end of the night I was beginning to get the knack for grabbing the skirt in the right way to both save me from falling over and to have something to swish while dancing. All in all, yay! And I'm now a Silver Rondel.

Now I need to start thinking about the next project, which will be a summer outfit. I'm tossing up between another transitional Tudor or a late 15th century Italian.

French Hood Dilemmas

I had pretty much finished the french hood last night (the coif part, tube for my hair, and buckram-lined front bit all done) with the three separate parts pinned together, when I looked in the mirror and thought 'No way is this going to survive a galliard.' So until I wire the thing to death, I think a plain coif will be the safest option.

Still going on the banner - it's the Kingdom of Lochac device. I'm theoretically couching down a silver cord around the edges of the cross, but its so thick that my sewing is more like bad tacking than anything really resembling embroidery. Oh well, maybe this will save me from ever being made to embroider again.

The Rules

1. No cutting after 10pm
2. No machining after 12pm
3. When you stop handsewing depends what time the next day you need to wear what you are making.

These are the rules, these are good rules. The few times I have broken them I've ended up stuffing up what I was working on, so I can say that with confidence.

One chemise finished, french hood waiting on the purchase of more black thread, and the banner I've been "voluntold" (like volunteered but without the choice part) to finish has some decorative cord attached. One free night until this all has to be ready - let's see how the rules go.

Link for the day is spiral lacing - it's good to know how to be tied up properly!

More stormy night sewing

Finished off the hemming, and made a broad lace of five bows (it's a little fingerloop braided ribbon) in red perle cotton. I'd love to use silk, but that will have to wait until I do a bulk order of silk for tablet-weaving and other fibre projects.

I've cut out the chemise that will go under the Tudor kirtle, and am trying adding gussets under the arms. I've been told this gives a much more comfortable garment, so we'll see how that goes. I'm using white cotton lawn fabric.

Silly

Fibre/geek humour...

On the home strait...

Almost done! Forty little brass rings sewn down within an inch of their lives (I tell you, the fabric will rip before these things come off), final front seam on the skirt done, lining hemmed, and only the wool left to hem.
Yay!

Now I just have to make a chemise that goes with the low-cut neckline (which, I have to confess, will be machined) and the french hood to go with it.

Stuck in the Monastery

Apparently, I would be Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose if I was a literary classic. Bah. I want to be Lord of the Rings. [via Tama and Torill]

Sick Days

It's hard working out when to take a sick day when you set your own hours. I've been struggling into uni through various bugs this winter, but decided on Tuesday that enough was enough, and maybe having a chance to recover might be a better option. So two internet-less days at home, feeling better, and I've discovered a previously unknown passion for slalom canoeing.

Not much sewing done though. The most productive thing I've done has been making fingerloop braided cords (see here for examples of fingerloop braiding) that are being sewn into the edges of the bodice, which will hopefully minimise any wrinkling once the lacing is in. My mission for this weekend is finding a fishing shop - they sell small brass rings that are perfect for lacing (no matter what anglers use them for!).

Tudor Kirtle

Given that I haven't put pictures up yet, I thought it might be useful to show the sort of thing I'm making. This site has, amoung other useful things, pictures of Tudor kirtles of a relatively similar style to mine.

Silly Ads!

I've just noticed the silly ads up above my blog - sewing machines for a blog about not using them?!? Got to love (in)appropriate advertising.

Racing

The Olympics over the last few days have provided good background sewing noise, but have lead me into thinking more abstractly about deadlines and racing. For someone as hopeless as me at sport, it looks like people just go and go as fast/hard/whatever as they can until they get to the end. But really, it is a lot more managed than that - I was amazed watching a freestyle race where the woman who won seemed to be barely kicking - it isn't just flat out all the time.

The point where these thoughts intersect with my life and sewing is the tension between sewing as a kind of zen exercise and sewing as producing something to wear by a certain time (the current project needs to be done by Saturday 28th for Bal d'Argent). At the moment there's a plan for a managed approach, but somehow I suspect it will end up in a panicing rush to the finishing line.

The other deadline aspect is uni work - which I really have to go and do now.

Pleating 101

Went looking for instructions for cartridge pleating this morning (not for me - I'm not that insane), and thought I'd post this nice summary of pleating methods. I'm using box pleating at the back of the skirt, as it will give me a bit of spring at the back without interferring with a smooth line in the front.

Dark and Stormy Night

Last night was dark and stormy (if slightly unoriginal), and so I was glad to have two metres of wool fabric to play with! Seams are all finished on the skirt section, and now I've started on the bodice section. The skirt seams where done in running stitch with a back stitch every four-ish stitches for stability, but the bodice section will be under a lot more strain, and so it is being backstitched all the way.
Than I will be on to the sleeves, and finally a note of colour. I'm lining the sleeves in blue silk, cannibalised from a pair of pajama pants bought over at the markets in Sydney. The label said 100% silk, but I didn't entirely believe it, and decided to play with matches for an educational cause:

linen: (smell) paper/burning leaves (ignites) Takes a while to ignite. The fabric closest to the ash is very brittle. Easily extinguished by blowing on it (residue) powdery ash

cotton: (smell) paper/burning leaves (ignites) Steady flame. Easily extinguished by blowing on it. (residue) powdery ash

rayon, tencel, viscose: (smell) paper/burning leaves (ignites) Burns readily with a flickering flame that cannot be easily extinguished. (residue) powdery ash

silk: (smell) burning hair (ignites) Burns readily, not necessarily with a steady flame. Not easily extinguished. (residue) ash easily crumbled

wool: (smell) burning hair (ignites) Harder to ignite than silk. Flame is steady but more difficult to keep burning.

polyester, acrylic, nylon: (smell) burning plastic, acrid (ignites) Catches fire fast but sometimes puts itself out. It bubbles, sizzles and melts. (residue) ash is hard

(Burn Test chart from Kass McGann's wonderful introduction to medieval clothing)

Having burnt a scrap of the 'silk' fabric, I can now say with more confidence that it is silk. Which is good, because the colour is a beautiful sky-blue that will look great against the ivory wool. I really do need to get hold of a digital camera to put some pictures up.

Seam Finishes

No Stitch last night (last minute cancellation), but ended up doing a little bit of stitching anyway. I'm finishing the seams on the wool section of the skirt - just tacking down as (theoretically) wool is less prone to fray than linen, for example. This is my first time working with wool so I guess time will tell if the theory matches reality.

Today's link is"Dark Age Stitch Types", which also has a bit on hemming and seaming finishing/treatments. A bit early for this Tudor piece, but still interesting.

Silk Thread

My number one advice to handsewers out therewould be to use silk thread (well, no, it would be to measure twice, cut once, and always pin and check your seams are on the correct side of the garment, but silk thread would be number three). Compared with using normal sewing machine thread, which snarls and tangles and is generally horrible, silk thread is great. It rarely tangles, it glides through material, looks pretty and feels nice.

If you ever wondered where this stuff came from here is a look at the producers, and then getting the thread from them to you. My current evil master plan involves finding a class of primary school children willing to look after silkworms for me so I can try out the reeling process myself.

Had a rather bad day at the office yesterday, so last night I consoled myself with bad television and doing the seams on the skirt (ivory wool). Now I need to finish the seams, and then start on the bodice, which might happen at Stitch and Bitch tonight (my sewing group - no bitching allowed if you aren't stitching).

Blogging, not sewing...

Well, having started setting up this thing, I have to go and do other stuff...
But to begin the sewing updates - the early/transitional Tudor dress currently has the skirt lining and bodice lining sewn (though not to each other yet). White linen and silk thread (which rocks - more on this later).