(P.S. I've decided to ask Becky tonight if I can borrow her digital camera so I can document my Pennsic Preparation. I'm still also trying to get her to come to a small event with me, maybe the Siege of Talonvale in July...? It's in Leslie, MI, like right down the road from us, and Iohann (Dan) gets back that week so maybe our combined persuasion will get her there.)
ONTO THE PICTURES!
So, I'll start with picture 1:
This pile of pure mess was the weekend's first project. Started yesterday afternoon, I had lofty goals for my recycled blue cotton duck and 99 cent table cloth from Goodwill. Well, something got fucked up in my measurements and cutting and I ended up with this mess. You can't really tell from the pictures, but I don't want to touch the thing because I'm still pissed off that I messed it up. It's fixable, and I have leftover tablecloth, but it's just a pain in the ass and spent several hours on it for nothing. Grrr...
Picture 2:
A red surcote made from a 99 cent bed sheet from Goodwill. I loved the pure fire engine red color and had to do something with it.
Well I had to make this the odyssey of yesterday. I messed this one up too, albeit less so than the tablecloth one. I fixed it, but ended up doing some very rough piecework that still doesn't look right, but there's enough fullness to cover up the worst mistakes. If I add fur later (which I plan on doing), no one will ever know I messed it up. Here is a close up of the side piecework that I had to resew after I found out that I hadn't given myself enough room to even get the thing over my head, let along my boobs and hips.
The picture on the top is the side seams and the picture on the bottom is part of the hem. All those lines? They aren't creases. They're seams from the piecework. What a mess! And the hem needed piecework too. It's still a mess. I may be able to fix that when I actually get around to hemming (grrrrr) it. I hope to add white rabbit fur to the gates of hell, the waist, and the hem so it should cover the multitude of sins that I committed in making this surcote. Next time I'm just going to use the dumb Butterick's (modified) pattern front and back for the next one I do. I use it for cotes and kirtles and they turn out fine. I modify it to look more like a GFG (Gothic fitted gown) so I don't look like such an inexperienced moron in front of the garb Laurels (they're great ladies and they wouldn't say anything snarky for the world, but I still feel innadequate when I compare myself to them).
So maybe onto some successes?
I wanted hosen and I got a toile made yesterday with Bryan's help, and I actually cut two legs and two feet out of my leftover dark green linen yesterday afternoon after my very frustrating failed surcote experience. The design comes from the Medieval Tailor book I got through the ILL (inter-library loan) and it worked out ok. I had to tweak the sole since the instructions got cut off when I photocopied the page, but I think it turned out ok. I did the back seam on the machine, but I had to put the sole in by hand since I was afraid to waste the fabric. I think it was worth it, though the hand sewing took me two hours and a bunch of thread. It's sturdy and slightly more comfortable than regular heavy cotton socks for an event. I just need to get the other sole sewn into the left foot and we'll be in business. I'd like to cut the soles for the other pairs I want to make before I sew this one in so I can have a sole toil. I only have a toile for the leg currently. I made it long enough so I can make tall chausses as well as short hosen. I want tall chausses for my fighting kits, so I spent the extra time and made a good leg. The yellow garter you see is a piece of scrap fabric from the next set of pictures. I plan on making some more garters from that fabric. I think it comes from the last Pennsic and it's not even my fabric. It's Iohann's scraps from a houpplande he made. Yay for usable scraps!
Speaking of usable scraps, here is the pile of scrap cuts that I'm using for hosen and garters.
And speaking of piles, I went through the fabric a few nights ago and made them ready for sewing or altering. I have a chair and a couch fully devoted to garb sorting now.
Here's the Garb Chair. These are all projects that I've finished the main sewing on that need to be hemmed. There's probably 15 things here, maybe more. Bryan's three pieces of garb are included and you saw those earlier this week. Most everything here needs trim and hemming. Yuck.
Yeah. It's lovely...like a rainbow. Blue, green, red, orange, yellow, white...Good lord.And here's the Garb Couch. These are all uncut lengths of fabric or bedsheets being made into garb. I have them all in separate piles so I can work on one project at a time without seeing an overwhelming pile like in the Garb Chair. Did I mention that the cats LOVE to sleep all over this stuff and get hair all over everything. Every costumer I know has cat fur on her garb. Every single one. It's cat's prerogative.
*sigh* It's gonna be a long road to Pennsic.
Yours in Service,
Gillian de Chelseye
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