And here is the picture I was talking about........

It is by Rogier Weyden.

Not a lot to see here.......

I haven't done anymore sewing since Festival. As it was cool on the evening of the feast I didn't bother finishing the yellow cotehardie and wore one of my other dresses. I still have to do the lacing holes for it and Wolfstanus' cotehardie too. I really should look at finishing those off!

Conrad wants some doublets made too so I might start planning it. There is also a dress I want to make - I have some beautiful material I bought just for the sleeves (it was the end of a roll) and I had this dress in mind when I bought it. Will have to scan it and see how it goes (and find the picture on my computer to put here).

Update on sewing for Festival

The ever lovely and helpful Johanna came over again on the weekend and we got some more sewing done.

Completed:
The two shirts for Wolfstanus
The shirt for T
The two doublets for T (apart from the frog closures which will hopefully arrive in the next few days!)
Another 3 hoods cut out
Sewing together of two hoods

Still to complete:
The sleeves and hems on my linen chemise (the sleeves have been unpicked - need to fix the shape of them and re-sew)
Sewing together of 3 hoods
Lining for 5 hoods
Frog closures on doublets (x 2 doublets)
Lacing holes on 2 cotehardies for Wolfstanus
Lacing holes on my new cotehardie
Hem on 'old favourite' cotehardie that needs shortening

And I think that is it! Phew! I hope to have all that done by this weekend!

Only 17 days to Festival! Yikes!

Well, I've cut down some of my list of sewing - made use of loaner garb, buying trackie dacks and doing the minimal amount required. Johanna has been a life saver helping me sew all weekend.

Achievements:
1 shirt for Wolfstanus complete except for handsewing of hems
1 shirt for Wolfstanus almost complete - need to sew in sleeves and do hem
1 Shirt for Cyriac (still need to do a name change!)- collar and sleeves to sew on - hemming to be done
2 x doublets cut out for Cyriac - need more interfacing and to cut out lining before sewing
2 x hoods cut out and pinned - need to do lining
1 x linen chemise for me - sleeves went funny so need to re-do those and hem/finish off edges

Still to cut out and finish off
3 x hoods and lining
Lacing holes for Wolfstanus' cotehardies
Lacing holes for my Cotehardie
Button holes for Cyriac's Cotehardie

The goal is to get all the cutting out and pinning done by the weekend so I can just get in and sew like crazy! Lacing holes I can do in front of the TV of an evening.

I HAVE to get back into my study this evening for my short hand course - I am 4 assignments behind and have forgotten half of what I have learnt (so will need to revise as well). Bugger!!!

If I can get most of the sewing done by next weekend, it will give me the weekend before Festival to organise the camping gear. I do have the day before we leave off work but being on crutches kinda limits what I can do on my own!

Garb update

Well, not much happening at the moment. I have a fractured ankle and bruised tendon so need to learn to drive my sewing machine with my left foot!

I'm working on a yellow cotehardie at the moment but progress has halted somewhat. I hope to get back into it this weekend as I'm not allowed to put any weight on my ankle for the next four weeks (I've already spent the last 6 weeks on crutches with it being treated as a sprain - found out today I have a crack fracture, bruised bone and bruised tendon - explains why the 'sprain' wasn't getting better LOL)

Also need to do the lacing holes on Wolfstanus' cotehardies! I have aglets and lacing on order - hopefully they will turn up next week!

Cotehardies for Wolfstanus

These are the two cotehardies I made for Wolfstanus on Sunday. It was a new pattern I tried taken from 'Patterns for Theatrical Costumes' by Katherine Strand Holkeboer (listed under the section as Mid 14th Century). So whilst probably not historically accurate it does give the right look and fit - Wolfstanus exclaimed it was 'really comfy!' He doesn't want buttons so I just need to do lacing holes now. It is fully lined.

I copied the pattern from the book onto 1/8" grid paper (the scale used), printed it onto an overhead transperancy and projected it onto the wall so that the grid was 1". I then traced it onto brown paper, cut it out, and voila! A pattern! It was originally intended for Conrad but is way too small - thank goodness I have three sons so when it doesn't fit one, it will usually fit one of the others!

The material used was from some I had in my stash - the blue I think is some sort of cotton blend (I only paid about $1 a metre for it ages ago and still have quite a bit left), the other I had bought to make a lounge cover about six years ago. (You know you're in the SCA when...........)

All up, from cutting, pinning, fitting, lining and sewing took me about six hours for the two. Not bad for a day's sewing.............

The most important thing is that Wolfstanus likes them and is happy to wear them. Just need to make some hose to go with them......

Time is ticking away......

Not much to report - I was hoping to get some sewing done over the Christmas break but no such luck. I have a cotehardie cut out for myself and partly sewn but the fit isn't great. I need to cut bigger gores so it sits better on my hips. I seem to recall having to do this last time - didn't write it down on the pattern as I thought I would remember. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Got some nice material for the boys for duds - it's their favourite. I might try and get those cut out on the weekend as it is a pretty simple job. I need things nice and simple at the moment .

My goal for 2008 on this blog is to do better diaries and more photos etc!