Merry Christmas

Well, will be returning home on Wednesday from visiting parents for the holiday. Ive been contemplating what new project i should do. Im contemplating an embroidered book chemise, a viking outfit for my husband and boys, an intarsa hood for my mentor...not quite sure. Ive got my list on my ipod just wondering what i should do. :) Im open to suggestions...

Next project

So Im done with the viking ensemble. Now onto the next project..which wont be started till after Christmas so I have time to make a couple gifts that were requested of me. Im contemplating what to make; A book chemise? A laurel hood for my mentor? An alms purse for myself? Not sure yet. But you'll be the first to know when I do. Stay tuned!

Viking Outfit

Well, its overdue, but its now done. Due to a new job, prepping for Christmas, things in this project taking longer than i predicted and various other things, I blew my self imposed deadline for the viking outfit. Today the small finishing touches were completed while watching Pirates 3 at Fritzi's house. He was kind enough to take the photos of me wearing the outfit. I noticed in the pictures that the pins on the apron dress are not evenly attached..etc..but i put the outfit on late at night so...better pictures will happen later.
Here they are:


When I wear these to birka Ill have ironed them and am going to work on some trim for the coat..do some light embroidery on the blue gown. Also..there will be some make up..cause..damn i look pale here. :)

Well...a little late, but its done. Im happy. Thank you Fritzi for taking the photos for me.

Procrastination...the word of the day

So...because of prior projects that needed to get done for a deadline i procrastinated some on my projects for here. But..i have caught up..some. This weekend while at Mother in laws for the weekend, I took use of the very long dining room table. The caftan coat is cut out as well as the blue linen undergown. Since i stupidly forgot my camera at home, tomorrow while the boys are at school I will lay out the cut pieces and take pics of them to post here. Then i will be sewing them up this week. I am on the look out for a nice broach to pin the caftan shut as that was the proper closure used: one large broach at the neckline. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions of where to find a nice one? Please let me know.

Ok..off to my Mom's house to get some time in there! More updates tomorrow!

My mentor asked me to post the pics of the embroidered cloak i made for my son Leo (modeled by my oldest Kyle). Here they are.


























At my Mother in laws house (with the long diningroom table) and ill be doing some final cutting out. Unfortunatly i neglected to bring my camera with me (we are here to attend a funeral) so ill borrow my bro in laws. :)

But here are the pics of the cloak...all split stitch in yellow cotton thread (come on a five year old is wearing this...im sure not using silk). Took me about three months give or take. :)

While i was watching a movie the other night...

Embroidered this hood for Leo while watching a movie the other night. Its purple wool with gold cotton thread embroidery. Two hour break from Viking work and such. :)

Cute FYI

My oldest son Kyle has asked for a viking cap to wear to events. Guess Ill have to make him an outfit to wear to go along with it now, won't I? ;)

New Month..and A Gift

Well this month its the plan to do the outer gown/dress of the viking outfit as well as the caftan coat. The fabric for both is pictured above here (via my cell phone camera). The Blue linen on right is the long sleeve outer gown that will show beneath the apron dress. The herringbone fabric to the left (which is actually a lighter blue more than a purpleish...bad lighting i suppose) will be the caftan coat. That fabric was a wonderful gift from my friend Brenwen and its sooooo soft. (thank you Brewen!!)

Will most likely be experimenting with muslin patterns for the dress today as previous obligation projects are mostly done. :)

Hat and Apron dress done!!

Now Im not exactly what went wonky with my camera but pics of both Apron dress and coif were on it. And now..somehow only the coif is. Here are those pictures at least(modeled on my son, Kyle). White silk with white linen ties. The coif is completely hand sewn (not exactly difficult i know). Will have to reshoot the apron dress again, which is simple enough but allergy attack and the resulting exhaustion from it today means it wont happen today.



Now i plan on starting the under gown and if i can find the proper wool, the caftan coat.

Cutting..

So while waiting for my friend to get home yesterday from work i took advantage of her diningroom table to start cutting items out. First here are images of the white silk for the coif and the green linen for the apron:















Took a couple quick measurements of my head and started cutting. I will be hand sewing the coif. The coif itself is silk but the ties are linen.



































Oh trust me..i will be ironing the pieces before needle and thread touches the fabric.

WOOT!

After a long unsuccessful search, I was unable to find any nice silk to make the coif out of....until this morning. I opened up my craft caddy by the door to look for an embroidery pattern book and found a grocery bag tied shut and inside the bag was about three plus yards of white raw silk. I know that raw silk may not have been the choice fabric but as im doing this on a tight budget, Ill take what little "presents" i get. Im using this silk for frugal's sake. :)
Pics later today, after a drive to a friends house.

Discovery...

So having been woken up early by nature's call and not being able to get back to sleep, i came down to my trusty machine and began researching some more on the outfit. I read that the gown under the apron dress was usually made of a bright colored linen. This surprised me because a lot of references I had seen show a woman wearing a white dress under the apron dress. This didn't make sense to me so my assumption was the white dress was actually the underwear and the brightly colored gown was the outer dress that was directly under the apron dress, making it three layers instead of the two I had originally thought. I called my mentor up with my thoughts and assumptions and she confirmed I was indeed correct and when you do see someone walking around in the white gown with the apron on top they were missing a layer and wearing their underwear as the main gown. LOL! Well this came as a relief to me as, with the economy the way it is, money is snug for us as well. This means I can raid my stash of linen for the outer gown and not have to buy more for the moment! I actually have this stunning bright blue that a friend brought back as a gift from Pennsic for me that would make an excellent gown for under the apron dress. With the apron being a forest green..they will go well together. (Blue being documentable by the use of woad.) WOOHOO!!

Apron Dress Cut out Image

Here is an image I found online that shows the flare with the gores. Hmmmmm....

Found at this site:
http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/image/apdress.jpg

Apron Dress

Have the fabric washed and dried...its a lovely shade of dark green. Sort of a forest color. Now Im unsure..to cut out the dress with just flared pieces or straight rectangles with small triangle gores to give the fullness. Ive found references to both but...which is the more accurate. Im sure it has to do with the amount of fabric they had to use whether they made gores out of scraps was determined if they had the width of fabric to use or not. There is also conflicting information on the straps to the apron dress. MOre on that later. Also looking for references to embroidery on the linen caps they wore. Found one but not sure of its validity. Being im on the laptop at my inlaws house doing all this instead of home where my links are, ill post them later when we get home.

Just wanted to keep you updated. And im open to suggestions, posts, links etc.

Still here...

Yes i know its been about a week since last post but with holiday traveling and kids getting back to school...time hasn't been abundant. So...I am researching the apron dress. I have found a couple examples:

This is imagery of the apron dress i'd prefer to make:
http://homepage.mac.com/wolfpaws/redwulf_mac/gunhilda_dress/gunhilda_dress-Pages/Image2.html

I have found others and as soon as I can scan in from book sources, I shall(problems with my scanner...most likely operator trouble).

I have purchased a nice white linen to create the cap with. I am washing and drying it for durability and practicality. (I have a husband that doesn't pay attention to items that should not be put in the dryer. Lost many pieces of my wardobe to that..)

I have also procured a wonderful green linen to make the apron dress out of from www.fabrics-store.com They are my favorite source for linen fabric.

In my research I have also found references and some extant images of caftan type coats. Im thinking with time permitting i may add this to the outfit. I really like this idea better than a cloak. Sleeves!!! What a concept! Most definatly will be made from a wool. Again..along with the apron dress..to find the right wool. (Our Jomar just isnt that great any longer).

While visiting my in laws for a birthday celebration this weekend, Ill be working on the hood. Promise to post pictures from there. Mom in law has a wonderfully long diningroom table that is just perfect for cutting out fabric on. :)

As a small break from researching today i watched some Sex and the City reruns while making cloth buttons and sewing them onto a cotehardie for a friend. On a cool rainy day it was a nice activity.

And so it begins...

It is September 1st and as I promised myself I would start this project. A few questions were going through my mind during the last few days. I was making a list of projects for myself that I could work on over the coming 12 months. What would I create? I know that they would not all be for myself, as I stated before, my two boys are growing faster than i can sew. There will be items in there for them as well. So with that in mind, I've decided on a first project. My mentor said a while ago, before this blog project was even a thought in my head, that I should make a full viking outfit for myself to wear to the up coming SCA event, Birka. My husband is switching to a viking persona so I thought I would make an outfit for myself (and the boys of course) as well. And a Pennsic or two ago he came home with a set of Viking half dome brooches for me and I've never worn them yet. With that decision, Ive decided to split the outfit up over two months so i can get it done well and even get some embroidery on it. Apron Dress and coif for this month and possibly under gown and hose for next month. I wont attempt shoes as my leather working skills are very minimal. That's not to say that later I wont give it a shot, but for now..I'm sticking to the fabric/embroidery projects.

So I have actually already started some research online at various web sites and I have a book on Viking clothing that I will get the chance to read now that dearest husband is done with it (now he has to resurface it from the catastrophe that is his office and give it back to me). That will happen tonight before we leave for a weekend trip.

The under gown will be linen and the apron dress will be a wool of course. Linen hose and coif as well. I have thoughts of making a linen apron dress as well for the warmer days that may come before Birka but..lets see how the wool one comes along first. The wool will be what I have to purchase as of right now as I never seem to keep good wool like that in my stash for long. :)

Alrighty!! Off to cut a path through his office in search of my book!!

Inspiration

It all began a few weeks ago when two friends plied me with fried avacados at the local mexican resturant asking me to go see a movie I'd never heard of: "Julie & Julia". With some hesitation I agreed, not knowing anymore than a short description of the movie they told me. Though I enjoyed watching the occasional Julia Child episode on PBS years ago, wasn't sure if I would really want to see a two hour movie about her life and a woman wanting to make her recipes. Turns out.. I was completely wrong. It was an excellent movie and it gave me inspiration to create a similar blog project of my own interests.

Being a longtime member of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and wanting to advance my knowledge in sewing and embroidery of historical clothing and accessories, I thought this would be a good way to broaden my horizons and my wardrobe (as well as my family's...in which whom some are quickly outgrowing their current garb). So after a discussion with my SCA mentor about my idea for this project it is with her "thumbs up" I am going to create 12 researched projects in 12 months and blog them here, to begin September 1st, 2009.

In this last week leading up to the start date, im trying to complete unfinished projects i had lying around. I have pictures of my past work on this web site:
www.labroderesse.shutterfly.com if you care to view them.

Ok...see you in a week!