Festival is coming...
...so that means it's time to start a new project. Right?
Why am I doing this to myself, again?
Last week I had a couple of adventures. Wednesday was my IKEA adventure, and featured one of the most amazing finds: a brand-new 100% linen single flat bedsheet marked down from A$50 to A$30. Nearly two and a half meters of PURE LINEN for A$30 -- and it's got finished edges so if I cut carefully, I don't have to hem the sleeves. F'yeah. I also picked up a lantern and a candle for A$9.99 and A$0.99 respectively (thank you IKEA gods for cheap medieval-oid lanterns and even cheaper pillar candles), the ridiculously cheap tent-style VUKU wardrobe so my clothes don't have wrinkles and folds in them, and a set of three little cork boxes to use as sewing boxes. My fabric scissors perfectly fit in the largest, which makes me a very happy camper.
Anyways.
I volunteered to make some tokens for the Combined Colleges cocktail night and went to my usual little charm shop on Thursday for it. Found some cute cocktail glass charms, got beads to jazz 'em up, found a horrifyingly bright green cord... and poof! thirty tokens appeared in the smallest cork box from the night before.
And as the nice lady at the counter was ringing me up...the tram pulled up. I walked out of the store. It pulled away. Damn. But look! Across the street is a Super Cheap Fabrics! I've been to the Brunswick location and am somewhat ambivalent towards their selection, but the Fitzroy one had a Wall of Wool that very nearly made me cry.
Emmeline, you're crazy.
I know. But when I asked which ones were 100% wool, the shop lady pointed out four or five rolls and said those were synthetic blends and the rest were 100% natural fibers. Do you know how RARE that is? Well, you're reading this, so...probably. I had the hardest time deciding between a so-dark-it's-almost-black navy and an army green. The navy was a bit heavier but the green was calling to me...so I got the green. (I also got a really gorgeous floral cotton voile and some lace for a petticoat so my skirts can be properly poofy, but those aren't particularly relevant here, now are they?) The shop lady even showed me the burn test!
And of course, I wanted to immediately make something with my pretty. I wanted something that would keep me warm on a cold evening and more importantly, that wouldn't catch fire or melt if I got too close to a flame. Never mind that I have four projects needing finishing...no. I want a pretty green dress, so I am making myself a pretty green dress. And I will decorate it with my tablet weaving, because why not?
I've been thinking about going earlier than twelfth century because let's be real here, there's a lot more research done on Anglo-Saxon dress, and if I aim for 10th-11th centuries, they're a bit simpler and that's always good, I think. I spent about two days reading through Regia Anglorum's authenticity guides and I found the new URL for Rosie and Glenn Historical Costuming's resource library and all her images and tutorials which somehow make their way to Pinterest but always with the old URL (which leads to Ralph Lauren of all things now). I had a rant about it to my fiance over lunchtime Friday and I kid you not, as soon as I got off the phone with him, I found the new URL.
Anyways. if you've read literally any of my other dress diary type posts, you'll find that I love cutting plans. Really, really love them. I am a fiend for them. I drew up two cutting plans, with the thought that I'd use as little fabric as possible and make a cloak out of the remainder, and eventually decided on the one below.
As far as cutting plans go, it's nothing special. But please, take note of the blank space above the body pieces. I cut this out fairly late on Friday night, which, let me tell you, was a mistake and a half in itself. I had cut out everything except I hadn't yet separated the front and back. Confidently, I folded the piece in half and started cutting. I stopped when I hit a chalk mark I hadn't quite been able to erase, and trimmed the end, completely forgetting that I'd already done it. When I held the piece up to my shoulders and it didn't even come close to mid-shin....
Disappointed didn't even begin to cover it. I briefly debated cutting into the leftover fabric, the stuff that was going to make a cloak or a mantle. I decided against that, though, and figured I'd just sew the cut-off bit back on. It doesn't fray so I could have minuscule seam allowances, taking up as little length as possible.
I sewed those back on and backstitched the shoulders together before going to bed. That was at least somewhat harder to screw up.
Sunday morning I decided I wanted to flat-line the body so it would slide over my other clothing easily. I had a nice remnant of either linen or cotton in a deep sapphire blue, which would have never sat on the inside of a piece of clothing in period but I didn't have enough length to do anything really meaningful with it, so modern me shrugged and began to baste the fabrics together. I used bright yellow thread so I wouldn't forget to take it out, and a pale pink to denote the edges of the green fabric, since I'd cut the blue a bit wide. It's lined down to about my hips, so a bit far, but I really didn't want to deal with more finishing than I needed to, and like a proper medieval seamstress I am using the selvedges to my advantage.
It's just after 1 on Monday, now, and the sleeves are attached, the gores are sewn to the front and pinned to the back, and the neckline has been cut so I can try it on. The good news is it fits pinned, but I haven't pinned the sides together yet. I do have some larger scraps I'm planning on inserting into the sides, but it remains to be seen how wide those strips need to be. They'll also probably form the underarm gusset.
I've also pinned the hem (as you saw above in my 'dammit' picture), and won't sew that down until I've had a chance to check its height. The sleeves will probably have a large hem so they hit mid-forearm and I have the option of making them tight to the wrist at a later date.
Anyways, I've got some gores to sew on. Hopefully I'll get back into writing more frequently!
Why am I doing this to myself, again?
Last week I had a couple of adventures. Wednesday was my IKEA adventure, and featured one of the most amazing finds: a brand-new 100% linen single flat bedsheet marked down from A$50 to A$30. Nearly two and a half meters of PURE LINEN for A$30 -- and it's got finished edges so if I cut carefully, I don't have to hem the sleeves. F'yeah. I also picked up a lantern and a candle for A$9.99 and A$0.99 respectively (thank you IKEA gods for cheap medieval-oid lanterns and even cheaper pillar candles), the ridiculously cheap tent-style VUKU wardrobe so my clothes don't have wrinkles and folds in them, and a set of three little cork boxes to use as sewing boxes. My fabric scissors perfectly fit in the largest, which makes me a very happy camper.
 |
| Adorable. |
Anyways.
I volunteered to make some tokens for the Combined Colleges cocktail night and went to my usual little charm shop on Thursday for it. Found some cute cocktail glass charms, got beads to jazz 'em up, found a horrifyingly bright green cord... and poof! thirty tokens appeared in the smallest cork box from the night before.
And as the nice lady at the counter was ringing me up...the tram pulled up. I walked out of the store. It pulled away. Damn. But look! Across the street is a Super Cheap Fabrics! I've been to the Brunswick location and am somewhat ambivalent towards their selection, but the Fitzroy one had a Wall of Wool that very nearly made me cry.
Emmeline, you're crazy.
I know. But when I asked which ones were 100% wool, the shop lady pointed out four or five rolls and said those were synthetic blends and the rest were 100% natural fibers. Do you know how RARE that is? Well, you're reading this, so...probably. I had the hardest time deciding between a so-dark-it's-almost-black navy and an army green. The navy was a bit heavier but the green was calling to me...so I got the green. (I also got a really gorgeous floral cotton voile and some lace for a petticoat so my skirts can be properly poofy, but those aren't particularly relevant here, now are they?) The shop lady even showed me the burn test!
 |
| Helloooooo gorgeous. It's a bit greener in person, but still quite a lovely color. |
I've been thinking about going earlier than twelfth century because let's be real here, there's a lot more research done on Anglo-Saxon dress, and if I aim for 10th-11th centuries, they're a bit simpler and that's always good, I think. I spent about two days reading through Regia Anglorum's authenticity guides and I found the new URL for Rosie and Glenn Historical Costuming's resource library and all her images and tutorials which somehow make their way to Pinterest but always with the old URL (which leads to Ralph Lauren of all things now). I had a rant about it to my fiance over lunchtime Friday and I kid you not, as soon as I got off the phone with him, I found the new URL.
Anyways. if you've read literally any of my other dress diary type posts, you'll find that I love cutting plans. Really, really love them. I am a fiend for them. I drew up two cutting plans, with the thought that I'd use as little fabric as possible and make a cloak out of the remainder, and eventually decided on the one below.
 |
| Cutting plan v2 |
Disappointed didn't even begin to cover it. I briefly debated cutting into the leftover fabric, the stuff that was going to make a cloak or a mantle. I decided against that, though, and figured I'd just sew the cut-off bit back on. It doesn't fray so I could have minuscule seam allowances, taking up as little length as possible.
 |
| There was much cursing to be had, but it's fixed now. |
Sunday morning I decided I wanted to flat-line the body so it would slide over my other clothing easily. I had a nice remnant of either linen or cotton in a deep sapphire blue, which would have never sat on the inside of a piece of clothing in period but I didn't have enough length to do anything really meaningful with it, so modern me shrugged and began to baste the fabrics together. I used bright yellow thread so I wouldn't forget to take it out, and a pale pink to denote the edges of the green fabric, since I'd cut the blue a bit wide. It's lined down to about my hips, so a bit far, but I really didn't want to deal with more finishing than I needed to, and like a proper medieval seamstress I am using the selvedges to my advantage.
It's just after 1 on Monday, now, and the sleeves are attached, the gores are sewn to the front and pinned to the back, and the neckline has been cut so I can try it on. The good news is it fits pinned, but I haven't pinned the sides together yet. I do have some larger scraps I'm planning on inserting into the sides, but it remains to be seen how wide those strips need to be. They'll also probably form the underarm gusset.
I've also pinned the hem (as you saw above in my 'dammit' picture), and won't sew that down until I've had a chance to check its height. The sleeves will probably have a large hem so they hit mid-forearm and I have the option of making them tight to the wrist at a later date.
Anyways, I've got some gores to sew on. Hopefully I'll get back into writing more frequently!
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