Sunday, January 27, 2013

... And Geometric All Over

Though I've been distracted by life, doll projects, and my other human sized project, I'm still putting in my effort to the slips. The diamond and French knots are nearly done, so I took another look at Elenora de Toledo's burial stocking to see what other elements I could add. I've settled on the zigzag, which will be above the diamonds on my slip instead of below for space reasons. On this piece, I marked out parallel lines which I will cover with a stem stitch. In time I will place a zigzag design in between.

 

Friday, January 18, 2013

The first fitting


I cut out the lining/toile of the bodice for my striped outfit. For this, I used a panel from my old liene from my SCA Irish clothes, since I have no intention of using that persona anymore, and the liene sports a few stains, among other things. The linen is soft enough to make me nervous, so I might end up using an interlining so i don't have to worry about the finished product flopping about.

As an aside, I marvel at how simple the business of making human sized clothes are when you have the undergarments and a sloper already handy. So much time saved, and most of the hard stuff is out of the way.
I pinned it all together using a broad allowance, as if the clothes are slightly snug, chances are they will stretch a bit. Also, I have picked up the idea that any more ease than needed is distasteful. I think I picked this up from too many years of reading the sewing adventures of others.

The first thing to go on this trial run was all the excess fabric from the center front seam. Yes, I did this on purpose when I first made the sloper, to accommodate any size fluctuation, but this is a bit absurd.


I also took the time to pin the straps securely, and stick a pin down the center back seam. Even with years of experience working with pins, I gouged a small hole in my palm. It was more an annoyance than anything serious at least.

More fitting adventures involving twisting, contorting and many tryings on will continue in future posts.
Center back seams are hard to fix.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Something Familiar, Something Peculiar

I decided it's more than time to start the Sleepy Hollow Turque. There's one small problem though, I'm not sure where my pattern pieces are and I'm not sure if I'd recognize them. On the bright side, I do have the pattern traced on some fabric I was planning for a jacket that I never got around to making (same old lament, nowhere to wear it, sigh.)

This solution is far from perfect. First, the pencil lines are ridiculously faint. In some areas my nose was all but touching the material as I looks for traces of blue and darkened them with more pencil. The other is that I still don't recognize some of the pieces.

What is this?
Oh, I think I know now. Time to start the mockups!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Update on a coif

Note: I first started the draft on this post back in November. The first two paragraphs and the top photo is from then.

I'm still slogging along on the coif. I like how very straightforward the design is. All geometric and not too complicated, but still an eye catching result. I get distracted with other projects, but I can take this anywhere. I worked on it through most of the week of Hurricane Sandy, and stopped only when I ran out of floss. I have restocked, and all is well.

You need to peer closely, but on the upper left corner you can make out some of the back stitching.

By December, I managed to finish the grid and make my eyes sore for a couple of days from staring so much as at the warp and weft. I'm a bit more careful now with my eye muscles. I washed off the grid marker, got blue on the threads because I was too distracted to wash them off, and drew in the diagonal lines. Which I forgot to photograph. My silliness can be annoying.

The diagonals are done in chain stitch, with the lines all pointing up. Between the larger stitches and less lines overall, it only took a few weeks to complete. The blue is now fully washed off, and the coif is ironed and awaiting the next stage. I'll hold off on that for now in favor of my other embroidery project and some other sewing plans.