New progress

Ok i actually did this stuff last weekend, but havn't had time to upload the pictures which i will do now.


This is what i am doing, just a piece of cloth where i am practicing embroidery techniques patterns and designs. It is not meant to be displayed. i might eventually do one that will be. Here is a close up of a "leaf" done in detatched buttonhole stitch. with directions from this site.
http://www.needlenthread.com/2008/01/detatched-buttonhole-filling-video.html

Here is the flower and bud i also did. You can't see that the green part of the bud was supposed to have little "points going up the pink section. I didn't do that part of it to well. will have to try again.

Want to try some little critters as well like a caterpillar

Here is the progress so far on the flower. The stitch really makes the petals stick out which is cool. Just need to do the center and think i will do french knots at the end of the gold lines coming away from the flower. They are a gold thread done in 4 stitches of chain stitch.

New Project ideas

I Just got asked what type of embroidery i was currently interested in. Up till now it has been about 1350 split stitch needlepainting type stuff.



that is not what my answer was.

EDIT: In short i guess it is Jacobean wool work?

currenly i am rather interested in some of the embroidery done in 16th-18th century. Particularly the embroidery done on the large curtains that surrounded four poster beds in many of the houses we vistited in England. Im thinking mostly of Cothele and... and.... i can see the house and town but not the name of the house dammn it... i'll remember later.




http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Embroidered_curtain_17th-18th_century.jpg
"An Embroidered XVIIth or XVIIIth century Wool-work Curtain.—This curtain, the property of Miss Killick, is a pretty example of a small crewel-work hanging. The design is of a type that was often used upon hangings of that period. It is embroidered with brightly coloured wools upon a white linen ground, and is in a good state of preservation. Much ingenuity as well as variety of stitching are shown in the execution of the work."

Summary
Crewel work on cotton and linen twill ground; stem stitch with
long, short and coral stitches and French knots, 1630s V&A Museum
no.T.124-1938
Artist/designer - Unknown
Place - England
Dimensions-
Length 18 in (sleeve, outer seam)
A mythical bird is just one of the fanciful
creatures that populate this embroidered jacket of the 1630s. Worked in red wool
on a thick twill of linen warp and cotton weft, the coarseness of the thread and
heaviness of the ground lack the delicacy of similar garments embroidered in
silk on finer linen, but overall the work has a certain enchanting vitality. The
design shows a development in later Jacobean needlework – the scrolling vines
seen on jackets of the first two decades of the 17th century have disappeared.
Each motif is worked separately, while retaining the curvilinear dynamism
typical of Jacobean embroidery. During the later 17th century, this type of
needlework, known as crewel work, grew in popularity. It became an important
method of decorating household furnishings, particularly bed curtains and
valances.
Source: http://images.vam.ac.uk/indexplus/page/Home.html

Ok so these may be a little too elaborate....but you get the jist, imagine a scaled down.... slightly sparser less time consuming and perhaps only the top frieze over a carefully chosen fabric down below.

so the past two days (home sick) has been madly spent researching this whilst running back and forward from bed for naps. Any reccomendations.... please comment.

OTHER PHOTOS

Here is another one from the V&A Click here

This site has some info on stitches used http://www.meg-andrews.com/articles/crewel-woolwork.php

Great instructions for a Jacobean hanging ie stitching guide.... interesting.

http://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/projects/crewel/crewel.html

Now i am just dreaming of having a curtain like this http://www.embroiderersguild.com/workshops/tutors/phillipaturnbull/

Update

Well here is the progress i made last night playing with new stitches. Getting out of the very medieval split stitch and playing round with new stitches is interesting that is for sure. Elmsley Rose has offered to give me some pointers. Have a squizz at her sight by the way...

The fishbone stitch is easier than i expected and doesn't look to hard to totally muck up. Have a lokk at the following video tutorial that is on the Needle'nThread website. I find them very easy to understand (once i do this switch over for being left handed...)
http://www.needlenthread.com/2006/11/fishbone-stitch-video-tutorial.html

As you can see i tried to do a filling stitch in the flower petals. It has highlighted the fact that a) i havn't done the stitch before, b) was doing the stitch by memory and c) that the petals are not the same size. Hopefully with all of them done this will ballance out a bit and look more normal. With have a hunt around and see what other stitches would be good for these sort of flowers.
They also just posted a link to an online book about embroidery.... here is the link i must check it out properly
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24964/24964-h/24964-h.htm

Learning new stitches

This is the first time i have tried whip stitching....
I'm teaching myself new stitches and new patterns at the moment. Rather than starting any new projects. Having see some of the wonderful work on http://www.plimoth.org/embroidery-blog/ (the enbroiderer's story) and also the work of Elmsley Rose http://elmsleyrose.blogspot.com/ I think i shall focus on playing with stitches and designs before playing with anything new. Up till recently i have mostly been doing split stitch needle painting type work. I would love to try some of the later types of embroidery shown on those sites.

if anyone has any good site rcommendations, i'd love to hear them

A pink Cioppa

My new pink cioppa by Cathelina

What does a sick reenactor do two days before a major event when she realises she doesn't have clothes that are warm enough?
Makes another dress, thats what!

This dress has a bodice that does up with two hidden hooks and eyes (will replace with a nice clasp when I buy one) and a split front skirt

The skirt is eight trapezoid pannels sewn straight edge to slanty all the way around

The skirt is knife pleated to the bodice
This dress is very warm!
This dress is also nice and comfy!
The arm is partially sewn on and I have full movement!

I LOVE my new pink Cioppa

First shots of my dress

Hey all these are the photos i have of my dress "in action" others comming but these are from Cathalina.

Update on my dress

I need to raise the skirt seam a little higher to this point or maybe another 3 cm again.

The inside of the dress

General progress

Just a quick update on that brown dress

So History Alive was on a few weekends ago and I got my first chance to wear my brown dress for two days in a row. It is always good to get that chance, as many times comfort issues aren't noticed when you wear something for a few hours, but are when you wear itfor an extended time.

Fortunatly, everything was relativly comfy (a hard thing when drafting your ownbodices) though I did spend most of the weekend with my skirts tied up as what is a good length for walking is too long for working and bending in mud.

The sleeves worked really well, though the curve at the top was a tad too large (thats ok, just a look thing, it doesn't affect the fit at all) and I will attach a second tie on point (again, just a look thing).

The main problem was the armholes, they were too far back (when drafting the size on the back of the bodice should have been smaller and they should have been larger on the front). As you can see they gape a bit at the back, and by the endofthe secondday they were startingto cut in at the front. There's nothing I can really do on the brown dress to fix this problem (save loosing more weight). I can enlargen the front of the armhole a tad but honestly I think I'll just leave it.

In the above picture the skirt looks funny because it is tied up, and in the bottom picture it is wrinkly because its been tied up all day!

All in all, it is a pretty good dress. The only alterations I'll make to this one is adding another sleeve lacing point. My next pair of sleeves I'll make with less of a shoulder curve. My next dress (when dad can finally spare half a day and the petrol to take me to get fabric) will be a little different. I'll alter the armholes and I might make it so that it laces fully closed (they did both). Of the colours I am dying I am hoping to get a madder-looking orange, and if so I might make it slightly shorter for when I am working on muddy days to save having to tie up the skirts (which is rather unattractive). How often I'll be at an event with mud like HA, I don't know (I sat down and my chair sank inches and I almost fell off), but its good to have a dress I can wear in the mud anyway.

What I would also like to do is order some wool from overseas and make a dress. Having seen a real wool (I mean light weight wool as opposed to the blanket weight stuff you used to be able to get here before us reenactors bought the last of the wool) dress I know what the overseas reenactors mean when they say it falls really nicley- it does. I just don't think I can justify the cost right now though-not when I have dye for three dresses that will work on linen and silk but not on wool.

Hopefully Iwill have photos of my giornea soon to post, my construction of that has been halted however as I am making my mum a dress, not a real dress, just a costume so I have to learn how to do a few things like faking layers (she won't wear a shift or anything as she thinks an extra layer will make her colder. Yeah, thats what she says- shes just being stupid but now I have to figure out how to sew in extra fabric to cover the parts that will show (lacing gaps etc). That will take longer than it would if I gave her the pieces to make a shift and had her sew it on the machine. (time isanother factor in her not wanting a shift, we are short on time so it would be better to waste my time doing something that will take longer than it would take her to do it properly, so we better use up as much time as we can as we are short on it) Yeah, makes no sense, I am still trying to get the truth out of her and failing. At least its just a disposdable dress, not one she wants to wear again so all this stupidness will do is eat more into time I don't want to spare- not with having to do another full outfit for abbey too. As you can see I don't like wasting my time on crappy 'midgeeevilish' costumes and quite frankly I don't know how to make them. As far as modern crap goes I am not a good sewer as I don't know how to do modern sewing. I can just sew clothing from the 15th and 16th centuries and thats all. Which is why it anoys me when mum lies to people and goes and tells them I am a good sewer and can help them with their modern stuff when I can't.

ARGH. ok, rant over.

Dammn That is a Sexy Photo

Ok well here is the progress on Chris's Jacket for Abbey. I hate sleaves.... you have no idea how i HATE sleaves. Especially when you have no pattern, or a finished jacket to copy.
The lower sleaves need to be tighter, but that is because i havn't pinned them in this photo.

Here are the photos of my dress progress...

Skirt is not attached to the bodice yet, which hasn't been hemmed yet either. In the bottom picture you can't see the shap of the bodice as the bottom part is tucked under the skirt when it got caught on the pins.

Florentine Dress Website

http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/flornotes/flornotes.html

An interesting site. A little after our time, but interesting none the less

Still Here...Just Busy

Hey everyone, I'm still here, i have just been pretty busy the last few weeks. I am anticipating an increase in posts over the next few weeks with Abbey comming up and things but for the moment i am flat out with work.

Hoping that i will be back posting soon. Just have nothing much to show :-)

General Update

Hey all, sorry i havn't posted new pictures over the weekend but i have been a little busy with work and cleaning up the house. I had every intention of doing some sewing but, alas, i have not.

New work is going well, and i'm looking forward to going to work tomorrow so i guess that is a good thing.


Anyway better be off and finish cooking dinner which is a delicious Thai Green Curry with Pork, peppercorns and Potatos. cooked in coconut milk and it do die for. yummy. we even have desert tonight.


talk to you all soon

Medieval Quilting Update

Well i had a go at quilting some medieval designs to see how it would turn out.

here are the results:

This is about 2 1/2 hours work, including transfering the design to the fabric. By the way Childrens colouring books are perfect for this kind of work :-)

It is not finished yet, i still have a bit of detailing on the figure before i start the next two.

If doesn't look very exciting in the pictures but i think it prooves to me that i should be able to manage something on a larger scale.

(Excuse that thread that has blown over the top of the fabric.)

All this is, is a cotton cover over 3 layers of thin wool cloth. (i do realise this would need to change)

Now i know that this kind of quilting is achievable by myself, i need to look in to the types of materials that i can use.

1. I want to make it a "good" item

2. Something that will last for a while (ie materials need to be washable/strong/colourfast)

3. The design needs to be well though out. I think i will comission my partner to do the drawing of the quilt as he is by far the more "Technical" drawer out of the two of us Not sure what i want yet. Was thinking about a story that runs around the outside band of the quilt, with a larger "image" in the center of the quilt, or perhaps like the Tristan Quilt, several larger images 4 or 9 perhaps.

Questions:

Colour: it seems strange to me NOT to be using lots of colour for this. I need to think out what colours i do want to use. The tristan quilt is very monotone, reminiscent of some cream "French" quilts that i have seen.

construction: I need to find a way of doing this that best represents the Medieval way, but this may need to compromise with modern methods/skills/cost/use....

Size: A Queen size quilt covered all the way sounds awesome....achievable, hmm, perhaps not, but i don't particularily want to break it up with other fabric/nonembroidery areas or a geometric pattern in between the story ... Perhaps i may have to do a pillow or something instead.

Mathematically i have done about 30cm2, i would need 30000 cm 2 to cover ever inch of the quilt, say, perhaps i only cover about half (leaving room for gaps between stories and things so say 14000cm2 maybe because the designs are bigger and less room between stitch lines i would need 10000cm2. (minimum) that is still about 300 times the amount that i have already done, so it would take about 600 hours??? Not including all the drawing and marking that would go on it. That seems like quite a bit to me. But then again i guess it would...hmmm.....Bring out the professional embroiderers working 12 hours a day. If i had about 6 of them... working all week..... we might be in business :-)

The Tristan Quilt c. 1400 Sicily

(image thanks to the V &A Museum) see this link for more details: http://www.flickr.com/photos/medievalandrenaissance/sets/72157604922734293/



I was rather excited and perhaps a little shocked to find a reference to a medieval textile created in "quilting style" I don't 100% say it is a Medieval quilt as i guess we don't quite know what it was used for originally. But how fantastic would it be to own a quilt like this.



I discovered that there is a project to copy this quilt.

(photo from above website thanks to the V&A Museum)

Fascinating i think but now how was it done??



Anyone tried to do this kind of work ?? PLEASE send me a message would love to know what you did. Or do you KNOW ANYTHING about this, let me know. I have never done quilting before, but a quilt like that would look fantastic on my bed!

(photo credit and information: http://www.ilclubdelpuntoincroce.com/guicciardini_en.htm )

This is a study in progress i think, but underneath are a set of links that have information on the quilt or comments from people who have seen this quilt.

http://georgresearch.blogspot.com/2005/11/italian-guicciardini-quilt.html (good information)

http://medieval.webcon.net.au/loc_italy.html

http://www.sca.org.au/broiderers/newsletters/twelfthnight99.htm

http://www.bayrose.org/wkneedle/Articles/quilting.html

http://www.florilegium.org/?http%3A//www.florilegium.org/files/TEXTILES/quilting-msg.html (scroll down a short way)

http://www.florilegium.org/?http%3A//www.florilegium.org/files/TEXTILES/quilting-msg.html
Quotes form the V&A Website:

The Tristan quilt (bed cover) was made around 1400. Linen fabric has been quilted and padded with wool wadding with outlines in brown and white linen thread. It was made in Sicily, Italy and is 122 inches in length with a width of 106 inches.The legend of Tristan and Isolde was a favoured narrative in the Middle Ages and appears in many forms in literature and the decorative arts. The story represented here on a quilted linen coverlet, in fourteen scenes, is that of the oppression of Cornwall by King Languis of Ireland and his champion the Morold, and the battle of Sir Tristan with the latter on behalf of his uncle King Mark. Although in subtle shades, the large scale designs are very clear and the quilt must have looked particularly impressive by candlelight, with lively scenes of battles, ships and castles.More images of the quilt are available via Collections Online.Museum Number 1391-1904

Embroidered Pouch

Here are the pictures of the pouch another day on... and yes i was supposed to be making a dress, but i got a bit bored after 4 hours of endless seams.

I have currently left the four squares in what will be the middle of the back of the pouch, but i don't quite know what to do with them. Anyone have any suggestions??
Was thinking about either little sead pearls, or twisting the blue and a gold thread together and doing another star? or something quite different.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I can't get the photos to come out with quite the right colour, but i assure you, that it is beautiful :-)

Progress on my first embroidered pouch

Here is the first picture of the back of the pouch. It is a gold silk back ground and the threads are a beautiful green silk. The colours are not quite the same in the pictures. I have done this in Stem Stitch. I intend on embroidering a small star, or put a pearl in each of the little squares.

I STILL havn't finished the front, but i have done a little more. Not far to go.

Please remember this was my first embroidered pouch project, if fact one of my first ever embroidery projects.

Coin purse

Here is my little coin pouch, i HAVE proper lacing for it but it is IN something else for the moment. I have just noticed looking at the picture that it looks like there are loose threads hanging off it. There isn't, it's just scrap bits of thread. The lining of this is red silk. outside wool with small brass medalion and pearls.

That brown dress again

Just some photos from the group photo shoot. These are my photos of the dress at its mist finished, not all the skirt seams are sewn closed (one near the back was completly open except for 1 inch at the top, the front one I almost finished while I was wearing the dress on the way to the park, you can see in the first photo where it is open at the bottom) I didn't know about the photo shoot till a couple of hours before, so it was a bit rushed.

The trim is half sewn onvery neatly on both sides, half roughly sewn on on one side, so I need to sew the second half more neatly before I actually wear it. I also need to make the (brown) sleeves, I have started patterning them.

This is probably the main dress I will be wearing at HA and Abbey. I prefer the skirt of my blue one, but this bodice is more comfy. If I have time I'll make a new bodice for my blue one (have pleanty of that fabric left) exactly the same as this one, but I'll try to elimanate those front wrinkles. If not, wrinkles at that point are period, I have seen them on a dress, a brown dress no doubt! Another reason for wearing this one a lot is every other lady in the group has a blue or blue toned dress. We are the smurfs.

The Progress

Ok well here are the results of my efforts over the last two days:

top photo = Chris's doublet in the "about to swear and put in the sleaves stage..."

Bottom photos = my bodice for my Italien dress. (excuse the top stitching it is a pattern only also why i'm using non period fabric...)

next step is to lace it and see how it is fitting...

The Fabric

Well here is the Fabric that his royal worship wants his new doublet made out of. Personally i'm not sure it will quite work. It's a heavy fabric and i am concerned that the puffy sleaves of a doublet might now work with the fabric. quess i shall just have to try and see.

i'm trying to figure out if the doublet (of about the 1495 mark) can have sleaves a different colour, or even have no sleaves so the puffy sleaves can be the white shirt on underneath???

Here is the back and front of the fabric

here is just the front. The colour is a little more apricot that in the pictures though. its very heavy.

Right, Need to make this dress..

WEll the time has come i can't put off making clothes for abbey any longer...


Will have to start with my bodice pattern that my sister made for me... problem 1, i don't have any linen to make the dress.

1. Can i use silk to make the dress??

2. that means i'll have to make another one out of linen for cooking

3. I have some really nice blue fabric to go over the gold silk, so i have to make that too...

4. i need to make a couple of chemises...

5. I need to make/buy/ borrow / a doublet or other mens apparel for Chris

6. He WANTS new hose

7. He WANTS a new cloak (full circle with embroidery)

8. He WANTS a pouch made like one of mine...

9. I DONT want to do all that....

Think i will start with a mock up of the bodice pattern out of the lining that i have.
Then figure out the cutting pattern for the skirt, not sure which way is best though.

The "Finished" band

Well as you can see i have finished the "band"

Now i just have to decide what i am going to do with it. It was only a tester to see how it would turn out, But it don't want to "waste" it by not using on something.

Any Suggestions???

renaissance dyeing

Thanks to Renaissance Dyeing for such quick delivery of my new threads. They are in France and i am in Australia and my thread arrived in 4 working days. (6 if you include the weekend).

Not only have they arrived quickly but they are beautifully soft and the colours look wonderful.


These are the colours i got, resting on my new navy blue 100% wool i got for $9 a meter at my local fabric store. I was doing a bank run at work, nearly got knocked over by a hoon on a bike turned around to abuse him and there in the distance i saw the words ...."Fabric...." being new to the area i ran there, regardless of the whole "should be at work thing" and found my wool.

Some more research on Bands

Well i kept playing with that embroidered band, and this is it with 1 movie's worth of work on it.

The following are some drawings from my sketch book showing some ideas for of the embroidery. These are most more "geometric" patterns. I have a whole other page of more "floral" patterns but i still need to scan them up. The top three are perhaps my favourites. Sorry i havn't had time to date them all with sources, but they are all pretty much copies from various books i have.

This one reminds me of the Bayeux tapestry, just a little....

New wool

Just ordered some new wool thread from Renaissance Dyeing http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/

Within two hours of me ordering online it was in a post van, so hopefully it will arrive soon so i can start playing with it. Angela, if you want me to send you some samples i can do that. It looks like it will be of a good quality and suitable for what we will need it for. Maybe if i send them you can take them to the next Condott training to show the others.

I have also thought about doing a embroidered band around our cloaks/cuffs/anything that stands still long enough. I was playing with a pattern tonight. If i like it i may use this one. I have seen variations of this on many braids. Variations normally include different "devices" in the middle, and maybe the red outlining being done in couching.

I tried a "new" stitch on the pink background it's the base stitch for the Bayeux couching, then the over stitching is just split-stitch. Not sure if i like it as much or if i like it for the band, but i am just playing!

Pouches...

Excuse the lack of proper ties on this one, i removed them for something else...

This is a tiny coin pouch about 7cm high with a brass device, surrounded by seed pearls and glass beads. It will be lined with proper ties.





This is my bag that matches my red and gold 14th centuary outfit. It is red and gold silk, with gold one side and red the other side. The top trim is couched on with gold silk thread.

The other side

The old embroidery at the top of the sideless surcoat... I have to rip it all out to change the neckline as it is too narrow for the neck line on the red silk dress!!!!

Holiday Blog

Just incase you want to have a look at what we got up to on our holiday, here is the link to our overseas holiday. Excuse the beer photos, but there are lots of pretty pictures. For everyone in Europe they are the same old same old, but for us, it was a new world of wonder.

http://travellingfine.blogspot.com/

In particular MEDIEVAL BAGS see this post!!!!
http://travellingfine.blogspot.com/2007/10/why-back-to-germany.html
We went to:
London,
South England
Yorkshire
Paris
Copenhagen
Berlin
Dresden
Prague
Krakow
Yorkshire (family)
London (family)
South england (family)
Barcelona
Madrid
Torledo
Budapest
Vienna
Munich
Poland (again)

and many others.

We did every museum we could get ourselves into... and enjoyed the cultural delights of many a beer hall....

drool....

This is some of my fabric that i have away for a special dress/occasion...

sigh.... i love it...

Bayeux

Ok so i have been a little slack this week...

but i have done a little bit on the trial dragon.

I still havn't fixed the face, but i don't think i will. Might finish it and keep it as it is.

Am planning on playing with a small scene based on a section of the tapestry to cover the side of a pouch.

EDIT:

Have just seen some of the detailing that Racaire has done on her Bayeux stitch. While i have done mine the same, (couching over the threads as i go) i havn't done those couching stitches as close as hers. I might try them a little closer next time.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow....

Playing With Bayeux

Had a play with the Bayeux tapestry stitch today, obviously not finished yet, as i havn't even finished the green and the black edging in the center isn't done. But i think that with some more time i could get used to this stitch quite easily.

I mucked up the lines on the face, but i can redo them.

Brown Florentine dress 1474-80 updated photos

Well, Constance wanted me to post origional photos with my room mess around my feet, but I didn't want to do that! I could have taken pictures the other day when my room was tidy, but I didn't, so I waited till everyone was out today and I had the house to myself and took some photos.
Here they are! I can't figure out how to put some beside each other- so they are in a long list.








Then I took some with the sleeves from my blue dress

The dangly cord you can see in a few is just the trim I haven't finished sewing to the neckline yet.

Brown Florentine dress 1474-80

So my new re-enactment group have officially selected a date of 1480, with a research period of 1470-85, rather than ten years earlier (there’s not much change, just a whole lot more research available for the ladies) which means I can now use one of my favourite portraits as my main source of research, as it is smack bang in the middle of the period, not right at the end or after. This is the portrait:

It is of Ginevra de' Benci who was a Florentine noble woman, she was married in 1474 when she was 16. I have seen this painting dated at 1475, 1464-76, 1478-1480, 1476, 1474-78 etc, but you get the point, in the latter half of the 1470s, or sometime between 1474 and 1480. No matter what the date, it is perfect for our new time period! Yay! It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci, you may have heard of him ;)
Now I think there aren’t half enough re-enactors wearing brown, orange, yellow etc, so when I was actually looking for silk and saw some brown linen while waiting at the registers to be served, I said “I’ll have that”When I started cutting the dress out the original plan was to have four panels 1 metre wide and 120cms long (the assumed fabric width) and use the half metre left over for bodice and sleeves (I had 4.5 metres). The panels would be cut into eight gores and attached bias edge to straight and box pleated.Then I measured my fabric, and it was 150cm wide- too long for a skirt, and I didn’t want to just cut 30cm off the hem, as a 4metre by 30cm strip of fabric isn’t useful for much except pouches… and that’s a lot of pouches!So I decided to cut panels 120 cm long, and use the width of the material as the width of the fabric. Of course, 4x1 metre goes into 4 metres far better than four 1.2 metre lengths! So I thought I would just make three panels and gore them to have six gores. Of course, the material wasn’t the sort that ripped!!! The huge t-square wasn’t where it lived, so I wasted a good 30cm of fabric trying to get a straight edge, until dad got the t-square from the old tv-box in the garage (NOT where it should have been). Now, I realised I wouldn’t QUITE have enough for the third panel, and I couldn’t cut it shorter, and I didn’t want to not have sleeves that matched. So I worked out that with the two panels I had 3 metres width of fabric (1.5+1.5 remember). I got my calculator and multiplied my underbust measurement by three, and ended up with 216, so if I were going to box pleat straight panels I would need almost a metre less than I had cut, wasting not only HEAPS of one panel, but almost another whole panel I had left in the material! So I multiplied it by five, and got 360. If I cut a third panel 60cm long, then took 30 cm off the end to make it 60 wide by 120 long, I could have enough to do stacked box pleats, and enough left for sleeves and ONE pouch! So this dress now has two straight panels 150cm wide and one panel that is 60 cm wide, that pleat down to 30cm, 30cm and 12cm which make 72cm of pleated skirt at the ‘waist’- just right! In reality the 60 cm panel will be cut 66cm, because the measurements don’t include seam allowance, and so the extra on this one will make up for the fact that I loose just under 2cm of fabric in each panel, and that I want the skirt to be slightly longer than 72cm so it can meet up and overlap slightly in the front rather than just stopping at the edges of the bodice, as there is a gap in the lacing. I then pleated one panel, remembered just as I finished I hadn’t hemmed it first, unpleated, hemmed the top, pleated it again, sewed the pleats down with a whip stitch along the top (which halved the thickness by compressing and holding things in place, and was smoother than the pins) and as I went I did a few stitches down the front of each pleat as an experiment- I like how that looks. I then hemmed one side, and hemmed half of the other side on the bus. My stacked box pleats are two inches wide, as I like the look of them. Here is a painting showing wide box pleats on a brown dress!

I didn’t get much more sewing done, as I had a museum display to finish for the new museum exhibit- and it was all a rush- it was finally all finished 30 seconds before the first people arrived for the opening on Friday night! Yes, really, We had just stuck a last sign up and had just picked up the paper from the double sided sticky-tape, and it was in my hand when we heard voices just outside asking if the museum was open or not. We heard a “not quite” and yelled back “yes”.On Saturday afternoon (day after the opening!) I sat down in front of the tv and the real version of Pride and prejudice- the BBC version.I make my bodices by cutting a lining the same size as the finished bodice piece (ie, without seam allowance) and the fashion fabric bigger. I then fold the outside fabric over the lining, and stitch it down. Then I used tiny whipstitches to attach the pieces together. This time I tried not clipping the seam allowance, except for the neckline as I heard it was possible to do with this technique and made the seams stronger. It works fine. So this is what I did, by the time the first disk was over, I had finished one front piece and one back, and sewn them together at the side and the top. I had also started on the other back piece, and it was half finished, and half sewn to the other back piece.On Sunday I had a meeting with my re-enactment group and I almost finished the bodice there, then I came home and put the last few lacing rings on, and started hemming the bottom edge. Since then I have finished the two big panels and whip stitched them to the bottom of the bodice. I have also started to put some red and gold trim (the 30 cents a metre one that looks for all the world like a five or seven loop finger braid gone wrong) and will also do a line of gold embroidery either side. The sleeves will be brown and partially sewn in. However if I find I am sewing them on, taking them off and re-sewing them on too much then I will just point them on or something.
This dress is entirely hand sewn, all visible sewing is done in silk thread (because it is a dream to work with, and because I wanted it to show a bit more), all unseen sewing is just done in synthetic thread (which was, as always, NOT a dream to work with, I didn’t have one tangle with the silk), I would have used all silk if I had enough.

So this is an in progress photo taken with my camera’s self timer. Better ones will follow when it is finished!

List for Abbey 2008

I have always looked at other peoples lists of things to sew, and wondered how they could be so organised as to know what they want to make! Well, I need a whole Italian wardrobe- and it happend to me!

Here is my list. Red text means I have finished it (or have hardly any more work to do, ie less than an hour), Bold means I need to have it done by June, Italics means I have started it.


One dark blue linen Gamurra and sleeves

One light blue linen Gamurra and sleeves DONE!

One brown linen Gamurra and sleeves (Bodice finished, trim 1/3 done on neckline, embriodery on neckline not started, two 150cm skirt panels done and sewn to bdice, one 60cm skirt skirt panel to do, need to sew skirt panels together and hem and trim)

one light blue silk Giornea/Cioppa and sleeves

one green silk Giornea/Cioppa and sleeves

one orange silk Giornea/Cioppa and sleeves

One mid blue linen Giornea and sleeves (Sewn together, Front opening needs to be hemmed, need to figure out train, cut and hem. Sleeves not started)

Orange linen sleeves

Linen Camicia 1 (Just over half done)

Linen Camicia 2

Cotton Flannel Camicia (to sleep in!)

Wool sleeves to sew to my pink wool kirtle (so I can use it as a warm coat at night)

One pair of mid blue linen hose (cut out, one foot sewn together)

One pair of reddish linen hose (I dyed some white linen as after I dyed dad's bag hat material there was plenty of dye left)

One pair of reddish/purplish woolen hose (after the linen I thought there might still be some dye in the dye bath, this wook took the last of that out. However, it went a much darker colour than dads bag hat, even though the dye bath was warm and dilute abnd when the bag hat stuff went in it was hot and concentrate. Hmmm)


hair piece- DONE! I have a plait long enough to wrap and sew round my head, it was discontinued and only cost $30!

Make something to cover my hair on bad hair days that is suitable for Italy 1480.

Things to alter

My orange dress into an italian style (I just have one more side seam to sew and need to re-do the front lacing rings.)

Fix my linen shift (in such bad condition)

Things I need for 2008 (or to borrow)

Chair

Shoes (I need to make a new pattern for my dad so he can make them. He has givin my a line drawing of an extant garment (ackatin or something) that I need to at least pattern for him.

Blue Italian Gamurra 1470/80

I really like blue- however I am trying to steer away from using it in medieval clothing- because it seems like it is one of the most popular colours used by re-enactors where I live. The most popular colour combination seems to be red and blue. There isn’t half enough browns or oranges or yellows- three colours I love and am determined to use more. However fabric that is useable and cheap (poor uni student here!) enough to buy is very hard to find, so if I find it, I buy it. Hence why when I saw some 60/40 cotton linen pieces in the remnants bin in Melbourne, I brought every scrap- even though not only was it blue, it was the exact same shade of blue I already had a dress out of. It is also the blue I ALWAYS get compliments on- so at least it is a nice blue!

This dress was my first experiment into Italian fashion, and I had a few boxes I wanted to tick. First- was to make a new skirt pattern. I wasn’t really happy with any of my patterns so far. I had found an article about a skirt in London made of 12 trapezoid shapes sewn straight edge to bias, and so decided to do that.

Second- was not to have a really high waist, as I had lost a lot of weight and wanted to show off my waist!. I decided on about an inch above my natural waist would be fine.

Third: I was to use lacing rings- I much prefer them to making eyelets! They are so much faster! Fourth: not to spiral lace it- I decided on ladder lacing.

Fifth: to finish it before I first wore it (excluding trying it on etc).

So, how many of these boxes did I tick? A grand total of two out of five. Hmmmm…

The bodice patterning was tricky- as I needed to draft a complete new one due to weight loss, and I had to draft it on my own. Pinning up your own back is hard. In the end, I got the fit around the bust right and guessed at the rest.

So I sewed it together and attached the lacing rings for ladder lacing and tried the ting on. There were two main problems. Firstly, due to guessing the side seams started at the sides at the top, and ended up as front side seams at the bottom. Secondly, the ladder lacing wasn’t working- the cord was pulling the lacing rings together vertically as well as horizontally, and the thing was bunching up. I asked for some advice on this second issue online, and was just sent links to how to ladder lace- which is how I was doing it- so not that helpful. I decided just to spiral lace it. So I spiral laced the thing, and it was uneven as the lacing rings were not set for spiral lacing- but I would fix that- just not now.

I worked on the skirt- which cane together quickly as I was just running stitching it. Each skirt seam took 20 minutes to sew, and didn’t need pinning first. If TV was really good it could take up to an hour for each seam though as I get distracted sometimes…

Once the skirt was done, I pinned it to the bodice. Problem the third: I looked like a freak.

I wanted this bodice to have a higher neck than I have had in the past, and of course it was only an inch or so above my natural waist. This made the bodice look freakishly long, which apart from making me look like a freak- didn’t sit at all well with the prevailing silhouette at the time and place. Also, there was this wrinkle down the bottom that wouldn’t weigh down and those side seams. I

decided to make it shorter, picked a shortness line, and tried to get mum to mark it even all the way around. It took several attempts as she wanted to do it with her sitting and me standing, making the ink run away from the tip in the pen and it not work, and she didn’t check to make sure it had drawn like I told her to. After her being confused about why it wasn’t working I finally explained it all to her, and she was marking the waist properly, still going on about how very high it was.

After this I evened up the line myself, and marked a line two inches higher and made that the new waist. I also re-did the lacing rings for spiral lacing.

After some time I worked out the knife pleating and the skirt was attached to the bodice. I made some sleeves- made mistakes on both of them but they were wearable.

I first wore this dress and it was not finished- the front seam was not sewn (hid it in the folds) and the sleeves were not hemmed at the top. Months later- I still need to finish these details, and make a nicer pair of sleeves. I am pleased with the result however- I like the look of the higher waist.

Another thing I have to do is make a new lacing cord. This one had a very loose patch for about 1cm (I got distracted with TV) and after a fair bit of using has started to weaken at that point. I have others, but this is light blue and I want another light blue one, as my next dress I am making is based on a portrait that has a light blue lacing cord.

Period Documentation

Here is a picture of an example of that dress Cathelina. 1485 Florence

Almost taken from the same angle isn't it!

Constance

Examples of Medieval Embroidery from a Novice

The following pictures are some examples of the embroidery that we saw on our travels. It was amazing. The pictures do not do these items justice. The skill level was outstanding. I left totally inspired to learn how to embroider. The most embroidery i have done is couching a row of gold thread onto the neckline of a dress and its sleaves.


Most of the embroidery that has survived has come from religious items that were forgotten about/kept safe in times of trouble and treasured as the works of art they are. Therefore, most of these images come from church clothing and alters. The following examples are mostly from 1400 - 1550.

Here is a close up of a section of the embroidery.






A close up of the couching technique

This is one of the slightly later images. The use of the metalic threads is quite a different style to the others.
I loved this one the stitching is brilliant.

Here is a close up of the stitching. (Cammera was really still at this point)

Couching again

Little German Coin Pouch

Here is another project i have been working on, details and sources will come later.

This is a very small coin purse.
Background: Gold Silk
Pattern: seen on a German purse i believe to be dated around 1350.
Thread: Silk
Stitch: Split
Time: 5 hours to this point maybe?

Close up of pattern
Eventually the purse will have a embroidered band with the holes for the cord to pass through, (colour undecided) with tassels hanging off the side, will be lined in silk, and will be sewn up the sides with a fancy, tablet woven style finish.

Saturday 8th March:

Here are a couple of good links for medieval purses showing photos of extant items from museums around the world. Some of which i have seen in my travels:

http://www.cottesimple.com/alms_purse/alms_purse_history.html

http://www.larsdatter.com/pouches.htm

http://www.eleanorlebrun.com/GermanPurseCharts.htm

http://www.doctorbeer.com/joyce/emb/almpouch/almpouch.htm

Here is the closest picture i could find to the type of purse i am doing. Mine is NOT in counted thread work like many of these as it was a "lets try and do that" sunday afternoon project and not researched exactly. At the moment i am still learning about the actual embroidery part. I am hoping to start some replica items in the near future.

First Embroidered Bag

Here are some of the images of the creation of my first embroidery project. I started this in Europe while we were backpacking around. As it was a backbacking embroidery, it isn't quite what i would have done if i had access to internet and sources, but it's ok.

Background: Pillow case pinched from a hostel (sorry i was desperate)
Thread: Imitation silk (couldn't explain real silk in German.)
Pattern: Shape, fairly common throughout the Middle Ages. Floral design - fairly standard. Green background, perhaps could have been in couching stitch, but i wasn't too sure on doing that on the go.
Stitches: mostly split stitch, some stem stitch.

Still need to put a band around the top and do the back however.

Insane

There comes a point (or many points) in every re-enactors life when someone just looks at them and says “you are insane”. Sometimes, this is followed by “welcome to the club” or “you are now one of us”

This first happened to me about three years ago when showing something I made to some friends. Here is the unofficial entry that got me accepted into the club:

A nalbinded cup and saucer- done in crochet cotton or embroidery thread or something similar. Nalbinding is good to make socks http://homepage.ntlworld.com/shelagh.lewins/shelagh/viking_textiles/nalbinding/sock_construction.htm though apart from this cup and saucer, I have only ever made a pouch. It can be spelled many different ways, which makes googling the process very annoying.
To my knowledge, our ancestors never made cups and saucers like this, they aren’t very practical. But it shows you don’t have to do something that takes a long time and/or is extremely authentic (such as using a drop spindle to spin wool, weaving it on a period loom, dyeing it in period dyes, cutting it with period scissors and sewing it with a period hand-made needle and thread to the pattern of a garment dug out of the ground- yes, it has been done, but not by me!) to be welcomed into the club.

1470-ish Pink Wool Kirtle

There is a story behind this wool- if you are a re-enactor and live where I do you will recognise this wool and where it came from. I live in "no-wool-land", wool is very hard to find, if you go into a fabric shop and ask for wool you may just be shown to the acrylic yarn or poly knit fabric. It is becoming harder and harder to come by, making hard for people without a pre-established stash. I have seen op-shop blankets and horse blankets sacrificed for clothing, and I have heard the phrase "bring me back some wool from your holiday" uttered more than a few times.

This wool was being sold in a little fabric shop, they have sold out now, but the word got around and so "hey, I know that wool... *chuckle*" is actually the most common comment I have received in real life about this dress!

But a Kirtle is a very comfy dress, perfect for sitting around the encampment and you can remove the sleeves if you are doing anything mucky. Sleeves are a great way to use small pieces of fabric you get for half price from the remnants bin too.


This photo is after I have taken in the dress once (weight loss, not bad pattern drafting)




Yes, a headless photo, but you will notice the spiral lacing. My pet anoyance is people not spiral lacing when they should. I mean, how easy is it to just spiral lace? easy easy easy. Its a tiny detail, takes no more work than cross lacing, and helps turn something from a 'crappy costume thingy' to a 'medieval dress'. Of course, there are a few instances when other forms of lacing were done, but if you SHOULD spiral, DO.

Another annoyance, grommets, big metal ones. If you use them, cover them. But if you are going to all the bother, just make hand bound eyelets, they are stronger than grommets as you don't cut the fabric and they can't pull out.

Notice an improvement in this photo? Its not just the addition of a head either. I have taken in the dress a second time, and it did fit me, but it no longer fits in this photo because I lost more. It is hard to see but the bodice isn't fitted and supportive enough. Must take it in a third time. I am also fully dressed in this photo, and I've changed the synthetic sleeves for linen ones. See the difference a few accessories can make? Remember, you are never fully dressed without something on your head (there are some exceptions, but no, I am not married, and yes, I should be wearing something on my head with this dress). Also I have my pouch and apron and hose (you can't see those).

Yes, I hand sew, the shift, pink dress, sleeves, veil, apron, pouch and hose are all hand sewn. People think I'm crazy, but hand sewing is easier, more portable and more authentic than machine. Hand sewing means I get finished sooner, as I can't take a sewing machine on the bus to uni everyday.

Also, if you think my bum looks smaller in the second photo- then you are right. With the exception of hose, headwear and sleeves I am wearing the exact same outfit in both photos. Loosing weight is good, but does require constant alteration of fitted clothing

New Directions

I know i havn't been updating this site recently, but i do imagine that very soon i will be posting quite a bit here. I have got fairly interested in Medieval embroidery over the past few months and have been exploring this quite a bit.

I think that i shall post up here a medival sewing diary.

so watch this space and in the next few weeks have a look here for some new posts.

Constance

Quote of the Day

A generation which ignores history has no past : and no future.

- Lazarus Long, from the works of Robert Heinlein

The Language of a fan...

I found this article on the following website:
http://thecompletevictorian.com/TheFan.html

Terribly interesting. All about young ladies could comminicate without speaking from the other side of the room.

Background
Young ladies in the Victorian era were ruled by a strict code of behavior. The higher the social class the higher the moral standards. Life's ceremonies regarding everyday life, social situations and courtship were strict and exact. Ladies and gentlemen had little chance to interact except at the lovely and lavish dances. Even there, one had to be introduced, and even if introduced to dance, that didn't mean one felt free to converse when not dancing. And what if no one introduced you? So, even though they might not be speaking to each other, conversations were going on. Sometimes across a room, sometimes in a group. The lovely ladies always had a fan to cool themselves as well as to convey information.


The Codes themselves:
In right hand, open- You are too willing
In left hand, open- Desirious of an aquaintance.
In right hand in front of face- Follow me
Fanning fast - I'm engaged
Slow - I'm married
In front of face, left hand - Leave me
Right hand - Follow me
Half open slowly shut - Kiss me
or handle to lips- You may kiss me
Twirling it on left hand - I love another
Draw across forhead - We're being watched
Placing fan behind head- Do not forget me
Placing behind head with finger extended-Goodbye
Closing it - I wish to speak to you
Dropping - We will be fiends
Open and shut sharply - Your are cruel
Drawing across eyes- I'm sorry
Drawing through hand - I hate you
Drawing across cheek- I love you
Held over left ear- I wish you to go.
Rest on left cheek- No
Rest on right cheek- Yes
Twirling fan in right hand- I love another
Presenting the fan shut- Do you love me?
Touching a finger to the tip of the fan- I wish to speak to you
Shutting a fully open fan slowly- I promise to marry you
Hands clasped together holding fan open- Forgive me
Covering left ear with open fan- Do not betray our secret
Closed fan touching right eye- When shall we meet?
If the fan was open slightly, the number of ribs showing
conveyed the hour of their meeting.
Hiding behind an open fan- I love you
Fan near heart- You have won my heart.


Isn't this amusing? It's like going on an army mission with secret codes and what not. I guess going into a drawing room WAS rather like going on campaign...

I love this photo... really captures the moment don't you think

big Chris and little Chris ...

Abbey Festival...

This one takes ages to do...

Nearly time for the ABbey Medieval Festival!!!

What hair style this time do i think... :-)

Very excited

"Family Black Sheep Comes to Light..."

Article Showing: News Report from 1885

I have always know that there was a black sheep in our family History. Mum has always said so, and Nana, while saying there was a "black sheep", refused to talk about it.

This made it all the more interesting for me, as Nana was a very typical gossipy old lady. Quite happy to share people's stories even when they wished them to be a little more discreet. But then what old ladies are really discreet...



Aparantly they can be regarding serious family secrets.

"Murder in East End London"

It all starts with the name patrick! The research into this name has afforded me nothing but frustration as i have so many photos and no information to go with them. Slowely pieces of information have trickled into my ressearch but the process has been slow.


My mother wanted to name of one her children after the family name of Patrick. This in all probability would recieve quite a happy response from most elderly members of a family as too often these days parents want to call their children after film starts or even after pieces of fruit.

However this was not the case. She was met with a rather clammed up response of "No".

Now Nana really didn't take a great deal of care to hide the fact that she had very little regard for her mother in law, she was quite vocal about not liking her. However the reasons behind this seemed very shallow. Normally this is of no real concern when a woman is talking about another woman, especial a mother in law, but in this case the dislike was displayed by refusing to talk and not a two hour spiel on how the mother in law ruined the wedding.

I have, however, just found what i think is the real reason behind Nana's refusal to talk about her mother in law. This is that dear mama in law Florence Elizabeth Patrick had an uncle in Jail for Murder!!


Yes for Murder.

Not a nice murder either. A really vicious one when the poor victim's head was nearly taken clean off by a japanese dagger in the bedroom.

yes our dear Harry Patrick borm in 1862 willfuly butched a girl of 19 with a dagger.

Starting again...

The prospect of starting something again does make me feel good in a way. I like the setting up of things, but i also like having things finished and i guess that is what i miss out of when i bust it up and start again. However i will gladly blame the fact that blogger wasn't letting me in so, shame on shame, i deleted my account. Now i shall give it another go.

in fact i have made a whole blog site dedicated to how blogger doesn't work on my computer and i can use it to log into blogger. very useful. so at least this time round i don't have to leave random comment on my other blogs to log in and gain access to posts.

that being said, leaves me WHAT this site is actually going to be about. "Born in the Wrong Age..." is a site about all things old and History. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, then i suggest a prompt removal out the back door of the back button. My love of History and the past has really always been there. I have always been so passionate and interested in things from the past. Many people just don't understand this.

I'm not sure how people live with eyes only for the present, not caring about photos, family stories, or even the sense of History and power that can lie in an old building. The feeling that kings and queens or even beggars from the 1800 have walked in this very sport. I find that so very fascinating. For so many people they coudn't care less and would much rather the building torn down for the new hockey pitch.

i guess i stems, in some way, from a deep down wish to be remembered in 100 years time. or even 200 years time, or even not myself, but the people and what we did.

Well here endeth the first post for Born in the Wrong Age.

while this is primarily a site just for myself, i am happy to share my thoughts with anyone who feels the same about History and the past.