New Fabric. Happy Me.

I went to the thrift shop last week and found five yards of a lovely, heavy, creamy satin in a particular shade of seafoam green that I particularly love. And in a reckless mood of "I'm-going-to-do-what-I-want-and-no-one-can-say-me-nay" I looked through my 1920's/30's inspiration folder like a child stealthily slipping a hand into the cookie jar. And I decided the seafoam green satin would make a lovely nightdress, and this is the style it will be:

I don't think this is originally intended as a nightdress,  but the style will work just as well for nightwear as evening wear, and no one will laugh at the sight of a pregnant woman in a bias cut, slinky dress. The only one to be horrified will be my husband and he will just have to deal with it. 

Here is the fabric. I think it definitely wants to be a 1920's/30's-ish nightdress. Don't you?

And then I was thinking about Civil War reenacting this year. I decided I hate most of the dresses I already have and that I need a new wool dress. A wool dress is just such a practical thing to have. You can wear it almost anywhere. So I got this wool from Fabric.com:

It arrived  yesterday and although the color is more gray-green-blue in real life than the bright green and blue it appeared to be on the computer screen, I still love it. And I love plaid. It will become a dress similar in style to this one from Time Travelers Antiques:

A pretty basic dress, but I love the sleeve style. 

Then I went to Jo Anns last weekend and their red tag fabric section was 50% off. In the middle of the piles of heavy home dec fabric, sleazy polyester knits and faux leather I found a bolt of this very springy cotton print.

I bought some to make a little girls dress, because my mother in law gave me this pattern last week and I think it is so adorable. In all liklihood this dress will become the subject of a giveaway post in the not-too-distant future. Having no little girls, size 2, of my own the horizon must be expanded and a little girl must be found who can fit this dress!

And no fabric for this project yet, but soon some must be found. For the boys, this 1950's shirt and trouser pattern will be just perfect for Easter, I think. I will have to size it up a bit for the older boys but that shouldn't be too difficult. I just love vintage patterns for little boys!

Love,
Sarah

Refashioned Maternity Top

With February full upon us I must confess that I can foresee no interesting historic gowns in my near future. Oh there are plenty I want to make - a late 19-teens dress inspired by the film War Horse, a late 1830's style dress cut down from my blue 1860's dress, a new regency gown, my 18th century brown stripedy jacket (although I am despairing of getting that done before my bump gets too big). Stuff. But I have to focus on Blake's clothes for Shiloh 150 and so, no getting sidetracked!

But I did find time this afternoon to makeover one of David's shirts into a maternity top. I have a weakness for plaid button up shirts and this shirt was just too big for him. He is very tall and broad shouldered but he isn't really fat, so this 3XLT mans shirt was just sitting around, not getting used. Wow, there's a lotta fabric there. 

I recently came across the wonderful site diymaternity. It's an amazing resource. I wish I had known about this stuff when I was pregnant with my other three. I used their shirred tunic top tutorial to create this shirt and I am really pleased with how it came out! 

I pretty much followed the instructions given on the site, although I did change a few things. First, since the armholes on the shirt I was using were absolutely huge I narrowed the entire shirt, cut new armholes and then reattached the shortened, narrowed sleeves. I didn't have elastic thread to sew with so I used a flat piece of elastic instead and just stretched and sewed it to the area I was shirring. 

I also added a shirred area to the back of the shirt, since the back was totally unfitted and kind of unflattering.  

I also put in a triangular gore at each side seam from the hem to the underbust to give extra flare and room there. 

It is one of the most comfortable shirts I have and I think I will be able to get at least a few months out of this before I need to make a larger one. Yay for roomy shirts that don't look like tents!

There are lots and lots of other cute tutorials on the diymaternity site, as well as some super cute patterns. I think I will have lots to work on in odd afternoons here and there for the next few months!

Love,

Sarah

Festival of Maidens ~ Feast and Dance

For your enlightenment, David looks far, far more happy here than he really was about having to don his "fake reenacting" clothes to go to the festival. Once he was there he did end up having a good time, though. 

The Festival of Maidens, held on campus at the University of Illinois, has been one I have wanted to attend for a while. Last year we were unfortunately unable to attend due to David's work schedule but this year the weekend of the festival happened to fall on a weekend had had off work. Since Christmas, this has been the event I have been looking forward to the most!

Me and Peter. We have been calling each other brother and sister for a while, but here we really *do* look uncannily alike. Which is weird since our parents look NOTHING alike!

The weekend was planned to be filled with tournaments, classes, talks and Saturday evening would culminate in a middle-eastern inspired feast and a dance. Of course, we did not arrive until almost 5 o clock in the evening on Saturday. It seems the more people you have to get ready to go somewhere and the more stops you have to make along the way, the later you will be. 

Here is Petey-Boy in his new doublet. His refusal of hose and his claim that the brown leather boots we found him have the "arch in a weird place" resulted in a semi-historic-inspired look. But, that is who he is. 

We had to: 1. Pick up Peter (David did this). 2. Get take out pizza for lunch (which David picked up on his way back from picking up Peter 3. Get pulled over by a police officer (unplanned, but fortunate no ticket was involved) 4. Get the two oldest packed and ready to go visit their grand-mama. 5. Pack everyone into the van and go 6. Stop at Grand-mama's to drop off children 7. Stop at the accountants to drop off our tax documents 8. Stop at Dollar General to get chap stick 9. Drive to our destination 10. Spend a half hour looking for a parking place and consequently walk several blocks to arrive at the hall. But, at last, we arrived. 

Peter and another gentleman from our barony converse in front of the hall

We made it just in time for court and were able to witness the engagement of a beautiful lady to a dashingly handsome gentleman. I didn't get any photos during court since I was focusing on holding Malachi in my lap and watching all that went on. It was a beautiful ceremony and in such a gorgeous room - this place is really a wonderfully mood-setting location for anything and everything medieval!

After court, by the stairs, with Malachi. And yes. It is a very lame picture of both of us but it is the only one I have of the inside of the hall.

After court we walked to the church where the feast and dance were to be held. It was likewise a very appropriate and beautiful setting. My dear friend Jackie met us there and we spent the remainder of the evening in the pleasant company of her and her lovely mother, Joanne.

Malachi and his beloved Aunt Jackie!

David and Peter

Peter, Jackie, and I. Best buds forever!

Peter in a contemplative mood.

The light fixture above our table

A hungry, tired child who was prejudiced against the prospect of a middle eastern dinner. (i.e. if it ain't chicken or beef, it ain't food)

Yogurt cheese and hummus - which were, by the way, extremely good - 

David spreads hummus on a piece of herbed flat bread

Malachi tentatively surveys the food on his plate.

Two of the lovely dancers who graced us with their performance 

We were also graced with several sung tales from this highly skilled and  inspiring gentleman. Photo courtesy of Jackie!

The musicians gear up for an evening of dance! It was such a blessing to have live, period style music! Photo courtesy of Jackie.

Malachi gave way to sleep half way through dinner. We folded up a woolen blanket and made him a small bed beneath a table and there he slept in peace and comfort for the remainder of the night. 

Dancers! Photo courtesy of Jackie

And more dancers! Photo courtesy of Jackie

And yet more dancers. This dance was not even comparable to the last one we went to (the ill fated Civil War dance after Thanksgiving). It was a marvelous time.

Medieval Pink Linen Gown - It Is Finished

It snowed in the night and although it was quite cold, David took some photos of my dress and yes. He let me use his sword. :) Alas. Is it right a married mother of soon-to-be four children can still feel happily silly and giddy when donning a new frock and playing with pretty things? I have photos to share later of the festival (we had a marvelous time and I felt like Cinderella going down the steps at midnight!) and for now, here are some of the dress. (I think the next thing I make from this period definitely will have to be shoes). 

And what is this we see? Is that a baby bump? A very small one, perhaps?
 People, I think we can safely say that this is no longer just a belly pooch.
 There is a very small human creature in there! 12 weeks down, 28 to go. :)

Tippets! They don't go *quite* all the way to the ground but I am happy with how they came out.

The wool facing does a great job keeping the hem clean

Here you can (kinda) see how the tippets are a separate piece attached at the back of the arm. 

Okay. David said I could show the photos with the sword ONLY IF I EXPLICITLY stated that this is NOT a medieval style sword but an 1850's medical officers dress sword and is used for "real" (i.e. non-SCA) reenacting. So. Here I state this.

Love,

Sarah

Sneak Peek - Sleeves!

The dress is *almost* done. I have to whip the tippets into place on the sleeve bands and THEN the dress will be done. I decided to make the tippets totally separate so that if I need to, I can easily remove them if I just want to wear a short sleeve overgown without tippets hanging all over the place. I had to try it all on so I could position the tippets in the right place. I think I will go with them in this position:

I hope to get better pictures of the dress tomorrow, which is, of course, the day of the Festival. :) Maybe I can convince David to let me pose with his sword. . .

Love,
Sarah

A Very Big Hem and Making the Lacing Cord

Since I have been working on the doublet and my dress at the same time it is taking a bit longer for the dress to finish itself up. Still, I am nearly done and the dress doesn't have to be worn, technically, until Saturday afternoon. So I am still making good time, right?

Today I finished the hem of the dress. The hem is quite large - I didn't measure it exactly but I think it falls around 200" or so at the hem. I am probably crazy but I decided to leave the skirt exactly as it came out after I sewed in the gores. This gives a slight train at the back and at the sides which looks very medieval, but unfortunately it not practical. Especially for outdoor wear!

To help protect the dragging, unfortunate hem I did not simply turn the hem under and sew it down. I cut a very long strip of wool flannel, on the straight of grain, about 2" wide. I sewed it to the hem right sides together, turned it to the inside and attached it with running stitches to the dress. The wool strip will take the majority of the wear and tear on the hem and once it gets ratty and worn I can easily remove it and replace it. 

I also spent an hour braiding a new lacing cord for the eyelets. It is made of four strands of woolen yarn. Fingerloop braiding is more appropriate but that skill is yet elusive to me. I used the braiding instructions found here: Four Strand Round Braid

Now for the part I dreaded most. Making the sleeves! The making of them won't be so bad but it's the deciding on a style. I still don't know what to do! Loose sleeves or tippeted sleeves? Alas, alas. 

Love,

Sarah

Red Linen Doublet - Progress

So, Peter came over recently to be fitted for a doublet. Actually he just kinda slouched there while I pinned and fitted a few rectangles of fabric to get the pattern for his bodice. But his pain and suffering did not last long - draping bodices like this can be done in ten minutes. (and yes, I am using pillows since nothing else I have comes close to the shape of a male torso. . .forgive the weird shoulder sticky-out things.) ;)

Good Sir Peter has been bugging me for a while to make him a medieval "vest". It took much convincing but I finally persuaded him to let me make him a sleeveless doublet instead. He will be wearing it as outerwear, not under a gown like would have been done in period, but it was a compromise I was willing to make. I knew if I didn't make him a proper doublet he would have gone to Goodwill and tried to renovate a modern vest into something "medieval fantasy" ish. Or something along the lines of Robin Hood, Men In Tights, which he looks up to as a movie devoted to the most wonderful medieval costuming yet in creation.

I based the pattern off the plain doublet in The Medieval Tailor's Assistant. I was under the impression that earlier doublets (14th century) did not have a waist seam but I may be mistaken. I cut the shapes as so:

It is made of three layers - medium weight red linen for the outer layer, natural colored cotton (I think its cotton - Peter's mother donated it to the cause) for the lining and cotton corderoy for the interlining. It made up into a very structured, heavy, molded garment.

It laces up the front just like my medieval dresses do. (excuse the twine cord used for the pics; we will replace it with something more appropriate before Peter wears this!)

I still have to make a narrow band collar for the neckline, finish the armholes and hem the skirts. Then Peter will have his "vest" and be happy. It was a fun project.

Love,
Sarah