15 May: I
contact the Event Steward at
CeCil's War,
14-17 September, Vermillion, SD. We have a great conversation and I understand
better what sort of event we will be attending.
16 May-2 June:
This is on my mind, but after LA's death, my attention wandered some. I spent a
lot of time looking in Costume books and many online picture galleries for
pictures from the mid-1400's Italian. Looking at fabric, collecting pictures,
etc. We (Cynthia du Pre Argent and I) find
a series of pictures of the life
of St. Lucia, by Jacobello del Fiore.
5 June 1006: Linda
sends me a picture of the gamura (dress,overdress) etc., that her
sempstress (seamstress, dressmaker) is making for her. Picture is here: http://pics.livejournal.com/patsmor/pic/0001y2tz After reading
through everyone's dress diaries online, I decide to make one for myself. This
is the text; the pictures are at: http://pics.livejournal.com/patsmor/gallery/0001fdqg.
My livejournal
friends, many who are SCA Costumers, came up with lots of info and pictures
between 1350 and 1420. Many of their suggestions are now in the picture
gallery.
June 2006:I spend a lot
of time working on dress concept. Finally, I decide on fabric, look, underdress,
etc.
2 July 2006:Linda tells me that the gamurra,
overdress, is laced from the armpit to the waist, and open from there to the floor.
3 July 2006: After an agonizing night with JASC Paint
Shop Pro, I had a decent picture of the dress
concept.I
used the picture of St. Lucia as the basic cartoon and drew over it
with my fabrics, etc. My former apprentice, Cynthia du Pre Argent, goddess of hats
and costumes, told me that the concept appeared to be sound.
4
July 2006: Spent the day working on Duncan's concept, research for him, etc.
The gallery of research on men's costume is here: http://pics.livejournal.com/patsmor/gallery/0001t2bx Also had
a brainstorm: Went to MyVirtualModel.com and created a model in Duncan's
measurements. Much easier to work with for an outfit
concept for him. After he saw this concept, he
decided he'd like to have a red brocade overcotte, a black linen undercotte
(much like a cote-hardie), and purple tights.
Pattern for
Duncan's Undercotte: 6
July:
Jen decides she'd like to go to the Coronation, too. Since she will be 6 months
or so pregnant, I'm going to make her a very easy, typical high-waisted Italian.
A sample is at the Simplicity site, picture in the upper right-hand. http://www.simplicity.com/assets/8735/8735.jpg. I am probably
going to use patterned cotton with a linen camisa (underdress, camisole)or
two. Keep her comfortable, easy to make and wear.
10 July:Started
this page. Did some more detailed patterning on Duncan. Amazingly enough, he and
I have the same width shoulders.
11 July: Added the
ticker up
top, just so I can scare myself. Today's plan is to patterning for Duncan's
outfit. He's decided on Black
linen undercotte, a red brocade overcotte, and purple tights. I'm going to
have to figure out how to turn the tights purple, but we can get there. Luckily,
I patterned him before he left for camp, because he'll be here for about 12
hours 3 times in between camps until the mid of August. AAGH.
12 July:Blue Bridal satin to line Duncan's overcotte arrived, as did
the blue-gold-white
fabric for a slightly later period overcotte
for him. Trying to find a dance tights store where I can buy white tights in his
size (6'2", 204lbs), since I'll have to dye them to make purple tights.
I
found an excellent web page today with instructions on how to make a cap of
maintenance. This is not the Eclesiastic cap of maintenance, or the one that
goes under the British crown, but the one that looks like a Robin Hood cap.
Here's a picture:
When
I have Duncan home for 3 or 4 hours on Sunday I'll measure his head and see if
we can agree on colors, etc.
I also finished a sketch for Jen of her dress. The green fabric is not actually
correct -- when she decides on an actual piece of fabric for the overdress, then
I can repaint the picture with the actual fabric.
13 July:Jane Waks made
an excellent suggestion, and I managed to erase it.
Farblesnort!
Friday, 14 July:Put pictures of
sketches
of outfits here. Got no patterning done last night. Bleh. Made drawings of
pattern pieces, but no actual patterns made. What a slug I am.
Hirsch
recommended the Capezio Dance Store as a possible location for XXL tights
for Duncan, as well as a dance belt. Hoorah! Local Capezio stores have sort of
gone DUH when I ask.
Jane W. also suggested a store with tights and
tights with codpieces, The
Purple Unicorn. They have the crushed velvet and other
icky stuff (well, for my purposes, anyway) but they also do the matte jerzy.
I've sent off a letter about a custom job.
Tuesday, 18
July,
2006: I've finished the detailed plans for Jen's clothes. I've got
to make her two outfits, since the last time she wore any of her SCA clothes she
was a size 6. (seriously. honestly.)
If I can't find my chemises, I'm
going to have to make myself at least one from the pattern in Jen's detailed
plans.
Sunday, 23 July: While working through Siobhan f's house and SCA
things to be able to get them out of the house before it is sold, I found
several items of clothing that will fit Duncan for events, including a really
nice wool tunic to go over things on cold mornings or nights.
Tuesday,
25 July: I found a camisa very inexpensively from a
seamstress I know
does good stuff, so I bought one for Jen. That brings me down to just one to
make for her.
Cordelia, my partner in this crime, found me 6 yards of
really nice linen while she was shopping this past weekend. It's on it's 4th
trip through the washer-dryer, because it linted so excessively on the first two
cycles. The timer just beeped; I think it's done (hope so!).
The Purple
Unicorn is apparently really busy, none of them has had time to reply. I'm going
to have to buy Duncan's tights from the Capezio Store. Will consult Cynthia on
best Dye to use.
At least all the tables are out and available for
cutting, patterning, etc. I'm going to use some of the Christmas wrapping paper
to make some of the patterns, or some of the nine-zillion paper bags we
have.
If the weather breaks, at least I can iron all the fabric that
needs to be ironed before I can cut it done. When it's 115 outside, ironing
seems like a very bad idea.
Sunday, 20 Aug
Things
have been happening, but I kept forgetting to write it down.
The tights
arrived, fit Duncan splendidly, and we are halfway through the dying process --
we have washed them, and used the RIT color-remover on them. Today I will finish
dying them.
Jen's camisa arrived, and it's excellent
quality.
Monday, August 21, 2006, 10:43 PM Update Dyed the tights. They came out
beautifully; when I can get the pictures off the camera, I'll put them on the dyeing page.
(I think my UCB cable is dead.)
Thursday, August 24, 2006, 08:14 PM
Patterned and cut Duncan's red gamurra/tabard from the red brocade.
Started a
cutting diagram page to talk about how and why I cut things.
Saturday and Sunday, 26 & 27 August, 2006
Learned again the lesson that just because the measurements fit the pattern, the garment
may not fit the person. Duncan's gamurra/overcotte was about 2.5" too wide in the neckline.
I seamed it in the midde before I cut the satin pieces. See the
cutting page to see the
seamed red and the blue as finally cut and sewn at the shoulders. When I cut the blue, I
marked both the red and the blue with pins in a pattern: One an X and one at II, so I could
tell which shoulder matched which.
Looks like you are making
a lot of progress on this!
At the risk of telling you things you already know, I venture a few suggestions.
If you make Jen's gowns front lacing, they can be adjusted as she changes sizes. If you do
a spiral lacing, they will hold tight however wide the gap between the front ends up being.
And if you have a panel behind the lacing, she won't (hopefully) feel messy. (I wore my
italian, which was patterned when I weighed ~135, up to 7 or 8 months pregnant when I was
closer to 160 and up two cup sizes. They are all front lace only. They are also very
supportive.)
Grommets never work for me. Does your machine do round buttonholes? Otherwise, you can get
metal rings or cool things (like belt findings) to attach to the fabric and lace through
those. Handy for those of us who can never get the placement of the holes right the first
ten times. I think www.theringlord.com is where Julia got a bunch of small
brass rings to
use for lacing. I've used D-rings from leather stores and fancy eyes from hook & eye
sets too.
If you use a ring or eyelet for attaching the sleeves, make sure that one is not at the
point of the shoulder, especially if you have a metal ring and/or a big knot. The weight of
the dress will push the ring/knot into your shoulder and make you very unhappy. I'd set the
center one back a bit (I use 3 points, about 1.5" apart). Or make it relatively big
stitches so you can take the sleeves off again quickly!
I have a sleeve pattern draft I can send to you, as well as a pair of forest green brocade
sleeves ready made (you'd need some way to attach them and a button/eyelet at the cuff to
close them). I made them but don't like them with any of the dresses I have. If they can be
of any use either to wear or as ideas, I'll gladly send them!
I went to a bunch of 15th c Italian garment classes at Pennsic, unfortunately the handouts
are not online that I can see. This person seems to be the organizer/head Laurel of the
sessions:
www. geocities.com/kamillavh. They suggested lacing the gamurra down into the
skirt opening for a couple of inches, to prevent "gapitis".
Also, Mistress Kamilla told me a little at Pennsic about how she did her giornea
(overgown), which was basically seam her two pieces of fabric together for the full length
(floor up over shoulders and down back) except for the points in the middle where the head
goes (call it waist to top of neck of gamurra). Then she draped it on a dress form and
figured out what of the sides needed to be cut away to make a pleasant angle from hem to
shoulder (that's where we both got distracted, so I don't know details). Mine was a little
fussy to wear, not sure if that is because it was made badly, or too stiff, or my gamurra
was way too long. Also, the pattern would have been upside down which would not be pleasant
to my (modern) eye.
Anyway, I hope that you can take lots of pictures so we can see
how wonderful you all will look!
I've mostly finished Duncan's overcotte/gamurra; I'm letting it hang before
hemming it, and have
left the armscye open so that if I need to adjust the side seams to make them roll
correctly (that is, without needing top-stitching), I'll have easier access. I'm very happy
about the neckline. I used the "seam everything to the inside, including the seam
allowances" method, and for once it worked perfectly. I don't know if it's because the
brocade has so much more body than the satin, but I'm not looking at any horses' teeth
here...
You can see in the picture below that both the neckline and the front lining have turned
out very prettily. After I finish Duncan's undercotte, I will put button loops (made of
red braided pearl cotton and brought through the seam) on just below the armscyes.
If the lining doesn't nice that way after another day's hanging, I'll
use the "Sew it all to the back" method on it, too. Then the plan is hem it at 49 inches
from shoulder to hem. I'll have 10" extra fabric, I'm afraid, but I was more afraid of
having too little.
I plan to close the armscyes either by hand or with top-stitching.
(Why, yes, those are Godey's pattern prints on the wall. 1870, March.)
As I reported in my LiveJournal, I am pretty unhappy with how the neckline for Duncan's
undercotte came out, and let it sit overnight before tackling fixing it. I used grosgrain
ribbon as a facing, as one might black bias tape, and it did not roll nicely inside, it
curled every which way. Bleh. I am in the process of taking the trim off, ripping out the
ribbon. I will build a same-color linen facing and put the trim on that. Luckily,
I made the decision I needed to fix it rather than just let it be early -- I haven't
sewn the side seams up or set in the sleeves -- I can still do this easily. (Note that the
linen is much darker black than it shows in the pictures, but I had to lighten it to show
the curl.)
Except for lacing rings of some
sort, Jen's gammura is done. Took me all of 2-3 hours. The back opening
ends at about
the bottom of the butt. So she'll have lots of room to grow. I don't think it'll
lace down that far, I'll put in some hooks there, but she'll have plenty of
space for lumps and bumps.
Also, I've made it so that this gown can be reversed. As in turned around. So
if she wanted to use it to nurse in, simply open the back skirt seam and the
modesty panel pins back into the bodice.
In these pictures
the back of the dress is not laced, so it's not as tightly fitted to the
dress dummy as it might be. Plus, we wanted room for Baby Bustline, too!
I was
exhausted; I went to bed at 8 PM because of an incipient migraine, which decided to hit at
2:30 AM. Argh. I got up at the normal 5:50AM to feed cats.
Duncan's neckline is now beautiful, and way too wide. So, like for the overcotte, I'm going
to have to seam down the front and back to take it in. More Farblesnorting on my
part, especially as I
have to go to his parade at noon. I think I'll work on Jen's bodice and fit it to her, and
leave the trim on Duncan's neckline to last, as I can do it in the truck. I will put the
dress together, so I can sew the trim on the hemline with the machine.
I did start cutting Jen's bodice for the green at 2:30 am
when I was up last night. Though it contradicts
Masa's Rules,
I had had 6 1/2 hours sleep.
I conclude from this,
and my disaster on the white several years ago for Twelfth Night, that I suck at
making boat-shaped necklines.
Thursday, 07 September, 2006 Update:
Duncan's black is done, sleeves and neckline sewn and decorated, and hanging so I can hem
it tomorrow. Here a Picture, so you can see. One side of Duncan's red hemmed; plan to cut
out mine and begin on it tonight. As I said, before, the Red hangs on Duncan beautifully
and swings when he walks just perfectly.
The trim on the arm, which
is actually not important enough to put a picture of, is mini-gimp. But the
picture is for those who wanted to see the Godey print on the wall.
Fitted the muslin for Jen yesterday; it fitted perfectly,
so the one Jaie made will be good, too. She liked how it felt with the chemise
on, and all the space the chemise had for her belly. This is very
happy-making.
Cut out my overcotte; the fabric is very stiff but feels OK -- does not drape like a velvet
but is stiffer than that. The blue and gold accents in the diamonds are subtle but go well
with the blue satin lining for the overcotte. If I don't get the flowered undercotte cut
out, I'll use my blue.
The boys were here today helping get stuff together for the packing; all the clothing
except the overcotte and flowered undercotte are done.I wrote that in Sept. It's
October
now; I've been too annoyed to write more. About 4 PM on the 11th I knocked over a can of
Coke while I was moving the overcotte and spilled it all over the fabric. Daubing, gentle
rinsing, and other methods of getting Coke out of fabric did not work. I let it dry,
folded it up, and put it in the project box. I wore my pink brocade Houp at the event. When
I returned, I took the fabric to the dry cleaner, and they told me that they couldn't get
it out. RRRRRR. So, my plan is to make the flowered undercotte and a blue overcotte.
Linda's looked gorgeous on her, so I want to finish them.
Pictures from the event (Click on the small picture to see the full sized one):
Duncan presents his poem to Francesca
Duncan's overcotte hanging in the tent; see the two buttons holding
each side closed.
Duncan, Siobhan and Cordelia present gifts from their Majesties
of the West at afternoon Court. Duncan and Cordelia are in their Italians.
Duncan in the Black undercotte; note how the neckline lies
nicely flat.
HRM Gwyneth's Outfit, made by Arianna of Cynnabar
Side view of HRM's dress. Note the train and the lacing up the side under
the arm.
