1,000 Words

My Purple Princess Progress

bodice fitting

front detail

back detail

I have been working on some other projects for the past week, but I did manage to get the eyelets done in the back of this dress today.  I also braided the laces for the dress and the bodice straps.  I still need to make the bodice a front lace and get the sleeve gathers done, not to mention the other half of the bodice embroidery (at least I got the layout done, I hate that part), but I think there is time. 

I tried the bodice on with a spare corset lace I had lying around, it fits great.  I also tried the dress on today and it fits very well, something is a little crooked, but I can't decide if it is me or the dress, so I may have to make some minor adjustments after the final fitting.  I suppose cutlets are not period, tee hee hee.

If everything comes together right I will be ready to wear this outfit at Boar's Hunt in one week.  I am also making a nice ivory hood to wear because it will be cold, and I am adding a couple of gores of black fleece to my existing cape for added width and warmth, because it will be cold, and I am making a new wool tunic for my son because it will be cold...  Do you see the pattern here? I am worried about camping in the cold! 

I would also like to finish a cooler project, and a cot project, plus I am helping with the construction of eleven child sized tabards (although those will be done tomorrow)  I think it will be a busy week!  Maybe I will even get my house clean before we leave for the weekend, I hate coming home to a messy house! 

When Bad Garb Happens to Good People

It is amazing how a project can take on a life of it's own.  In a recent post I mentioned the initial idea for my embroidered bodice was basically a medieval bra.  I honestly had something like an Ace bandage in mind when I first started.  Well the bodice became something entirely different, and as I have already mentioned became an object that I am scorning as I make it.  I keep thinking, "this is sooooo much work for something I will be embarrassed to wear in public."  Well instead of finding a way to make this project better, I have actually found a way to make it even less period and more time consuming! What is wrong with me? 

Now don't get me wrong, this is a fabulous looking project, I am in love with the way it is turning out on some levels, however I am now at a point where I have literally thought to myself, "you might as well just be a LARPer!"  No offense to the LARPing community, I just don't have what it takes to play like that, I lack imagination.  But this "garb" is fit for a fairy princess.  I don't know what is happening but I don't seem to be able to stop the process at this point.

So anyway,  I found some nice neutral woven fabric the other day for $2.99 at a craft store.  I decided to dye it with some purple RIT I had lying around to see if it would work for the simple dress I imagined wearing under this embroidered bodice.  I also threw some of the fabric I used for the bodice into the dye bath because I knew I wouldn't have quite enough for a long sleeved dress without it.  The fabric took the dye beautifully and I ended up with a really nice light purple for the main garment and a lavender to trim it with.  Next I took a quick look at some kirtle patterns, including Mistress Cori's great tutorial.  I laid everything out, cut the pattern, screwed up, redid, and ended up with a nicely fitted, less than perfect purple kirtle.  I used the lavender to make a yoke and then used a combination of the two fabrics to make nice long sleeves.

I've been wanting to try an insertion stitch join so I did that on the sleeves and then I used some embroidery stitches to attach/decorate the yoke.  I have spent roughly 12 hours on this dress in the past two days.  It looks amazing, but the problem is the complete and utter lack of historical accuracy.  This outfit will be a mish-mash of centuries and cultures.  I am filled with costume shame, and yet it is so pretty I know I will have to wear it **sigh**  Who picked this hobby?  Ah well, I'll take some more pictures when it is all completed.  Then maybe we can LARP together.

Blacksploitation Barbie...

Today I am sharing a deep, dark, hidden secret- I still like to play dress-up!  What?  You already knew that about me?  Oh, well... I bet you didn't know that sometimes I give my outfits names.  Like today's ensemble, I called it "Blacksploitation Barbie," but it could have also been named after whatever version of Better Homes and Gardens was aimed at the black hostess of the '70s.  I rocked my favorite mini mumu with denim short shorts, and lots of accessories.  Since I shaved my head I feel like I can really get away with some fierce/fun looks including lots of make-up and bling.  Sadly I had nowhere to go today, but I looked fabulous while I sat around my yard and painted my nails.

More importantly, I have made it to the half way mark on my embroidered bodice!  Next step embroider the straps with a border, this is simple and will give me a much needed break from the main design.  I will need to pick up some more floss, I am running low on a couple of the colors already.  Then I will trace the completed half of the design and transfer a mirror image onto the other half of the bodice and embroider that too.  I think this will be done in about two weeks, then I can make the dress to go under it!  I am trying to decide between purple and green for the dress, right now I am leaning toward purple, but I am open to suggestions.

Another "Recipe" and Embroidery Progress

Tonight I made the most divine chili and cornbread.  Chili is one of the best ways to use up random pantry items in a tasty, economical supper.  I always make my chili a little bit different, it depends what I have on hand, but there are a few things it MUST contain.  First you need a good chili seasoning, I personally like to keep Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit in the pantry at all times, it tastes great and comes with the seasonings, masa flour, salt, and chili powder packaged individually so you can play with your proportions.  I am a meat eater, so I need a beast in my chili.  I've tried ground beef, turkey, chicken, sausages, and bacon.  And finally there must be some good veg in there to balance things out, I've put just about any vegetable you can think of in chili at some point, but I really like peppers, corn, onions, and beans, I just mix them up with whatever else I have around and omit what I don't. 

So the "recipe" part: Tonight I used chorizo, quinoa, chocolate, flax, green bell pepper, onion, canned tomatoes with green chiles, and kale.  Have I mentioned I am from California?  This was an amazing combination!  It was similar to a molé sauce (I added some sugar to make it nice and sweet) with a complex smoky flavor because I got distracted by the spring rain when I went outside to pick the kale and burned the chorizo a bit...  ahem.  I also made a kellerweiss hefeweizen cornbread (just substitute the beer for milk in Jiffy cornbread).  This was so tasty I don't know if I will ever make normal cornbread again.  Gotta love the folks over at Sierra Nevada for making this spicy gem of a beer (thank you Scott your beer is delicious).  I mixed up a double batch of this bread and baked it at 325 for 30 minutes in a loaf pan covered in foil, then I removed the foil and cooked it at 350 for 15 more minutes.  Unfortunately this wasn't quite enough, it was perfectly golden around the edges but still moist in the center.  Luckily there is a great trick for this- just take the bread out of the loaf pan and microwave it for one minute.  It will cook the center without the risk of burnt edges you get with the conventional oven.

Okay, enough about dinner let's see the embroidery progress

Tada! Now I'm off to bed, good night.

Little By Little

I am working away on my embroidered bodice.  Here is a snapshot of my progress, hopefully nobody will ever look this close while I am wearing it, and I can get away with the sloppy stitches!

Idle Hands

I don't like to have idle hands, I like to be busy, it keeps me moving forward.  That being said, I started a little bodice project a couple of days ago.  When I tried on my red saya encordada for the first time it dawned on me that my bosom needed a little lift (you've all been there, don't judge).  Well there is really no proof of a medieval bra, so I thought maybe I could come up with something "medievally plausible" (and yes I made that term up, but I can't make everything historically accurate this early in my SCA life so I need to cheat sometimes).  Well I have plenty of corset patterns lying around, but I decided to draft something super simple, almost like the breast wraps used in ancient times, no boning, just tightly fitted...

That idea turned into something completely different within a day.  I have some really great embroidery patterns I've collected from the available internet resources (see the links provided over at Honor Before Victory, they are amazing).  There was one in particular that caught my eye, a pattern of peas on the vine complete with flowers and tendrils.  It reminded me of spring, and Mendelian genetics, and gardening, I just fell in love with it.  Well fast forward back to this little bodice, I thought it would be pretty with the embroidery on it.  And it will certainly keep my hands busy for the next week or two.

This embroidery is from a period pattern, but I am not using period material and the actual bodice isn't period either, so I guess this will have to be a fantasy item.  I will be worried about "peer fear" if I wear it in public at a SCA event, but I might just wear it anyway, who knows?  Would you point and whisper if you saw this coming your way?

please note the bodice is upside down in these pics

If you are interested in my process here is a little info for you.  The bodice is just made of cotton canvas I had lying around, it used to be a cheap slip cover for my couch.  The eyelets are all done in my cheater method of metal eyelet under hand sewn embroidery floss.  All the floss is modern cotton.  I adapted the design from Modelbuch aller art Nehewercks und Stickens, George Gilbers reprint of the 1527 book, page 41.  In these pictures I have not yet drawn on the second half of the design, it will be a mirror image of what I have already done, and I will add in tendrils on both sides where they look appropriate once I get going.  I just free handed the vines based on the source image, and created the border with a tailor's tape to keep the scale even.  The shoulder straps are not pictured, but they are made of the same canvas and will simply lace into the eyelets at the top.  I can see wearing this over a light purple or maybe green kirtle, it wouldn't be accurate, but it would be very pretty.

I Am Useful

Earlier today, or possibly late last night, or both,  I was complaining to my husband about my complete, and utter lack of motivation.  I was waxing poetic about how I have no ambition and it troubles me, blah blah blah.  Then I proceeded to trace out the lovely pattern I wanted to embroider on my skirt (to go with the bodice I finished yesterday while recovering from the stomach flu).  And in the process of laying the first few stitches it dawned on me that I am VERY ambitious.  I may not have "goals" in the traditional sense, you know making money, saving the planet, being remembered for my amazing contributions to society, but I DO STUFF.  There, I said it, I validated my existence, I do stuff.  In fact I MAKE stuff, yeah, that's right I make all kinds of stuff, and I like it.  So, next time I get all, "woe is me, I'm a useless skin sack,"  I will try to remind myself that I'm a valid use of space, I make things, and that is something, dare I say, special...

So here is a quick pic of the bodice, please forgive the dummy, she isn't as voluptuous as me, and a close-up of the embroidery project.  By the way the embroidery pattern comes from Kathryn Goodwyn's amazing work Flowers of the Needle.  Go check that out, it is an amazing FREE resource.

Slightly Modified Butterick B4669