Long time, no post!

It’s been a really, really long couple of months, but the short version is Hubby has been in the hospital for 8 days for necrotic pancreatitis, and had surgery to remove a portion of his pancreas and remove his gallbladder. 

Shortly after he came home from the hospital, my little Momo fell off the bed and broke his leg in two places.  For a couple of weeks, they thought it would heal in a cast, but eventually, it was decided that the leg had to come off, as the bone was not knitting.

Pepper in other various and sundry ‘crappy life stuff’, and I’ve not had a single thought put towards sewing for what feels like forever.
Now that things are settling down, I am hoping that I will be able to get back into the swing of ‘doing things’; especially sewing things!
The current project is to help my sister get my two older nephews suited up in doublets for their respective birthdays!
So far, we have all the bits cut out, and the peplums sewn.  A couple more serious sewing sessions, and we should be done.  Hooray!

I’ve officially withdrawn from the ACC, but if things continue to look up, I’ll probably try to play along anyway.
Also of semi-related note, I’m in charge of scheduling the upcoming Collegium, and I am breathing a heavy sigh of relief that I’ve actually had time to devote to it, and things seem to be in place.
I’m also co-teaching a couple of classes at Collegium, so it’ll be a long day!
I apologize to any readers I still have out there…..I promise I’ll be gearing back up to a regular posting schedule!

ACC: Muff

I finally got myself into a craft store and picked up matching floss, and while I was there suddenly decided I wanted a bigger button than I had in my stash, so I picked up a small package of bigger wooden beads.

I spent a couple of hours messing around with different thread wrapping patterns,  and finally came up with one that I can live with. I wanted the buttons to have a little bit of gold in them as well,  so I ended up with gold ribs.

I only have two more buttons to go,  but got bored doing them and moved on to the loops. I'm doing a seven stranded round braid with 4 gold and 3 red. Somewhere along the way, I messed up the cord,  so the pattern shifts a bit,  but it doesn't bother me enough to re-do it!

ACC: Muff

I'm still stuck on muff ponderings.  Right now I'm stuck on whether or not to use faux fur,  or the beaver pelt. (Below, beaver on left, faux fur on right)

I'm leaning towards the faux fur, just because if I mess it up, I wouldn't be terribly upset.  The color is kind of weird, however. 

Hmmmmm *ponder*

I'm going to drop by a craft store in a little while and pick up some floss either way, since I'm going to need it anyway. (I'm still a little shocked that I don't have an appropriate color in my stash, but at about $0.40 a pop, I'm not too worried about breaking the bank!)

ACC: Muff

I messed around for a day and a half with couching and different embroidery ideas, but finally settled on letting the fabric speak for itself.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to do a black (or brown) velvet muff in the very near future as well, so I’ll probably save up my embroidery energy for that project.

I decided to center the muff on the oblong motif on the fabric, and as luck would have it, worked out quite nicely. 

I remembered my nice, wide gold lace from my stash, and decided that it would give a little ‘excitement’ to an otherwise dull muff.  Here’s the trim pinned in place:

It didn’t take too long to stitch down the trim, and I quite like how it turned out. 

The only thing that concerns me is I’m not terribly enamoured of the finished size.  It seems a bit long to me, hmmmm.  If I can convince myself that I like the proportions, I’ll cut into my beaver pelt.  If not, I’ll use some of the faux fur I have lying around and do an embroidered velvet version for the beaver.

I thought that I had some embroidery floss is the correct colors to do buttons, but alas, I do not, so I’ll have to the first (of hopefully few) purchases for the ACC.

ACC Accessories: Muff

 

“Venetian Women of Mature Age, and Dismesse”Vecellio, Cesare, Margaret F. Rosenthal, and Ann Rosalind Jones. The Clothing of the Renaissance World Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008. Print.  (pg. 136)

Muff detail:

“…muff of fine fur lined with silk, velvet or some other fabric for the winter…”

 

“Winter Clothing of Venetian Noblewomen and Other Wealthy Women In Our Time”Vecellio, Cesare, Margaret F. Rosenthal, and Ann Rosalind Jones. The Clothing of the Renaissance World Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008. Print. (pg. 130)

Muff detail:

“At that time of the year they also wear a muff lined with fur, which protects their hands against the cold.  These furs are marten or sable, and the muff is of black velvet or some other silk fabric, fastened shut with buttons of oriental crystal or gold.”

~

I decided on a gold patterned brocade as the outer shell, as gold is fairly neutral and would match multiple outfits.

As I am not fortunate enough to have either marten or sable in my stash (and no, I’m not going to disassemble one of my precious zibies to obtain it!), I’m finally going to use my plucked and shaved beaver pelt*!  I’ve had this fur in my stash for about umpteen million years, and have always been terrified to cut into it, but now is the time!

This fur is the most soft and plushy thing I’ve ever felt in my life, it’s delicious!

The pelt is roughly 13” x 15” in the middle, with various hangy parts that if needed, can potentially be pieced for a larger finished fur.

I need to double-check my stash, but I do not believe I have any gold or crystal buttons or beads that would be large enough for buttons, so I most likely will be substituting thread-wrapped buttons for the closures.

Both muffs pictured below have a relatively thick border around the edges – I have yet to determine what exactly I’m going to do about that. 

I’m also wondering if I want to do some couching on the brocade to give it a bit more oomph – I guess it’s time to sit down for realsies and figure out exactly what I’m going to do!

 

 

*Say that phrase until you giggle!

Tufted Buttons

Holly came down to visit while Kao was away on business, but job interviews and a nasty cold has taken up pretty much every moment, up until now!

We looked at inspiration portraits and decided some design details for her ACC dress.

Her main inspiration portrait is this beauty:

Bronzino, Agnolo. Portrait of a Lady. 1550. Oil on canvas. Galleria Sabuada, Turin.

She’s using blue velvet from my stash (to be traded for probably jewelry at a later date) 

Because I’m still kinda feeling out of it, I suggested that we work on cording and buttons first, and do some pattern drafting and cutting tomorrow.

I kind of had a plan of how to create tufted buttons like the ones on the portrait, but I wasn’t sure if it would work until I sat down with needle and thread….And I had to figure out how to do it before I could teach her!

Here’s what I came up with, something similar looking, but not quite a copy:

1.  Start as you would a regular thread-wrapped button, but with extra length.  (I’m using a arm-span length)

2.  This is where it gets a bit different.  Tie off the thread on the bottom, then go back up through the top and use a needle as spacer for the loop, and go back down 2x…..if that makes sense.  (I may still be a little loopy….)

3.  Take the needle out of the little loops; now this is where the tufts are going to be anchored.  I used the back end of my favorite bone crochet hook as a spacer……loop through the anchor loops as many times as it takes to get a pleasing puffiness.  (In my case, 7x)

4.  Wrap around the base of the tufty loops to lock in place, and plunge the needle back through the bead core.  Firmly square knot, and voila! Tufty cute buttons!

5.  It’s a good idea to dab a bit of glue on the end of the button to make sure that everything stays in place, then all that’s left is to sew onto a garment!

Holly and I have dubbed these “Blueberry Buttons”, as Bethaval has “Cranberry Buttons” on one of her recent(ish) gowns!

AC Challenge

I’m just now able to sit down and ponder my options for the upcoming ACC.  In my stash, I’ve been collecting fabrics over the last few years for specific gowns, which fits into the challenge nicely. 
There is a $100 limit to spending, so choosing something I’ve had on my mind over the last few years makes a lot of sense, although may not be the most ‘wow’ thing in the world.
Here’s the basic information for the challenge:

• Layer 1: The skin layer.  Create underclothes that someone from your selected time period would have worn. Examples include braises, drawers, smock, chemise, camacia, shift, gomlek, corsetry and so on.
• Layer 2: The main garment. Create the main garment from your selected time period. Examples include kirtle, gamurra, kosode & hakama, chausses, sarafan, bliaut, cotehardie, doublet, the toga and so on.
• Layer 3: The outer layer. Create a garment that would have been worn for warmth or formal occasions. Examples include ropa, saia, surcoat, jerkin, coat, peplos, kaftan, entari, a stola and so on.
• Layer 4: An accessory. This could be shoes, jewelry, a hat, stockings, a handkerchief, gloves, a suit of ruffs, an almoner’s purse, and so on.

Blue gown ( s )

It’s on the plain side, but I love, love, love this outfit.  I have the perfect velvet and linen to do this outfit, and I’ve been meaning to do it ever since I saw it a couple of years ago.  What makes me hesitate is the plain-ness of it…..for a competition, it’s not very flashy, but it would be so nice to have the ‘excuse’ to hand sew the whole thing.

I recently found the second portrait, and would probably ‘steal’ the sleeve treatment for the gown underneath; not only is the color scheme remarkably similar, but the neckline and sleeves would lend itself fairly well to the over gown.  (I think…..)

Carracci, Agostino. Portrait of Anna Parolini Guicciardini. 1598. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie (Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz), Berlin.

Anguissola, Sofonisba. Bildnis Eines Paares. 1570. Oil on canvas. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Have	Don’t Have
Blue velvet (coat	Embroidery floss (buttons, loops, trim on coat)
White Linen (camacia/sleeves)	Silk (veil)
Blue Linen (kirtle)
Organdy (partlet)

Brocade gown ( of some sort )

I really want to have a fancier brocade gown of some sort.  I’m not sure exactly of what style, but something with lace and awesome accessories.  Even if I don’t do this for the challenge, I’ll be doing this soon.

Vecellio, Cesare. Habiti Antichi, Et Moderni Di Tutto Il Mondo. In Venetia: Appresso I Sessa., 1598.

Have	Don’t Have
Various Green Brocades (gown)	Gold bits (belt)
Linen (camacia)	Fan bits
Organdy (partlet)
Lace (shoulders & partlet)
Pearls (jewelry)

Teal Gown

I’ve had this gown on my mental wish list for a very long time, and have had the teal silk in my stash for at least 2 years.  I’m slightly worried about the off-the-shoulderness of it (which is why I haven’t done it yet), but the portrait has lovely accessories, and is of a type that not a whole lot of people do.  I’d have to do some research on appropriate “Layer 3”.

De Kempener, Pieter. Portrait of a Lady. 1530. Mixed media on poplar wood. Städel, Frankfurt.*

I have this one listed as “Portrait of a Lady”, but no further info – googling has proved unhelpful, as has tineye.com. Would be grateful if anyone has further info…..

Have	Don’t Have
Teal silk (gown)	Gold bits (jewelry)
Linen (camacia)	Silk (partlet)
Gold cord (couching on gown)	Fan bits
	Glove bits

*Thank you to Hastings, who not only told me what my ‘lost’ portrait was, but about Google Image search!  WAY better than tineye.com!  (It’s Google, of course!)