Kiddie Garb Accomplished!

I finally finished with the dress for my little niece. It's certainly a cold-weather/night time outfit, as it is all wool and very snuggly. I don't have any pictures of her wearing it quite yet, but here is the finished project:

2 outfits down, one to go!

Sis finished both the surcoat and roman outfits. I'm done with the kirtle, and just need to finish up the sleeves and cape. Lil Miss will be well dressed for the event!

"Incess Dess" (princess dress)

The easiest way to get my niece to wear anything is to tell her it's a princess dress!

My sister and her whole family are going to the event this weekend, but my little niece has nothing to wear! So sis and I raided our collective stashes to come up with some quick and easy outfits.

We cut out everything, and have nearly finished a sideless surcoat out of scrap red velvet.

I'm currently working on eyelets for a Kirtle (cape and sleeves) and hopefully will have it done tomorrow early AM.

Sis is finishing up all the underthings, and a quick Roman, so hopefully by the end of the day, Lil Miss will be completely dressed for a full weekend!

Weekend Catch-up Post

 

This weekend was a complete blur - lots of stuff happened.

1)  I got serious about HRH's kirtle, and fought with that off and on throughout the weekend.  I re-started to sew on rings for the misbegotten teal kirtle.  Got one side done.  (argh)  Of my own projects, I accomplished relatively little, due to my flitterbugging all over the place.  Oh, and my silk for the background of the PPoD came in, so I've been working on that off and on as well.

2)  Jane & Sara came down both Friday and Saturday to work on their individual projects.
I got Sara all set up with a new bodice pattern for a "V" fronted gown.  By the end of the weekend, she had everything done on the bodice with the exception of some trim, and still to decide the shoulder treatments.  I'll check in with her and see what she decided to do.

Jane busted out nearly an entire pair of bodies - by the time she left, we had patterned her out, and she had done 97% of the construction.  Still to do are cutting & dipping the boning, and binding.  (I tortured her with making her own bias binding.....I don't think she was too happy with me........)  At the very end of their time here, we 'blackworked' her smock with a pattern on my machine.  I totally messed up one of the sleeves and did it upside down.....Jane's never going to trust me again!
Isn't the fabric she's using for her corset just NUMMY?!?!

3)  On Sunday, I finally buckled down and helped Sherece fix her purple kirtle.  We re-did the neckline, made a facing, took in the back seam, added a gore in the center back skirt, and re-did the shoulders.  Phew!  Can you believe it?!  I *actually* sorta-mended something!  >.<  She liked the outcome, and looks totally cute.  I, of course, forgot to take photos of the finished dress.  :(  I did, on the other hand, take a picture of the EPIC burn of epicness I got that day.....it matches my year-old burn on the other arm.

4)  On Saturday, we held a Fajita/Margarita party at my house.  It was super fun, and Sherece and her two boys spent the night.  (Sherece and I sewed the next day, while her boys cycled through all our 'toys' (PS3, Kinect, XBox, etc)  During the party, Marshall-Pants finally 'officially' proposed to The Strid.  Much joy was had, and it is captured on video.  (Hooray!)  I need to do some massive editing of the video, it's far, far too long to put you guys through.  ;)

Random stuff

 

Because bodice_goddess is an evil, evil woman, she sent me this link.  (Ribbons GALORE)

I've been messing around with embroidery editing software to learn how it works, and came up with these:

In extreme happiness for my new machine and embroidery software, I am moved to host a giveaway!  (Hurrah?)  So - the first two people who send me a message with 1.  Which fictional guild did I get the inspiration from, and 2.  Your mailing address, will be the recipients.

(If I don't get anyone who knows what they are, I'll explain and then see if there are any takers.....)

Also, I have to show off Matt the Minor and his new outfit, made by the lovely Strid.  I think he's hooked on the SCA!  (Seriously, I'd adopt this kid, if he were of an adoptable age!)

(See?!  The sullen teenager smiles!  OMG!)

Random Bits

-I (barely) survived the past week at work. It was epic and awful. I'll spare you all the gory details, suffice it to say I'm at the end of my proverbial rope.

-I've been helping Sherece and Theresa over the last week or so with beefing up their wardrobe for Uprising. They both now have a full Roman to wear. I made a side-back laced kirtle for Theresa, and handed it over with only the hem and eyelets to go. Theresa made a Viking for Sherece while Sherece did the eyelets, so that all worked out nicely. Various other bits have been made and/or mended.

The kirtle looks a bit lumpy when laid flat - the bodice is graded over a curve so it's nice and smooooth. :)


Here's Mo and Meaty 'helping' me....


-I started a smocked apron for my Laurel, but it appears she may not be going to Uprising. I'll try to get it done in time anyhow.

-I need to gather up stuff for the Laurel Prize Tourney. I'm trying to display stuff that wasn't on display *last* year....So far, I've come up with:
*Hand sewn camp dress (I'm actually going to be wearing this)
*Black Italian (I need to clean and mend this - it's been through a lot in the last 8 months!!)
*Pulledwork caul (I can't remember if I displayed this or not last year. Hm. Need to get back from Val if I am going to display.)
*Hand sewn stays (+doc!!)
*Jaquelinne's elevation gown (I'm still a smidge nervous about this one, but I will take it out for display, then take it right back to the car)
I wish I had just a smidgeon more time so I could make up some rosewater, just so I have non-sewy stuff displayed. (no rly, I do other stuff too!!!)

-Feeling physically like crap. There was a scary moment over the weekend, but all is well now. Will be going to Dr. very, very soon.

-SISTER IS HOME! Well, she's been home for a while now, but I just can't stop saying it. The True Blood/Welcome Home party was very fun, and I got to hang out with a whole grundle of people I don't see very often, which was super nice. The weather cleared up just hours before the grilling was to begin, so we didn't even have to hide out in the garage for BBQing! I really need some patio furniture, and a pergola. Yesh, a nice pergola......

Here is the cake that was randomly at the bakery when I went to pick up something cake-y for the party......awesome!

William! He is so cute, it hurts! Not only is he immaculately dressed, he's an adorable and well-behaved little gentleman to boot.

Saturday is Elizabethan day

Ashe'el came over on Saturday afternoon to get a pair of bodies pattern drafted up. It took a relatively short time, and I ended up with a pretty good pattern, if I do say so myself:



The rest of the day we spent messing around with a pattern to make an Alcega-esque farthingale, and I make about 17 yards of bias for the boning channels. I forgot to snap any pictures, but it is going to turn out very nice.

Whoa, It's been a super productive couple of days!

Mah hubby sent this picture of Demitri to me the other day....I don't know when it was taken, but it totally needs a LOLcat caption....Ideas, anyone?


I can has camp bed!!!!!! My wonderful super wonderful crafty wonderful hubby has made me a bed!!! It's tall enough to store tubs under it, even!!!!! *love* After Uprising, we'll be carving the posts and painting it, and probably adding a headboard/footboard. For now, it does the job of keeping our mattress out of the muck. (Which is what ended up making us leave Quest early...)






I got the waistband added to the Cranford Dress. I tried on the bodice with the corset and everything, and it FITS!!! i forgot to take piccies tho.
:|


Holly found some awesome dishes to (once again) build up my SCA feastgear. Hopefully I can grab them from her as she passes this way on the way home from the dog show tomorrow...I'd really like to have them for Uprising!




I forgot to post about this when we actually did it......we power washed Holly's groundcloth....it looks like new! (Almost)




Demitri is a helper dog, helping me sew Matt's new Roman quilted armor. (Never. Again.) But, it makes Matt happy, which in turn, makes it easier for me to hang out with my sister. Which I can never have too much of!


But anyway, here they are....


The tops of the legs are attached with a band, and the lower greave portion is sewn to that. The foot flappies are attached to the bottom of the greaves. Everything will be attached with leather straps. (But that's his deal, not mine)


The mitt portion will cover his lacrosse gloves. He gets ONE arm (probably left) before Uprising. I may or may not be able to gag down making another one.


Total count --

*8 broken needles
*58 snapped threads
*108 stab wounds
*208 swear words

Cranford Dress & Melia's Brueghel-y/Flemmish

Sis was able to come over tonight and work on her Brueghel dress that has been in the planning stages for....months. We got the draping and patterning all worked out, so the next thing to do is get all the pieces cut and start on the sewing frenzy.

I plugged away a bit on the Cranford dress, I got quite a bit done, even through it doesn't really look like it, because there is *so* much handsewing and gathering involved.

Bad news is I broke one of my gathering threads, so I'll probably have to re-do the entire bottom. Poo. But at least I'll know what I'm doing a bit better this time.


There is a couple of things that I fudged in the construction, mostly because I mis-read the instructions, but I think it will still turn out OK.

Sitting in the Pavillion.....

ow beautiful is she?!?! Just....wow.


Matt snuggling Aislin...so cute!


I have Demitri on my lap, and Cozmo is snuggled deep in Kao's wool cloak.

Michael, Bowen, and Sean in their Roman outfits...what handsome young men!


Aislinn wearing my zibie....on her it looks like a huge stole! Teh cutes!

Roman family...

The whole Roman family....aren't they just the best?!


Some better pictures of Aislinn and Michael. Aislinn is the most adorable Roman baby I've seen!

Sis' Projects

Since I'm so proud of Sis, I have to post what she worked on over the weekend! (I'll bug her until she posts her own dress diaries!)

Shes using Reconstructing History patterns for her project, and as I had suspected, the paniers are more angular, rather than the curvy lines found in the museum pattern. It is probably just a convenience thing, but at least I'm not the only one that is on that track.

Anyway, back to Sis. She's cut out the pieces, made casings and has attached the boning casing to the outer (side) pieces. It amazes me how very careful and methodical she is when she's pinning and cutting. I'm not nearly that patient and exact! She's going to be a GREAT seamstress...