Project Three

Once I had Justin's Dominican Friar get-up under my belt, I decided it was time to start something for myself.

I really love the look of the Elizabethan gowns with the fitted bodices and full skirts, but I thought that the techniques necessary to make that happen might be a little bit advanced for a novice like me.  I opted instead to make a kirtle and surcoat using the Elizabethan Comfort Pattern by Margo Anderson.  There aren't many small, fussy pieces, you're sewing mainly in straight lines, there aren't any specific requirement for underpinnings, and best of all, because it isn't fitted, you don't need a dress form.

Once I had the pattern in hand, I headed over to Hancock Fabrics to see what I could find for material and I found the following:



The taupe fabric with the diamond pattern was in the clearance bin.  The darker greenish fabric, which is an upholstery weight silk blend, wasn't clearance, but it WAS 40% off so it ended up being only about $8/yd when all was said and done...and I was absolutely in love with it.

My initial thought was that it's olive green.  But it really isn't that yellow.  But it isn't really brown.  It kind of defies description.  I didn't bring a swatch with me when I went to pick up the thread for it, and I eyeballed it.  I grabbed an olive-ish green.  WAY OFF.  I brought a swatch when I went to exchange it...and the thread named "Army Drab" ended up being the perfect match.  So there you have it.

The whole thing went together quite easily, really.  I used store-bought bias tape to finish the neck and armscye on the kirtle. 



To save myself some cash, I used an old bed sheet to make the main body of the kirtle. That actually worked well.  I was going to use the eye side of some hook-and-eye tape, but then I decided that I'd go whole-hog and hand-sew the eyelets.  It was actually a fairly painless process.

I did the eyelets on the armscye of the kirtle an on the sleeves:



And on the back of the kirtle:



I did end up ditching the ribbon for lacing the back in favor of some nice linen cording.  Works much better.

The sleeves lace into the armscye like this:



I somehow managed to cut the thing about 6 inches too long...and it seemed to be too long only in the front.  I'm 99.99997% sure I didn't cut the maternity hemline, so I don't know what the hell happened.  In any event, I had to do some alterations there.  I used my friend Jamie as a dress dummy. 

Once that was done it was time to move on to the overgown.  Once again, a very straight forward process.  Everything went really smoothly until I realized that the armscye and front opening were supposed to be finished with bias tape.  Well, I'll tell you that there isn't a bias tape manufacturer in creation that makes bias tape in a shade to match my dress.  So all of a sudden, here's Jessie, making her own bias tape.  It worked out really well though.  Margo Anderson's very thorough instruction manual actually included information on how to make your own bias tape.  So crisis averted there.

I ended up doing some handstitching in a couple places, like the collar:



And the wings:



And the bias tape on the front opening, which I apparently didn't photograph.

The problem with using the machine on stuff like this is that you'll inevitably end up with machine stitches showing.  I'm not militant about historical accuracy, but I do want it to look nice.  I used machine stitching on the armscye, and I wasn't about to pick that all out and do it over again, but I did change my technique going forward.

So once that was all done, it was time to fine closures and trim!  I kicked around several different ideas for closures, including frogs and buttons with ribbon loops.  The frog thing didn't really trip my trigger, and buttons and loops would take too long, so I decided that metal clasps were the way to to go.  I found the perfect ones at The Pillaged Village!  The price was way right at a $1/pair, and the antique gold color matched my dress perfectly.

The trim was slightly harder.  I looked through about a zillion websites and didn't find anything I really liked, and I couldn't really settle on a color scheme because the dress color was so weird.  The selvedge edge of the fabric did give a little bit of inspiration as to possibilities though, so that helped.

I finally stumbled upon Calontir Trim.  This guy has LOADS of gorgeous trim, and I have to say that his prices are reasonable and he's a very nice guy to work with.  I found this trim and absolutely fell in love.  I ordered 9 yards on the spot.

The borders actually ended up being really well placed, because I was able to use brown thread in the sewing machine and run the line of stitches right next to the border on each side.  Can't even see the machine stitches unless your fact is right up next to it.  In which case we've obviously got other issues, so....

As a side-bar, I did make myself a corded petticoat and a smock:



It's like posting a picture of my underwear.

I didn't take a picture of the corded petticoat because it's not really worth looking at.  I used an old twin-sized bed sheet.  I tried numerous different types of rope and cording and really had a hard time getting anything to work right.  I finally ended up getting a couple packages of cotton clothesline, and braiding lengths of it together and slipping those lengths into channels sewn onto the petticoat.  It gave just enough shape to keep the skirts off my ankles so I wasn't tripping all over myself.  It'll do for the time being.

I couldn't very well go traipsing around the Renaissance Faire in this awesome dress and nothing on my head.  So I made my best attempt at re-creating the awesome test caul I did before...it went okay.  Somehow the seam on the band ended up on the side, and it was a little bit snug...I had to get barrettes to make sure it stayed on.  Then I decided to throw together a hat.  What I really wanted was an attifet, but I couldn't find a pattern anywhere, so I just did a floppy soft-brimmed hat using this pattern from The Sempstress.  I'd post a link, but her site seems to be broken right now.  I picked up one of those little baggies of random bits of ribbon at the craft store a while back, so I used some off-white satin ribbon for the hand band.

I pretty much hate this hat with a passion.  It's period, but it looks like hell on me.  I will not be wearing it again...at least not willingly.  I might even go so far as to say that I hate millinery in general.  My husband says this is because I didn't have immediate success like I have with everything else I've tried sewing.  I say it's because making hats SUCKS.  I would seriously contemplate paying someone else to make a hat for me.  I really, really hate it.

Here is a picture of the whole ensemble at the Faire:



Pretty sweet, no?  I'm very pleased with the end result.  I have plans for altering things here and there...but that's a tale for another time.

A different kind of craft...

I haven't been doing a great deal of crafting for the past couple of weeks because I've been rather busy preparing for something completely different.

See, eight years ago, in the spring of 2001 my music-majoring-ass was supposed to give a Senior Recital as the final requirement for attaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music.  But I didn't do it.

Eight.  Long.  Years.  Ago.  Dude.

I can't even tell you what a burden it has been to have this hanging over my head for the better part of a decade.  The feelings of failure, embarrassment, shame...it fucking sucked is what it did.

But then this past January something (don't know what) lit a fire under my ass and I decided I was tired of screwing around and I was just going to do it.  Despite the fact that I hadn't had a lesson in 7.5 years.  Despite the fact that I didn't have a regular teacher.  Despite the fact that I didn't even know if I could DO that shit anymore, I was going to do it.

Well, long story short...I did it.  This past Saturday, August 22 at 2 p.m. I gave my Senior Recital.  Approximately 50 minutes of music in 5 languages, from memory.  Prepared in 8 months, with no regular voice instruction.  It didn't turn out too badly, all things considered.


This is me, singing 'Come Scoglio' from Mozart's 'Cosi Fan Tutte'.  This is probably my favorite...definitely in my Top 2 for the day.

Ya'll, there were about 45 people at my recital.  FORTY-FIVE PEOPLE.  I figure around 3/4 of them drove an hour or more to get there.  Five dear friends from college drove up from their various homes for it.  A bunch of my theater people were there.  My grandmother came from Michigan.  Several people from my chorus were there, some of whom I didn't expect, which was wonderful.  My sister and my mom and my dad...it was AMAZING.  I am so fortunate in my family and friends. 

It's taken this long for me to just decompress and be able to wrap my head around what it is I have accomplished here.  Among the positive outcomes: the video camera we bought specifically for the event is fantastic.  As you can see, the video and sound quality is quite good for a $180 camera.  I also hired a local company to professionally record it for me...you can download all the tracks here, for free.  Not that I'm operating under the delusion that anybody'd want them, but several of my friends have requested copies of the performance and I figured it wouldn't hurt to post the link in a couple different places.

Another positive: I seem to have acquired myself a voice teacher.  I'm excited to start taking regular lessons again.

But I think the best part is...I am FREE FREE FREE to do whatever the hell I want to now when I get home from work!  Which means that soon the sewing machine will get dusted off to hem kilts and arisaids, and to make linen shirts, and HOPEFULLY a damn kirtle if that freaking Tudor pattern ever ships.  If it doesn't get here in another week or two, I think I'm going to have to execute Plan B.  I have yet to determine that that is, but I guess I better get thinking. 

In other crafting news, my friend Andrea (aka SpaceOddities) has convinced me to open an Etsy shop to sell some of the awesome stuff I make.  I'm still working on a concept, but it will involve crocheted things.  I love crocheting things.  In the meantime, you should go buy some of Andrea's stuff and read her blog because she's awesome and is also giving away free t-shirts with robots and screwed up engrish-french on them.  They are full of win. 

Project Two

As I mentioned in my previous post, my husband is not what you would really call a "fan" of dressing up for the Renaissance Faires.  Which is weird because everyone else we know loves it.  So apparently he's this aberrant freak.

Once I figured out that I could really sew, we starting talking about what I could make for him that he wouldn't hate.  He insists that he's not a Doublet-and-Slops kid of guy, which is reasonable.  Puffy shorts are not for everyone.  But I couldn't even get him sold on a doublet and Venetian breeches.  Then I was struck with inspiration.

Justin has been talking about dressing up as a Friar for ages and ages, but we could never do anything about it because we didn't have the resources in terms of equipment and ability.  So I was all, "OMFG, dude, I'm going to make you a Friar costume, figure out how you want it to be."  I thought he'd probably just do your standard Franciscan Friar, you know, the dudes in the brown robes.  He does some searching around and ultimately shows me this:



St. Dominic.  He wants to be a Dominican Friar, aka a "Black Friar", so named for the black cloaks and cowls they wear (but it does sound rather menacing, doesn't it?).  Apparently they were quite corrupt and sold salvation for actual money, rather than penance.  So you can probably thank them for Plenary Indulgences being taken off the table back in the day.  Although I understand that Plenary Indulgences have been reinstated by the Pope, so that's some good news.  Anyway, Justin has a soft spot for war-like and/or corrupt personas, so he was very excited about this.

So we set forth to find an appropriate pattern for this get-up.  I decided to go with a Simplicity pattern, because "it's so easy, it's Simplicity", which seemed promising.  We settled on this one, because the cloak had a hood (albeit a pointy one), a cowl and sleeves already, and I figured it would be easy enough to make the minor adjustments necessary to make it into a closed robe, and then in turn a cloak with no sleeves.

I wanted to put Justin in really breathable fabrics, because he's very susceptible to heat and I didn't want him to be uncomfortable.  We chose some nice white cotton muslin for the robe and tabard, and then a heavier linen-like fabric that had a really nice drape to it.  Justin picked out some white satin to line the inside of his hood, and we got some black cording and some tassles to make him a belt.

The pattern was very straight forward and went together easily.  I didn't even have problems setting the sleeves in the armscye.  For the white closed robe, I just made the cloak without the hood or cowl.  The first slightly sticky wicket was for the front of the robe.  If I laid out the pattern as instructed, I would cut it on two layers of fabric, and have two front pieces that I would have to sew together and have a big seam down the front.  Even though most of it would be covered by the tabard, I didn't want that.  So I doubled over the fabric and cut it on the fold instead, et voila!  I had a perfect, all-in-one-piece robe front.  Another feature of the white robe that the Dominicans wear are the big cuffs on their sleeves.  That was easy enough.  I cut the sleeves as directed, and then sewed on an extra length of fabric, folded it up and tacked it in place by hand.  I thought the seam at the end of the sleeve would look nice, and also be a concrete starting point to make sure that everything was folded up evenly.  It worked out perfectly.

The tabard obviously wasn't part of the pattern, but it's really just a long rectangle with a head hole in the middle.  I think I may have modified the pattern slightly to make this happen, but I don't honestly remember what I did.  Obviously it worked, becuase we have a very respectable tabard.

So once all of that nonsense was out of the way, this is what we ended up with:



Not too shabby for a first effort, if I do say so myself.

So then it was on to the black cloak and cowl.  Once again, very straight forward.  To make the cloak without sleeves, I just basically sewed the armscye shut.  Otherwise, I constructed it exactly as instructed.  Until I got to the cowl.  The cowl in the pattern turned out to be really small and not at all what we wanted.  So I leapt rather than fell into my first pattern drafting experience.  I drew out a huge, slightly elongated circle on a piece of muslin, cut it out, cut a hole for his head and a little slash so he had room to get into it.  It ended up hanging perfectly.  Score.  So I cut that out and hemmed it.  When I made the hood, I rounded off the little point so it was more like a normal hood.  It looks better, I think.

And so this was the finished product:



Of course, he needed an awesome staff like St. Dominic's, so we re-purposed this massive wooden curtain rod that used to be in the living room (I knew I saved it for a reason!) and picked up a couple metal crosses on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

The "logo", as it were, for the Dominicans is a fleur-de-lis, so we tried to find something as fleur-de-lis-like as possible.  There were some modifications to be made to the crosses in order to get them to fit back to back.  There was some Billy Mays Mighty Putty involved.  Our friend Brad did us a major solid by helping us out with some of the metal-working and by sanding it and finishing it off for us, because he has a garage full of awesome tools (yet he has no cordless drill.  WTF.).

I was working on my costume, and the costumes of two other people simultaneously as we were approaching the day we were to head to the Bristol Renaissance Faire, so we didn't end up getting his cord belt done, and he couldn't or wouldn't settle on a rosary, but I think he looked FANTASTIC! 

  

Things I would do differently:

I would use a heavier fabric for the tabard than the white cotton muslin.  It doesn't hang with the kind of authority that St. Dominic's does.  Maybe St. Dominic has a bigger fabric budget than we do.  I should be able to re-create it, or double up the fabric on the original pretty easily to get a better drape for next time.

I would flatline the cowl with some of that white satin.  Justin said that when in actual use, with moving arms and things, the cowl would get pushed up, and wouldn't slide back down again.  This is something easily fixed for next time.

I wouldn't use a linen blend...I'd spend the money and go 100% genuine linen, in a lighter weight.  It was a very comfortable temperature the day we were at Bristol and Justin still observed that the cloak was a little heavy, and he was glad it wasn't any warmer outside.

It's arisaid time!

 Oh!  It's happy fabric time at my house!

I'll be posting about my husband's costumes in more detail as we go along, but it's worth noting here that when we dress up for the Renaissance Faires, my husband is always costumed under protest.  Trying to get him to come up with something he'd actually like to wear was like pulling teeth, but we did finally have success...more success than I thought possible, actually.  He was very keen on the idea of honoring his Grandma Kennedy by wearing the family tartan, and a friend stumbled upon some of that very stuff, so we've decided to make him a belted plaid, or Great Kilt, so he can have a Scottish persona.  He's got great legs and will look hot as hell in a kilt.  Oh yes, I freely admit ulterior motives here.

I decided that I should have a Scottish persona of my own to match, so I started doing some research, and a week or so ago I ordered 3 yards of some nice medium weight wool from Hamilton Dry Goods to make myself an arisaid.  As it would have been inappropriate for women to wear kilts, the arisaid is basically the Scottish woman's answer to the belted plaid.  You take roughly 2 1/2 - 3 yards of wool and wrap it around yourself length wise, so the bottom end is about at your ankles.  You belt it on, and the top half gets pinned at your shoulder, or you can bustle it in the back.  You can then use it as a cloak or a hood if it gets cold or rainy, etc.  When you have it bustled or pinned at the shoulder, it also makes big pocket-y things you can keep crap in.  A very handy garment, the arisaid.

I read someplace that arisaids were generally lighter in color than men's plaids, because the men required the color in their clothing to serve as camouflage while hunting.  I also read someplace (I CANNOT remember where) that arisaids were not usually plaid, but striped.

So I went surfing around and found this beautiful wool:



Now, I'm not sure that it's "period" per se, but I like the colors, the price was right, and quite frankly, I haven't been able to find sufficient information about period/16th century Scottish dress anywhere to convince me that this is completely incorrect.  Plus it won't completely clash with my husband's Kennedy tartan.

Here's a close up:



This is actually an excellent picture.  You can see the really pale blue horizontal striping, which will come in super handy when it comes time to even out and hem the ends!

I'm thinking that 3 yards is a bit too long though.  I'm going to trim off 1/2 a yard to reduce bulk, and then I'll have some extra leftover for something fun.  I'm also going to need a belt.  DUDE, I have never worn a belt in my freaking life.  Maybe I'll just gank one from my husband.

There is some disparate information out there on teh intarwebz as to what is supposed to go under the arisaid.  Some sources say that it should just be a leine, which was a long linen chemise, white or saffron in color, with these sort of voluminous sleeves.  Other sources say that it should be a smock underneath an a-line skirt with a jacket-style bodice, preferably of a contrasting color to the skirt.  I suppose all of this was correct at some period in time - I get the impression that the leine was a more medieval garment.  Based on some of the general (and very incomplete) information I've gathered about fashion in that period, I feel like I'm well within the bounds of decency to make myself a Tudor-era kirtle.  I'll be using the supportive kirtle pattern from the BRAND NEW Tudor Ladies Wardrobe from Margo's Patterns.  If it ever gets sent out.  Word on the street is that Margo is finishing the final draft of the manual and will be sending it to the proofreader this weekend, in hopes of being able to start shipping next week.  I hope that's how it goes down, because I have some work to get done between now and September 19th if I'm going to have this get-up ready for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

First Project

The first costume project I tackled was a caul, using the Simple Caul pattern from The Sempstress.  It actually turned out pretty well, particularly considering that I had absolutely no idea what to do with my machine to make it do gathering stitches.

I used a scrap of white fabric, most likely retrieved from the remnants bin at the fabric store...I didn't make a mental note of where it came from or what it was since this was just a demo.  I essentially wanted to see if I could do it.  I didn't even use white thread - for which I'm kicking myself now, because it turn out so well and it actually fits beautifully.



I was pretty impressed with myself over these gathers.



The French seam was a little bit hard to understand at first, until I figured out that you have to turn the caul wrong-side out so it doesn't show.



Finished product on my head.

I'm not really sure what I did with this...I think I might have actually ended up cutting the band on the bias because it's quite stretchy and stays put without pins or combs or anything.  Either than or I used stretchy fabric.  Since I didn't pay attention to what I was using, the world may never know the answer to this question.

I'm a crafty bitch...

...but it never occurred to me to blog about it until this weekend.  Seriously.  Which is kind of dumb because I seriously could talk about this stuff all day, but I'm pretty sure no one around me gives a shit.

My grandmother taught me to crochet when I was 10 or 12.  I built upon the things she taught me and ultimately ended up making this:



This is a little dress, jacket, bonnet and booties that I made for my niece's baby dedication back in 2005.  There's also a matching blanket.  I actually had to make a second blanket to put into rotation, because it ended up being my niece's favorite.  I think she was not quite 2 years old when my sister-in-law asked me to make the spare, and I gave it to her when they came down to our house for Easter.  My niece's face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw it.  That was a pretty incredible feeling.

I also really like to do needlepoint, but with those I have a tendency not to finish them.  I have at least two unfinished needlepoint projects laying around right now.  One is a Christmas sampler.  I might get back to that eventually.  The other is the birth announcement needlepoint I was making for when my niece was born.  In August of 2005.  Soooooo yeah, that one's probably not going to get done.  It seems a little silly at this point.  I'm sure there are others, but it's been long enough that I don't actually remember them anymore.

Not too long ago I decided to add sewing to my skillset, to make the trifecta of crafting awesomeness.  I had been wanting to make myself, my husband and our friends some new garb to wear to the Renaissance Faire for a long time, but I didn't have a machine let alone know how to use it.  Then one day this past spring my friend Elyssa announced that she was selling her sewing machine because she'd gotten a fancy new one for Christmas.  A price was negotiated and delivery date set, and I was the proud owner of a slightly old but well-cared for sewing machine.

My husband taught me how to use it, because evidently the Milwaukee Public School System rocked back in the day.  They actually had Home Ec, and that's where my husband learned to sew.  I'm like, "The fuck, dude."  But he made me little sheets of paper with different shapes on them so I could practice using the machine before I started working with actual fabric.  He showed me how to wind a bobbin, and thread my machine, and was generally helpful and a very good husband.  I think I will keep him for now.

So once I had that under my belt, I hemmed a pair of dress pants for my husband.  I sing with the Philharmonic Chorus of Madison, and I hemmed my concert dress for that.  At that point, I decided I was ready to leap into the world of historical costuming.

It is my intention to use this space to chronicle my experiences as I learn and gain skill.  I have already completed several projects, which I will share here as time goes on.  I hope you enjoy reading about this stuff as much as I enjoy making it.

I'm a crafty bitch...

...but it never occurred to me to blog about it until this weekend. Seriously. Which is kind of dumb because I seriously could talk about this stuff all day, but I'm pretty sure no one around me gives a shit.

My grandmother taught me to crochet when I was 10 or 12. I built upon the things she taught me and ultimately ended up making this:



This is a little dress, jacket, bonnet and booties that I made for my niece's baby dedication back in 2005. There's also a matching blanket. I actually had to make a second blanket to put into rotation, because it ended up being my niece's favorite. I think she was not quite 2 years old when my sister-in-law asked me to make the spare, and I gave it to her when they came down to our house for Easter. My niece's face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw it. That was a pretty incredible feeling.

I also really like to do needlepoint, but with those I have a tendency not to finish them. I have at least two unfinished needlepoint projects laying around right now. One is a Christmas sampler. I might get back to that eventually. The other is the birth announcement needlepoint I was making for when my niece was born. In August of 2005. Soooooo yeah, that one's probably not going to get done. It seems a little silly at this point. I'm sure there are others, but it's been long enough that I don't actually remember them anymore.

Not too long ago I decided to add sewing to my skillset, to make the trifecta of crafting awesomeness. I had been wanting to make myself, my husband and our friends some new garb to wear to the Renaissance Faire for a long time, but I didn't have a machine let alone know how to use it. Then one day this past spring my friend Elyssa announced that she was selling her sewing machine because she'd gotten a fancy new one for Christmas. A price was negotiated and delivery date set, and I was the proud owner of a slightly old but well-cared for sewing machine.

My husband taught me how to use it, because evidently the Milwaukee Public School System rocked back in the day. They actually had Home Ec, and that's where my husband learned to sew. I'm like, "The fuck, dude." But he made me little sheets of paper with different shapes on them so I could practice using the machine before I started working with actual fabric. He showed me how to wind a bobbin, and thread my machine, and was generally helpful and a very good husband. I think I will keep him for now.

So once I had that under my belt, I hemmed a pair of dress pants for my husband. I sing with the Philharmonic Chorus of Madison, and I hemmed my concert dress for that. At that point, I decided I was ready to leap into the world of historical costuming.

It is my intention to use this space to chronicle my experiences as I learn and gain skill. I have already completed several projects, which I will share here as time goes on. I hope you enjoy reading about this stuff as much as I enjoy making it.