Blue Cotehardie

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Elen

Guess who can make a cotehardie in ten days or less. That’s right: me!

February 12: Making a toile of the bodice. Haven’t done this in a while, after all.

February 13: Cutting out the fabric. Yes, that would be me marking on the right side of the fabric. Some days you just make stupid mistakes.

February 18: Machine sewing is finished. Trying it on for fit. It’s a little looser than my other dresses because I wanted to be able to layer it over a long-sleeved cote.

February 20: So close to being done with the buttonholes. They’re sewn with black thread because all of the navy embroidery thread I had was too saturated.

February 20: Buttonholes finished. Checking the overlap for button placement.

February 21: All done except for the skirt hem. Which I will sew at 11:30 the night before the event, thus making a mortal enemy of my poor, long-suffering downstairs neighbor.

February 23: At the Tourney! I love this dress; it’s so comfy.

And a better shot of the dress on my. Photo credit: Ledona McGowan

Finished Red Favor

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Elen

I thought I’d finish the favor’s story here.

All the embroidery and pearls done:

At the Tourney (picture credit: Elisava Iliesca):

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And with the rest of the display for scale (picture credit: Ledona McGowan):

Sable Thistle

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Elen

Yesterday was the Tourney of the Smitten Heart, down in San Antonio. The Baron and Baroness played the part of Lord Lust and Lady Love, and they held contests to see which was mightier. I went sans Bebe and husband, and with no real responsibilities, other than to make sure a couple of A&S entries got set up. It was a lot of fun, even if I was twitching for the first hour or so, thinking I was not doing something that I should have been doing.

Then came court. They announced the winners of the contests, and determined which was mightier (it was a tie), and then started handing out the non-tourney-specific awards. And they called my name. Turns out, Their Majesties decided to give me a Sable Thistle in Knitting. As my Baroness put it, if I were to put it on a CV or resume, it would be a regional recognition. Which is pretty fantastic. I admit to being floored; I had no idea it was coming.

(Photo credits: Elisava Iliescue)

(Photo credits: Amata d’Arezzo)

Monogrammed Favor

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Elen

Notebook

Starting a new project for the next A&S tournament that’s coming up. The theme is Love and Lust, and you can enter something for either or both sides. I’m electing to do just the Love side of things, and am embroidering a handkerchief favor that can also double as a cup-cover. I have it in mind to give it to one of the recent Queens who has admired my work in the past.

I started with a gothic blackletter ‘E’ monogram. The inspiration for this was the favor that Elaine gave to Lancelot, that he carried so nobody watching the tournament would know it was him. I think it was another ‘defend Guenevere’s honor’ kind of story. I’ll save my diatribe on the evils of the Lancelot-Guenevere story for another day, though.

This is the design for the rest of the favor, although I ended up rotating the swirls around the E, so it looks a little more balanced. It’s inspired by the capital from this page of the Gesta Hungarorum, written sometime around 1200AD.

Monogram finished.

Above is the monogram nearly complete (it lacks only the finishing lines at the ends of the strokes, so they don’t look so ragged. The red thread is DMC Cotton Floche, bought from my local embroidery shop, The Needle Works.

Below is a pounce kit I made for myself, based on Mary Corbett’s wonderful instructions.

Made myself a pounce kit today.

And, the results of the grey pounce. The top two are the pounce alone, the bottom left is pounced and inked, and the bottom right is the inked line with the pounce brushed away. It was remarkably effective. Now I rather regret buying that exorbitantly overpriced pounce bag on the left of the above picture.

Pounce results: top are both grey pounce, bottom left is pounced and inked, bottom right is after the pounce is brushed off.

New Garb for Poppet!

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Elen

The answer to yesterday’s question is “nothing.” There’s nothing cuter than a baby sleeping. Unless it’s two babies sleeping. Together. In garb.

Poppet outgrew her last garb, the green with pink trim between the last event and this one. Originally, before I started taking hallucinogenic drugs, I thought maybe I could make us all new garb by Candlemas. Yeah, that was the first thing to drop off the to-do list. But Poppet really, really needed some new clothes, so I pulled out some fabric I’ve been saving up and went to town.

The underdress is a simple t-tunic cut all in one piece because I’m lazy and would rather deal with just one seam down the side than have to fiddle with separate sleeves and an under-arm gore on a 2T sized dress. And honestly, Her clothes take up so little fabric any way, that it’s not so much of a waste of fabric. It’s a subtle white and tan and brown stripe, all on the cool side. The fabric is rayon, I think. Maybe polyester. It’s light and breathes well, though, and aside from a pretty subtle sheen, looks like a cotton fabric. The hems and facing are sewn down in a decorative red running stitch.

The outer apron dress is a rough-weave 100% wool that I’ve had in my stash approximately forever. It’s a little (a lot) scratchy for next-to-the-skin wear, but as an outer layer, it’s perfect. Even though it’s a little heavy for Austin (certainly a medium weight), Poppet ran around in it all day with no signs of being too warm. It just goes to show that wool is magical. It’s trimmed at the top with a line of white chain stitch to hide the machine stitching. I don’t usually bother on her clothes (and didn’t along the bottom), but it was really noticeable and jarring at the top.

The straps are some tablet-woven trim I’ve also had forever. I attached it to the back in such a way that when she outgrows the dress, I can reclaim the trim to use on something else. The whole outfit is still just a little big, but I’m hoping that means I’ll get four or five events out of it. As it gets hotter, I’ll leave off the apron dress and just let her run around in the belted tunic instead.

Wordless Wednesday: What’s cuter than a sleeping baby?

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Elen

Completed Scroll(s)

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Elen

The finished Bardic Champion scroll, complete with detail shots. Bardic Champion Award 2013

And since there are several amazing people in our Barony, who were very kind and arranged to bring the Archery scroll I illuminated, I have pictures of that, too.

In which, the unexpected happens.

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Elen

So, Candlemas happened. Those pretty patterned socks I was knitting? I entered them in our local Baronial Arts and Sciences Champion on Saturday. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the SCA, it’s similar to a county fair crafts competition. Sort of. There are judges who have a rubric for “grading” your project. Each project was judged by two judges (well, mine was judged by three; one alone and two in tandem) and given a score from 1-50.

I tried not to eavesdrop, but they were there forever! I was trying to get a shot of my display.

Oh, there. That’s better. And below, some of my samples. I thought it would be beneficial to share my swatches and my mistakes, as well as the second stocking in progress.

So, after the judging happens, all the points are tallied, and averaged, and the winner is the one with the most points.

Which, incidentally, was me. Here I am, with my Award scroll (which is beautiful, and I’ll post pictures later), and my gift basket (full of period games), and Poppet is holding my lantern (is was Candlemas, after all). The medallion is my signifier of Championship, and the unbelievably huge grin on my face is the result of utter shock. (Picture by Amata)