Was at an actual-factual SCA event this weekend!!!! ZOMG!!! However, I haven't seen much sun in about a year and a half - a) Pacific Northwest = rain and b) I'm inside on the computer most of the day anyway. So most of my Californian gilding has gone the way of the dinosaurs, and I am Celtic fish-belly white all over.. and it was a beautiful, sunny, almost-warm day. So there I was, sitting, eating my lunch with all that lovely sun full in my face... so warm, so lovely... and I'm incredibly prone to sunburn anyway. D'oh! So I pulled out a kerchief I'd brought along for a just-in-case, pulled a couple of pins out of my sewing basket, and pinned it on my coifed head as neatly as I could (while not being able to see it). I felt pretty goofy, and indeed *I* look pretty goofy in this picture, but the veil actually looks pretty decent. Pretty good for instant period sunblock, eh?
The outfit I have on is my blue linen kirtle under the russet wool kirtle - a much less fuzzy pic than the previous one. Actually, it's the same outfit as that pic, all except the smock, which is the one I made for the Elizabethan outfit. I really like how it works under these kirtles, so I think I may make more to thise design in the future... I thought it was kinda funny that I brought 'working' clothes, since I ended up spending almost all day working in the kitchen. The veil incident took place during the hour and a half I had after lunch and before starting dinner - this pic was actually taken right before I went back to work, and the veil and coif were both off in the next 5 minutes.
I did get the loose gown wearably complete, but I did not, alas, manage to get any pictures. Soon, I promise, soon! It was nice and toasty-warm at night when it got chilly... and made a nice extra layer on top of my sleeping bag!

3 steps forward, one step back... /sigh. Finished the collar, attached it to the fronts, the whipstich technique is gorgeous. Got the back pleated, sewed it on the collar/fronts... hate the way it hangs, gonna take it off and put a yoke on tomorrow, so the catridge pleats will hang better. I get the feeling I'm not going to get the fur on before this weekend... especially since I haven't even started on the sleeves! and I have to wear it in... less than 48 hours! Gonna have to finish mostly by machine, I think. And, of course, sometime this afternoon I decided that I needed to make a new pair of sleeves... pulled out a piece of red brocade with white diagonal checks, it'll be lovely... but I'll make myself wait and work on those over the weekend I guess. Handwork ftw!

Well, I got my arm twisted into going to the barony event this weekend... trouble is, it's still pretty cool weatehr overall, and all my warm woolies have disappeared into the mists of interstate moving. So I'm takign some inspiration from the lovely ladies of MedCos and making an Elizabethan surcoat - call it ropa or loose gown, it's a loose, warm garment so's I don't freeze! It's also an addition to the Elizabethan outfit I'm slowly working on... a little out of order for skin out, but hey, I need it.
The lovely lady to the left shows the sort of garment I'm making, although my sleeves will be shorter, more in the English or German mode. I will, however, be using fur!! A group of friends got me a whole passle of bunny furs a few years ago, and I'm going to break into them to line at least a portion of this gown. I'm planning to line the collar and I hope a portion of the opening at this point, hoping to further line later. I'd also like to have a little fur showing at the edges of my sleeves, but I think I'll have to forgo that at this point due to time constraints.
I hope to post some pics soon of how the construction goes, as I use cartridge pleats for the first time, as well as the period technique of joining finished rather than raw edges at the seams - well, some of them.
Meanwhile, my fingers hurt, my back hurts, and my brain hurts from sewing all day!

Me and my terrible posture, and not really a new dress, but getting it documented... this is an Italian I made a few years ago out of gorgeous cotton jaquard... absolutely lucious! I wore it to my barony meeting tonight and got compliments up, own, and sideways.

Took a slight break from my 'lizzie project to remake an old wool T-tunic that never worked right: I moved the gores from the sides to front/back and recut the body and sleevesto make it in the style of the working overkirtle from Medieval Tailor's Assistant... and now it looks good and I love it! I need to do something with the neckline still, and the unevenness of the hem may eventually bother me enough to just redo it entirely someday... but it still looks good to me! The pic's a little out of focus, but you can see everything important.

I also did take a tiny step forward on the 'lizzie project today (while taking the kirtle for a test run) and hemmed the smock. Yay, a piece DONE!!!! Even if it's the least important part (the hem, I mean), it still feels good to have a piece of that done, since I can't move forward until I finish the corset... le sigh. But yay! Something done!

Well, here's a first post in my new blog... I expect to use this space for dress diaries, documenting trials and tribulations on the way to constructing nifty garb. For a first example, I have a picture of my current corset project, which is part of underpinnings for an Elizabethan outfit which will eventually consist outwardly of a kirtle under a doublet, over corset, shift, etc. I'm really looking forward to knitting stockings to go with it all, but that's a way off, as this project is currently being made from my stash, which is limited at the moment, and doesn't include enough sock-weight yarn for a proper pair of stockings... le sigh. Oh well, I have plenty of projects to keep me busy until then.

Meanwhile, here's me in my underwear!