Almost...

I'm almost there. I have the pants sewn together and gathered, but not the waist band. That little thing is giving me a big problem!

I've been very busy with school and dealing with this retched winter doldrums, so I just haven't had the motivation to focus on why I can't get my waistband finished....

Pretties For A Queen

I am really not a fan of Queen Mary. I have however become enamored with a few of the dresses in portraits of the Queen.How this relates to costuming:
I am on a major brown kick... IRL my wardrobe consists of mostly browns, pinks,reds, blues, grays, and some blacks. 

These colors have found their way to my fabric stash.  I have been searching for searching all over the internet for for enough brown velvet to make a Mary Tudor overdress.   

For now, I have compromised and purchased enough heavy silk satin twill for the overdress.  I have bought it from Silk Connections and will have to dye it the color I want. 

Period damasks and patterned pieces are hard to find. I love the pattern on the kirtle that Queen Mary is wearing under her dress.  

What do you think I can use to replicate this?  The search is on...

An update

Just a quick update before I turn in:

I have cut out the pieces to the venetian hose and have decided to line and interline them just for kicks. Why not do it by  the book the first timer right?

That's where "by the book" goes out the window.

I have become a huge fan of this website, and follow her on LiveJournal and such. Laura Mellin, along with Kass McGann, have done some interesting work on period hand sewing.  Being such a blasted visual person, I need to read something quite a few times before it makes sense. Laura's article on "The Elizabethan Seam" just made sense. I had gotten Kass's period sewing guides for Christmas, but without the personal tutorial, not all of it made sense.

My downfall for period technique, I suppose is that I have modern sewing experience. It has gotten in the way of my understanding a few of Kass's pattern directions. (She's more than willing to help someone out of a pickle and explain further her directions btw).

This is why I like Margo's manual. I need step-by-step, treat me like a novice sewer- directions. After I make the thing up once, I got it, but I need to be hit over the head with it sometimes.

So... This is the decision I made in regards to Luke's Venetian hose.

I cut the mustard colored outer fabric. cotton interlining and red lining out. I ironed all of the seam allowances under and sandwiched them together so that I can sew all three layers together at once. 

This allows me to show no seams without having to worry about sewing the lining in later. 

I still don't know if I will leave a hole in the lining to slip the pocket in between or just tack it to the lining so it doesn't jangle about.  The directions for the boy's pattern isn't as detailed as the boys and not all the points are marked like it says...

After all 4 sides of the legs are sewn (2 front & 2 back) I will whip stitch them all together and gather to the waistband and such.

 It should be that simple... Now I just have to get it all done by the 9th of March.

Bitten off.....

I have decided that I have bitten off more than I can chew... er .. sew.  I have set the doublet aside as I am totally frustrated with it.  I have cut out the pieces for the smock and the venetian hose.

  I dearly wish I had patterns with better directions!  In typical Jennifer fashion, I have made this project more complicated than it actually needs to be. It's a good thing I am off from work this week and don't have much else to do, except put off cleaning the house and restructuring my literacy centers in my classroom.

Since the pattern I am using says little about closings and what to use, I was playing with making my own cording. I used the instructions from this site: Finger braiding.

Here's some pics:

From left to right: Ven. hose cut in tan moleskin w/ red cotton lining, silk thread finger braiding w/ 4 loops, me diligently sewing while surfing.

All ahead... slow

Boy I wish I didn't have to work!  It really puts a crimp on things!  But then again, it does help me feed my addictions (fabric, clothes,etc).  I am sewing the side and arm seams tonight, then will have the little man try it on.  I forgot to cut out arms, so that will be done tomorrow night. I can't believe how slow this is going!

BTW- I also have to have a pirate costume done by mid March for our school's PARP (Parents As Reading Partners), for which I am on the committee.  I don't know what has gotten into me. I am actually taking risks this year and will dress up!

That is if I don't make a total ass of myself while participating in our charity Donkey basketball game for Leukemia..... What have I gotten myself into!

cutting, cutting and more cutting...

Tonight, after I hand washed most of my new fabric, I started to lay out the doublet fabric for cutting.

This green cotton was bought way back in 2000 when I first started on this journey. Some of it was turned into (what I thought at the time) was a great ren. costume. I used Alteryears's Irish leinne costume and made an Elizabethan pair of bodies to go with it. Many years and a good deal of research later and I'm here blogging to you.

Back to our diary...

Today I washed the red lining fabric and boy howdy did it bleed. Not having a working washer, I chose to save my coins and wash my fabric like they did in ole' Henry's time- by hand.

I washed the red broadcloth, yellow faux silk, 8.5 mm (real) silk Habotai and 5 oz linen canvas. The last two were purchased through Silk Connection and are LOVELY!

Boy I seem to be getting side tracked tonight!

I layed out my green fabric and cut out the pieces with seam allowance. One of the things that I don't like about the TT patterns is that they do not include seam allowances. I don't have any experience with patterns outside of McCalls or Simplicity, so I don't know if this is standard.

TT tells you differing seam allowances for certain pieces. I just hope I have them cut right.  I don't know if I will be interlining... I might use the muslin as the interlining

Next step- cut lining...

Tudor boy's diary- Step 1

Tonight I used my supply of muslin to cut out a doublet slopper to try in my son. This is the first time that I've ever done this, so it's a learn as you go type adventure.
I chose to just cut out the center fronts and back and baste them together for him to try on.
Here's how it went:

• The left arm hole fit tightly, but the right was fine...Both "holes" were cut identical and he is left handed so....... Will I probably have to cut out bigger armscyes for that side?
• Length looks a bit short, but I'm going to add the skirt pieces to the bottom. I may add an inch & a half to the bottom to account for growth. I can't remember if Tudor mens clothes were shorter-waisted than modern day or not...
• I went back and resewed the left armscye- and it fit better.
  

That's all I can manage tonight as I'm battling something my lovely students chose to share germ-wise with me....

The Order of the Iron Hand

This past month I have been more active on the costuming message lists. I am relatively new to period costuming and have many questions. I do have a pretty good traditional sewing background, but feel like I'm on another planet while navigating my way through historic portraits, patterns, lack of patterns and pages of dress diaries on the web. There is so much information out there that it can get very overwhelming, very quickly.

I want to thank the Margo Anderson message board for not only being so very helpful and supportive, but giving me answers to so many questions. Some day I will be able to answer someone else's newbie questions!

Anyway... back to the post title: On Margo's list, we were talking about hand sewing and how much of a B@#$& it can be. It seems that they have started a group for those of us who have struggled their way through hand-sewing a piece of clothing in one month.

Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I said that I would sew:

• a linen Tudor smock
• Tudor doublet
• Tudor Venetian hose

All this hand-sewn in one month. Now this all has to be documented with pictures and such. These will be for my son's first SCA costume. He's all excited (or as excited as a 12 year old boy will openly show) about his outfit and can't wait to see it.

I will certainly keep you all posted here, as this will be the place for my dress/garb diaries.

Wish me luck...

Your's in time...