Oh dear. That is a much longer gap than I like to leave in my updates. So what have I been up to in all that time? Mostly I have been crippled by indecision. I have choices, and I am, as usual, over thinking them. 

Firstly, I finished off my working apron. I trimmed the cloth so it's ended up as just knee length, forgetting that most aprons of the day were almost as long as the full length skirt it went over. But it's gotten Suzie's sit of approval, so I think it'll be fine just the way it is.

My serving apron I have decided to embellish with embroidery as my lace making skills aren't yet up to par (to be honest, I still have to start lesson two). But I can't decide on the embroidery. I know I want to do an assissi embroidered border, but I want that border to have personal meaning, and inspiration is so far lacking.



Next, a marble update! I've been continuing with the layers of shellac, and the picture to the left shows a naked marble at top left and, moving clockwise, each marble has an additional layer of shellac. I had originally planned to do 4-5 layers, but at layer three there's already a nice gloss building up, so I think it's time to start applying pigment. My shellac, due to the dye in the methylated spirits I've used, has a reddish tone, so I'm concerned my white marbles won't come out as clean in colour as I'd like, but there's only one way I'm going to find out that for sure!

In addition to SCA and Victorian tea parties, I have a LARP system that won't take care of itself. Big things are afoot for my character this year, not least of which involves her marriage. And as a larp wedding is really just an excuse for a pretty new dress, I've fallen in love with this beauty from the interwebs and have decided to recreate it. I have a burgundy taffeta already in hand that would be quite nice, though I'm concerned about how well that would work given that the original dress appears to be made with velvet. The only velvet in my stash big enough for this project is black, and yes, it's only a larp wedding, but you know, black just doesn't strike me as appropriate. I still retain the right to eat my words in a couple of months time when the taffeta doesn't work of course.





I'm not entirely in the mood to draft this pattern from scratch though, so I've dug out some old Simplicity and Butterick patterns which I can modify heavily to get my desired shape.

My shire held it's first event of the year yesterday, and in classic fashion, I was up until 1am the night before trying to finish off my garb. As in happens, it wasn't finished, but it was wearable, so I got away with it for the day.

 

The handy thing about the unfinished items is that they were mostly invisible. But in the interest of disclosure, here's what has to be done: 

• Straps: These need to be shortened. I was pulling them up constantly during the day, and it was doing my head in. I may need to make them tighter than a "just right" fit, as clothing tends to slide off my shoulders constantly anyway. 
• Hem: The hem of the dress was cut to the correct length and I tried not to point out it's unfinishedness to too many people. Funnily though, the centre crease line from the wool (it also didn't get ironed) made a nice feature. 
• Skirt split: Hidden by the pleating of the skirt is a short split so I can fit into the dress. I cut this with a pinking shears to save it, but it'll need to be finished off properly. The linen lining won't be so forgiving. 
• Lacing: On an aesthetic point on view, I had to use a ribbon on the day, but I'd much prefer a hand made cord. I have a cord on the lucet at the moment, but I'm far from having it long enough yet. 

The fixings aside, this is a very warm and comfy dress. I look forward to wearing it again.


Marbles update! A week has passed and I think the marbles are finally fully dried. I transferred them to a larger sheet and over the course of the week rolled them about a few times to be sure any wet sides were turned up to the air. Not it's time for the next step.

To make a shellac polish,  it's as simple as dissolving shellac flakes in alcohol.

My ingredient for this are shown to the right. A clean jar with a good seal in the lid, shellac flakes (I used blond shellac as it's what I had available) and methylated spirits.

The solution needs to be made up in a 1:4 ratio of shellac to spirits, so I used 10g of shellac and 40g of spirits. Seal the jar well, shake occasionally, and leave to dissolve. This should take about 24 hours. The resulting solution can be thinned out a little with more alcohol if necessary.

I have reached a conclusion. It is that December sucks for crafts. It's not that I've been particularly busy with social calls, or doing other things, I just haven't had the motivation. I guess that was mostly because the next tasks ahead of me I saw as slightly awrkward, so I was putting them off as much as possible. But on the weekend just past, I took myself a liberal dosing of Very Good Company, and with a bunch of like minded people together, I not only made progress, but signigicant progress!

Here Suzie inspects my work and declares it acceptable. If it wasn't she would have stormed off in disgust, but considering she stayed to glare at the camera for another half-dozen pictures, I think I did well!

This work is completely hand sewn to date, and I'm pleased with myself for sticking with that. At the weekend, I finished off the second front bodice piece, then cut out strips of red wool lined with red taffeta and sewed them down to the bodice. The strips were cut on the straight of grain, as even today, cutting on the bias is a fabric-expensive technique. Hand sewing the strips helps the straight fabric strips to follow the curves. The taffeta lining helped the colour of the red wool "pop", and I love how it's come out. I think I might even have enough red wool to include a strip of colour at the hem of the skirt, just to tie in all together.

I had thought that when I completed the red strips (which I've been finishing off while waiting for the pics in this post to load), I'd be able to assemble the bodice and start on the skirt! But I was forgetting the lacing. On my court gown, I used ladder lacing, to create a horizontal lacing. But for the day garb, otherwise known as working class wear, the lacing is spiral, such as seen on the picture on the left. It also means I have to re-dig up my lucet to get that lacing done.

Three more weeks (and a bit) to the next event, so I have that long to get it done. *engage panic mode*

The end of my week was much busier then the begining, meaning things got done, but I didn't get time to load the pictures. And I do prefer to update with pictures.

The first thing worth sharing is the cookix christmas tree I made for the first xmas party of the season I was invited to. I love getting to make this at least once a year, and this years variation was butter cookies with glacé icing, with a dusting of icing sugar. Unfortunately it was a good deal more battered by the time it reached it's destination, but the Leaning Tower of Biscuit was still appreciated.

This impressive structure is made using a set of progressively sized star biscuit cutters that are stuck together with dabs of icing to create the tree effect. I'm not a very technical baker, I prefer to make things that are tasty. But tricksy cookie cutters like these can give even me the chance to make something impressive looking.

I've also managed to impress myself this week by making steady headway on my day garb! I picked up some linen scrim for the interlining and used it on the double, so I could have the added stiffness of the linen without too much added bulk or warmth. I've been sewing the back and both front pieces together seperately to create shell pieces which will then be sewn together. This will also make it easier for me to attach the wool strips to the bodice panels.



The picture above shows the back panel, finished but unpressed, and one of the front side pieces, sewn with backstitch, and still inside out.The one to the right, yes, the one with the really poor contrast going on, are my sleeves in progress. With these, I've sewn the upper and cuff seams and am finishing the side seams with a french seam to keep the edges need and hard wearing. I intend this dress to see a lot of wear, so I want to be sure if lasts.

To make up for an illness earlier in the year, I decided to take this week off from work to catch up on a few things. Mostly this has involved catching up on sleep so far, but today I got re-started on my day garb. 

I say restarted because I'd already gotten my sleeve cut and the sewing on them started. It's slower, but I'd decided to do this day garb outfit completely handsewn, just to set myself the challenge.

The sleeve are cut from a small piece of red wool I had in my stash, and are lined with a red taffeta to enhance the colour. This wool will also form the trim on the bodice of the dress, and I'm hoping I'll just have enough for that purpose.


For the main dress, I have a beautiful, soft, steel grey wool I purchased from a friend in the SCA. The picture on the right shows front and back bodice pieces cutout, with their linen lining. I don't want to make this bodice as stiff as my court gown bodice, but I'm unsure yet how I'll give it a little more body. Another layer of linen perhaps?


The design itself is based on a number of working women portraits from Italy in the late 16th century. In these portraits, the ladder laced front was still popular, though the bodice was squared rather than pointed.