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.

This morning was spent mostly in essential organisational tasks.. meaning I was tidying. However, this did result in finding the red velvet and orange-gold taffeta that I had long ago put aside for a Tudor gown but is now being repurposed for a Victorian gown.
 

Alas, while I was trying to dig out the orange taffeta, I fell across another purchase from some time ago. A grey pinstripe with rows of roses that screams "victoriana" to me. So now I have a dilemma.




Thanks to my friends (no really, thanks), I now now I'm making two costumes. I figure that will be one for day wear and one for evening and social occasions. But I can't decide which fabric to use for which!



I'll be using Truly Victorian's Tail Bodice pattern to stick with my plan of making an 1880's costume, and seeing as I already have the pattern I'll be using the pattern for both looks. An fully closed front for the day wear and the open neck for the evening wear.

And finally, because I've had a few pieces of broiderie anglaise sitting in my stash for quite some time, I thought I should use to them to make some rather pretty unmentionables. 

Today I had the delight to attend an Victorian styled afternoon tea. There was tea, of course, cakes and scones with jam and cream. It was quite delightful. Some, like myself, just made small effort with costumes for the day, but others, like the hostess, turned out spectacular gowns for the day. It made me wish all the more for a Victorian gown of my own.

It's something I've always wanted but haven't made time to make so far. For a social occasion some time ago, I made myself up an 1880's corset from Waisted Efforts to get started, but well, I guess I got distracted.

But a start is still a start! I've put on quite a bit of weight since I made this corset, but it can be my weight-loss goal to fit back into it. With very structured styles such as Victorian gowns, it is essential to have the correct foundation garments or the rest of the gown will not look right, no matter how well made it is.

I have a good measure of cotton, lilac coloured, which I'm going to dedicate to making the rest of the foundation garments for my Victorian costume. Granted, period under things were white, but that's what I get for pre-washing my white cotton with some purple cotton by mistake. But with a burgundy silk corset with lilac silk flossing details, I think I was headed for a non-period look anyway. If I do this right, I'll be able to get away with using it for Steampunk too.

The problem, if there is one, of having a late period persona is that I can't get away without knowing some of the finer embellishment techniques. To that end, this week I've begun teaching myself the art of bobbin lacemaking.

 

To be honest, this is not the first attempt I've made. The first time I tried it, a couple of months ago, I just couldn't get the technique to click. I'm starting again with instructions from a new website, with a different way of explaining the steps. That's not to say there was anything wrong with the first site I was working from, but sometimes you need a set of instructions to click with you before you can understand them, so it was very worth my while in this case to look around.

This time around, even though I made plenty of mistakes at the start of the project, I found my hands making the correct movements towards the end of the first project piece, which pleased me no end. The hope is that I'll now be able to graduate up to something suitable for my camica trim and finally finish that piece of my garb before the end of this year!

I am a crafter. I am also a hoarder.This would be fine if I was organised and had everything in its place. But I don't. Boy, I don't. One of my worst habits is keeping small pieces of fabric that realistically can't be used for anything, but I hold on to them, "just in case". Well this year, this will end! I hope...

The first step is to pick a project that can use up your scraps. I took my inspiration from this tutorial from the Fading Charms Quilt. So messy pile of scraps? Or organised project in process?

 

First, I ironed my fabric scraps. I decided to use a 2-1/2" template for my squares so I could get a nice bit of pattern into them. The templace I made from a cereal box (the only reason to buy cereal really, is for the template material), and I had a pinking shears to cut the fabric as I wanted to prevent the edges of the squares fraying. Who only knows how long it'll be before I decided I have enough colour variation to start sewing. 

Use the template to centre the pattern if you like, and cut out the pieces with the pinking shears, making sure to give a seam allowance outside the template. 

And voila! Instead of an untidy pile, I have pre-cut squares all neatly stacked in a box, which can be put away neatly. The left over pieces from this cutting I can now be sure will not be useful and can be binned without further thought. Sure, it's a long stash-busting step, but it's a step in the right direction.

I have attempted brewing!

At a just passed one day event, a friend brought along a traditional Finnish drink she'd made called Sima. She'd followed the traditional recipe, which is lemon based, and though I'm not massively fond of lemons, I found the Sima delightful. I had quite a few oranges to hand, and given that Nessa was kind enough to share the recipe, I decided I'd give it a try.


I can already think of variations I'd like to try with this, but for the first try I followed the recipe exactly (apart from using oranges instead of lemons that is). It's quite a simple recipe, giving a refreshing, lightly bubbling drink that is only slightly alcoholic, maybe 1%. I left my solution in the pot for a full 48 hours then poured the filtered solution into clean bottles.



24 hours later and just one of the bottles so far has presented all of it's raisins at the surface, so it was all the excuse I needed to pop it open and try it. It's not bad. It lacks something that the lemon version had, and I'm not sure if that's the fruit or my inexperience. But it's still very drinkable.




And the most important part was this has completed my first foray into yeast use. The next time won't be half so scary.

And on a minor update with the marbles, the shellac solution is complete.

On the left is the solution just after mixing and on the right is 24 hours later. Though I left it the full time needed, an hour in most of the shellac had dissolved, and two hours later even the more stubborn pieces were giving in. I'm using a brush to apply this solution at the moment, hoping to build up several layers before applying a pigment layer.

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.