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September 16th: Its been far to long since I've done an update....so here
is my lord in his full gard at the MDRF.
July 13th: I ordered thigh highs from Sock Dreams for my Lord's garb. They fit great and go all the way up his legs, but he doesn't have the discomfort of having to were
actual tights.
July 4, 2005: Happy Independance Day. Instead of going
to watch the fire works, I put the kids to bed early (including James the Elder) and did a lot of garb work. I redid
the pains on James's slopes. They were too long and floppy so I cut them and resewed them. This accomplished two
things: they are not as floppy and they hold the cuffs of the legs up around his thigh better. One problem was
that after I adjusted the rear pains, they pulled too tight when he sat down. So, I had to cut them again and add a
patch. They still look good. The pants are DONE. Well kinds of...they need more pearls on the pains but
this will wait until my dress is done.
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July 1, 2005: I spent a little time putting together a feather
pin for James the Elder's Tudor Flat Cap. I used two goose quills, 3 pheasant feathers that I purchased online from
Lamplighter Feathers, a small blue feather with a pheasant tip. I hot glued the feathers to a pin and then glued a large, flat malicite
bead on top of the feather s. I glued little silver feathers on either side of the bead to finish the pin. It
looks great on the hat. I'll post photos when to whole thing is done.
June 14, 2005: I have completed the cape and it turned out pretty well I must
say. I also made a tudor flat cap. It was very quick and easy to make. I'll post photos soon. I'm
nearing the finish line on this project. Woohoo!!!
June 9, 2005: I made great progress on the cape last night. I finally
made time to get to the fabric store and pick up the lining for the cape along with some trim for decorating the back.
The lining is a navy blue heavy weight crepe. I cut the lining to the cape and sewed the edged like a pillow, inverted
the cape, ironed the seams flat, and voila a cape with a green back and a blue lining. I also completed the collar of
the cape. This was done using the same technique I used on the apuletes. The most important thing, the collar
ends match up to the edge of the cape. I still need to sew on two large chevrons on the back, attached the collar, and
attached the roping that will tie it together. After that....on to the flat cap, which I did purchase a little more
green fabric for.
June 2, 2005: Well, I started on the sword cape and realized I don't
have nearly enough fabric to make a real sword cape....so to contain costs, I've decided to use the fabric I have and make
a sword capelette. The length of the fabric is good the problem is that it is not wide enough to make a wrap around
cape. When I drap the cut fabric over my Lord's back, it looks fine...besides on this costume it is more decorative
than funcational.
I also ordered more trim from Calontir so I can trim the back of the cape and I still think I need to re-do
the panes on the pants and more trim will enable me to add more panes.
June 1, 2005: Oh my it has been almost a month since the last update.
Not too much new to report though. My racing season has started so my evenings are consumed with training and a race
pretty much puts me out of sewing commission for the weekend. I have however started on the cape for Jim's costume.
May 8, 2005: The pant are nearly completed. The fly flap went
together very easily and looks great and is very functional, too. I've decided that there are not enough pearls on the
panes and the panes floop around too much so I'm going to sew on more pearls and at the same time attach the panes to the
pants to keep them in place more. I'll let you know how well it works. Also, my husband is having trouble keeping
the legs pulled up around his thighs. So I'm going to add a strap on the inside of the pants that basically will act
as an internal suspendor from the waste to the leg band that will keep the pants pulled up. Enjoy the progress photos
below.
May 8, 2005: I've finished the jerkin and it is a great fit.
I won't post a pic of Jim in it until I have the whole costume completed but enjoy this on the hanger photo. I'm so
pleased with how it turned out but I did have to be creative as I deviated from the Simplicity pattern.
May 4, 2005: Well I am sticking close to home for the rest of the summer
but Triathlon season starts in three weeks so I'll be a little slower with sewing because of it. Am I ready for
it, no...but I never am in as good of shape as I'd like to be. I see the light at the end of the tunnel on Jim's costume
but I still have a lot of detail work to complete. It is taking forever to sew on all of the clasps but it looks awesome!
Here's the list of what is remaing to complete: finish sewing on clasps, sewn & decorate "cod piece" (really
just a fabric fly flap), sew on ties for the legs, sew on side ties to sinch the waste band tighter, make a cape, make a tall
hat.
April 21, 2005: I have a good excuse for not posting for a week.
I was in Mexico exploring the Mayan ruins along the Costa Maya. But, I did manage to get some work done this week. When I got back, my cording tips that I ordered from Denver
Fabrics and the clasps from House of Anoria were waiting for me. I spent Monday evening putting the cording tips on
all of the ribbon ties, 32 in all. Last night I sewed the metal lacing loops on the pants. It looks great.
Check back for photos. I'm heading to Iowa this weekend so I won't get much done until next week.
April 12, 2005: I've completed on sleeve! The sleeves
went together well. I turned the doublet inside out to determine where to attached the ribbon ties on the sleeve opening
and where they should match up on the actual sleeve. I have five ties that are about 2 inches apart along the armhole.
The ribbon ties were sewn into the seam that connects the doublet and apulet. The ties locations were matched
up to the sleever and they were sewn between the outer fabric and the lining. The tricky part was making sure the tie
spots matched up. I also made a patch that I sewed at the base of the arm opening - the underarm spot. This covered
up the underarm seam and should reinforce the fabric in an area that will get rubbed a lot. I tried on the doublet with
the sleeve attached and it looks great (although a little big on me). There is good range of motion in the arm and the
construction seems sound. I'm very pleased and I would recommend if anyone uses the partern to do this technique of
not attaching the sleeves. I'll post photos soon. I still have the other sleeve to finish.
| Partially Completed Sleeve |
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| Completed Doublet |
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| Ribbon Covering Collar Seam |
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| Patch Covering Trim at Collar Opening |
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| Front of Collar Showing Stitches of the Patchwork |
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May 10, 2005: Wow, I made some serious progress this weekend!
I have all of the jacket pieces sewn together, so now I have a completed doublet. Everything went together well and
it fits correctly! The only problem was that the collar is a little big: both too tall and too round in the neck.
However, when my husband tried it on with his shirt, it looked great to have a larger neck opening and the collar flops open
really well to expose the blackwork on the shirt that I spent so much time on.
On the side and shoulder seams, I had enough fabric to be able to do a double folded seam so the fabric
edging would not be sticking out since I don't own a serger. I reinforced all of the stitches as well. As
for the collar, I did not have enough fabric to do a double fold so I had to deal with the problem of the frayed edges at
the seam. I fixed this by sewing a strip of gross grain ribbon along the seam to cover it. It worked great and looks
good. The next problem to deal with was where the edges of the twist trim met up at the opening of the collar.
To cover this unsightly seam and to prevent fraying, I created two little square patches and sewed them over the seam
and the trim. Again it worked great and looks good. (See photos).
After completing the doublet, I moved onto the most altered part of the pattern, the sleeves. The
sleeves will be tie on sleeves. I got the fabric cut measured the width to Jim's arms, cut and them sure enough, he
pulled out his shirt and said measure it with this on....the damage was done. I'd cut them to thin. So I had to
sewn on the piece of fabric I had just cut off. Anyho...it worked out fine. I sewed on a ribbon trim to the cuff
that matches the panes and chevrons of the costume. I sewed on pearls, this time under the lining (learned that lesson).
Then I sewed a twist trim to the bottom of the cuff and proceded to sew the seams up the lenght of the sleeve. I inserted
six inch pieces of ribbon at the forearm, the tricep, and the top of the sleeve on both sides. I back sticthed over
each piece of ribbon in the seam for reimforcement. Everything went together well. Next I have to figure out where
to put the ribbons at the top to match up with ribbons that will be sewn under the apulets.
Things are going together well. I can wait to get the jacket clasps which are on order.
May 7, 2005: As you can see from the pics below, I've made good progress
on Jim's jacket. I have completed the pieces for the apulets, peplum, front, back, and collar. Now all I have
to do is sew it all together.
As for the apulets - I cut four pieces from the pattern (double sided) and stitched them together with the
twist trim inserted into the seam as well as ribbon loops that were made from 3 inch cuts of blue gross grain ribbon.
The Peplum - I followed the same method described above with one change. I did not have enough twist
trim to line the peplum. Instead, I sewed burgundy guimp braid to the top of the peplum pieces.
The jacket front - I started sewing little pearls onto the front...after I got halfway done, I realized I
had sewn throught the linin as well so the threads were exposed on the inside of the jacket. I decided this looked kind
of tacky so I started over and sewed the pearls in front of the lining. It's not a project if you don't have to do something
twice. Again, the pic does not do it justice but it looks great and the ribbon has a "slashed" effect.
I sewed the peplum to the front and back pieces. It went together really easily. I did put some
Elmer's Glue at the bottom edges of the twist trim to help prevent any fraying of the trim beyond the seam. I have been
really please with the jacket pattern and I have not made significant alterations, but one could on the apulets and peplum
if you want to make them fancier. My biggest alteration will come with the sleeve construction and attatchment; my project
piece for this weekend.
April 3, 2005: I've made serious headway on the jacket. The pattern for
the jacket is pretty good and I have not made many alterations. The hardest part about the jacket was sewing the twist
edging along the front pieces of the jacket and getting lining sewn to the edge of the front. I've completed the jacket
front, the collar piece, and the apulets. I will post photos of these individual pieces before I sew them together.
I still have to work on the peplum and the sleeves. The good thing is that after cutting the fabric for the jacket,
I still have enough left over for a cape. Lucky since it is such expensive fabric! I also have not purchased enough
trim for everything that I would like to do with the jacket. So, I'm going to have to alter my trimming since I don't
want to spend any more money on this costume. Of course the jacket will look less trimmed but for a once a year wear,
I'm not going to invest in more trims.
March 30, 2005: I've been very productive on Jim's costume recently.
As you can see from the photos below, I've pretty much got the pants together. I ran out of the burgundy ribbon which
means I was not able to put as many panes and I would have liked on the waist band. Bummer! I'm trying to get
my hands on more of the ribbon so I can go back and add more panes. The pants were very much altered from the pattern.
The waist band on the pattern was just a basic elastic waist. I used a pair of my husband fav pants as a guide and cut
a waist band which is about 3 in tall. I also included a fly opening which will be covered with a cod piece.
I will sew metal lacing loops on to close the fly with ribbon. The pattern called for a double layer in the pants that
is stuff with tulle to give it volume. I only did a single layer and I might sew fluffy cotton under pants to add
volume if time allows. The pants are pretty voluminous without extra stuffing. The pants went together very easily
but pleating the legs into the leg bands was a pain. Thankfully the pants were a perfect fit in the waist and the legs.
I still have to sew on ribbons on the leg bands for cinching them close to the thighs. I'm please with the alterations
I've made to the pattern. The instructions on this site were extremely helpful with the alterations. http://phelan.ou.edu/anya/trunkhosen1.html. The biggest problem with the pants is the lack of panes. Hopefully I can fix that in a few weeks and then I'll
post the done photos.
March 10, 2005: Oye, I haven't posted a description to go along with
the photos I uploaded a few weeks ago. I've started sewing the panes of the slopes. I ran into a snag when I realized
I did not have enough of the burgundy silver ribbon so I had to order 6 more yards from Calontir. I started the process
of sewing two little pearls every 3 inches along the inner seam of the colord ribbon. The effect looks great, but
it is teadious work. The picture below does not do the effect justice but you get the idea. My goal is to
get the pants put together by the end of the this week. Hopeful thinking!
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February 21, 2005: I started on Jim's slopes. I have the front
and back of the slopes cut. I don't really like the pattern so I'm going to do a lot of modification on the construction.
The pattern calls for top and bottom layer of the pants that are stuffed. I'm going to do the pants in one layer so
I only cut fabric for the top layer of the pants (the puffy part). Luckily my husband is a skinny guy too
because I barely had enough fabric for the pants. The grain is very prominant and I didn't think it was
going to be wide enough to get the pattern on, but I succeeded. Next I'm going to cut "panes" out of ribbon and
start working on the panes this week.
December - 2004 - I lost most of the last few entries about the shirt, but it is done. See
the photo gallary for pics of the final product.
November 29, 2004: The shirt is 95% done. It looks great and fits Jim pretty
well. My big mistake was not measuring the shoulders of his dress shirt so it is a little wide in the shoulders but
it still fits him and actually adds more puff to the sleeves. I started to sew the frogs on with black thread but realized
if the collar is unfastened it would look odd. The collar looks so good flopped open. So I decided to sew the
frogs on with white thread using a spiral stitch around each loop of the frog...which is taking much longer than anticipated.
It does however make the frogs look even fancier and I'm really pleased with the effect. I should have completed
photos up in a few days. Then I'm going to start on Jena's dress.
November 23, 2004: I made hay today and got the shirt sewn and the collar with ruffle attached.
I'm really please at how well it all went to together. I used one of my husbands dress shirts as a measurement guide
and that worked great. Over the next few days I'll actually sew on the frogs and get the cuffs and sleeves
attached.
 November 22, 2004: I got the linen cut last night and I'll start sewing the shirt
tonight. I have enough linen left over to make a partlet for Jena. The material is great to
work with but it does wrinkle easily.
November 21, 2004: Hurray...I finally finished the blackwork on the collar. I dug
out the pins and I'm ready to cut the shirt pattern and start sewing tomorrow. I'm realatively pleased with how the
collar turned out.
| Close up |
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| Collar |
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November 18, 2004: Again not to much to report. Still broidering away on the collar. I
am offically halfway done. Hopefully I can post a completed photo by early next week. It is taking longer
than I thought and I certainly won't reach my 10 day completion goal. I'll be lucky to get it done by the end of next
week.
I received the trim samples from Calontir Trim in a timely manner and was impressed with them. I choose the "waves" in burgundy and silver for Jim's costume
and have ordered 11.5 yards. Good thing I liked the inexpensive trim the best. This trim will be sewn
on top of the gross grain ribbon. See the sample photo below. I've also settled on the main trim for my dress
but need to finalize the lesser trims to accent the main. I'm going to wait to purchase the trim until I start on my
dress.
November 11, 2004: So if you are like me, you like to see regular updates and photos. We'll
I'll do an update but I don't have photos worth posting yet, sorry. I have Jim's collar 1/2 done. I was smart
and measured the collar size with seam allowances and spacing for the frogs before I started sewing...a mistake I made on
the cuffs. The frogs will most likely cover the last artichoke on each cuff...what a waste of sewing time. I
started sewing the design from the middle out instead of trying to start from the edge and work in.
I think this will help with the symetry of the design. The collar is looking so much better than the cuffs now
that I'm in the groove with the design. My lofty goal is to get the whole shirt completed in 10 days (wishful guessing)
so I can move on to Jena's dress and actually have more interesting progress to post.
November 9, 2004: Nothing new to report really. I've started the blackwork on Jim's collar.
I hope to at least have the shirt fabric cut by the end of the week. We are going out of town this weekend so I won't
have much progress to post until next week.
November 7, 2004: I went to the fabric store alone today and it proved to be a very successful
trip. I went to the store that had much better prices and I probably saved myself $50+ on what I bought.
I did go back to the expensive store for Jim's fabric. I purchased all of the fabric and trim for Jena's dress
and Jim's costume. I'm not completely done purchasing the trim for Jim, but I'm close. The one crazy twist was
that the fabric colors are opposite of the concept designs but still contain the same fabrics. I also found a great
price ($2) on some ugly gray taffeda that I'll use as the back of the underskirt on my dress. Jena's dress
will be a pretty reddish maroon with blue peplum and accents. I found these great pearl snowflakes that
will make for a nice beaded affect. The forepart material is this beautiful spring green with silver spots at each
diamond point. The picture doesn't do it justice. Jim's main material is an olive (goose turd) green with a nice
shine that will have maroon twist edging with blue gross grain ribbon. I'll put some silver trim on the blue
ribbon.
| Jim's Swatches |
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| Jena's Swatches |
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| Forepart for Jena & I |
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November 6, 2004: Well I went to the fabric store today to buy Jena and Jim's fabric.
I picked out Jim's fabric - olive drab and not maroon - and was all set to get it cut when my dear 2 year old had a major
melt down. Needless to say, we left the store with no material. The upside is the not having Jim's material forces
me to focus on completing his shirt. I have a habit of getting going on one thing then switching to the next on projects
like this. It also kept me from settling on really expensive material for Jena's dress when I didn't find exactly what
I was looking for. I was shopping at a high end fabric store and it reminded me that I should check out Jo Ann's or
a local discount fabric store for Jena's material.
November 5, 2004: I have completed the blackwork on both cuffs and I'm ready to move onto
the collar. It took about four, two hour sittings to get them done. I learned a lot about technique as I went
and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I think from an authenticity standpoint, I should have sewed the design
to be smaller and more compact, but I'm certainly not going for complete authenticity on this project. I folded the
top of the cuff to show what it will look like. The top one was the first cuff and the second one was the second...note
the far right artichoke on the first one compared to the left one on the second....major improvement!
I think I'll take a break from the blackwork tonight and finish my dress design drawing so I can get it
posted. I'm still struggling in my mind on exactly how I'm going to trim/decorate the dress since the options seem to
be infinate. I'm solid on the color combination, just struggling with the idea of the finishing touches. Just when
I think I've settled on something I see a dress sample on line and I change my mind on the whole trim look of the dress.
Well after taking some time, I decided to go with the less can be more mentality with my dress. I'm
not going to add apulets or a peplum. I'm going to simply line the bottom of the bodice and straps with pearls
and attach the sleaves with ribbons.
I've ordered about nine trim samples for all of the costumes. After examining the size, color,
etc. I will be able to decide which to order in the next week or so. I plan to head to the fabric store on
Saturday to pick out Jena's fabric.
November 3, 2004: I received the items from MJ Trimmings.
They shipped the stuff out really fast! I highly recommend them. They were a vendor we used a lot at the Shakespeare
Theatre. I'm really pleased with the box pleated ribbon trim. The frogs were much larger than I anticipated but
I can make them work. I'm almost done embroidering the second cuff then I'll move onto the collar. The next step
is to cut and sew the shirt.
October 31, 2004: I've started the blackwork on the second cuff.
I'm pleased with the first one and the second one is easier and looks better now that I have the hang of working with the
material and the pattern. Today, I purchased box pleat gross-grain ribbon from MJ Trimmings along with black frogs. The ribbon will line the cuffs and collar and the frogs will close the cuffs and
collar.
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