An Outfit for a New Pelican: kirtle and ropa

I have been working on a secret project, and I have wanted to share it with you all, but I wanted to wait until the event had taken place before posting anything online.
A friend of mine in the SCA was offered admittance to the Order of the Pelican (this is a Peerage within the Society for service).  She asked if I would be willing to make her a kirtle and ropa for her elevation ceremony.  I was thrilled to be asked! I am so proud of her for all her hard work and all that she has done to help everyone in our local group.  She provided me with almost all the fabric and trim and told me what she wanted.
For the kirtle, she wanted it done in her personal colors: blue, silver and black.  The kirtle is made of white linen, banded with silver/grey brocade and trimmed with blue and black trim and silver trim.

For the Ropa, my friend provided me with a patch of the 'pelican in her piety' she wanted used on the back of the ropa, but she allowed me to embellish it as I liked. I decided that the Pelican should pop out a bit more and that the edge of the patch should blend with the actual dress. To do this, I stitched 5 rows of gold metal thread around the patch and then added pearls and beads for detail.

Once the back piece was complete, I worked on completing the full ropa.  My friend provided a gold brocade table cloth, burgundy velvet, and two types of gold upholstery trim.  I think I used about 20 yards of trim on the Ropa by itself!  A word of caution to the users of upholstery trim, while most is fine, the wide trim with the very nice interlacing on the top is evil (at least this lot was)!  The interlacing is made by covering ocean weight fishing line with thread.  This fishing line bent a part of my Serger and would explode needles anytime I hit the fishing line.  I broke ~10 needles doing this Ropa and resorted to wearing safety glasses when sewing as I was scared I would get a needle fragment to the eye! Anyway, on to pictures!.

 I am happy to say that my friend liked her outfit and I am honored she let me make this for her!

Here are a few pictures from the event, these pictures are not mine, but were shared on the SCA facebook page.  If these are your pictures and you would like them removed, please let me know and I will remove them!  Oh and the chick in the pink and purple dress is me, I got to wear my new apron!

HSM March 2016: Protection

The HSM challenge for this month was protection, either something to protect yourself or your clothes.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to make an apron to wear with my 16th Century Kampfrau outfits.

My inspiration for the apron is the Seamstress by Edward Schoen, dated 1535.  Her apron looks smocked so I decided to smock my apron as well.  Smocking on aprons does not seem to have been very common.  Looking at historical images, there are many plain white aprons, some colored aprons and a bunch that are embroidered, but only a few that are smocked. For historical references I recommend http://www.larsdatter.com/aprons.htm
This is a wonderful source for all kinds of clothing and accessories.

First, I hemmed the 3 edges that would not be smocked.  Then I did the smocking.

I have previously smocked things, but I have never done honeycomb smocking.  A look at my inspiration image suggested this is honeycomb smocking, so I decided to try it.  This is a really easy method of smocking, you basically mark your points (mine is a 1cm grid) and then stitch 2 dots together, alternating by rows to create the pattern.  For example, on the top row, I connected dots 1&2, 3&4 ect.  On the second row I connected dots 2&3 and 4&5 ext.  You stitch 2 rows at a time, so I did row 1 dots 1&2 then dove down to row 2 dots 2&3, then back up to row 1 dots 3&4 and so on.  I did not use a tutorial, but there are many available online if this description is confusing.

EDIT:  I could not remember where I read that 1cm marks made great smocking for garb, but I have now found it.  Many very cool tutorials and information are available on this page Katafalk, and the discussion on smocking is under her Hemd tutorial. 

Here is a close up of the smocking.

Once the smocking was done, I hand stitched the top of the apron to the fabric that would form the tie.  I then folded the tie fabric in half and stitched the tie together, hiding the raw edges as I went.  In the photo below you can see the tie at the top of the smocking.

Finally, here is a picture of the full apron!  I think it will be a great addition to my kit and provide me a nice apron for keeping my dresses clean.

The Challenge:Protection
Material:Linen
Pattern: None, this is really just 2 scraps of linen.  The body of the apron is a rectangle twice as wide as I wanted the final apron to be and as long as was available.  The smocking decreases the width by about half.  The ties are a long strip of linen folded in half with the edges tucked while sewing.
Year: 1535
Notions: yellow silk thread for smocking and white poly-cotton thread for the rest of the sewing.
How historically accurate is it? 80% or so.  While this apron is based off of a woodcut of the time period, I do not know what it would have been made out of, linen is an educated guess.  I am also unsure what the smocking would have been stitched with, silk is known in the period but may not have been available to a woman of this class.  Also, the color yellow was chosen because I had yellow silk laying around, I have no evidence that yellow would have been used for this application.  Finally, the white thread used for the construction was poly-cotton because I had it on hand, obviously this is not an historically accurate thread for the 16th century.
Hours to complete: Around 10, this was my first time doing this type of smocking and I was a bit slow at it.
First worn: not yet, hopefully I will wear it April 9th
Total cost: None, every thing was out of my stash of scraps.

HSM 2016: January Procrastination Challenge

I am going to try the Historical Sew Monthly challenges again, I found they really helped me complete items I might otherwise never get done.  The first challenge was Procrastination and I figured what better to work on than the embroidered pouch for my husband.  In looking back through my blog, I realized that this project was started in 2014 and here we are 2016 and it was not done. 

To start with, I took the embroidery and cut it out into a circle. I stitched the circle down by hand to a rectangle of black linen and then embroidered over the edge of the circle with blanket stitch with the blue silk.  I also added a line of running stitch in red silk and a line of chain stitch in green silk to help the circle edge stay flat.   The lining is the same black linen, with a pocket added to fit important things that you dont want just shoved into a pouch (likely this will hold my husband's cell phone to keep it separate from the keys and wallet).

To finish this pouch, I sewed up the sides, leaving space for drawstring channels, and added the lining by hand.  I then stitched drawstring channels by hand.  Once the pouch was completed, I added some surface stitched thread for decoration and for a protective edge.  The thread should reduce the wear to the sides of the pouch and can easily be replaced if needed.  I carried this decorative edge over the top of the pouch as well.

While this edge almost looks braided it is not.  I took 2 loops of thread, one blue and one green, and brought them out from inside the pouch (this hides the knots on the inside).  I pulled the green loop through the center of the blue loop and then stitched the blue loop down without catching the green loop.  Now reverse this, pull the blue loop through the center of the green loop and stitch the green loop down.  When this is done along the entire edge it looks like braid. 

I then did some simple 3-ply braids for the drawstrings and my husband braided a 5 loop finger loop braid for the hanger all out of the silk thread.  The finger loop braid was stitched to the top of the pouch to provide a method to hang the pouch from a belt, that is not the drawstrings to make sure you have easy access to the stuff inside. Here is a picture of the red, green and blue finger loop braid.

The final touch was some silk tassels made for the bottom of the pouch.  Here is the finished pouch and the details.

The Challenge: Procrastination, January 2016
Material: black linen, white linen, silk floss
Pattern:  none, it is a simple rectangle for the pouch and the embroidered image was based on something I had saved on my computer and altered to my taste for the embroidery.
Year:10th-12th century
Notions: needles and black sewing thread (old spool with unknown content)
How historically accurate is it? The look is good and the linen and silk are correct materials.  However the embroidery pattern is more based on the time period that any true reproduction and the elements of the pouch are gathered from several sources so it is unclear if they would have been used together.  I am going to say 80% or so.
Hours to complete:  The base embroidery took 29 hours.  To do the rest of the work was another 10, so a total of 39 hours.  However the base embroidery was done in 2014, so the total in the past month was only 10 hours.
First worn: Not yet, but it has been given to my husband as a gift
Total cost: All stash, so no current cost.

2015 in review

I find it is very helpful to review my creative year at the end.  This is mostly because I always feel that I got very little done as I seem to focus on the costumes that did not get completed rather than remembering the times I finished things.  So here is my year in review.

Historical Items
1883 corset for HSM foundations challenge
I really like the way this corset came out, it is very comfortable and easy to wear.  The fit has improved since this set of images as the corset has broken in. I later added flossing to each of the ends of each of the boning channels and I really like the contrast the flossing creates.

Regency bonnet or hat made for the HSM stash-busting challenge
I still have not had a chance to wear this hat so I have no idea if I will like it.  However, it was fun to make something completely from my stash.

A set of simple Victorian Skirts for HSM practicality challenge
I love that these skirts are based off of an original set and I love the way they look.  However, I am still kicking myself for misunderstanding the size for the back panel on the over skirt.  The over skirt is just too narrow for any form of a bustle or bumpad at all and of course I did not buy extra fabric which would allow me to fix this issue. I can still wear them for steampunk, where the silhouette is less important but I really wanted them for Victorian. I did learn a lot and am hoping to remake these skirts in the future for Victorian wear now that I have a good finished pattern.

Regency Diadem for HSM Accessorize challenge
I really enjoyed this project and the tutorial by Mistress of Disguise was wonderful. Surprisingly, making the diadem was relatively easy.  I finally got to wear my new Diadem for a Jane Austen birthday celebration in December and got many compliments.  A goal for 2016 is to finish the rest of the outfit this Diadem was actually made to go with.

Victorian Mourning Dress (final images here and making of here, here and here)
This was my big project for the year, at least in terms of sewing.  This dress took so much work and there was so much hand sewing that went into both the construction and the trim addition, but I am so happy with how it came out.  This dress was a joy to wear.  I would still like to finish the butterfly train and a hat to wear with this in 2016.

Embroidery for an SCA sash
This is more historically inspired rather than historical, the embroidery is done in silk and with historical stitches and techniques but the motifs are modern.  This project was my most time consuming of the year, I am just not very fast when it comes to embroidery but I am happy with the result.

Regency circular reticule for HSM Re-do challenge
Similar to the diadem, this project was inspired and based off of a tutorial by another great costumer.  The Couture Courtesan did the research and made a circular reticule that was so lovely, I was inspired to make my own.  I have not yet had a chance to use this reticule, but it was fun handsewing project to keep with me.  I really need to keep a project like this with me at all times as I think I would get many more things done if I keep something with me for the down times in the day.

Fantasy Items
Dr. Who inspired Victorian vest
Making my own buttons with resin and getting to make a silly vest from a historical inspired pattern was a lot of fun. This vest was a birthday present for my husband who loves both this vest pattern and Dr. Who.

Day of the dead inspired fan
This was a great quick project that took only 2.5 hours.  I cant wait to apply this technique to making historical inspired fans.

Lock, Shock and Barrel from Nightmare Before Christmas (final pictures, planning and sewing, making of the hat and masks)
While the sewing for this was really straight forward, the accessories had a really steep learning curve.  Both the hat and the masks had many new techniques for me.  The fosshape for the hat was completely new to me and there is obviously still much I need to learn about using this material for hats.  The building of a base mask and forming the Worbla thermoplastic over it was also completely new to me, but went fairly well. In both cases there are things I think I could do better and I will at least redo the hat in the near future.

Steampunk Items
A teacup holster and a tutorial
I made a teacup holster for tea dueling for my husband and made a quick tutorial of how to make this style of teacup holster as well.  This was a fun project and fairly quick.  As I am still fairly new to leather work, I was really proud of how this project went. This was also my most accessed post for 2015.

 
Steampunk vented top hat
This hat was inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and was intended to make a top hat less hot for wearing in the desert of the Southwest.  The addition of the vents did make the hat cooler to wear and were not too difficult to add.  It was also a good excuse to use up some EL wire and make a unique top hat.  Overall, I am happy with this hat and so it my husband.

Creation of a diagonal seamed corset
I took the pattern for a corset created from the HSM foundations challenge detailed above and made it into a diagonal seamed corset.  Diagonal seamed corsets are historical and I did base the placement of the diagonals on historical references, however the color choice and the intended use of the corset is definitely not historical.  I do love the way this looks and may make a historical version in 2016.  This new corset was part of the revamp for the Steampunk Cheshire Cat which also included a new tail attachment.

Also part of the Alice in Wonderland revamp in 2015 was a new turban/hat for the Caterpillar.  This was a fairly easy project and by using a baseball cap as the base it actually stays put even with the huge antennae.

Here are to complete costumes together at Wild Wild West Con.

A light-up flower crown and leather plague doctor mask inspired by Dia de los Muertos
The flower crown was my first experience with worbla and was great fun both to make and to wear.  The leather masks were from a difficult pattern and took a number of tries to get right but was a great project to do with my husband.  I am so happy with how these pieces came out.

Final thoughts
I wish I had finished more historical costumes and I wish I would have been able to better keep up with the HSM challenges.  I do intend to try again this next year as I find the HSM to be very helpful in motivating me to finish projects.  I hope to do many new things in the next year and I hope everyone has a wonderful 2016 and finishes many projects.

HSM 2015 Challenge #12 Re-do

So the piece I decided to create could be for several challenges, it is blue (Challenge #2), it is from my stash (Challenge #3), it is English Regency time period (so appropriate for War and Peace, Challenge #4) and it is an accessory (Challenge #7).  Mostly I made this piece because I really wanted to complete the blue challenge as it is my favorite color and I am still working on the actual piece I proposed to finish.  It was important to me to finish a blue piece within this year and I had a piece of blue silk in my stash.  I really needed this piece to be entirely from my stash for cost reasons.

I would really like to thank the Couture Courtesan as she was the inspiration for this piece.  She posted her version and links to originals in January and I have been wanting to make one ever since.  I just loved her version so much.  Here is my version of the little round reticule.

Originally, I was going to do a more complicated embroidery, but realized I did not have the time.  The embroidery is simple gold metal thread couched down in a spiral pattern and some left over gold spangles from a previous project.  The one thing I am really not sure about is the pearl tassels, I like the way they look but they are pretty modern in design.  I had them laying around in the stash, but may replace them with some hand made silk tassels in the future. 

The Challenge: Re-do
Fabric: change-able silk
Pattern: made up from the post by the Couture Courtesan found here. She discussed her pattern and I adjusted it a little bit due to my materials but I followed her directions.
Year:  Early 19th century
Notions: thread, gold spangles, gold metal thread, pasteboard, pearl tassels, changeable ribbon
How historically accurate is it? Maybe 80-90%?  The whole thing is handsewn, but the ribbon is synthetic and the tassels are not right.  Also the embroidery design was made up by me rather than based on an original.
Hours to complete: 7 hours
First worn: not yet, hopefully in the new year
Total cost:  none, all stashed supplies