Allessia's Ramblings

2007-06-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well, not only did March kick my butt, but so did April and May. I did finish my projects on time. Ok, I was hand sewing in the car on the way there, but I still finished. And we wore the outfits. Ravenswar has declared the red linen doublet, "His Favorite Thing Ever" I have taken the red wool dress apart and am in the process of reworking. I wore it, but it was too long in the waist. WAY too long in the waist. I also got a new dress dummy. A nice squishy one. Which is much longer in the waist than I am, hence the dress problem. But I am still so excited. And I found a male dress dummy, but I have to save up my pennies for it.

And in other projects, I'm working on needlepoint pillows for my Kingdom, and embroidered handkerchiefs for my Queen and more embroidered underwear for me.

And that's more than enough costume projects with work and school.
Plus I am in two weddings between now and October and my sister's getting married next June. So I'm just busy, busy, busy.
I'll try and get some pictures so you can see all this stuff soon, but I'm going to bed now, it's been a long day today.
I'll try to be better about posting, but no promises. Life has just gotten too crazy lately,
Alliessa

2007-04-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

OK, so March kicked my butt big time!! But Gulf Wars was divine, I and my house are still recovering. I have also learned new tricks. I've learned smocking, knitting, tablet weaving, and warping a loom. I taught a period cooking with herbs class. I met a lot of nice new people and hung out a bunch. It was relaxing and the lawyers did not call. YAH!! But I'm being deposed again, (BOOO) so my week long vacation means that I am quickly needing another vacation to relax from the catch up required for being gone for a week. Go figure that one out. And I bought stuff. Lots of stuff. A new helmet to go fight in, a new period basket to carry things in, proper silk and linen thread from the lace making shop that is perfect for embroidery....Oh yes, Laurels are a wonderful thing. Befriend them any time you can, because you never know when one will say, "ohhh I know where to get that" after a good whine session about the lack of proper materials for one's current obsession. YLI silk thread in #30 weight is perfect double stranded for embroidery and comes in every color in the rainbow. New favorite place to spend money- www.lacemakerusa.com Their shop at the war was fantastic. I just didn't tell the husband that I spent nearly $100 on thread. I'm not sure he would approve.

Well, on to new projects!! It can't be a new Month without new projects!!. A and I both need new garb for Coronation which is set in 1509 this year. Since I don't want to do English, it's going to be Italian. I get a new red wool dress with black velvet sleeves and guards and he's getting a new black linen coat with a red linen doublet if I can finish it all in time.
Mine should look something like this:

His should look something like this:

Ok, so his is a little later, bit I want him to wear is more than once and he likes REALLY late period
Well, off to the cutting table, I'm going to have to hustle to finish by April 21, yep that's 3 weeks away and I am back to crazy again. Sorry, I just can't help myself. It's not a real project unless I've cussed at it, bled on it, thrown it across the room, or created an unreasonable deadline for it. That's just the way this works.
Let's see how far I get!
Alliessa

2007-02-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

OK, sorry for the long time between posts, but I've been sick and in depositions at work. That is a very nasty combination, trust me. Silk sewing thread is by a company called Clover and it's made in Japan. I used 2 strands, just like traditional embroidery thread. It worked really well on my mid weight chemise. I chickened out on the light weight chemise becasue I only have 2 tiny spools of it, and I thought the embroidery thread would be easier to get. And technically it is, but I hated working with it so I will be trying new brands AND looking for more silk sewing thread. If you have a source, I'd try it. It also washes beautifully, which the Krelik did not do.
But I have almost completed more camping dresses, and I've bought a ton of linen from www.fabric-store.com I love that place for linen and they have some new ultra sheer hankie weight liene cotten blend that I'm going to try for undies and partlets. My next fabric to find is wool. I need wool, lot's of wool. And I want a red wool dress for some reason. I am just on a red kick right now. But I am going to bed and hoping to post pictures of things before the weekend.
Bye,
Alliessa

2007-01-25T18:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much Beth and Julie!! You made my day too!! Here is the picture of the underside, much closer. Sorry for the crappy photography, the cell phone will only do so much and husband has the camera cord (grumble grumble grumble)

But you can kinda see what I was talking about with the weaving back through and where the ends started poking out after washing. I now have a theory about washing these items and won't throw it in the machine with everything else anymore. Yep delicate cycle with Woolite for me, dang it. I think one of the reasons it started raveling is that I washed all of the wax out of the silk. Oh well, live and learn.
And I am still working on the red and gold dress, couching miles of gold braid on for the third (and final) time. That's my "can't think right now" or "riding long distances in the car" project because the pattern is drawn on with black ink, so it's just follow the line with the braid. And yes, I have couched the bodice 3 times with different stuff until I got the right look, but I'm only doing the sleeves and hem once:>) I am working on more complicated projects if I have the brainpower, so progress on the red is sporadic. But no hurry on that one, I want it to be as perfect as I can get it at my current skill level.
I am also very much a novice blogger, so bear with me while I learn all the ins and outs.

The Green Dress Calls from the sewing room........
Later,
Alliessa

2007-01-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

Oh, and this is me. OK it's early period, but I spend an awful lot of time in the kitchen, so all other pictures look like I've been dipped in something. At least in this one I'm smiling and in daylight. I'll try to find better clothing pictures from other people. I know my Mom took some at one time....

2007-01-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I actually finished the camicia sometime in November. Every. Last. Handsewn. Stitch. I have been debating about doing another line of embroidery to match the Eleanora portraits, but I think it can wait until I am sure this is what I want in the end. I did not enter this into competition. (I didn't get the documentation finished) but I am entering it in a couple of weeks. I am not totally thrilled with the whole thing, but was it a learning experience and I am something of a perfectionist. I have also discovered that my cellphone has a camera. Amazing that I never noticed that considering that I work for the cellphone company, SO NO MORE WAITING ON THE HUSBAND (who is traveling so much right now that the dog doesn't recognize him at times) OK, it's not the best film picture quality, but HEY I can do this myself without wanting to hit anyone over missing cords, dead batteries, or incompatible software. So without further ado.

Total Camicia on a hanger

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Closeup of interior and exterior of the embroidered sleeve. I think it turned out OK as reversible. And hey! I figured out the picture thing!! Yay me. So in celebration, I will post the pictures of the inspiration!!!

This is the camicia that I want, and that I made with the big floppy cuffs and the poofs through the slits in the sleeves. Even the embroidery is similar, but not exactly the same. I modified a pattern out of Il Burato by Paginino from the early 16th century. My Italian is not good enough yet to translate. But I can do numbers. (sort of)

This is the dress that I want. I have begun the embroidery process for couching miles of gold Russian braid on red cotton velvet. The portrait dress is probably silk, but I got to see this dress in person.

And I decided that I wanted velvet. A red velvet peticotte with gold embroidery. I've decided on black linen and silk pair of bodies for umm wrangling (although the peticotte itself is stiffened too) And I may make a Turkish gown after it's all over, I don't know.

But in the mean time, I'm working on the green overdress for the Pumpkin and I'll post more pics later. Right now is nasty canvas underlining to get the bodice to fit correctly but now that I have picture thing figured out, I'll do MORE!!!

2006-10-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am still handsewing the camicia. I have one sleeve left, the gores, hemming and seam treatment. I am aiming to have this completed by November 12 so that I can enter it into competition. It is as period as I can make using my abysmal hand sewing skills. I have learned lots though and hopefully the practice on the undies will make the dress go better. We are going to the Texas Ren Fest again next week and I just can't wait!!. I have my new Gold Venetian and my 1400 Italian, and maybe the Great Pumpkin. I don't know yet. As much as I love dressing up, there is the camping to factor in and the fact that I don't think the Pumpkin is really washable. The others can be thrown in the wash, easy. Well, back to sewing.....

2006-09-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've been pretty lazy over the summer on the costuming front. But as fall rolls around, I am becoming more motivated. Once again the TRF is coming up and I want a new dress. I have a new Venetian Gold dress that I made over the summer that's fun, but I want the Green Overdress to go with the Pumpkin. I also have to finish my Sister's outfit and the PBI-L's outfit. I also want to make some progress on the EOT dress that is going to be entirely hand sewn and embroidered. There is a regional fair coming up and I'm hoping to enter at least part of thise outfit at the competition. I have embroidered the panels for the camicia, and I need to sew it up. I have the linen for the underdress/pair of bodies and I finally found a supplier for the gold Russian brain on the dress, so that project is ready to go if I can find the time to get it together. Luckily, none of my other project need to be sewn completly by hand, so those will go much quicker than the EOT. And then I have acouple of projects in mind for my lovely husband for KA&S next year, so we will be completly awesome together.
So the list is as follows
1. Finish E's dress and overdress
2. Finish M's doublet, shirt and hosen
3. Start Green Dress
4. Work on EOT for me
5. Green velvet Venitian for Eleanora
6. Blue silk coat for Cohair
7. Blue dress with tippets for Mistress J
8. Black and white Sir Walter Raliegh outfit for Ravenswar

Wow, that's a lot of sewing, so I better get started.
Hope to post more tomorrow and pictures would be good at some point.
Alliessa

2006-05-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a very long time since I posted, but lots of things have happened. Costuming wise. I have made lots of his and hers early period garb for camping and hot weather. I have made the gold brocade Venetian Courtesan dress with paned sleeves and a slight train. And I have started a new job (promotion yeah!!!!) and grad school. I think that I may be officially classified as crazy. I have also discovered that microeconomic after 10 years of corporate America with an emphasis in analysis is very frustrating. The good new is that I'm getting the answers mostly right. The bad news is I don't know why. In the costuming department, I'm hoping for pictures of the gold dress this weekend. And I am still hand sewing the red velvet, with the gold embroidery progressing inch by laborious inch. I have ripped it all out twice and restarted, so hopefully this time it's a keeper. I can't work on that project for very long without getting frustrated. But I'm starting to think....UNDERWEAR..... I made a relatively slim linen embroidered chemise as a side project a while back, and now I think I want more. This might be a good project for those times when brain power is not available. Yeah... I need some hankie weight linen for a fluffier version to go with the Pumpkin. And another for the Venetian. Hmmm... must contemplate cost of linen....

Going to bed now, I just made my momentary lust for new fabric into an Economics problem...Urg, too much studying

2006-02-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

Well, very short post before I crash. I finished the Great Pumpkin. I even got the hem right because my lovey darling husband pinned it for me. He is such a sweetie. I have not complted the red velvet Eleanora dress, but I am still working on it. I had some discussions with the costuming Laurel at GAKAS and have been re-examining how to do this. And I have LOTS of sewing to do before Gulf Wars. I am working on all of that fevorishly and I am hoping that I can get the green overdress completed before then as well as the red velvet. I even have pictures of the progress, I just can't seem to get them out of the camera. Oh well, project for tomorrow.
Later,
Alliessa

2006-01-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

OK, I have nearly completed the "Great Pumpkin" The only things left are the hem and the ribbons on the sleeves. Yep, I even made 48 floral pearl "ouches" for the sleeves and decided on the closings. I also joined the gym (with hubby) and have already lost 5 pounds. So lessons learned from this project.
1. Sometimes you can put the seam allowance in twice if you don't carefully mark the pattern. I did that on the sleeve panes.
2. Lacing rings are you friends even if they are not documentary used as closings on this type of dress at this time. Instead of eyelets, I have put lacing rings on the side back closures, even though the Eleanor dresses used eyelets. Why do you ask? Well, see the opening statement about the gym and am I known for weight fluctuations. Moving rings is much easier than redoing eyelets, especially if I fluctuate, ummm outward cause I fall off the gym wagon. And I figure, there had to be a way that regular women adjusted these dresses, even Eleanora. She was pregnant like 15 times. So lacing rings it is.
3. Sometimes things that look complicated, aren't. I have figured out those gorgeous sleeves on the Eleanora dresses, and they are much easier than you would think.
4. Sometimes things that looks simple, aren't. Skirts, ugh, enough said. I will not do the same corded bodice with skirts this way again, it was WAY too complicated.
5. I had an epiphany at work the other day while doing a very boring project. Those linen chemises under slim sleeves. In this time frame, you see slim sleeves, no big "puffs" under the upper sleeve, but lots of fabric at the cuff and or lower sleeve (depending on the sleeve style). Well, what if the sleeves ARE slim on the upper arm but wide at the cuff and the smocked into place? Or cuffed for that matter, but I think smocking makes more sense in some ways. So I may investigate that possibility on my next chemise. I have been promising pictures, they will get here I promise. But the camera is currently with husband on work trip, so it won't be until later.

2005-12-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

OK, so I just realized that it had been a month since I posted. Goodness, the holidays get hectic!!! Well, I am still working on the Bronze Underdress that has now been officially dubbed "The Great Pumpkin" but my lovely husband. This is what I get for asking his opinion when he's trying to sleep. I have gotten the skirt lined, pleats padded and mostly attatched. I am having some weird wrinkles in the front that are bugging me, but I think that I can fix that. And I have the eyelet holes left. Oh... And the sleeves. But overall, I am very happy about how this turned out so far. I am going to be starting on the red velvet EOT dress for my GAKAS now that I have gotten this test worked out. And I borrowed the most MARVELOUS book from a friend call Mode di Frieze. It's all about Eleanor of Toledo's wardrobe records. And it has the best pictures, very clear with many that you don't see all of the time. I want this book so badly, that I am saving up my sewing money to get it after Christmas. Anyone who is interested in Italian clothes needs this book, it's like JA's Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlockd for Italy (Florence and Eleanor specifically) only better cause the pictures are in color and since she showed the way for this type of book, there are comparisons of details and lots of examples. And now I know that cross stitched undies....PERIOD. They look almost modern in the stitching design.

Well, I am feeling slightly under the weather, so me a my handsewing are going to watch a movie in bed . I am hoping I can get this completed by Christmas, so I can also complete the other dress and wear this one to the competition.

Happy sewing everyone

2005-11-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well, things are not going the way I had planned at all. I got the skirt sewed together, knife pleated into place and sewn to the bodice and discovered that I HATED the way it looked. Not even a "this will do until I get back" job its was a "rip this out immediatly and start over" situation with that skirt. Everything else looks great. So I decided that I'm going to cartridge pleat the skirt and attach to the bodice. This is going to take longer than I have before I am supposed to leave for Texas. So no new dress for me this year, the good news is that I will have longer to finish the outfit and can get the overdress completed before Fighters Collegium in December. I also may be making a new dress for our Queen. A little nervous, but she is early period Viking/Norse so it won't be too complicated construction wise, however I may have to tablet weave some new trim for her. And weaving is not the most natural craft for me, it takes lots of concentration. Kind of in the same catagory as knitting. I can do it....eventually, with lots of tears and cursing. Well I'm getting random, so I better go to bed. I'm still going to try and finish the dress, but it just does not look promising.

I'll update when I get back from TX.
Alliessa

2005-11-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

This is a quicky update, cause I need to keep track of how this all happened.
OK, no corset involved after all, I boned (and I mean BONED) the bodice of the underdress. And then underlined it with dead dinosaur I had lying around so that the boning doesn't show through the silk. And low, for the first time EVER, the bodice fit on the first go round. Even with using POF to pattern I was so excited that I could have flown. Normally it takes me at least 2 toiles to get the fit right. I actually KEPT the toile to use as a future pattern. So I've assembled the bodice and am attatching the skirt which has padded pleats and is knife pleated into the bodice. And it seems to be actually working. So I'm going to go and finish the dress and cut the sleeves if possible tonight. I think I'll get the underdress completed, but the green overdress might not get done until I return from TX. But I'm going to finish this all by December 5th. And then, since I finally got the pattern right, I'm going to do the red velvet Eleanor di Toledo dress, including the pair of bodies, but not the stocking. I'm not that talented yet.

Later,
Alliessa

2005-11-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

OK, so keeping up with the postings has been a little more time consuming than I thought. Bad bunny, no cookie for you. But I got the embroidered chemise completed in time and also completed my husbands gold doublet! Good bunny, go to the fabric store and see what you can find as a reward. Yes, I know I'm supposed to be in fabric jail, but it has been a really rotten day (I had to go to the DMV, this took two hours and I had to reduce the office manager to tears before they would give me my car tags, but it's not my fault that they can't send the dratted things to the correct address, I only moved here 7 YEARS ago) and then I had to work late to make up for it, ugh it was a Monday for sure So there I am in Hancocks (who is having a huge sale here in LR) and there it is, this sagey/olivey green brocade fabric that just screams HELLO!! I'm on the 50% off table, I'm even pretty period and you really want to take me home. Well I picked it up and carried it around and then decided that, if there was enough to make a whole Elizabethan than it could come home with me, so I go to the table and measure and there are 7 yards of this stuff. So I decide to go look for a contrasting color, and there it is, a rust silk under woven with green silk that matches (and yet contrasts at the same time) the brocade perfectly(and 50% off as well), plus a whitish green colored taffeta to line things with (at $1.45 a yard). And since it was all marvelously on sale, I could also afford the matching thread for both colors, some new sewing needles, the ribbon to match the brocade and 31/2 yards of off white cotton lace for trim and still pay all of the bills and eat this week. So instead of all of the projects I mentioned in the last post, I am going with something completely different.

And on that note, I'm going say that Jen Thompson at Festive Attyre and Melissa at Sempstress have truly inspired me to make a completely different dress than any of the ones I had planned. These two ladies are the ones that got me addicted to this in the first place, I am doing a rust silk underdress/kirtle type thing with the green brocade overdress with hanging sleeves. I have POF by Janet Arnold (goddess!!) so I'm going to use the sleeves and skirt from Pfalzgrafin Dorthea Maria von Sulzbach gown in POF and make a kirtle with tight sleeves to go under it. I am going to have to think really hard about the bodice and collar, I'm not sure that style is going to look good on me, so I may have to research a bit more for alternatives. I already have the Elizabethan corset and a corded petticoat cut out. So I'm going to go sew now and throw fabric in the washer. If anyone is actually reading this, I'm hoping to give updates tomorrow on progress. And Jen, if you ever see this, I'm HOOKED on the TRF too and I think we may have actually seen part of your wedding:>)) If it wasn't you, than it was someone who looked just like you. I am hoping that we can meet sometime in the future, we are not getting to go until the last weekend this year due to work and hubby's traveling schedule grrrrr.

And for my own sanity, this is the next dress I'm doing, hopefully for Kingdom A&S in January. Let's all hold our breath because I also have to finish tiling a bathroom before Thanksgiving. Sorry that I'm using link instead of pictures, but I want to go sew rather than figure that out right now.

Later,
Alliessa

2005-11-01T23:38:00.000-08:00

OK, so I have decided to take the plunge and venture out into the blog-o-sphere. I am a member of the SCA and have just become addicted to reading everyone's costuming diaries over the past year, so I thought "Why not?" besides, it might be good for me to actually write down some of my research and documentation plus get feed back from people who do this too. This might be something of a bonus since I seem to be the only person in my local area who is interested in late period English/Venetian clothing. And by late period I mean after 1450. Everyone around here seems to be focused on Viking, and I look horrible in an apron dress. Besides, in my real life, I am the only female in a bunch of male engineers. Older male engineers. Men who seem to think that wearing pink in the office means your brain doesn't work that day. One of my best friends has now stated that I only wear black and brown with the occasional grey thrown in for a change. So I want to be GIRLY when I go play. I want to wear colors other than the above listed. I want to show more than two inches of skin between my eyebrows and toenails. I other words, I want to look and act like a girl. This is new development in life for me, so we'll see how long it lasts.
Anyway, I have been uber-inspired by the work of several online folks who are out here and I have some VERY serious deadlines to meet, so I am hoping this record will keep me on track and inspired to complete my projects.

So my SCA persona is named Allessia Wallace. She is married to a "Maritime entrepreneur" named Ravenswar Brachae (who is conveniently played by my own husband) Her father is a minor nobleman on the English side of the Scottish border and her mother is an ex-courtesan from Venice. Of course, no one knows that here in England, but her daughters are very educated and slightly risque. And I actually rejected my father first choice of husband for me, so Mother found me one more to my liking. And we did get Father's blessing....Eventually.

So I have been making a chemise. And embroidering the wrists and neckline. I used the custom smock generator from the Elizabethan costuming Page, and I found a pattern in my wanderings online that claimed to be a blackwork pattern from an Italian Sampler from 1600, I don't know how accurate that is but I liked it and it looks similar to some of the chemise embroidery that you see on Eleanor of Toledo (with whom I am quickly becoming obsessed) So I am about 3/4 of the way there. Did I mention that the deadline was this weekend? Yup, I'm a crazy embroidering fool. I've gotten the sleeve cuffs done and 1/2 the neckline, so I'm hoping to get the rest of the neck finished by Wednesday and assemble and hem on Thursday.
So that's deadline and project number one. Finish chemise by Thursday.

And Ravenswar and I are going to the Texas renaissance Festival on it's final weekend, November 19-20, and I want a new dress. A new Venetian dress (or Elizabethan, I can't decide which to do first) This is an annual event for us, almost an anniversary type thing. We normally go on the first or second weekend, but this year didn't work out that way, so we are going much later. I am hoping this means I can wear a real dress and not die of heat exhaustion. I am taking lighter clothing just in case, but I'm really hoping to get something new and pretty completed. That's project number 2, decide on dress, pattern and finish by 11/18.

Did I mention that I'm crazy? But, maybe it can be done? The chemise was only started last week, and I didn't really start hard and heavy until Friday. And like every other costumer I've read about, I have hoarded fabric and trim, just waiting for the right time to complete the project. I have a whole sewing room just STUFFED. I am already in the fabric purchasing penalty box. No more new fabric until I complete some of the existing projects that are still in the idea stages.

So here is the list of possible future projects in no particular order:
1. Red velvet dress with gold couching based on a patriot of Eleanor of Toledo. I have all the materials for this except the thread and the guts to start.
2. A Tudor gown with the wide furlined sleeves.
3. A Venetian Courtesan Dress with ladder lacing in the front. I have some gold brocade that is just screaming to be this dress, but it means that husband and I will match. With lots and lots of gold brocade. Gleaming in the sun, blinding casual passers by. I don't know, I may have to think about that one again. This fabric was originally to be the Tudor dress above and I bought mink fur to link the sleeves. Real mink, real expensive mink, (rereading sentence) yup, I'm officially crazy. I just realized that I have 10 yards of gold brocade, 3 pretty good mink coats, lining fabric, thread, real pearls for accents and jewelry and I'm rethinking my design. This is why I need to actually start and finish the projects, not just collect bits. I think it's called ferret shock. Continuing on...
4. White brocade doublet with pearl embroidered black velvet cape and slops based on a Sir Francis Drake painting (picture to come) I have all of the fabric and notions for this one too...
5. Some peasanty type clothing for camping and grungy work.
6. Choli and underskirt for my Gold Sari for VERY HOT events. Most of my events actually fall in this category due to where I live. Those of you in the MS, LA, TX, AR area understand that it can be 102 degrees with 99 percent humidity and not be raining.
7. Hubby fighting gear.
8. Finish Cohair's Charles de Blois coat (only button holes left, but DANG there are a bunch of the little buggers)
9. Finish Mistress Julian's dress (refitting necessary, and I want to put tippets and she wants a white band on the bottom.)
10. My new fighting tunic and pants.

Holy COW. That's a bunch of projects. And those are the ones I've thought through and have bought stuff for. OK, so that's a list to make one focus a little tighter. Well, embroidered smock first. And then we'll see were this goes.

Hoping to post some serious achievements tomorrow and maybe pictures if I can get the camera to work. However, I have just discovered that I am too tired/inexperienced with this whole blogging thing to figure out how to make the pictures go where I want the to. What am I doing wrong? They are only posting at the top of the page, not in the text where I want them. I'll try to figure that out later.....