Well, I decided to see if Spotlight was open yesterday. It was and off I went. However, I struck a snag when I got to the ferry wharf, the ferries weren't running due to the Australia Day harbour swim. I had to wait an hour and a half for the ferry. Not happy, Jan. Anyway, got there, got what I needed and got home. Really tired, just couldn't settle down to anything so nothing happended at all on the sewing front. With a bit of luck I will feel more motivated tonight. I hope to start getting the trim on the doublet top tonight. And maybe trimming the various tabs. Must cut out linings.

Yeah, Oriental Lilies is done. I have a photo but due to technical difficulties (ie Adam is playing networks games and I can't get near his machine!!) I can't post them yet.

I have been working on my brown corduroy dress all day. I am very tired, but it is coming out pretty good. I have stopped due to a lack of triming accessories. I should've have gone to Spotlight today. Ah well, live and learn. I have plenty of time to finish it. I can work on another dress tomorrow. I am now going to bed.

As regular readers (are there regular readers?) would know. I am in the SCA, an historical recreation group. This requires clothes. I have joined the trend, related somewhat to blogging, of recording the research and making of clothes for this activity. So if you are interested, check out my Dress Diaries.

Well, got the overlocking done on the Oriental Lilies. Overdyed about 6m of purple to a softer plum colour. Waited in vein for people to test my new chat room. And did some drawings and colouring in for my new Elizabethan outfits. I should get those finished tonight and I will post a link to the pictures tommorrow.

Also a special thanks to Tricia Wilson Nguyen for her great help and service. If you ever get the chance, think about doing one of her classes. I'd love to take the Elizabeth's Sweetbag and Accessories classes.

Well, finally did some stitching last night. I had to add some small bits of gold cording to my Oriental Lilies Book Cover. There was a bit in the middle where the backing was showing through. So I've filled that in with the gold cording and then covered the entire centre and the bottom bits of the petals with a mix of light and dark green beads. I wanted something to break up the gold and also the picture I was working from had green in the middle of the petals. The beads add a bit more sparkle and texture to the piece. So it's now off the frame. I just need to overlock the edges and make it up into the book cover. That shouldn't take long, then its all finished and ready to be shipped off to the new owner.

I also did some more washing of material last night. I am going to overdye some very purple linen/cotton blend with some red dye to try and make a more usable plum colour. If it works, its going to be a middle class day outfit. I bought some thin trim on the weekend, so this one will be done with a wide and thin trim strip. That will look pretty spiffy I think. And I will trim the sleeves with black as well.

On the kitten front, Cleo caught a mouse last night. I think she actually caught it out side and brought it in to show us. She was so proud of herself. Wasn't too keen on sharing it with Pharaoh who got hissed at when he got too close.

No posts since last week. We are flat chat at work at the moment, its our really busy period. With a bit of luck things will calm down at the end of the week.

Went shopping Saturday. Got some brown corduroy curtains, a heap of heavy weight linen and a red leather jacket for $24. This will all be used in the making of a Brown Corduroy Doublet Dress. I will be keeping what is called dress diary amongst garb making circles. It's sort of like a blog but on a static webpage. The curtains were filthy with dust, so they were washed and dried. The linen soaked in the bath for a few hours in bleach and OxySan. The water came out yellow. I suspect most of this was sizing. Which probably stopped the stains from getting into the fibres. The linen was then washed and tumble dried. I reakon I got about 8m of linen for $8. Bargain. I will use that for interlining the doublet.

Anyway, by the time I carried all this home on the bus, I was dripping sweat. Its been hot here and on Friday night it rained so it was like a steam bath. Had a bit of a rest and then overlocked all the bits for the high necked smocks that I cut out. Then cut out another low neck one while I was at it. I will have to overlock those tonight.

So no stitiching but lots of prep work for other stuff. I also picked up some buckram to try my hand at making some hats to finish off my outfits.

Well, I haven't been doing any stitiching the last couple of nights. It's been a bit hot. But there was nothing on TV so I decided to cut out a couple of high necked smocks. I have one low neck one done, and I will make up a plain high neck one. That should give me time to do some serious blackwork on the remaining high necked one. I got my bolt of light weight linen from Fabrics-Store.com. It got here in just under a week. So I am going to cut out another low neck smock and this one will also get some blackwork on it. Hopefully, I will be able to get all this done by Festival. I am also going to cut out another dress. The colour is a bit more appropriate for a middle class Elizabethan, so I will get a bit fancier with this one, put wings on the shoulders, make sleeves, put waist tabs on the bodice and do a bit more detailing. I also want to make a hat. I think a basic black tall hat should do the trick. I also need to make up some accessories, a pouch and a needle case. Accessories are what make an outfit I think. Then onto an ensemble from the green wool blend I have.

On the stitiching front, if you would like to see some great examples of Renaissance stitching, check out this great site. It is a full copy of the book: "English Embroidered Bookbindings" by Cyril Davenport
http://posner.library.cmu.edu/Posner/books/book.cgi?call=655.7_D24E. It can take a while to get to the pictures, but they are well worth it.

I thought I would be good, after doing heaps of housework yesterday I got home from our Barony meetting (about half a dozen of the guys showed up), I thought I would dig out my Goldwork course stuff. When I checked the notes, the first two lessons aren't due back at the Guild until this week, so I won't be as late as I thought getting them handed in. However, as I was reading the notes, my bubba, Cleopatra, decided that she wanted a cuddle, which involved jumping up on my folder of notes, curling up and starting to purr!! How can you go mad at something so cute? I'm not really surprised, the first few days we had her I was working on a quilt and she thought it was great fun to try and catch my quilting needle as it poked up through the material! Also, a quilt on a hoop makes an excellent hammock to sleep on. So there is no surer way of getting a cuddle from Cleo than to start a sewing project.



Anyway, I will try and get the materials onto the frame tonight. With a bit of luck the first lesson won't take me more than a night. The second one will take a bit longer. I've already been sent the third and fourth lesson but they are much more time consuming as its gettting into or nue and purl pearl work.

With a bit of luck, as Hazel has said, the scenes I was hoping for might be in the extended version of LOTR when it comes out on DVD.

So back to work now. The air conditioning is broken so the office is stifling. This is when unopenable windows are a very dumb idea.

We went and saw LOTR: Return of the King bright and early Saturday morning. I really enjoyed it, the three hours went quickly. I have to say the end was a bit weak. I was disappointed that they left out the Hobbits regaining control of the Shire from the Men, but the ending did seem just a bit of a let down. On the whole though, I would say that the three films are an outstanding bit of movie making and as true to the books as a series of movies it likely to get.

We then came home for a couple of hours, I checked my mail and then we were off again to a 16th Birthday party. Had a late BBQ tea. Was pretty tired when I got home at about 10pm, no time yesterday for any sewing.

Adam is off helping someone buy a computer from the computer markets. I am home cleaning up the house. I have a few more loads of washing to go. Then I have to get ready to go to Barony meeting. With a bit of luck other people might show up this week.

As I was laying in bed this morning trying to motivate myself to get up, I was thinking about my goldwork course. I haven't done anything with it yet, and I was lying there really wanting to get started. I might pull it out tonight and put the materials for the first asiignment on the hoop. I was also thinking about my two unfinished projects. They both only require making up, so I think my target for this week will be to get these two done. That way when I start my goldwork it will be a clean slate. I also have to do one small WCOB project, but there really isn't a deadline for that, but I would like to get it done by Festival in April.

Well the weather finally caught up with me last night. I went into the bedroom when we got home from work to change into something a bit cooler. I laid down on the bed and woke up 5 hours later. I must've been more tired than I thought. I am feeling much better today, I really needed the extra shut eye.

On the other hand due to this unplanned slumber, I didn't do anything on my chemise last night. Hopefully I will do tonight. I also have to add some hook and eyes to my dress. The lacing works pretty good but there are a couple of gaps that need the more solid support of the hook and eyes (that and they are cheaper and easier to get than lacing rings!).

<RANT ON>
On a side note, Spotlight got in a new supply of the lacing rings and they sold out in a week and won't get anymore for two months. You would think that when you constantly sell out of something YOU WOULD ORDER MORE THE NEXT TIME!!!
</RANT OFF>

While I have decided not to put any more blackwork around the neck of my chemise, I caved and did the same trim around the cuffs. I did one cuff last night while watching a Billy Joel special. (After hand stitching the facing down). I should be able to finish the other cuff tonight.

I am keen to get another chemise underway. This one will be a high necked version. My only issue is the collar and cuffs. I would like to do something that is reversable but that would only work using a single layer of fabric, which I don't think would be stiff enough. One option would be to do the design on two sections and then join these together. What do you think?

Been too hot to do much. I went to the gym yesterday and nearly died. I was going to go today but my gym partner bailed on me. Probably a good thing as its currently 39 degrees C. Just a bit warm for the gym. I will however be walking to the gym as its the only place to buy lunch from.

Not much on the stitching front. I did a fake lace around the top of my chemise. I decided against doing anymore embroidery on it. I will keep this one for my peasant outfit and as a workhorse. I ordered a 20 yard bolt of 3.5oz linen from Fabrics-store.com. They have improved the ease of purchasing for international people, which is great to see. In fairness though, they have always given me great customer service when it comes to answering questions and making sure that everything was sorted out before they shipped my orders. So with a bit of luck I will have plenty of linen to make chemises' ready for Festival at Easter. I will go more wild with the decoration on these ones.

Pretty lazy day yesterday, a bit more washing. As a treat I did the dishes for Adam, so when he got back from John's he didn't have to do anything but cuddle Cleo!! I went to Barony meeting but no one else turned up. About 15mins before I was going to leave, a couple of people arrived, we had a quick chat and then we all left. With a bit of luck, people will be back the coming weekend as things return to normal.

I'm at work now. Just dealt with a mini-disaster relating to our website. That is now fixed. Back to the grind.

I've been taking it a bit easier today. Done some washing and folding of clothes, getting ready to go back to work on monday. I put together my mauve camp dress and put the trim on it. I am tossing up whether or not to put another thin band of trim just on the inside of the wider one. Also, my plans to tart up the trim didn't work. The fancy stitching didn't show up enough, so that saved me some time. I will put the lacing rings on tonight and then start on the blackwork on the chemise. I am still deciding if I will do more embroidery on this one. I want to get it finished but I also want to show off my embroidery as well. I think I will end up doing some, just have to work out the pattern. I might do the designing between now and tea.

On a bummer note, the tunic I made for John didn't fit!! Bugger. So looks like the Barony Hospitaller is going to score a pretty fancy tunic for the newbies. Ah well, it should stand up to the treatment it will get (except maybe for the trim, but that is easy fixed).

By way of celebration of having a complete Elizabethan outfit (remember, headwear is already done!), I am posting my attempt at drafting a blackwork pattern. This is from a portrait of Jane Seymour. There are two almost identical portraits, the only difference being the pattern on the cuff of her chemise. The wider pattern has been available on the net for a while, but I've never seen the other one done up. So here is my interpretation. I have no idea how it sew up or if its fully reversible. But I think its cute.

John's tunic is finished. Too tired now. Pics tomorrow.

Yeah, my first chemise is done. I have to say it turned out pretty good. I love the feel of the lightweight linen, so soft. I will have to buy some more while the Aussie dollar is strong. Costs a fortune in shipping, but worth it. Might even invest in a bolt, and get it sent sea mail so it doesn't work out too expensive. Anyway, after tea, I will put the chemise on and if its not too revealing I will post a picture. If it is, then I will wait until the dress is done and post a combo pic.

Seemed to do alot of stuffing about yesterday. I cut out my chemise, got most of that overlocked and seemed. I finished off the decoration on John's other sleeve. I went to Spotlight today and got all the bits and pieces to finish most of the projects off. I can now sew down the facing on John's tunic. Once that is done I will put it all together. Then I will probably do some embellishment around the facing. It shouldn't take too long. I think its going to look very snazzy when its done. I plan to spent this arvo putting the chemise together. Then I can do some fake lace around the neckline and when I get the pattern drawn up, do a nice floral scroll around the neckline as well. If I get that done, I will then put the black trim around my dress and sew that up. I bought just plain cotton tape, which I am going to tart up by using a decorative stitch on my sewing machine. It's not an embroidery machine, but it has a nice sort of herringbone variation on it, that I will do in rayon thread. This will hopefully make the cotton tape look a bit more special, while keeping the price down. Then tonight, I will sew down the binding on my corset. With a bit of luck, by the time I go back to work on monday I will have a functioning Elizabethan outfit!! If I do that, I will be most pleased with holidays.

Thanks to Linn, I am inspired to sew to the sounds of Piaf today.

Well, we had a pretty quiet NYE. Some of Adams' friends came down and they played D and D. We walked down to the beach to watch the fireworks at 9pm. I love fireworks, they are most cool. Not so good for the animals though, lots of poor puppies were barking madly.

I haven't been doing too much since I last posted. I have been making a tunic for Adams' cousin John. He borrowed stuff from the Hospitaller at Spring War and it was embarrassing!!! So I am doing a nice burgandy and khaki tunic. I got a bit carried away with the decoration around the collar and cuffs, but it looks really cool. With a bit of luck I will have that done tommorrow.

I also worked on my corset and a new dress. The corset is looking OK but I really need someone who knows what they are doing to help me make another one that is fitted properly. The dress I had to add some interlining to. I've never done that before but was told it does help. I think it does sit better. That is also almost finished. I need some black ribbon or tape to decorate it. I think it will be easier to sew on before the dress is put together. But I don't have any and the shops are shut today. So I need to go to Spotlight tomorrow to pick up some cotton, some embroidery thread and some ribbon. Once I do that I should be able to finish of the three almost done things. I will also try to pick up some lining for my cloak. Again, almost done.

Today I am going to start making a smock. That shouldn't take to long. I should get most of it done today. Then I need to do the embroidery around the neckline and cuffs. That shouldn't take too long as I am going to keep it simple and probably not counted, which will make things easier and faster. Then I should have a complete Elizabethan outfit done. I need to get more clothes made for Festival. At the moment I only have one outfit, I need at least five for Festival which is at Easter. I am keeping everything in linen at the moment (or linen/cotton blend which was on sale for $2m!). Since its a camping event I don't want anything too nice. I like the idea of something I can just chuck in the washing machine.

As far as New Year's resolutions, not this year. I never keep them anyway. I will stick with some goals instead, eat better, keep up the exercise, be involved in more stuff to get out of the house. I hope the New Year brings great things for everyone!! ;-)