Here we go!

This Saturday we had our second sewing circle dedicated to fitted underwear. Åsa had gotten a long way and brought her already fitted boob-bags for help with fitting the bodice. I started with cutting out a front and back-piece, roughly shaped after the new toille but in two pieces instead of four. Then I had to mark were to make the cut-outs for the boob-bags. As we had discussed last time and Åsa had tried, I used an underwire-bra to mark the size and shape. Since all my underwire-bras are to big cup-wise nowadays, I decided to simply sacrifice one and split it in order to make a pattern. Of course some fabric had to be added and a lot of fitting had to be done, but Åsa was a great assistant. And I aimed for a small cutout to begin with, since it is easier to cut out more as you go than the other way around.

To be sacrificed for science

A good and simple way to measure

Marked and ready for the cut

 To be continued...

Nothing much going on...

This is creative chaos. Unfortunately it´s just me trying to get my new craftsroom in order, sorting stuff and categorizing. But when I´m done sorting, then I will remember all the cool stuff I actually have and all the fabric, yarns and other materials. Then I will for sure make something new!

Babysteps

So, finally, I´m back to making garb and starting on the challenge of creating entirely new garb from the inside out. All in late 15th century german style. Today I had invited some ladies over for trying out and discussing fitted underwear, mainly in the light of the Lengberg finds. Lots of theories came up and we decided to ponder over them by ourselves for a while and then get together again and see how we are doing.

But we did also some fitting of bodice toilles and I got help making a new toille for me. A good way to start in order to create the fitted bra-kind of underwear. And the toille looks really pretty!

To be continued...

To challenge myself

I just joined a new facebook group, the DW 30-day challenge, after having seen friend after friend joining. What a great idea, challenge yourself to try something new for thirty days. I have been giving it some thought, since that is about all I can at the moment, awaiting the surgery next week and the move in three weeks. But since I will get my own study in the new house, I will do as I promised myself years ago and make use of at least one of all the looms I´m housing. So that will be my new challenge for the new year, try out handweaving, aiming to make a piece of fabric big enough to then make into a garment for my self. But that is surely a bit more than a 30-day job. So on the same path, I do wanna practice weaving edges since I´m crap at it and it is needed for assembling pouches and the like. Also I wanna challenge myself into other techniques for assembling pouches, as they are described in Sweet bags by Jacqui Carey.

Downsizing

So my friends, this week everything comes at the same time. We decided to sell our house and went searching for a new one, in town, so we can walk instead of drive and where we don´t get stressed out over the garden, the outhouses, the needed renovations... the list is endless. And guess what! We found our new house. And you know the feeling when entering a house and instantly see where you would put your own furniture? That must be the right house for us. And from my new bedroom window I can se the towers of the medieval town wall.

On the same day as we gave an offer on the house and got it accepted, I got the letter from the hospital saying I will do my breastreduction at the end of November. Great! But that means that everything I have to do getting our house in order for selling it must be done before that. Bummer. I will have no problem filling my days and weekends the coming month.

Well, since I´ve lost weight and will loose the boobs, time to clear out the closets and yes, I will sell most of my medieval clothes. It´s more fun sewing new clothes than altering. I might keep some stuff, like the dark green 14th-century dress embroidered with acorns and oak leaves, but other than that, no.

So my word of the month is downsizing, in almost every aspect.

Just cover it with fabric and call it medieval

Today I suddenly felt the urge for a small and easy project, and went searching for one of my goldwork-tryouts with 3D-hearts and a small box. Time for fabric-covering the actual period way - fabric covered boxes were and used during medieval times as reliquary boxes. You can see some examples here: http://medievalartcraft.blogspot.se/2010/02/treasury-of-basel-cathedral.html

I learned how to do this at Double Wars this spring and found it a very fun and quick project, not counting the time used for the embroidery part of course. It is also a perfect use for small-scale embroidery and try-outs. So with the green-gold and red embroidery for the lid, I wanted something nice for the sides and went through my stash of fabric scraps. Found a small strip of a two-coloured green handvowen diamond twill a friend made for me which turned out to be perfect! And some herring-bone twill in black for the lining and bottom piece.

So this is halfway through the assembly, I found the lining of the sides a bit tricky as I didn´t cut the fabric diagonally. This makes the lining folding and crumbeling a bit.

This is my two boxes, both made with try-outs from the goldwork class I took last summer and with  handvoven fabric made by friends. I am pretty pleased with the results and will for sure make more boxes in different shapes and sizes. Now pondering a larger square box for my sewing kit. And if you want to try it out your self, you find the description on Åsa´s blog: http://naama.textilverkstad.se/#post54.

Our little summerhouse

We (my husband and I) long dreamt about owning a place, like a big barn, where we could host events and parties. Our house is big and we have a barn, but sadly it is not in good enough shape to make an event site of it.

But then, a couple of years ago, the husband suddenly told me that he wanted to buy a summer house. "Are you mad?" I thought. We barely cope with our house as it is. And could we afford another one? But as it turned out, we did. Because the place is beatiful and here we can fulfill the dream of hosting events. Just some weeks ago our local baronial tourney took place at our "little" summerhouse, that actually is the military field hospital of northern Gotland, complete with underground shelter, surgery halls and 1,5 acres of forest surronding it.

Perfect for small events!

And just as cream on the pie, it is also perfect for the sewing circle I hosted last weekend, themed "Sew something warm for our Lucia-event" taking place in mid December. With large tables, good lighting (surgery halls are good for handicrafts) and plenty of space and a fully functional kitchen so that I could serve everybody with food.

My husband found the amazing furniture at an auction, four tables and 16 chairs that came out of someone elses broken dream of hosting medieval events. And the bench was bought by my mother in law, it is an actual 16th century chest that was remodeled into a bench during the late 19th century. She never found a place for it so it ended up here and looks just perfect. The walls got clad with fabric for the baronial event and it has the lovely effect of making the echoes dissapear and the room to appear more period and more cosy.

We were six people in all last weekend, me, Daniel, Isabelle, Mona, Åsa and Martin, chatting away while making good progress at new and old unfinished projects. Isabelle cut out the pieces for a Herjolfsnes coat and started to assemble it, Mona learned naalbinding, cut out a cap and got the pattern for the Lödöse mittens, Daniel cut out and started putting a thin wool lining in his Herjolfsnes coat. I mended my hose, finished off one pair of children mittens and cut out and got quite far on a hood for the eldest son that has outgrown his. Åsa was making a new kirtle and Martin was working on a new pair of shoes. And we made plans for more sewing days like this one! With new themes of course.