0 to Crazy In Just One Week

I know there are people out there who are super crazy on top of things and already have their competition projects done (These people are the same kinds of people who, I suspect, were snug in their beds and not writing their midterm papers at 2 am in college.  I hated those people.) 

I am not one of those people.

And since I decided to pack a competition into the same summer as a trip for physical therapy, a fairly involved medical procedure and a week long vacation- this is a step by step on how make an Italian Renaissance doublet gown, start to finish, in one week. 

Or, for those out there with a slightly firmer grip on sanity, what not to do.

We got home from Pennsic late Friday night.  Late enough that the only appealing thing in the world was a long hot shower with lye and sand and then bed.  Late enough that I even contemplated skipping the shower, but only for a few seconds.

Saturday:
Up before 7 am.  Attempt to not wake the household by trying to work quietly.  Fail miserably.  Procure both coffee and ipod for some Shinedown, both of which help progress work nicely.  Wake up entire house.  Get more coffee.  Briefly contemplate the idea that I may need more sleep.  Opt to continue work.
Draft pattern, cut and piece outer shell of doublet. 

Take break for lunch- vow to only eat finger food for the rest of the week to limit interruption in sewing time caused by inconveniences like eating. 

Cut and hem skirt.


Sunday:
Gave up work for the morning to attend baby shower.  Return home to pleat skirt and pin onto dress form to hang overnight.  Flatline doublet lining and sew boning channels.  Fall asleep face first into pile of tools at the sewing machine.  Wake up tucked in on the futon- thanks Frank!- opt to take a break for the evening to prevent further lapses in consciousness.  Also, don't want to drool on the fabric in my sleep.

Monday:
Sleep in a little longer in hopes that more rest will mean faster sewing. 
Opt not to press friends into slave labor over ironing board in hopes of keeping said friends.  Finish boning channels,  bone lining.  Attach one side of front facing.  Stitch skirt to doublet.  Make, trim and line strips for shoulder braids.

Craft cunning plan to make shoulders.  Chuckle to self about own cleverness.  Try to ignore friends muttering words like "nutjob" and  "padded room."  Send friends out to bring back chocolate.   

Tuesday:
Try to decide whether to sleep in the car on the way home from work.  Opt instead to try to make polite conversation with my husband that doesn't involve phrases such as "could you pass the thread?" and "what do you think about this sleeve?" and "Do you think there's a way you could stop time so I could get this finished? Kthanxbye."  Take nap once I get home.  Stitch lining into doublet at front at bottom.

Wednesday:
Finish tacking on lining at collar. 
Spend rest of day working on braiding sleeves.

Drink.


Thursday:
Wake up feeling awful.  Sneaky sinus infection caught up at last.  Helper brain is out puking with a migraine, so I'm left to my own devices today.  Manage to get upstairs and bring down everything I need to finish hand sewing sleeves and shoulders to doublet.  Beads also arrive, so spend part of day wrapping crystal beads in gold wire. 

Friday:
Have Morwin hold beads while I make girdle.  And sniffle.  Damn cold! 

Decide to make a last minute partlet at around 3pm.  Finish at 10:16 pm.  16 minutes after the "No sewing after 10pm rule" but very happy with the results. 

Done with the competition!  Celebrate by weeping joyously and downing shots of Nyquil. 

Hating Everything

There are something crazy like 19 days left in the competition.  19. 

19 days is not a lot of days when you consider that we're leaving for Pennsic on Friday morning at some ungodly hour and we won't be back until the 13th and even though I am truly a nutter, I can't see getting any sewing done after a week of camping and a five hour drive so I really won't be back to work until the 14 and then there will be like 7 days left.  7.  A week of sewing.  So I have two days before Pennsic.  And a week after.

I might be freaking out just a little.

And at some point, I decided that Adam's project just needs too much work right now to even begin to feasibly finish, so I'm focusing on the gown for me.

And because I am absolutely out of my gourd, here's what I did:

I made these sleeves and the skirt and even trimmed them before waking up one morning, deciding that I hate everything and starting over. 

Starting over. 

With something like 9 sewing days left.

Normally, at this point, my friends and family would be making gentle suggestions such as "leave it alone" or "perhaps you could just learn to cope with it (and reality)" or "here, drink this tea, don't worry about the funny taste...." but when my husband's first reaction is "It looks like someone wanted a medieval wedding.  As Cinderella." you know that a redo really is the right way to go.

I found some cream colored silk something or other in the stash and have the sleeves cut and half trimmed.  I need to trim the new underskirt. 

I really need to start the dress.  You know, the actual dress that the whole outfit is based on.

But, on a brighter note, I started the gold meshwork caul:

and have actually made progress since the picture was taken.  The meshwork is totally done, I have a few more beads to add and then the band to put on. 

So that's something. 

Pushing It

Pennsic is two weeks away.  And my Pennsic sewing is done.  DONE! 

Well, if I was going to be 100% honest, I have one hook and eye to sew on yet, but since that could technically be done in the car on the way (or at Pennsic, if one was really desperate) I'm counting it as finished.

Which means that that tally of clothing sewn for this year's trip includes:

6 tunics and one pair of pants for a friend
6 Greek dresses for another friend
3 Greek dresses for me
2 early 14th century cotes for me

I'm hoping to get some pictures of the stuff at some point.  Maybe at Pennsic?  Surely not.  Remembering to bring a camera like a normal, prepared person would just make too much sense.

The problem is that since I got that stuff done, I have done exactly nothing on the competition for the last month.  I already know I'm going to have to downsize if I want to finish at all, so now the question is whether to finish a doublet gown, skirt and caul for the my project or finish the couching, piping, slashwork and doublet, hose, codpiece, shirt and cape for Adam's. 

Put that way, I think the my gown will be an easier bet.  I hope.  Or I could be a complete nutter.  Either way, I have two weeks until Pennsic to bust my butt and see how much stuff I can get done.  Fingers crossed. 

In which we are confused...and a little scared

For a lot of Scadians, July is Pennsic prep season.  We dig out our tents, check waterproofing, polish up the armour and go through the garb to get it ready.  Which is exactly what Adam and I have been doing.  Except there was a small problem.

Some of our garb was missing.

This would seem strange to people who know us because we have a lot of clothes.  A LOT of clothes.  I make a lot of stuff and give away a lot of stuff (to make yet more stuff) and Adam is just a garb whore.  We have closets full.  We have rubbermaid bins full.  So the fact that we even noticed stuff missing was a surprise in itself.  However, one of the things I was missing was something I had spent a lot of time embroidering and when you swear that much at a piece of fabric, you tend to grow attached to it. 

Specifically, this dress:

It was, strangely, one of the only Greek dresses I was missing, but there were clothes from other time periods, as well as some of Adam's things gone as well, so we were thinking there was a bin somewhere that had gone astray.

So I waited for a not-brain-melting hot day to ask Morwin to untape the attic eaves and crawl in.  Eave 1- no bin.  Eave 2- no bin.  Now dirty, sweating, and  more than a tad disgruntled, Morwin was bribed to venture out to the garage, the no man's land of stuff that hasn't been unpacked since we moved last year.  I prepped him with a picture of the dress, so he knew exactly what he was looking for. 

A short time later he came back, a little stricken.

This is all that's left of the dress.  We have absolutely no clue what happened to it.  Other stuff was stored in the garage and left untouched.  Other fabric things, including fighting garb, mere feet away.  Totally unscathed.  

Morwin is blaming fabric-eating chupacabras. 

I refuse to believe that any god exists so cruel as to make such a creature. 

However, I am locking up the stash from now on. 



Buttons

The past two weeks I've been unable to make the transfers up to my sewing room, so I'm working on small projects that could be brought downstairs. Mostly, buttons.

For Adam's doublet, I've made 14 thread wrapped buttons.  They were made by wrapping embroidery thread around wooden beads, using the tutorial found at The Renaissance Tailor.  The buttons are time consuming, but I think they'll look great on the finished project. 

Italian Chemise

My chemise for the competition was made from a very lightweight linen I found on sale online.  The pattern used was Margo Anderson's low neck smock pattern.  After sewing what feels like a hundred of these, I wanted to do something a little different to  help it stand out a little bit.  The embroidery on the neckline, sleeves, hem and french seams were all machine done. 

The cuffs were smocked, inspired by an existing chemise seen in Moda a Firenze.  The cuffs were then embroidered and trimmed in lace to match the neckline.

Finished!

Drawers

I've started working on Adam's doublet and pants and the quilting is done which means I'm now at hand couching the gold cord over the quilted lines.  To say that this process is going painfully slow is an major understatement. 

So this morning, when I went up to my sewing room and there was sunlight pouring through the windows for the first time in what feels like weeks, I totally switched plans.  Something light, linen and airy.  And I have my first finished piece for the competition.

The drawers are made out of linen that I got on sale at http://www.fabric-store.com/.  It's very very lightweight pretty sheer, so these are definitely not something I'll be modeling for the final photos!

Leg cuffs are trimmed in lace from the stash.  The embroidery is machine done and covers both cuffs, waistband and the side leg seams.

I closed the waistband with a ribbon tie rather than a button due to weight changes from physical therapy.  I will probably end up closing the front opening with a few hidden hook and eyes. 

One layer done!