What Gets Me Thru the Long Sewing Days

Posted by Trystan on April 30th, 2013

I don’t have any sewing progress photos because I’m just going, going, going. Also, the black francaise took up permanent residence on my dressform for months, so I couldn’t photograph anything else effectively (I tried some iPhone mirror pix in the middle of fitting stuff on myself, & wow, those sucked).

The to-do list for France is *gasp* almost done. I finished trimming Thomas’ coat over the weekend, while at a family gathering (& in the car on the way there). My mom even helped finish a shirt I was making for an SCA event this next weekend. I’m now going over my packing list to make sure I have everything, plus I’m waiting for the items that Donna is making for Thomas to arrive. I may have to sew buttons on during the plane ride or maybe at night in our Paris apartment, but that’s it, I think, fingers crossed.

However, what inspired me to post right now is that a blogger friend, The Curious Professor Z, started posting her “jukebox” & asked what you listen to during the week. During the week when I work from home, I have NPR (local station KQED) on in the background. But when I sew, I really mix it up.

I know a lot of costumers say they sew (especially hand-sew) with costume movies on in the background, such as things they’ve watched a million times so they don’t need to watch the screen & can just listen to the dialog. Well, that’s totally not my thing. I’ve tried, & it doesn’t work. I *like* to watch the visuals — that’s the best part of a costume movie to me! I can occasionally sew to TV if it’s something where the visuals don’t matter, like a sitcom repeat (think “Friends” or “Sex in the City”). But not drama because that’s too engaging & again, it can’t be anything with appealing images.

cat with iPod

not my cat or iPod, but my sentiment

So I’m all about audio. I alternate between talk & music. For slow work, particularly hand-sewing but also patterning, fitting, & ironing, I like podcasts (which are my version of NPR because I don’t have an actual radio in my sewing room, plus I can get more variety). I listen to NPR shows I’ve missed during the week, such as Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Fresh Air, KQED’s Forum, RadioLab, To the Best of Our Knowledge, & the Commonwealth Club; some BBC shows like Thinking Allowed & In Our Time; & random stuff like Savage Love.

During machine sewing & cutting & any task I need high energy, I listen to music. My iPod playlists are heavy on the ’80s new wave & vintage goth, sprinkled with some ’70s disco & rock & ’90s-’00s pop, not to mention the occasional Weird Al & other novelty tunes. I especially love singing along loudly (& badly) to the Smiths, Sisters of Mercy, the Cure, Love & Rockets, Depeche Mode, New Order, Duran Duran, Erasure, ABBA, Donna Summers, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, & Journey. Yeah, nothing too obscure, but it’s fun & rockin’ & keeps me moving.

Do you watch TV or listen to music while you sew? What keeps you going when you face down a big to-do list?

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Posted in 18th Century Tags: , , , , , , 8 Comments »

Another Gown for France Finished

Posted by Trystan on April 20th, 2013

But let’s not get too excited about it. Here’s why: Much of this stripey redingote was made three years ago & has languished in the UFO box, so I didn’t have a ton of work left to do on it. But because I’d started it so long ago, it wasn’t in great shape, &, of course, there were reasons why I threw it aside & hadn’t picked it up in ages. The fit is super wonky in the bodice, & there were some pretty ugly fixes made to attempt to correct this. I even machine-sewed the hem (finally learning to use the blind-hem stitch, thanks to Kendra).

However, I think it was kinda worthwhile to finish this because, hey, awesome stripey fabric! Totally gothic black velvet batwing collar & cuffs! I did some things right there! So here’s my twist on a redingote, paired with the same black silk petticoat that goes with most of my 18th-century wardrobe, & pinned shut on my uncorseted dressform…

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Posted in 18th Century Tags: , 6 Comments »

Very Inspiring Blogger

Posted by Trystan on April 5th, 2013

Kendra of the most excellent Demode was sweet enough to give me this wee little award. So what the heck, I’ll play along!

Inspiring Blogger Award

To accept the award, one must:

  1. Display the award and link back to the person who nominated you.
  2. State 7 facts about yourself.
  3. Nominate 15 bloggers for the award.
  4. Notify the winners.

Seven facts:

  1. I don’t drive, by choice. As a Californian over age 40, this makes me more of a freak than a three-armed man.
  2. I’ve set foot on all seven continents, including Antarctica.
  3. I once tripped George Takei (not on purpose).
  4. My heritage is part Southern white trash, part Chinese.
  5. I really, really, really hate hand-sewing. And I’m really, really, really slow at it. But I’ve been doing a whole hell of a lot more of it recently. Ugh.
  6. I was in a sorority in college.
  7. I legally changed my name &, no, not when I got married.

This award has been going around, so I had to hunt to find bloggers I admired who hadn’t already been nominated (& I think there are still some repeats here).

15 inspiring bloggers:

Check out all these sites if you haven’t before — they’re great reading!

 

 

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Posted in Random Tags: 1 Comment »

Project: Repay Largess, Part 1

Posted by Trystan on April 1st, 2013

One key aspect of “largess” in the SCA is the generosity flowing from royalty to their subjects. To welcome visitors, to thank people, & to otherwise show appreciation & caring for others, small gifts are given by royalty at many occasions. They may purchase items to give out, but ideally, their court & artisans will make small period gifts so the royalty has a selection to choose from. Also, people often donate items throughout the reign.

At the Crosston Ball this February, their majesties King Obadiah & Queen Ascelin presented me with a lovely basket overflowing with largess as a thank-you for running the ball. I was pretty surprised, especially when I got home & looked at everything — I counted 27 items, including many pieces of fine needlework. First, I decided to distribute much of it to the committee who helped me run the ball (still working on this, as I haven’t had a chance to see all of them). Second, I promised to myself that I would make largess items to pay back each item I received. No time limit, but I’m going to try to deliver something at each kingdom event I attend.

Portrait miniature of Elizabethan little girl

Repro miniature of Elizabethan little girl

The first ones I’ve made are an Elizabethan portrait miniature reproduction & a pearl & gold necklace. I didn’t paint the miniature — I downloaded a high-resolution image from the Victoria & Albert Museum website (which anyone can do for personal use). It’s a portrait of a little girl painted by Isaac Oliver in 1590. I chose this because it could be a suitable gift to many people. Someone could wear it & say it’s their daughter, niece, cousin, or little sister.

I resized the image in PhotoShop, printed & cut it out, then I glued it to a brass frame that has a pinback (I have a bunch of these I’d bought on eBay for this purpose). I used E-6000 glue because it works great on metal, but you do have to let it dry overnight. Then I used a gold paint pen with a narrow tip to outline the portrait — this covers up the edge anywhere I didn’t cut perfectly evenly, plus it just looks fancy. The last step is to paint over the portrait with an acrylic sealant, which both protects the paper & gives it the brushstroked look of a real painting.

Pearl & gold necklace in Renaissance style

Pearl & gold necklace in Renaissance style

For the necklace, I used glass pearls & glass gold-colored beads from my stash. That’s where I discovered the gold & pearl pendant too. It’s strung on gold-colored Beadalon wire & has a gold metal clasp. I intended the necklace to have an Italian Renaissance style, but it could also be worn with Greek or Roman outfits.

I delivered these to Queen Ascelin at March Crown XLVII (tho’ I forgot to include my name with either of them, oh well). 25 more items to go!

(A few years ago, I made some velvet purses for largess; I’m not counting them in this number, but I could make more of those ones because I still have the patterns I drafted…)

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Posted in 16th Century Tags: , , 2 Comments »

All but Hems & Trims

Posted by Trystan on March 25th, 2013

The problem with working on several costumes simultaneously is that I don’t get that “ah, finished!” feeling from having completed any one item. All my projects are in a state of half-done, all at the same time. It’s annoying & not my usual mode of operation. But I’m in deep now, & there’s no turning back.

The black silk francaise is completely sewn (mostly hand-sewn, OMG, never thought I’d say that about a dress made by me). It just needs to be hemmed & trimmed, & of course, those take forever. Similarly, Thomas’ frockcoat is all done except it needs a collar (cut but not assembled) & trim (tho’ all the buttons are made).

Here’s some crappy iPhone pix to prove that I’m still going. Btw, the black lace trim on the francaise petticoat? That used to be the lace overlay on the skirt of my Eugenie gown. I completely deconstructed that skirt so I could use a swath of the lace in this project. Bonus: I also have a ton of gorgeous purple silk to do something else with later. Because, even tho’ that project was a major life milestone & a huge achievement, 1850s costume just isn’t my thing.

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Posted in 18th Century Tags: , , , , , 4 Comments »
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