Long, long time!

I didn't realize it's been about 16 months since I last posted about a project to this journal. And honestly, I haven't had any inspiration since then. I have done some sewing but nothing that has really caught my fancy.

Well after attending my first event in Caid in over 10 years, I'm hell-bent on making a new Gothic fitted dress (commonly referred to as a cotehardie) in a personal heraldic style. I plan to have it done by March 1, since I plan to wear it March 3rd at Caidan Crown.

My proposed design is parti-colored red and black with white crescents sewn near the hem line.

I have two styles I'm contemplating.

1. Side-laced with bell sleeves (lined in alternate colors), maybe additional crescents around the neck or bell cuff.
2. Long fitted sleeve with button closures on bodice and sleeves with white tippets to match the crescents

The choice is hard to make. All the GFDs I own are the front button type, so I think I may do the side-lace one for it's cleaner lines and difference in style. It also gives me a chance to learn hand-sewn eyelets.

I plan to buy the linen from fabrics-store.com which is conveniently 45 mins away so I don't have to pay shipping. I'm also going to line it to give it extra stability. I haven't lined my GDFs recently because I usually wear them in the summer for the hot Calontir events.

The white for the crescents, I hope to find something at the fabric district. A heavy weight cotton brocade would be ideal. Nothing with the shiny of polyester blends.

Next thought.... head covering..... no clue and need to research.

Weird Timing

It's odd, but typically some of my best patterning or design ideas come to me right as I'm in bed and beginning to fall asleep. There's a big issue with this - usually I am under the influence of my sleeping pill and I'm not awake enough to get up, find paper and write some thing down. However, like last night, with a bit memory trudging, I am able to recall my idea. This one is about the construction of the sleeve for HRH's wams.

I have finally decided on the colour combination: The wams will be blue with black slashing and the sleeves will be black with blue lining. You won't see much of the blue, but at least on the upper sleeves the slashes will be lined with the blue so when the linen twists or moves, you catch a glimpse of the blue.

Okay, I have diagram from another German landsknecht/Renaissance costumer from the WAY BACK machine on how to make the iconical slash/puff sleeve. I don't even think she teaches this class anymore, but I still am referring to her handout for construction theories. Her process is a 4 layer sleeve.

1. Lining- self explanatory, it also safeguards the stitching to the inner sleeve from repeated wear;
2. Inner sleeve - this is the base structure. It is the actual size and length of the arm; the puff sleeve is anchored to the inner sleeve;
3. Puff sleeve - this is the white "false sleeve" that is supposed to look like an actual undershirt (hemd) poking through the slashes.  It is longer and wider than the inner sleeve so it'll have form and shape under the Outer sleeve;
4. Outer sleeve - this is the fashion fabric, this is typically the wool or velvet that you would see slashed. Because of it's fulled nature, there was a need for an outer sleeve lining, but because I am using linen, I plan to line the upper portion of the outer sleeve for more rigidity.

All I know is I have a TON of hand sewing to do!!! LMAO.

Okay brainstorm over.

Plans and Execution

Alright.... train of thought:

From the woodcut, it appears that the slashing on the wams are not separate bands (umleg) like with a woman's dress, however it stands to reason that the same process could have been used for a man's wams. So with that as theory, I need to decide what colour combination I want to do. The blue linen is a bit of a coarser weave, and a bit tougher to keep from fraying even with tight hand sewing. (That reminds me, I'll do the hand sewing with linen thread, I really do prefer it much more than modern thread.) The base of the wams will be blue with blue lining, black umleg and black sleeves, not sure whether or not to self-line the sleeves or use the blue. There will be a white inner false sleeve for the puffing and the man's version of the brusttuch will be a black garment fabric with a faint gold diamond weave. If I'm inclined or have time, I might stud the brusttuch.

I'll be making the hemd (shirt) this week & mock-up for fitting this weekend.

I have a ton more to write but it's taken me over an hour to get through this with measuring, researching and phone calls, so that's it for tonight.