The Adventures of Goldilocks and Her Bears

My sewing machine went out today. It hasn't been serviced for a while, so I guess it's time for a sewing machine spa day. Still, I hope it's a little embarrassed that it failed on quilting cotton.

I've pulled out Moriven's brute of a machine, so I'm not totally without. Still, it's not the sleek, quiet hum that I'm used to.

...is what happens at 1 am when I have full-caf tea late in the evening.

I just finished Clara's new dress.


I am a silly bear-mommy.

Our seneschal canceled our shire meeting, so we get to go up to Ysa's for practice tonight! Yeah!

The sleeves for the ropa are coming out pretty well. I'm pleased that this whole project is coming out of my stash. Who knew I had 20 yards of trim that matched a yellow taffeta that I have just enough of for accents? That's a win. I am, as I'm sure you've noticed, still not inspired to actually sew the dern thing.

I've been jonesing for new clothes, especially jeans. But, I'm unemployed, and, while I am getting Unemployment, it's not what we call generous compared to what I make when I'm working. Heh. Not by a long shot.

So, I have a different take with the Stash Challenge. I'm making new everyday clothes for myself out of fabric from my stash. Ordinarily, I find this to be a chore, but I'm really getting into it this time. I went out a couple of days ago and bought myself a couple of new Burda paterns (always 40% off at JoAnne's) and have since been modifying the patterns to suit my shape. I'm having a blast!

Big plug for Burda patterns: I love Burda because they are really accurate to their measurements AND they tell you what the measurements are that they base their pattern sizes on. For instance, in my size they base their sleeve patterns on a 13" bicep. I have a 17" bicep (and an aversion to store-bought plain woven shirts, since they never make them with sleeves large enough for my giant muscles *grr*). Since I know what they're basing their sizing on, I know to add at least 4" to the width of all their sleeves (sometimes more to keep the sleeve proportional to the rest of the garment). I love that.

moriven and I went down to Tarnmist this weekend so I could teach my delayed hat workshop. We had a fabulous time. Achmere and Kathryn are excellent hosts :)

Saturday saw four folks up from the Isle, and a bunch of Tarnmisties. We started the day with Viking and Mongol hats, moved to Tres Riches Heures hats, hoods, then a flat cap and it's big brother the German pizza hat. We topped of the day with a 16th c. Spanish man's tall hat. I think we had 13 completed hats by the end of the day and another two still to be finished. Everyone who came went home with at least one completed hat. Some people had two!

Sunday I did some patterning for a few folks. I did a houppelande for Kathryn, a cotehardie and burgundian gown (hubba hubba!) for medeia , and a boy's cotehardie for razor_dancer . Mini-dancer is very into fashion, so we measured her, too, and suggested a few fancy, yet scalable dresses.

I would definitely do another workshop weekend*. I would recommend it to any artist, in fact. Everyone was very gracious, and grateful that I had come down. The people who used supplies - go faux fur and ostrich feathers! -  that I had brought paid me for them without having to be reminded. (I did request this in the pre-class email. I'm all about setting expectations.) I can't think of a better workshop I've had.

( * Maybe houppelandes to go with the Tres Riches Heures hats?  )

I went to Vincent's house to help with whatever was needed. I ended up making him socks (well, hosen)! He bought a wool double knit and showed me the pic he wanted and away I went. The hosen pattern that I used went together very nicely (hooray for my mutant fitting powers!) and I handstiched the feet so they'd look nice. Not bad for a few hours work :-)
 

The appliance curse at this house continues. Yesterday morning, moriven found that our water heater was running water freely our the garage. Fortunately, we had already showered when he made this discovery.

So, we went about our business. I was very excited to be wearing my new two-day dress - I cut it out  and moriven serged it Tuesday evening and I sewed it together Thursday. I still need to tack down the lining at the arm scye and then I'll be good to go. I might also put in another hook and eye. Or not. 

The hennin I already had, of course, though this was a new veil. The heavy silk net was an excellent sail, and I think I can say with some certainty that there is a reason we only see pictures of women wearing them indoors. I have been experimenting with some new ways of anchoring them based on what I learned doing the hat for 12th Night. I was really pleased at how well the hennin stayed on after I pinned it the second time. Both my hennin and the one I loaned calistotoni had their tips go limp because the starch is a bit elderly by now. I've wondered why some pictures show very tall hennins - not the obviousy truncated ones - with a round or not quite pointed tip, so I'm thinking that now we know how that comes about.

It was mighty warm at the Collegium site, which otherwise was very nice. Once the sun went down the hall cooled appreciably, but we were all still baking off the extra heat. The lessons about sittting and serving before the feast were really neat. I felt badly that no one stuck around for the Q&A session, but we were just too darn hot.

I think we struggled most with not being allowed to rise if the Crown had not. The tiny 'stand-up' breaks that Her Majesty gave us were much appreciated. Being stuck in our seats was a bit boring until we learned how to make our own entertainment.

It also took us a while to work up to asking the server for drinks, though once we broke though our modern mentality on that one, we did much better. I know that I should have drunk up quite a bit before we were seated. Michael was an excellent server and was quite willing to help us with our sending drinks to others entertainment. Our first volley was a glass of "wine, slightly watered!" to calistotoni. That exchange devolved quickly from there and was capped by the infamous cheese snubbing, all in good fun.

Brian, of course, was an excellent carver (far better than that other fellow on the next table down. LOL). I expect that a really good carver in period could get up to Benihana-like skills.

The benches were not bad generally, though we were warned about them. I think a flatter, more cubical cushion would have been better (more like a sofa cushion with the built-up sides than a throw pillow). I had more trouble trying not sitting on my veil. Unfortunately, we didn't have both cotter pins on the back rest and the leather throng did not hold it on, so we couldn't lean back the whole time. Between that and wearing the hennin my upper back is a bit sore today.

The food at the feast was the same as we had at Mists Bardic. The fish was quite tasty and the grape stuffing was another favorite. I don't remember the feast being so meat heavy and vegetable light before.  I still love the plum goo. Mmm... plum goo.

After a long, hot day, I'd sure like a shower.

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On a completely unrelated note, moriven just found a website selling "Men's Military Capris". Yes, that's cammo capri pants for men. snerk.

Yesterday I worked a bit of OT. Then, I started on the couch project while moriven (how do I love thee?) cleaned the kitchen, even the walls, floor, and cabinets. Have I mentioned recently how lucky I am to have my hubby?