Wednesday, August 31, 2011

my pants

so.. monday night at clothiers guild... i cut out a pattern for my pants... sewed them together...adjusted.... ripped out the seams and cut out my pieces of linen for my "real" pants...only to sew the first piece on upside down... now i am gonna resew together the pattern... so see if it will still work up side down or.. if i will have to rip out an hr of handsewing.... ug... wish me luck

btw.. i went with the soft rust linen for the pants as there is ample documentation for red leggings ... or pants


so as of today... braies... done
   drawstring done... did a linen fingerlooped braid...
       had enough time to do one for HRH ronan's pants as well
undertunic... done
trousers... rust material... cut out and began sewing


overtunic... decide color and DO
linen socks... decide color and DO
shoes... design cut and DO

Monday, August 29, 2011

took time off from my ACC... to work on my "steampunk... utilikilt"... so i re-purposed some old pairs of carhart work pants... gonna do a few more (after the competition)... hopefully the picts come thru... wore it all day... found it quite comfortable... confused some ppl... ;)

 

now back to my new pants... i think i'll go with a red linen... ;)

varia

Saturday, August 20, 2011

PICTURES!!

ok... pictures... here is my pattern for my braies
... i cut up an old pair of boxers that matched the line drawing/picture of the
trousers...


and here are pictures of my braies all done... handsewn... cotton thread... flat feld seams... comfy


my matching/not matching garters...
yarn from sequim, wa at a random weaving store we found in a travel brochure


and my undershirt which i cut while camping in yakima, wa... done...
handsewn... cotton thread... flat feld seams, triangular gussets and all

Monday, August 15, 2011

yay... i just finished my first piece of cardweaving...EVER... it looks soooo cool.... there is even enough of (the good part) for a band on my hat... now onto tablet weaving my garters...pictures to follow

dame varia
who is REALLY enjoying it!!

Friday, August 12, 2011

so... i finally got my shirt cut out on our last night of vacation... in yakima, wa... finally found time in between beer and cheese tasting...

i cut it out of the natural/tan linen.. and sewed both side gores before falling asleep... one of the gores is a "fake seam"... which is found in many examples.. and done for symmetry...

i then let elisabeth drive the rest of the way home... so i could sew (i had done 98% of the vacation driving till then)... as the roads were bumpy and the car swayed... i wondered if the pioneers stitched while up in the wagons... it did make things a bit uneven

so tonight i have the entire body sewn together and am going about insetting the arms... which have triangular gores... which i HATE... but are on most of the examples from the greenland digs

so as of today... braies... done (need drawstring... fingerlooping this weeknd)
undertunic... needs sleeves inset

overtunic... decide color and DO
trousers... decide color and DO

shoes... DO
hat and cowl...
over fun accessories......garters/"gator style" socks/ necklace/ belt/ pouch... other stuff still thinking

so far my only cost has been thread... i got cotton... because i could match it better... and the linen threads just DO NOT match my fabrics... i purchased wool at pendletons... but not sure how much i am using for the project... and purchased some wool and linen thread to do the fingerlooping and tablet weaving... so depending on how much i use... still under 25$

i am really enjoying doing this project and giving fabric to others ... from "my stash"... this project has been great for getting many ppl to go thru thier "stash" and DO SOMETHING... thanks bianca!!

-dame varia

Friday, August 5, 2011

i finished handsewing my braies last night at the picnic table...next to the columbia river...outside Portland... will get an uploaded picture when i have access to a camera cord again...

also... stopped at pendleton wool factory....drool... got a 10 lb bag of "blanket ends" for 20$... it had several nice 1 yd pieces...and 2 exceptional 4yd pieces... one black... one dk blue... both suit weight.. ... also bought several different yds of many other colors... all of it gorgeous ... decisions... decisions

cutting out my undertunic tomorrow morning while we have a floor in a hotel


Wednesday, August 3, 2011


i have my 1st item... a pair of braies done... i just have to hem and add a drawstring... i handstiched the whole thing... and i can say... my handsewing is not the best... but it is sturdy and won't come apart soon... pictures to follow... the braies are based on the Thorsberg trousers (pre-"viking" but considered a good source - as there are very few whole trousers found from the period.

my wife gave me Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns for my birthday... i will be doing one of the simple tunics as my undershirt... i need to cut it out before we leave on vacation

here is a line drawing of the pants found at thorsberg

i will also be doing my trousers from this example... as the braies turned out so well