(no subject)
My, it has been awhile since I posted last. So much was done for prep for Costume College (great fun as usual) that I didn't get much costuming or other creative work done.
Now that CoCo is behind me, my next main push is the white & purple silk damask Tudor kirtle in the Italian fashion project, due in mid October for Black Rose Ball. Now for those folks of my renfaire guild or sister guilds reading this, no, I am not going to even begin to ponder wearing this for faire, tho the red supporting petticoat I will wear under another kirtle/gown, as there are no issues with that color for faire. I still think the violet silk would be very pretty to wear, but Carrie talked me out of wearing that in the future for faire. I will post pics of the pretty fabrics I bought later.
Anyway, back to the smock project which I started in July.
I don't recall which day last week (Wednesday or Thursday), but I finally got off my duff and cut up my nice hanky weight linen that has been in my stash for some years now (bought from old Denver Fabrics). 3 yards was all I had so I went with piecing the body piece near the hem area, which was done with a flat felled seam using the selvedge edge as that is good and firm and didn't need to be sewn under.
I then serged all the pieces except for the square underarm gusset, which I folded under twice and sewed by machine to prevent any raveling. My plan was to take these prepared pieces to the SCA Monthly Sewing meeting which started last Sunday (third Sundays of the month), and sew them together there. The meeting was fun! Got to chat with friends while we were sewing. So glad I restarted this.
On Sunday, I did some sewing of the side gores and gusset, but something wasn't lining up right. I also had problems with my machine, so I did what hand sewing of the underarm gusset I could do. I then realized that it had to be partly ripped out in order to fit in the side gusset in properly. It was a confusion in the manual I was following with the main image of the finished smock, not matching up with the instruction image. I finally realized once I was home that the underarm gusset needed to go into the side of the side gores, not onto the main body. The side gores go all the way to the sleeve portion (it's confusing without a visual). This is why the gores seemed too long, they really weren't. So today, I matched up all the pieces and proceeded to rip the last bit of underarm gusset that was sewn to the wrong part, put in the side gores, and resew them all into place on one side (other side tonight).
On the side gores, the instructions said to put the straight grain edge of the gore to the straight grain edge of the body. I prefer to put bias to straight, which because of my piecing the body actually ended up longer than the body piece, instead of shorter. I knew I would have to cut off something but this will be less cutting. I left part of the side seams unfinished in order to serge the part that will be cut off.
Tonight I hope to finish most if not all of the smock, although my plan is to not face the neckline as instructed, but to simply hand roll the edge and hand finish it with black embroidery. If I had enough linen left over I might bind it, but I don't know if I have enough or not, as I am down to scraps - tho one piece is rather long (but it's on the straight of grain). I'll figure that out later.
Well, off to get my daughter from the school bus, and then back to housework.
Now that CoCo is behind me, my next main push is the white & purple silk damask Tudor kirtle in the Italian fashion project, due in mid October for Black Rose Ball. Now for those folks of my renfaire guild or sister guilds reading this, no, I am not going to even begin to ponder wearing this for faire, tho the red supporting petticoat I will wear under another kirtle/gown, as there are no issues with that color for faire. I still think the violet silk would be very pretty to wear, but Carrie talked me out of wearing that in the future for faire. I will post pics of the pretty fabrics I bought later.
Anyway, back to the smock project which I started in July.
I don't recall which day last week (Wednesday or Thursday), but I finally got off my duff and cut up my nice hanky weight linen that has been in my stash for some years now (bought from old Denver Fabrics). 3 yards was all I had so I went with piecing the body piece near the hem area, which was done with a flat felled seam using the selvedge edge as that is good and firm and didn't need to be sewn under.
I then serged all the pieces except for the square underarm gusset, which I folded under twice and sewed by machine to prevent any raveling. My plan was to take these prepared pieces to the SCA Monthly Sewing meeting which started last Sunday (third Sundays of the month), and sew them together there. The meeting was fun! Got to chat with friends while we were sewing. So glad I restarted this.
On Sunday, I did some sewing of the side gores and gusset, but something wasn't lining up right. I also had problems with my machine, so I did what hand sewing of the underarm gusset I could do. I then realized that it had to be partly ripped out in order to fit in the side gusset in properly. It was a confusion in the manual I was following with the main image of the finished smock, not matching up with the instruction image. I finally realized once I was home that the underarm gusset needed to go into the side of the side gores, not onto the main body. The side gores go all the way to the sleeve portion (it's confusing without a visual). This is why the gores seemed too long, they really weren't. So today, I matched up all the pieces and proceeded to rip the last bit of underarm gusset that was sewn to the wrong part, put in the side gores, and resew them all into place on one side (other side tonight).
On the side gores, the instructions said to put the straight grain edge of the gore to the straight grain edge of the body. I prefer to put bias to straight, which because of my piecing the body actually ended up longer than the body piece, instead of shorter. I knew I would have to cut off something but this will be less cutting. I left part of the side seams unfinished in order to serge the part that will be cut off.
Tonight I hope to finish most if not all of the smock, although my plan is to not face the neckline as instructed, but to simply hand roll the edge and hand finish it with black embroidery. If I had enough linen left over I might bind it, but I don't know if I have enough or not, as I am down to scraps - tho one piece is rather long (but it's on the straight of grain). I'll figure that out later.
Well, off to get my daughter from the school bus, and then back to housework.