What I did Thursday evening/night at Visby

[liadethornegge]

What did I do then? Well, seeing as it was getting dark and chilly and we were all just sitting around the Aros tables in camp yammering on I figured I'd take out my shirt and see if I couldn't finish it somehow.

If anyone remembers I had actually started on the last step for a wearable shirt: pleating the neckline into the collar. Well, I started with the divide and conquer method using up many many pins. I looked at it and decided, bollocks to that. Pulling all the pins out I started over by running a gathering thread on the small turned hem I had done at the neckline. I didn't measure anything, but I used the approximate distance I had judged the pleats would have at the end of the divide and conquer method before I gave that up.

It worked.

After having found the one crucial point (centre back) and marking it with a pin I marked the three crucial points on the collar itself (centre back, and shoulder seam placement halfwway between CB and CF), pulled on my gathering thread and lined up my pins in the correct fashion. I did all this while it had gotten quite dark - I was hunkering up to the table and the lantern that was standing there.

Using the same method as for attaching a skirt I simply whipstitched the pleats into place along the collar until I made it all the way around. At that point I sat up straight and did a little victory dance on my chair. w00t for me! w00t for me!

Then I remembered I still had no means of closing the collar, so dug down into my pouch of sewing hardware to find the tangle of ties I had used previously on the false chemise sleeves of the Tudor working class gown. I attached one pair at either cuff and one pair at the collar and then I did another victory dance on my chair. W00t for me! W00t for me! Then I passed the shirt around so I could show off my work.

For future reference, if I ever start talking about doing the divide and conquer method on such wildly disparate measurements ever again hit me - hard. It's impossible and I should just go straight for the gathering stitches.

Also, I updated my diary to reflect these changes!

Comments

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

That's the way I do it, no calculating for me if I can avoid it.

Eva

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I'm an engineer damnit! I like having exact measurements and calculating how much and where, etc. Did not the full-embroidery chart of the blackwork on this collar prove that? :P

[peronel.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! It looks very nice indeed.

BTW, if divide and conquer is whta I think it is, I use it for pinning ruffs to ruff-bands, and find it works very well indeed.

Peronel.

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

Well, the D-a-Q method is simple. Find the halfway point on your two pieces, pin those together, also pin the edges together. Then find the halves of the halves, then the halves of the quarters etc. ad nauseam until you run out of fabric for more pinning and finding halves.

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

argh.. the D-a-C as in conquer.. I'm a moron.

[peronel.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I do it differently.

Take your ruff (or shirt neckline) and find the half way point. Repeat and repeat and repeat, until the fabric is marked by an equally spaced number of pins.

Do the same for the collar. Same number of pins. I normally do 32 for a neck ruff and 16 for a wrist ruff. Either way, on the longer piece, the distance between pins should be abotu the same as the amount of fabric you want in one pleat.

Then join the pins. Then, starting one end, press each pleat down (double box pleats for ruffs) and pin it into place.

Works really well: no measureing and no maths.

Much easer to do the halving and halving thing with the pieces seperate!

Peronel.

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that sounds like an excellent technique. Now let me ask some clarifying questions.
On the collar piece, starting at one end I should pin the end of the ruff there at the very end?
Then line up the next pin in the ruff with the next pin in the collar?
Then fiddle with the ruff fabric and collect it, somehow, in the distance between pins 1 & 2, no sticking out to one side?

Isn't that awfully fiddly?

[peronel.livejournal.com]

"On the collar piece, starting at one end I should pin the end of the ruff there at the very end?"

Yes. You need to fold the raw edges under first, of course.

"Then line up the next pin in the ruff with the next pin in the collar?"

Yes. And the next pin. And the next pin... Keep matching pairs of pins til you run out of ruff!

"Then fiddle with the ruff fabric and collect it, somehow, in the distance between pins 1 & 2, no sticking out to one side?"

It's sort of hard to describe, but you sort of push it down into a box pleat/double box pleat between pins 1 & 2. Ideally with nothing sticking out either side but if there's a bit of overlap between each set of pleats its not a disaster.

"Isn't that awfully fiddly?"

It's awkward til you get the hang of it but, since you're only actually manipulating a couple of inches of fabric into the pleat, it's not too bad. I sew each pleat into place (running stitch, usually) before moving onto the next set.

Peronel.

[mc-cadieux.livejournal.com]

Ooooo ! It's beautiful ! :-)

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And with Peronel's tips about ruff-making I might even make it look 100% complete.

[myralea.livejournal.com]

looks amazing! am so impressed :)

hm, maybe i should really dig up my balckwork embroidery and finish the collar and cuffs i started all those years ago? was it 3 years now?

/m

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Go on, you know you want to embroider...