Wax tablets and eventing

Someone asked more about my tablets and I mentioned I will be bringing a few to sell at Doublewars at which point they immediately asked for the price-range, and if they could order one after doublewars since they wouldn't be going. This is -very- satisfying, since that means I will probably stand a good chance of selling them. This is delightful because it also means I will be recouping at least a little money from this when I go.

I paid the site fee, and I also booked a train ticket. Then the problem is getting from train-station to event site, but hopefully lifts will be available. I haven't picked up the tickets yet though, and they are refundable, despite being the cheap-o kind. Well, very nearly all refundable, they deduct 100 SKR. But if/once I decide absolutely I'll be going by train both ways I figure I can contact the event stewards and ask for assistance.

I know alot of people from here are going by car, but question is: how many, how organized, when and, lastly, how much? I was starting to get worried about it, and asked about trains down and I know at least two locals who will be going by train as well. I'm not sure how I'll manage with my bags and such on trains - the transfers were only 30 mins in Stockholm, so I suppose I'll be walking very fast between trains - but with not going in a car, I don't have to worry about splitting everything up into several smaller bags for the tetris-packing. No tetris-packing means I can use my huge luggage which fits quite a bit of stuff. I might even get away with packing everything in that and then only add my backpack. Well, one can hope anyway. Stuffing everything in my huge luggage means alot of weight in it though :)

Getting -there- should be less of a problem than getting -home- though, I suspect. Most of the cars will be stuffed to capacity, and everyone is leaving on the Sunday, so getting a ride to the train station might be tricky - but I'm sure it'll all work out somehow in the end. Things usually do. However, I really don't like to have to fret about things that can be settled in advance. I haven't even started worrying about meals either. Well, not much anyway. I at least know I have breakfasts at the site, paid for in advance.

Progress and Pondering

On Saturday's extra sewing circle I got a fair bit done. I clipped and felled the seam joining sleeves to body of my gothic fitted dress. That went fairly painlessly, despite the fabric turning some tight corners - the wonderful elasticity of wool! I tell you, it's amazing. Anyway, I did the seams, ringing the seam itself with tiny prick stitches on the outside, so you can really tell it's handmade. It wasn't as if I planned it that way, but that was how I had been felling all the other seams. I didn't even think about what kind of stitch I would use I just went ahead and did it.

Then I swore a bit as I realized I had forgotten to bring with me extra wool to cut out a strip to face the lacing edge with on the inside. The fabric should be good to hold up to eyelets, with wool and linen on the inside, but I figure I may as well be extra sure, so I cut out a strip of wool and stitched it invisibly along the inside front closing edge of the gown. I also measured out and added pins where all the eyelets go. I counted them, at two centimetres apart, 26 per side. So that's 52 eyelets I have to make. Oh goodie.

I started the eyelets too, after fiddling a bit with getting the strip to lay smoothly and not pull at anything (the front edge has a bit of a curve after all). I did the first one, the one at the bottom edge of lacing, using silk buttonhole floss, was displeased and then continued pushing two more holes and overcasting the edges with six or seven stitches of regular silk sewing thread. That should keep the eyelets open so I can do a proper eyelet with buttonhole floss afterwards. Hopefully they will then not look like utter crap when I do them properly, and with the hole opened I may be able to try it on without having to do all eyelets. I need to try it on for two purposes:

1. Check the neckline
2. Check hem length

The neckline looks good in front, but in back I did not cut out enough of a curve. I've had this problems with all of my generic medieval garb so far. I've been lazy, or cheated and just cut the back of the neckline - well, not at all frankly. Just left it a straight edge running into the shoulder seam. Stupid of me, really, but I suppose I have to learn the hard way.

I have not entirely made up my mind how to handle the rest of the front seam of my dress. I mean, I have definately decided that there will be no more eyelets on this gown - I know there are people who do buttons from floor to throat on a "cotehardie" but I'm not a fan of that method, and besides that, lacing an entire gown from floor up seems pretty stupid. You only need it across the torso where you want to pull it tight. I may just lay it right sides together and whipstitch the edges together - I mean, that method has worked for me before, notably in my cloak which is made from damned heavy material and lined. I didn't get much of a hard line in the seams at all, was in fact able to smush the edges up against each other most satisfactorily.

If I don't whipstitch I may do something very crafty and make it look like I have actually sewn the two edges together before attaching the lining (which is a bold-faced lie). Ah well, I'm sure my fingers will decide once I get to that stage.

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So to the pondering - I have deconstructed the sleeves to my tudor court gown, the false "fore-sleeves" as I like to call them. I pulled out the ridiculous chemise sleeves I had inside them - handstitched in linen with a blackworked cuff - and I have ripped open the back seam of the fore-sleeves themselses.

The chemise sleeves I've further ripped apart, taking away the strip I attached the pleating and tie-cords with and cut off the last 10 cm which has the nice blackwork pattern. I am hoping to be able to recycle these now un-finished sleeves into the shirt I want to make. This time re-constructing them in a proper, period, manner. Pleating the sleeve and the cuff separately and attaching the two by sandwiching it between two strips, rather than just one. I may end up not using the sleeves for the shirt though - the quality of material is different from what I bought with the shirt in mind. But the blackwork is lovely so I don't want to have wasted that effort. I may just make them into cuffs which I can mount into the new fore-sleeves.

When I say new fore-sleeves I don't mean actually new - I need to re-use the ones I have, but I must interline them with something stiff - the floppy curtain and flimsy cotton I lined it with is simply not good enough. When I do this I also mean to cheat on the "chemise poufs" that need to peek out at the bottom of the sleeves. I have enough, probably, of the satiny polyester material I used to cover my French hood coif brim. This would be ideal poufy material for the fore-sleeves, trying to look very fich and fluffy. It may be that it is too thick, in which case --- well, in which case I say screw it and start to cry. No, not really, but maybe use a little of the fine white linen that is meant for my shirt. It doesn't use much to create poufs anyway.

My French hood is still disassembled, with the veil half stitched on.