I want to sew sew sew!!

[liadethornegge]

So, today I went downtown to the yarn specialist store and bought me some linen, err...., knypplingstråd (I have absolutely NO idea what this translates to; but you use little spools of thread, a cushion and many many needles to sort of free-hand-tie lace and stuff). Then I went to the paint store and got me a little plastic mug of pure beeswax and a small ceramic dish in which I will pour the melted wax for it to form into a nice sized cake to use for waxing my new linen thread!

What does this mean; it means I will be able to handsew the linen shirt that will go underneath my doublet (that is in the planning stages still) with linen thread. I might also be able to handsew a chemise with linen thread to go under my current project, the gothic fitted dress. I have no fabric for this garment yet, though a friend of mine is planning a trip to a nearby town with a good store for reenactor's fabrics and hopefully I'll be able to get some nice linen there.

A chemise for the gfd really needs to be full length, and for it not to be stupid I need it to be fairly full in the skirt as well. Maybe I don't have to gore it, like I did the GFD, but I do need to angle out from the waist, and with full-length that means I probably need somewhere in the region of 2.5 or 3 metres to be on the safe side. The rumour is that linen costs 70 SKR/metre (actually 35 SKR for half a metre) at this store, so x3 that would mean 210 SKR.

While walking and pondering this, I also thought I should take out the body blocks I used to construct this gown, make sure the neckline is good, take pictures and scan it. Then fiddle with it until I have produced digital version of the body block which I can use to do layouts on fabric on my computer. I could use 1 pixel = 1 centimetre and would be able to accurately calculate how much fabric needs to go into a garment. Wouldn't that be the coolest? Yes, I am a computer geek, but I still think that'd be awesome. I had such fun doing the layout for my bliaut on the computer last summer! And yes, that picture is to scale.

To get back to my linen thread - I can't wait to use it, I want to sew right now! Luckily, sewing circle hostess decided to add an extra meeting this Saturday, so I will get the chance to sew in two days, rather than in a week and two days as would otherwise be the case. (I've been very good about not sewing when I should be studying - not so good as to actually study all the time I should be studying, but at least I haven't been sewing!)

Comments

[lady-guenievre.livejournal.com]

I actually find it easier to make my GFD chemises NOT floor length - mine are about mid-calf length, maybe a bit longer, and not particularly full. I figure if I already have a longer-than-floor length gown over another floor-length gown, I don't need yet another layer of fabric to get tripped on.

Also, have you tried Visio? that's what I use for laying out garments on fabric - though I usually just treat everything as rectangles/squares...

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, I did not mean floor-length, I wasn't planning on that, but longer than mid-thigh which is what I've been cheating with for my late period gowns :)
Somewhere on the calf sounds ideal length, but I am almost 6 feet tall (180 cm) so even just to calf length means about 150 cm length in the chemise itself. My middle-layer gown won't be pooling on the floor either - yes it is a somewhat flashy garment, but I want to be able to wear it to outside camping events, so floor-length is not the ideal. It will however be almost-flooth-length, and I'll be able to hoist it up on a belt to keep it out of dirt.

What is Visio? (I obviously haven't tried it!)

[lady-guenievre.livejournal.com]

::grin:: Makes sense - I tend to just say "screw it" and wear the floor length stuff to camping events anyway - if the hem gets unsalvageably muddy, well, I can always chop it off and rehem it. The belt thing works well too though! :-)

And Visio is a piece of software I got through my work - it's made for doing floor plans and such. It's a Microsoft thing, unfortunately, but I've found it works pretty well for figuring out fabric layouts.

[johannaelisabet.livejournal.com]

Is the paint store the one beside "Yll and Tyll"? I was in there today and saw that they had waxed linnen thread on rolls in different colours. But you don't get as much as you will with your method :) Knyppling is called Bobbin-lace in English. Bobbins are the small sticks you use to move the threads in different patterns. Have you checked out Tygomania? I bought fine white linen for 80SEK/m. They recently moved to Kungsgatan, almost opposite of Rätt Pris.

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Aah, Bobbin lace!
Yes, that's the one: Uppsala Färg. The saleseperson showed me their waxed linen thread but it is -much- too thick to use for sewing of clothes.
Haven't been to Tygomania lately, no, but I know they moved. I would have gone there today, but I have blisters under my feet and I didn't want to do that much walking. Besides, 70 is cheaper than 80 SKR/metre! :)

[johannaelisabet.livejournal.com]

Thats what I thought too - much to thick, but it was there and I hadn't seen it before. Hope you'll find the linen you want and that your blisters won't hurt so much.

Johanna