October Blackwork Jacket Update and Assessing Projects for PerCoFiMo

02. November 2009 · 3 comments · Categories: Embroidery, Sewing · Tags: , , , ,

With October ending and November beginning I wanted to take some time update everyone on my Jacket Project progress, asses the status of my PerCoFiMo projects, set some priorities*, and estimate the amount of time I think each will take over the next month. 

The Jacket Project 

My jacket currently stands at 18 hours in with an estimated 35 hours to finish the current sleeve and gores (btw I have a couple new pics up of how it looks so far).  Obviously this is my top priority for PerCoFiMo.  I had two events last month that needed prep work and I let myself get side tracked on some other things as well so I really need to buckle down and get in my 10hrs a week on the project. 

Black Wool Hood 

My hood is very close to done.  All the seams are sewn and all that’s left to do is the flat felling.  This all needs to be done by hand but, based on the hood I made for Coty last year, I’m estimating it will only take me about 5 hours to finish.  Since this should be quick to knock out I’m going to set this as 2nd priority for PerCoFiMo in the hopes that getting something knocked out quickly will help renew my inspiration to finish others. 

Falling Band and Cuffs 

The falling band and cuffs are my 3rd priority because I really want them for 12th Night. I’m not making new clothes for 12th Night because my black silk suit fits very nicely again but I do want to make a nice falling band and set of cuffs for myself to spiff it up.  I’ll be sewing them completely by hand but I don’t really have an estimate yet on how long it will take me. 

Green Linen GFG 

Next to the jacket I expect this will probably take the most time.  Everything is cut out but I need to take the pattern in a bit and nothing in sewn together yet.  I really want to finish this gown because I love my red linen one so much and want another comfy GFG for spring and summer.  It will be mostly machine sewn although all the visible finishing will be done by hand.  I’m thinking about making this my 4th priority though since I probably won’t be wearing it much until the spring. 

Complete mending

 Part of me wants to take this one totally off the list because a PerCoFiMo is supposed to be fun and I hate mending.  On the other hand the point of having a PerCoFiMo is to push yourself to finish all the things that you’ve been putting off and the mending definitely fits that bill.  So I don’t really know what I’m doing with this one yet.

Begin Flander’s Gown

Now this is tough because it’s a project I’m really excited about but at the very least I need to get through my falling band and cuffs before I really get it started.  So this may be bumping the GFG out of 4th place.  I have my fabric and I have the fur.  I need to order linen for the lining and make a decision about the pattern.

 

*Note: most priorities are subject to change based on the whim of the project executor.

New Projects: Training Manuals and a Flanders Gown

06. October 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Fighting, Sewing · Tags: , , , , , , , ,

When I was baroness I had several projects I really wanted to pursue but I put on the back burner due to time constraints. Among there projects were training manuals for Silver and Swetnam’s systems of defense. Now I am ready to pick those projects back up. While I was finishing my recent article on Swetnam I spent some time thinking about how I wanted to make these manuals available. In the end I’ve decided to publish them in installments here on my blog. Starting probably next week but definitely by the week of the 19th I will be making them a weekly feature. I haven’t yet decided which day I will be publishing them but currently I’m leaning towards midweek. My current plan is to start with Silver and then do Swetnam. When they are finished I’ll be compiling them and making them available in pdf format on my website.

I’ve also be diligently embroidering my jacket to the point where I feel pretty good about taking on another sewing project. I’ve been enamored with Flanders gowns since doing the research for my loose gown in 2006. I have some lovely wool flannel that would be perfect for the project and I’ve decided to make it fully fur lined since I have wanted a fur lined gown since probably 2005. I know I live in North Carolina and am not likely to get to wear it very often but I don’t care. It’s going to gorgeous and it will ensure beautiful weather for Ymir in February. I have wanted to try my hand a working with fur for quite some time and I already have several coats for the project.

September jacket progress (with musings on finishing old projects)

29. September 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Embroidery, Sewing · Tags: , , ,
Jacket Sleeve (10 hours embroidered)

Jacket Sleeve (10 hours embroidered)

Since I posted pictures of my jacket on the 21st I haven’t really talked more about it. As we are at the end of the month I wanted to post an update of the progress so far. Sadly, it’s not as much as I would have liked. This month has been really busy. In fact I didn’t have time to work on the jacket at all last week and we are still at 10 hours embroidered. The good news is I no longer have to postpone working on it until after October. Sadly though I have not kept to my schedule of embroidering 10 hrs a week. I need to get back on schedule in October and stop putting off my embroidery to the weekends. I know I can only work on it for 2-3 hours at a time right now so putting off all 10 hours for the week to the weekend means that I only get 4-6 hours done a week instead of the full 10. So that’s kinda where things stand with this project.

I haven’t started anything else but if I can get to the point were I’m getting all my embroidery done during the week I may work on finishing some old projects on the weekends. I have a green linen gothic fitted gown that I started a year and a half ago that I’d like to finish. It needs to be taken in a bit but that would be very easy at this stage. I also have a black wool hood that I started last year that would be really nice to have this winter. And then there’s all the mending I need to do. Finishing old projects isn’t the same as starting new ones but it’s something we all always intend to do but never seem to get to. In December of 2006 a group of people on LJ started National Costume Finishing Month (a spin off of National Novel Writing Month). In 2006 the NaCoFiMo ran from December to January but it’s been a lot more variable since then. Maybe I should hold my own personal NaCoFiMo this fall.

Pictures: Midnight at the Oasis 2009 and my jacket!

21. September 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Embroidery, Events, Pictures · Tags: , , , ,

This past weekend was Midnight at the Oasis and I had a great time. I will be posting thoughts on my fighting later today or tomorrow but until then I have pictures from the event (mostly of court) as well as pictures of my jacket (we’re currently at 10hrs embroidery time).

Into the Weekend

04. September 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Weekend Plans · Tags: , , , ,

It’s not often that I have a three day weekend all to myself so when those little opportunities come along I like to take full advantage of them. This weekend will be no exception. While it may sound indulgent I plan on spending my weekend doing all the things I love to do and never seem to have enough time for.

On my To Do List:

1) Go for at least one, maybe two, morning runs at the lake with one or both of my dogs. I won’t run at the lake in the morning because it’s dark and lately I’ve either not had time for a run in the evening or it’s been raining. Really looking forward to this one. I also need to do some thinking about where I want to go with my workouts because I’m just not feeling it right now. A nice run or two should help with that.

2) Spend an entire day embroidering on my jacket while watching bad movies. I have not be able to spend as much time as I would have liked on this project over the past couple of weeks so I’m setting aside a whole day for it this weekend. And what sewing isn’t made better when it’s done on the couch while watching those deliciously bad movies we all know we have. Pictures will have to wait until next week though.

3) Work on my gown for our anniversary party.

4) Take my lap top to a local park or coffee shop and write for a few hours. I have articles that need finishing!

5) Go to the kberg cookout. Sadly I missed the last one.

Definitely not on my To Do List:

1) I will not be doing any cleaning. The house is already pretty tidy and I want to enjoy all my time this weekend. I may do some laundry but that’s about it.

The Forehead Cloth Project: Pictures

01. September 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Embroidery · Tags: , ,
Treasure Hunt success at Lake Rawlings Dive Fest. Picture by Luis Pablon

Treasure Hunt success at Lake Rawlings Dive Fest. Picture by Luis Pablon

It has taken me longer to post these pictures than I thought it would which is due almost entirely to the fact that I spent last weekend at the Lake Rawlings Dive Fest. Getting everything ready for my trip took up much more of my free time during the week than I had anticipated.

I had a great time diving with my friends but that has nothing to do with my forehead cloth. :)

The finished forehead cloth.

The finished forehead cloth.

Pictures of the finshed piece as well as the full gallery for this project can be found here.

The Forehead Cloth: Thoughts After Finishing

24. August 2009 · Write a comment · Categories: Embroidery · Tags: , ,
An earlier picture of my forehead cloth still in progress.

An earlier picture of my forehead cloth still in progress.

As I had posted last week all the embroidery was finished for my forehead cloth so all I had left to do was put it together. In the end I decided not to do any fill stitches and just go with the outline because a large portion of it would be under my coif most of the time anyway.

This weekend I assembled my forehead cloth and wore it for the first time.  It’s very cute and I should have the pictures up this evening.

More than anything I think this project has taught me a small modicum of patience. Patience is not really a virtue that I possess in abundance (or really at all). I’m better than I was at 5 or 6 but really who isn’t. In the grand scheme of things though I’m not particularly patient nor do I like having to soldier through finishing one project before getting to start on one I’m much more excited about.

And that’s kind of how I felt about this forehead cloth. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a cute project and one I’ve really enjoyed doing. Plus it gave me a change to get my embroidery back in practice before really starting my jacket. But once I had really begun transferring the jacket design working on it was all I could think about. It’s all I really wanted to do. But I had promised myself that I would finish my forehead cloth before really getting started on the jacket and I needed to follow through with that if I didn’t want my poor little forehead cloth to wind up in the bottom of some unfinished project pile like all the mending I keep saying I’m going to get to. I started this project because it was small, quick, would get me back into “stitching shape” for my jacket, and with the bangs I needed something to cover them when I wanted to wear a gown and didn’t feel like frizzing them.

I know you are all thinking that I didn’t actually finish the forehead cloth before starting my jacket because I have now transferred most of the design and I’ve also embroidered one of the motifs. Honestly though, given full rein I would have been much further along with my sleeves by now and I wouldn’t have worked on anything else all weekend. It would have been me, the jacket, and instant Netflix movies all weekend.

Considering all that I feel pretty good. And now I can work on my jacket and my gown for our anniversary party without feeling that I should be doing anything else.

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