I have been a Very Bad Ursula lately. I didn't even write in my blog last week, which is due to a lot of factors, mostly health issues, work, and school stuff. I have a couple of different things to share this week, though, and hopefully more in the future.
I *finally* finished hand-felling all of the seams on my dolphins dress (that's always what it will be to me, lol). It was something I'd grab and work on a bit when I needed a hand sewing project and didn't have anything in mind. I don't bother to do hand-finishing on all of my garb. I sometimes do French seams like I did with my Italian camicia. This is much quicker, and it's not that different from the seams in one of the Hedeby find, where a seam was sewn with running stitch, then the raw edges turned in toward each other and whip-stitched. Sometimes I just get creative like I did with my ultramarine bliaut and some of my other projects, where I am able to use the full width of the fabric and take advantage of the selveges. Now that I have a serger I've done several garments that way, including my Slavic dress. Clearly, there are advantages to doing things quickly. Garb gets finished. I don't get overwhelmed by long-lasting projects. As long as there isn't visible evidence of the modern techniques it passes my standards. That said, though, I love the look of hand-finished seams. I think it looks lovely, and garments are so comfortable with the seams felled flat. They don't tend to shift and bunch as much, and they wear very well. While you can get sewing machine feet that will do flat-felled seams, it's fairly obvious they're machine-done.
So, anyway. Over the past year or so I've done a bit here, a bit there, and now the dolphins dress is fully finished. The felling was done with natural-colored flax thread, waxed with beeswax. Here's a photo of the top of one gore. The aqua looks a little washed out in this picture, but it's just a trick of the light. I tend to like running stitch best for this, because it goes so quickly, but hem stitch is also pretty, as I did on my red bliaut and gold underdress.
I *finally* finished hand-felling all of the seams on my dolphins dress (that's always what it will be to me, lol). It was something I'd grab and work on a bit when I needed a hand sewing project and didn't have anything in mind. I don't bother to do hand-finishing on all of my garb. I sometimes do French seams like I did with my Italian camicia. This is much quicker, and it's not that different from the seams in one of the Hedeby find, where a seam was sewn with running stitch, then the raw edges turned in toward each other and whip-stitched. Sometimes I just get creative like I did with my ultramarine bliaut and some of my other projects, where I am able to use the full width of the fabric and take advantage of the selveges. Now that I have a serger I've done several garments that way, including my Slavic dress. Clearly, there are advantages to doing things quickly. Garb gets finished. I don't get overwhelmed by long-lasting projects. As long as there isn't visible evidence of the modern techniques it passes my standards. That said, though, I love the look of hand-finished seams. I think it looks lovely, and garments are so comfortable with the seams felled flat. They don't tend to shift and bunch as much, and they wear very well. While you can get sewing machine feet that will do flat-felled seams, it's fairly obvious they're machine-done.
So, anyway. Over the past year or so I've done a bit here, a bit there, and now the dolphins dress is fully finished. The felling was done with natural-colored flax thread, waxed with beeswax. Here's a photo of the top of one gore. The aqua looks a little washed out in this picture, but it's just a trick of the light. I tend to like running stitch best for this, because it goes so quickly, but hem stitch is also pretty, as I did on my red bliaut and gold underdress.
So, that's a second FO for February, and another item from my list of goals for the year.
I haven't made any progress with the weaving project yet. I got her all opened up and the castle lowered in preparation for tying-on. Here's a picture of the loom all set up, as has remained for the past two weeks.
I haven't made any progress with the weaving project yet. I got her all opened up and the castle lowered in preparation for tying-on. Here's a picture of the loom all set up, as has remained for the past two weeks.
The problem is that when I was looking everything over and dusting off, I noticed that the ratchet arm piece (what's the real name?) for the cloth beam (the one in front, to the right of this picture) had broken at some point. It was some rather cheap aluminum, and the broken piece was still nearby, but this little bit makes it impossible to warp up the beast. Here's the broken part:
My husband was able to fix it temporarily with epoxy, a thin sheet of metal, and a couple of screws, but I have a friend who is an armorer (why yes, I am a lucky girl!) who said she could cast a new one for me in steel, so I'd rather do that before I wind a project on. I saw her yesterday and forgot the part, so hopefully next time we get together I'll remember. That girl is getting such a nice skein of handspun in trade. You know she's extra cool because she's a knitter.
Finally, my husband just found this photo of my sister and I on his work computer. It's from the Renaissance Faire last October when we got to hold some beautiful falcons. I still really need to even out the neckline on this dress, but I think it's a great photo of us even with that and my veil slipping off in the wind. :)
Finally, my husband just found this photo of my sister and I on his work computer. It's from the Renaissance Faire last October when we got to hold some beautiful falcons. I still really need to even out the neckline on this dress, but I think it's a great photo of us even with that and my veil slipping off in the wind. :)
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