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The day did not go as I'd planned, but it did go well. The kids and I spent some time this evening in the back yard and gardens, cleaning up, pulling out a few rose bushes gone rogue. With nothing on the calendar for the weekend, I managed to get several useful errands run today, and made a good dinner this evening. With the positively insane schedule we had to keep in the weeks leading up to Irish Fest, we ate a lot of fast food and pre-packaged meals and I was heartily tired of it. Simple quesadillas, but with homemade salsa, and everything freshly made.
I have discovered the joys of electronic pattern drafting, and while it takes longer overall and it's relatively expensive to have it printed out when I'm done, I can fit the work into the times of my work day when I'm waiting for something else and the cost...well, I'm willing to pay it for the savings in time and effort elsewhere. Plus, it saves a lot of space storing the pattern once I'm done with it: I can recycle the paper and keep the electronic version. No more bulging, aging manilla envelopes! As I get time, I plan to transcribe all my existing patterns, tights and shirts, and reprint them. The old newsprint patterns from '06 and earlier are looking a little threadbare, so to speak.
I have one more doublet to make for the guards and then that project will be done. The biggest challenge for the doublets is the use of 1/4 twill tape as trim. Ordinarily, I'd have done this with piping, but the way the guards wear the doublets (belts over the top; kinda stupid, but there we are) the piping would wear through in a hurry. The first doublet I did took for-friggin'-EH-VERRR because of the trim: it all had to be stitched twice (once down each side) and because it's only 1/4" wide, the margin of error is less than 1/16" of an inch. I made a lot of margin errors.
I solved this problem with a double needle and special presser foot: the tape loads into the front through a slot that keeps it properly lined up, and the double-needle stitches both edges at once. The final product is very clean and very consistant. It's so easy to do I can even hand the job off to Katie who just has to follow the chalked lines.
Every doublet I built has an inside breast pocket, just like a suit. Apparently that feature has caused no small amount of comment, and that happies me.
The lieutenant came over Friday night and brought a couple of incomplete hats with him, wondering if I might finish them so they had the extras. They were made by the seamstress - we'll call her Jane - who made the previous round of guard doublets.
Now, they're just Tudor flat caps, four ovals, brim and crown. Simple, gradual ovals but they looked like stop signs. I had anticipated this when Lieutenant told me about them, and suggested then that it might be easier/faster/cheaper to make new, and I'm glad I did because I was able to fall back on that, but I didn't figure they'd be THAT bad. AND they were topstiched so fixing them would have taken a long time. I hemmed and hawed and finally - with my hands - indicated the sharp corners and just shook my head.
He laughed, said, "Don't want to put your name on it, huh?" He read me right, there. Amazes me what people will build and charge money for. I mean, is an oval that hard to sew? Doesn't Jane take pride in her work enough to fix such glaring issues before saying, "There, that's good enough"? Amazes me even more what people will pay money for.
I have discovered the joys of electronic pattern drafting, and while it takes longer overall and it's relatively expensive to have it printed out when I'm done, I can fit the work into the times of my work day when I'm waiting for something else and the cost...well, I'm willing to pay it for the savings in time and effort elsewhere. Plus, it saves a lot of space storing the pattern once I'm done with it: I can recycle the paper and keep the electronic version. No more bulging, aging manilla envelopes! As I get time, I plan to transcribe all my existing patterns, tights and shirts, and reprint them. The old newsprint patterns from '06 and earlier are looking a little threadbare, so to speak.I have one more doublet to make for the guards and then that project will be done. The biggest challenge for the doublets is the use of 1/4 twill tape as trim. Ordinarily, I'd have done this with piping, but the way the guards wear the doublets (belts over the top; kinda stupid, but there we are) the piping would wear through in a hurry. The first doublet I did took for-friggin'-EH-VERRR because of the trim: it all had to be stitched twice (once down each side) and because it's only 1/4" wide, the margin of error is less than 1/16" of an inch. I made a lot of margin errors.
I solved this problem with a double needle and special presser foot: the tape loads into the front through a slot that keeps it properly lined up, and the double-needle stitches both edges at once. The final product is very clean and very consistant. It's so easy to do I can even hand the job off to Katie who just has to follow the chalked lines.
Every doublet I built has an inside breast pocket, just like a suit. Apparently that feature has caused no small amount of comment, and that happies me.
The lieutenant came over Friday night and brought a couple of incomplete hats with him, wondering if I might finish them so they had the extras. They were made by the seamstress - we'll call her Jane - who made the previous round of guard doublets.
Now, they're just Tudor flat caps, four ovals, brim and crown. Simple, gradual ovals but they looked like stop signs. I had anticipated this when Lieutenant told me about them, and suggested then that it might be easier/faster/cheaper to make new, and I'm glad I did because I was able to fall back on that, but I didn't figure they'd be THAT bad. AND they were topstiched so fixing them would have taken a long time. I hemmed and hawed and finally - with my hands - indicated the sharp corners and just shook my head.
He laughed, said, "Don't want to put your name on it, huh?" He read me right, there. Amazes me what people will build and charge money for. I mean, is an oval that hard to sew? Doesn't Jane take pride in her work enough to fix such glaring issues before saying, "There, that's good enough"? Amazes me even more what people will pay money for.