Possible Breakthrough

Look it's lunch time which means it's time for me to have another ahha moment. I think I've figured out a possible solution to the apron dress. I haven't gotten to mock it up yet, but I'm excited, thus the sharing.
Ok according to pg. 39 in Medieval Garments Reconstructed: "It is remarkable that most of the longer seams are sewn together in a piece where the edge is cut on the grain, and a piece where the edge is cut on the bias. this technique causes the seam to be stable, preventing the part that is cut on the bias from getting longer"
This is something I'd read before, and mentioned in my earlier post today. Here's where it gets interesting.

Page 41 reads" Garment D10580-The silhouette of garment type 1b is relatively close-fitted in the upper part, flaring into fullness from about the waist line. The garments have center gussets in the front and back piece and have four to six side panels...In the original garment the side panel at the back is divided into two by a false seam." This is where I had my ahha. If we take this same garment, and chop off the arms/upper torso we are left with something remarkably similar to an apron dress in form.

This is the basic shape of the garment. I am purposing the removal from the bottom of the arm opening upward. This would leave a garment that is fitted to the torso to approximately the waist, and then flares outward.

This is a little more difficult to see. This is the side panel. The upper part has shaping for the arm opening. You can see that they have indicated where there is a false seam running down the middle of the garment. When the garment is made without cutting two pieces here, we meet the above mentioned idea of seam stabilization by sewing these bias cut pieces to the grain cut body. And meet it again when we cut and sew the front and back gussets as one piece.



I am suddenly very happy at this potential breakthrough, and sad because I won't have time to try it out today. I will comment tomorrow on how this concept works out. If anyone sees a flaw in my thought process, please let me know.

Gearing back up

After taking a week off from sewing (kind of) I am preparing to jump back into the fray. This time I am working on garb for my darling husband, Angie (cause she keeps loosing weight), and continuing to work on the kimono/obi for Margaret. I have to draft the pattern for Dave's garb from the book, Medieval Garments Reconstructed, fortunately this is something I have done before. I am reviewing the apron dress pattern regarding the method of construction. I had a fit of ...hmm...idea/comment/possibly-maybe-on-to-something the other day. It reads like this:
Flaw with apron dress
Norse stabilized edges by sewing grain to bias
Current pattern sews grain to grain
bias to bias=stretch
We are sewing costumes
Norse were sewing clothing-had to last
Worn everyday
Are modern pattern interpretations taking period fabric widths into consideration regarding layout?

I was in the kitchen fixing lunch and it hit me. I grabbed a pen and started writing. I'm kinda glad Dave wasn't home, he might have thought I'd gone nuts.
I have also started working on new piece of embroidery. I'm not sure what it's going to be yet. Mostly I'm just doing rows of different stitches. It may turn into something down the road though.
Now I'm off to sort fabric!

Candlemas

Well, I managed to get all of the items I was working on for Candlemas complete. Teresa was very happy with her new apron dress. Angie was thrilled with the Ghawazee coat, she might get to even wear it a few more times, before it's too big. She's lost 40 pounds and is still going. So the plan is to start yet more new garb for her, in a smaller size. I think we'll sell the stuff that is too big if I can't adjust it. Margaret was thrilled that I completed her gold silk kimono (construction done, embroidery needs finishing) she did manage to stain it 1st time out. But it can be covered with more embroidery, so no real harm there. Dave needs new pants, his current pair of Thorsburg trousers are pulling apart in the seam. I've decided I need to finish the head-dresses I was making for Angie and myself. It's been over a year since I touched them. I had the chance to talk to fiber peoples over the weekend and got some pointers. Looks like I will be attempting to tension Norse clothing with a frame for the purposes of the tablet woven trim.  Dave's keeping his eye out for a deal on a book that was recommended 'Woven into the Earth'. I'm also planning on starting a new tunic or two for Dave. Hopefully I will get to start those on Friday. I will be using the russet linen I bought for him. We have several events coming up and it would be nice for everyone to have something "new" to wear.

Kimono Update

Margaret came over to the house yesterday; she had the day off from school. We laid out and cut her Hadajuban and Susoyoke. Hopefully we're using a light enough material this time. Margaret overheated at Pennsic this last year. I also got her to try on her new Nagajuban, I finished yesterday. We added a kimono and I proceeded to make her suffer through me learning how to tie a "butterfly" knot for an yukata kimono (informal). Here is a picture of her wearing the yukata and practicing her embroidery.

I attempted to add the pillow (padding) to achieve the correct body shape and realized after completing the obi that it wasn't in the right place. But Margaret was happy and spent an hour or so practicing walking (little steps) and bowing to persons of various rank. (This is quite amusing to watch) Also showed her the season/color combinations and got her to pick out what she liked. Which will make things easier in the future. She didn't even complain about wearing green this time. I think she's figuring out that she can wear any color she wants and look good. I showed her a design I was working on and she asked "That's not going on a kimono for me is it? That's too much work." I assured her I had no plans to use it on a kimono at this time. (heehee) I'm planning to use it sometime down the road. 

I spent last night trying to decide how I want to do the straps on the apron dress. I still haven't made up my mind, fortunately I have a few days left. The gold/yellow trim looks wonderful, thinking about adding it to the straps as well. I'm starting to think I won't have time to do additional embroidery on the bottom, which is too bad because it's so pretty! 

Also worked on the ghawazee coat today. It's moving along faster than I expected, I thought it would be noon when I looked at the clock, nope, 10:30. The changes I  had to make to the original design look just fine, so all things considered I'm happy there. I figured out that using glue to tack the lacing loops in place is sooo much easier than pinning them. With any luck I should have the coat completed today. 

Weekend Post

I did not get a whole lot done yesterday. But I did manage to complete the next two panels for Margaret's Obi. They look like this:

Look, I added a bird!  I figured I had to add something other than flowers, to save my sanity if nothing else. Plus I'll get to use a different style of stitches.

I almost added bees to the second one. But I do not have a design for them I like at the moment. So this one is just flowers. I may do another bird or two in upcoming panels.











So far today i have cut Margaret's new nagajuban (under-kimono). I'm glad I thought to check color combinations before I started though, because her current kimono is orange and it's early spring. So she got green; I didn't have enough of any other color that was appropriate.  I still need to make her a new hadajuban and susoyoke (undershirt and skirt) her last ones seem to have disappeared. I think I have just enough white left to get them both done. Fortunately those will only take a day to make. I should have the nagajuban done yet tonight. I think the worst part of sewing kimono is that it looks like you're almost done and you're only a third of the way through the instructions. I haven't figured out if the obi she's got is the right color, but I know I don't have time to do anything about it. But now that I've posted regarding what I'm up to, I have to get back to doing. More tomorrow.

Getting things done

It's been a pretty good day so far. I have finished the trim for the upper part of the apron dress. I still need to do the re-enforcing stitch work on the gores, but that shouldn't take long at all. Perhaps I'll even have time to do some actual embroidery on it too. Here are photos to show the process I am using:

 Preparing to start working. Holding fabric in my left hand, the needle is being held by the fabric.











Pick up the warp with my right hand and twist twice in a clockwise direction.

Pinch the trim under my left thumb, pick up the needle with my right hand. Bring the needle through the fabric from front to back between the two warp threads.  Make sure the needle goes over the thread in back. (Should have made a photo of that...)









Pull the thread tight, place needle back in fabric, prepare to repeat process.

I also managed to complete the stitch outline for the first panel of Margaret's obi today. I have the next panel drawn out and will probably start stitching it down next week. I'm planning to complete all the outline work prior to beginning the embroidery, because I am not stretching the fabric in the Asian style (I'm using a hoop) I want to put as little stress on the actual embroidery as possible. If you look closely at the narrow end of the branches you can see where they cut off abruptly, this is where the next panel will start. I need to draft the next two panels today or tomorrow. Each of the flowers will be done in either white or pink (they're magnolia blossoms) the branches of course will be a combination of browns. I am also considering adding a bird or two, mostly because I figure I'm going to be plenty sick of flowers by the time I am done with this project. I did happily remember where I could find a mature magnolia tree. This allowed me to take some photos of the branches for reference, so I don't end up using the two branches I have drawn over and over again (this also qualifies as boring). 

I spent some time looking for new books that I want use in my research. Now to go give our librarian a headache by asking her to track them down for me. They are: Woven into the Earth, Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, Viking Clothing, and Icelanders in the Viking Age.

Things To Consider

I'm working on the trim for the apron dress today. I'm running into a few small problems. Problem #1: Following the directions in the book-wrapping the weft around the edge of the fabric is leaving the warp room to move around (closer to the edge of the fabric). Current Solution: I modified my overcast stitch into a buttonhole stitch. This creates a twist in the thread on the back side of the fabric and seems to be holding the warp in place. Having re-read the section in MGR-NCP (Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns), I discovered no additional helpful information. It simply says the weft is overcast. I considered that perhaps I was not pulling the stitches tight enough, however pulling the stitches tighter causes the fabric to bunch creating a wavy upper edge. Happily the addition of the buttonhole stitch has improved the appearance of the trim. I have to consider that the direction of my twisting could be part of the problem. The information in the book does not state which direction the warp was twisted clockwise/counter clockwise, and this could effect the way the trim lays. If the drawing in the book is accurate, then I am working in the correct direction. (See post "The Trouble Begins for image) Problem #2: My hand is cramping from holding the fabric taught and the new twists in place while my other hand is manipulating the needle. This means I have to take more breaks. Which is not the way I like to work, I want to sit down and work for at least an hour at a time. But I'll deal, probably better to take extra breaks anyway. I'm really hoping to have the chance to run these issues by some of the other fiber/fabric folks next weekend at Candlemas. I also want to do additional research on the apron dress. At least in the case of the Greenland finds, as summarized in the book, they were big on symmetry, going so far as to even add false seams to garments. My current pattern for these aprons does not comply with this. I am curious to see if this desire for symmetry was  local particularity or if it was a habit elsewhere that was brought by the Norse to the settlements in Greenland. If symmetry was of significant enough importance to cause the addition of false seams, then potentially I will need to re-work my pattern in the future.  More on this as it is discovered.